Which airline has the best long haul business class seat?

[SLF3]

Most of us have tried a fairly limited selection so it is hard to compare, but as a starter from the last few weeks:

Continental - new 777 - equal first with Iberia. Almost flat bed, wide at the shoulders, reasonable degree of privacy, loads of storage space, comfortable both to sit in and sleep on.

Air France - new 777 - Flat bed, no storage space (but bulkhead seat), not much privacy, OK to sit in but rock hard to sleep on. Middle-aged A330 - Comfortable seat with adequate storage but angled bed not good to sleep on - kept sliding down. Worse than TAM.

TAM - A330 and 777 various ages - Not a flat bed, very comfortable to sit in but not great for sleep. Wide, adequate storage space.

Iberia - A340 - Flat bed, comfortable seat, adequate storage. Not as wide as Continental or as comfortable to sit in but more room for your feet when sleeping. Equal first with Continental.

BA - 747 and 777 - Flat bed, but narrow and hard. Not comfortable to sit in. Flimsy, not much storage space. High levels of privacy if you put the silly screen up, no privacy at all with it down. Bounces around like a dinghy in a gale as people move or walk down the aisle.

Egyptair - old 777 - old fashioned seat. New A330 - better seat.

I know there are review sites, but more interesting (I suggest) are people who can compare airline offerings in a single post. Also find I sleep much better on buses than 777s - they seem much quieter.

[Rush2112]

SQ 777ER and 380. Flat bed, but you have to lay at an angle if you are more than 5' tall. Seat is a bit wide when you are sat in it, but quite comfortable. Lots of little storage areas, decent screen and IFE.

[PAXboy]

SLF3, in a way, your answer poses the question! What is the best seat? Do you prefer:-


Capsule or sharing?
Facing the window or inward?
Do you tend to sleep or work?
What body size/shape are you?
Is the food important - best seat might not have best food!
Is the service important - best seat might not have most attentive service!
Is it going to be a daylight or night time sector?
Are you going on a work trip or leisure?
What is your cultural approach to travel?

There might be four different 'best' business seats and they might be four different carriers or just two. There is no best - except for you.

[pcat160]

Air New Zealand; Flat Bed 6' 6" +; Service, Food, and, Wine are
superior to BA!

[SLF3]

Deliberately limited this to 'the seat' since entertainment, food, service etc are much more subjective. Tried to give a view on both sleeping and sitting, to address the day or night sector issue. Agree privacy is subjective but from conversations at work think the seat / bed comfort thing is not - have not met anyone who has tried the new Continental seat who does not like it, for example.

[PAXboy]

That's fair enough SLF3, I was being slightly Devil's Advocate based on when this question has been posed before!

I have in the past also chosen sheer space of a biz seata above service (it was some years ago and the seat was not brilliant but there was SPACE and the service was SABENA long haul :() Mostly, people choose a combination of the factors but it certainly depends on whether it is a biz or leisure trip. I don't do long haul biz these days in my current job.

[pwalhx]

Of recent trips I have taken definitely the A380 on Emirates and definitely not their 777.

[cavortingcheetah]

Did fly KLM AMS/JNB in business the other day on the 777. It was better than a comfort seat in economy but not particularly comfortable.
I had the unpleasant experience of flying in an A380 from CDG to JNB very recently. That is a truly horrid aircraft in which to travel as an economy passenger. Air France's business seats, on a quick inspection, left much to be desired and their colour scheme is ghastly.

[OverRun]

South African Airways by far; and thank PPRUNE for the successful campaign some 8 years ago that led to the new seats.

[lomapaseo]

Thanks for this thread. I'm a PRuneacoholic and the other sites are too difficult to find an up-to-date comparison thread.

I like any of the subjective comparisons, that way I can weight what's good for me.

For me the seat becomes more important the longer the flight time (what's this about day or night? my body doesn't care after 6 hours) :E

My wife and I got pampered with the brand new (last month) LH B747 F class (separate bed) and now she doesn't want to fly long haul unless I get her that ... lots of luck dear :hmm:

[Mach Turtle]

There are two kinds of business class travelers, and two kinds of seats that suit them:

1. Do as much work as possible, not expecting to rest like in a bed.
2. Get drunk and watch TV.

To each his own. A smart airline would have classes for each.

[OverRun]

Have they got TV?

[Hartington]

3) Me. SLEEP.

[PAXboy]

Mach Turtle, I think that's broadly right but it does get complicated - along with everything else these days!

When I do long haul (biz or leisure) I might sleep/work/chat but in any seuqence depending on my life at that time. I do think it's difficult for carriers to get it right as their pax load is no longer the homogeneous group that it was. There are many reasons for this but they don't matter right now (and stop calling me Shirley).

[Mach Turtle]

When I do long haul (biz or leisure) I might sleep/work/chat but in any seuqence depending on my life at that time.

It all comes down to alcohol versus electricity. After the first meal is served, do you take a cocktail or do you plug in your laptop? Did you have wine with your meal?

Like I said, business class passengers are not a homogeneous unit. Some can pay for their tickets with work they do on the flight. Some are experiencing a special treat.

