You know I like to talk about new seats here on the blog, and this time I know some of you will be happy to hear that it’s coming from the Pacific Rim. (Yes, I know I should blog about the other side of the Pacific far more than I do.) So who is it now? Japan Air Lines has announced new First and Business class seats, and at least the First class seats look pretty good.

These new seats will be rolled out on the new 777-300ER aircraft, the first of which flies Tokyo to New York on August 1. As no US carrier seems to be able to do (quick, where are UA’s new Business seats?), JAL has given a precise schedule for when and where you can find the seats. They will “start operating every other day on the Tokyo-New York route (JL005/ 006) on August 1, 2008, going daily on August 11. This will be followed by the Tokyo-San Francisco route on September 13, 2008, and the Tokyo - Chicago and Los Angeles routes in FY2009, the year starting April 1, 2009.”

Ok, enough of that. Let’s talk about the seats. The JAL Suite is the new First class offering, and it looks to be a big step up for the airline. There will be only 2 rows of four in the front of each plane for a total of eight seats. The seats themselves are, of course, completely flat. Anything else wouldn’t be First class anymore. It is an almost completely enclosed suite with just one open area to enter and exit. If you’re sitting next to someone, there’s a privacy screen that you can bring down (as shown at left) if you’d like.

JAL has decided to go with a separate mattress for sleeping. There will be separate Tempur-pedic mattresses that go on top of each seat when flat. The whole Tempur-pedic thing is interesting. There are plenty of people who don’t like the feel of those strangely spongy-yet-firm mattresses, so I hope the seats are comfortable enough without the mattress for those who don’t like it.

What else? Well, meals will now come on-demand instead of at a set time. That’s good. What’s bad? Uh, the seats are white, sorry, “pale gray.” Those are going to show the dirt, I’m sure.

Now, let’s look at the Business seat. It appears to be more of a marketing campaign than anything else because the seats aren’t much different. First of all, no seat is truly “new” without a super cool name. JAL has chosen “JAL Shell Flat Neo Seat.” Sounds, uh, cool? Ok, maybe not.

It is apparently very similar to the old business class seat but these recline a little more (still a near-flat 171 degrees). But at least there is now a “slip-proof cover” so you won’t slide down too far. That’s probably the best thing the airline has done here.

Then, in an admirable attempt to marry style and pure commercialism, they will dedicate the wall of one of the galleys to a photo exhibition. I’m sure you’ll be SHOCKED to hear that it’s being sponsored by Fuji Film. Well, it’s better than pasting an ad on the tray table, I suppose.

This will also be the first plane to debut JAL’s Premium Economy class which appears to be similar to a British Airways-type offering versus a United-style one, unsurprisingly.

So, First is a big step for the airline and so is Premium Economy, but Business appears to be fairly similar to what was there before.

Ok, so maybe it’s not actually an Aerobed, but it’s close enough. Anyone get a chance to see Swiss’s new business class product yet? It’s an interesting concept, but I have to wonder if it’s actually as comfortable as they say.

For those who didn’t see it, you can see the press release and a flash demonstration on the Swiss site. What’s unique about it? First of all, check out the layout.

The seat goes flat, but to save valuable floor space, each person’s feet go underneath the seat in front of it. Instead of actually going under the seat, however, they go under the wide arm rest. I believe that’s similar to what United is doing and others as well, but this is different in that each row has a different number of seats. On the Airbus widebodies that Swiss flies, that means one row will have 1-2-2 configuration while the next will have 1-2-1. That provides plenty of opportunities for single travelers to be alone, but it also allows people traveling together to sit together. Nice.

What else is cool? Well, the Aerobed, of course. Yeah, it sounds weird, I know. These seats have no foam and instead just have a big air cushion (or two). It has a pneumatic air system that allows you to adjust how much air goes into the seat. That means you pick the firmness level, and it can change when you’re sitting versus when you’re sleeping. They say there are all kinds of additional benefits such as weight-savings and lack of flammable materials.

Apparently, this is already on Eurofly’s long haul aircraft, so I have to assume that Swiss did a lot of testing before opting for this one. That being said, I’ll have to reserve judgment until I have a chance to see for myself.

Installation begins next Spring and it will finish by 2011. It’s interesting to see Swiss trying to differentiate itself from Papa Lufthansa, which owns the airline. Maybe Lufthansa is using Swiss as a testing ground for its own future fleet plans.

