In general I find the best business class seat to be reverse herringbone like that offered by Cathay Pacific, American and US Airways (anxious for the rest of those legacy 777s to be converted), Delta (on not enough Europe routes), and EVA Airways. You get both privacy and comfort with all-aisle access.
And I think the second best seat is what Singapore offers. There’s plenty of space in their lie flat bed, with all aisle access, but less privacy.
But there’s a new concept from B/E Aerospace, not yet installed in any aircraft, that’s certainly interesting — that it’s too limiting when you try to manage all functions through just the seat. There’s greater adjustments possible for more uses (although – and as expensive as these seats can be – the more adjustments the more wear and tear one worries over as well).
Here’s the suite’s several functions.
What’s most impressive is how the space is manipulated to be most efficient. That’s highlighted in this video:
Skift offers this description:
On one side of the office, there is a rest and dining area, with a comfortable seat to enjoy meals and entertainment.
The ottoman across, makes room for a guest to sit across the separate dining table and chat.
On the other corner, there is a full-function desk which lets you sit upright at your own personal command centre to finish that presentation you need before landing, at ease.
When you need to sleep, the Breakout converts to a full suite, with full-width lie-flat bed, so you get a quality rest before landing.
Like the Etihad First Apartment, it’s possible to get out of the seat and move around inside the suite.
They show a four-across layout in a 777, similar to the best business class (and indeed most first class) configurations. It’s not yet complete and certified, but a new concept that’s well underway.
(HT: Road Warrior Voices)
Semantics, semantics, semantics. As you allude to at the end of the article, it’s a first class seat that’s being called J because employers won’t pay for F. Either way’s fine with me – looks nice! And I prefer a suite-style rectangular seat (in J or F) to an angled reverse-herringbone style, so I’m a fan on that front as well.
The main issue I have with the reverse herringbone design, in particular on Eva and Cathay, is the lack of legroom (width-wise) in lie-flat mode. It forces one to sleep with legs set like a pair of new wooden chopsticks. JAL biz class is the way to go – let those legs spread open!
Not a fan of the seating area for a companion. Too many inconsiderate people in this world that won’t respect the silence of a red eye when most are trying to sleep
I like it but no way this will become widespread in business class. Even the most spacious business class seats (like your CX and SQ examples, but also EY’s newest Business Studio) rely on some kind of staggering, so that when fully flat your feet are effectively besides the head of the row in front of you. This lets them fit in seats with a pitch of 50 in or so, but a bed length of over 70 in. But this design has no staggering, so airlines would lose a lot of density.
I agree this is unlikely to be widely used as a J product, although it would be an upgrade in F for a number of airlines.
As 02nz pointed out,
This is a great concept of course, but it’s destroys the density benefit that going to herringbone-style seating affords. The only airlines I could see offering this would be the ME3. Maybe this is what Qatar’s new super-business style seating will look like?
I just don’t see how this will increase profitability for airlines who are concerned with such things.
I like that you get a gingerbread man on your pillow 😉
Much as I enjoyed flying EVA’s Royal Laurel Class, I have to agree about the leg crampness in lie flat configuration. Though, I would say part of it is the thick blankets EVA provides which pretty well ate up any extra space from my knees on down and made flipping sides a real chore. Definitly felt a little too snug down there.
Completely uninspiring and looks like its inspiration came from Office Depot. My work cube is nicer than this
I agree with@Jon above, this could be Qatar’s new super-business class seat. It does eliminate the space advantage of reverse herringbone. But if an airline eliminated their first class cabin and used this as a replacement, then the lost space might be a moot point. Fact is business class sells, first class does not. The concept is actually nicer than some first class seats. I can’t see any way if some airline implemented this seat, that it wouldn’t be successful.
Scott G which stranger is gonna push themselves onto your seat? If you have that sort of problems.. the problem is YOU .. because you do not know how to say no or something… you incapable of putting out the “bitch” vibe.. I speak to no one on flights….