The present "Business Class" should be divided into "Luxury Class" and "Real Business Class". They could cost the same.

[PAXboy]

Well, that's not going to happen! :p

[Mach Turtle]

Maybe not, but I'm not the only passenger who wants it to.

And I don't know why it would be hard to do. If anything, they'd just have to put a few different seats in the existing Business cabin, optimized for working at a desk rather than sleeping or watching movies.

[PAXboy]

Mach T, there may be a number of pax who want it - like they want 'no children' zones but the problem is that money is saved by standardisation and lost through diversity. Relatively few LH carriers have gone for the four cabin layout (adding in Premium Economy) due to the extra cost of providing, marketing and managing it.

So they try to make each biz seat more of a capsule and more versatile within the capsule so that you can do what you want.

[dubh12000]

The Swiss product is not bad at all. I'm 6'6", and can stretch out on their flatbed. My only gripe is that they have this fancy air cushion technology maintaining the firmness of a series of cushions along the length of the seat, so everytime you move in the seat you can hear the pump coming on to adjust.

[Mr Mac]

SQ very good along with EK (I am 6ft 2 ) and have never had issues with sleeping on either carrier. LH also good but not as good as the other two although I think they are up grading soon. BA - depends on age of plane, but recent experiance could be summed up as some what tired, in both seating and Ice systems.

[OverRun]

dubh12000

I'm intrigued (I'm 6' 5") - is that Swiss business or first class, and is the bed a proper one that lies flat? (= when fully reclined, these seats are completely horizontal, creating a bed that is fully flat). If so, it sounds rather attractive.

Are the wines Swiss? (I am a fan of their excellent wines, and write this from Lake Bodensee).

Contrary to Mr Mac's experience, the EK business class on the flights to/from Perth has been slightly less happy, with the seats only reclining rather than making a flat bed. At least there were plenty of passengers crowded shoulder to shoulder in business class so there was always someone to talk to during the flight. That was a couple of years ago (after which I stopped flying them) and it may have changed recently.

[dubh12000]

Overrun, Yeah, completely flat. Their 340 and 330 fleet all have the "new" business seat now. I've never used their First seat.

There wine list will always have one swiss white and one swiss red. Last month's red was epic, this month's white is muck........so you take your chances.

[OverRun]

dubh12000,

Thanks for that info; I shall definitely look forward to taking my chances on Swiss in the future :ok:

[Mr Mac]

Overun
I agree that EK used to have some form of "lazy boy" couch seat which did not lie flat, but the recent flights I have been on, have all had the new type plastic "pods" on the 777,s that do lie flat. I have not flown on a 340 with them for a while, so could not comment on these currently.

[OverRun]

Mr Mac,

Thank you for that update, and very good to know; especially since Emirates has such a great choice of airports off the beaten track in Europe to use as well. It was only the seats that had put me off . . . . :ok:

[rooboy762002]

What. No mention of Jetstar?:\

[Wangja]

There are two kinds of business class travelers, and two kinds of seats that suit them:

1. Do as much work as possible, not expecting to rest like in a bed.
2. Get drunk and watch TV.

To each his own. A smart airline would have classes for each.

You know, not at all sure about the 2 types: rarely have I seen drunks in (long-haul) business. Most do some work before the meal and then sleep, whether day or night. I find that valium and melatonin work well for the sleep!

I do fly quite a bit, usually in business, but of the current offerings have only used Emirates, KLM (and NW) and Korean Airlines. All are OK for sitting: KAL have 2 types, Prestige Sleeper and Prestige Plus. Of the three, I think I prefer the KAL Prestige Plus - the sleeper is a bit hard.

(Great service too on KAL)

[geeohgeegeeoh]

I have a noisy keyboard. A pax in the seat next door went off at me "I paid for this seat to get a good nights sleep before arriving to work"

Of course, I didn't rebutt, "my company paid for me to have this seat to continue to work, so I could ..."

He had a point. If I'd paid 3x econ costs to get some dickwit who cannot stop typing at 3am, I'd feel a tad grumpy.

[kaikohe76]

I've just done AKL / SVQ / MAN rtn with SQ on the 777 300ER with the flat bed seat. As a couple of other posts mention, a good idea, but you do have to bend if normal height. I did not find it as comfortable as the Business Class seats they have on the 777 200 / 300 non ER. These do not lie completely flat, but you are in a straight line.

[TightSlot]

I'll wave a small flag for Air New Zealand - It can only be a small flag, nothing more, since they are my employer and I am clearly partisan.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBbTo-ZqroQ

[rvv500]

Air New Zealand, Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways, Turkish and Emirates in that order.

[OverRun]

I haven't tried the new Air NZ 777-300ER seats yet, but the old 747-400 business class seats/beds were pretty good.

Add to that the package of: really friendly cabin crew, great NZ wines, a truly remarkable and pleasant experience going in/out Auckland Airport, a reasonably civilized terminal for departures out of LAX (pause for sounds of people fainting at the thought ;)), and Air NZ business remains my favourite way to go AUS-USA. A very pleasant way to travel.

Cheers
OverRun