I saw a discussion about Delta installing a radically different type of seat in coach and I immediately assumed it was an April Fool’s joke. But after rooting around a bit and seeing confirmation of the news from FlightGlobal, I think it’s real.

Apparently, Delta will be installing the Cozy Suite by Thompson Solutions on its internationally-configured 767 and 777 aircraft starting in 2010. What the heck is a cozy suite? Let’s start with a couple images off the Thompson site.

Pretty different, huh? As you can see the seats are staggered so you have your own little personal space. If you want to be next to someone for a conversation, it may not be ideal, or on the off chance the flight is empty enough for you to have your own row, well you can’t stretch out, but there are plenty of benefits. First, you get your own armrests. At least, it looks like the shared armrest is long enough so that one person is up front and the other in the back. Second, the seats recline in their own space, so it won’t bother the person behind you.

Most importantly, you have a nice place to rest your body on a long flight. I have trouble sleeping on planes in general, but this will still be more comfortable as a relaxing position. It’s also rumored that the song “Hold Me Now” will be pumped repeatedly through the seats’ headrests to help passengers pass out. (Get it? Thompson Solutions . . . Thompson Twins . . . “Hold Me Now.” Ah, nevermind. You guys are lame.)

For Delta, there’s speculation that this will allow them to add more seats to the plane. Thompson says that a 767 will have 8 seats across instead of 7, and that would allow for a lot more seats onboard, but I have to assume that they’ll lose at least a couple of rows by having these staggered seats that trail backwards. So there may be a net gain, but it’s probably not as big as some may say.

I have to say, this is a fantastic move by Delta . . . if it works. An unproven seat is always a gamble, but then again so are most innovations. If they can meet all the FAA requirements with this seat, it should give them a big advantage on long international flights in coach. I haven’t been in the seat, but if it’s as comfortable as it would appear to be, I would most certainly pay a premium for it on one of those long hauls.

Whether the premium will end up justifying the expense for Delta is another question. You do, however, have to take risks if you want to be a market leader, and this is a risky but honestly pretty exciting move. Nice work, Delta. Let’s hope it works. I’m just sorry we have to wait until 2010 to see it.

You could have seen this one coming from miles away. As of April 1, JetBlue will begin charging if you want to sit in those seats with extra legroom up front. My reaction? I can’t believe it’s taken them this long.

Usually, airlines try to carve out reasons to charge more for a variety of things, but rarely is there a true benefit to the traveler. In this case, you get more legroom so you should absolutely should pay more. They say that the price will start at $10 for a short haul. A quick check of Long Beach - JFK shows that they’ll charge $20 for that route, so you can expect the price to fall within that range.

There’s actually a lot more that’s going into this plan than just slapping a price tag on some seats. They’re actually going to reconfigure the aircraft. Now, only rows 2 through 5, 10, and 11 will have extra legroom. Everything else will be standardized at 34″. Oh, and this only includes the A320. The Embraers will not see any change, and only the single exit row will have more legroom for more money.

So why are they doing this change on the A320? They must not think there are enough people to pay for all those seats with 36″ in front of the wing. So, rows 1 and 6 through 9 will go down from 36″ to 34″ allowing rows 2 through 5 to move up to 38″. Rows 10 and 11 always were at 38″ since they’re exit rows. Make sense? Yeah, I thought not. Take a look at this chart I put together showing the history of JetBlue’s A320 configurations.

Better?

Now there are 36 seats on the A320 and 4 on the Embraer 190 that offer 4 extra inches of legroom for $10 to $20 per flight. Remember, even regular coach seats on JetBlue have 2 to 3″ more legroom than most other airlines do in coach. So, is it worth it? I think I’d probably pay it for the long haul trip but not on a short haul. What does everyone think?

By the way, it only takes 14 man hours to reconfigure the airplane, so these will all be completed in the next couple of days. If you fly between now and the end of the month, consider it a bonus that you get great legroom for no extra money.

Edited @ 944a on 3/20: Picture updated with correct seat count along with further description

I was going to follow up yesterday’s post with some more detailed notes from the US Airways Media Day, but then I figured you guys are probably sick of hearing about it. Maybe I’ll post it in the next couple of days.

Instead, let’s talk about the unenviable position Singapore Air is in. The airline announced today what had been rumored for some time. The five A340-500 aircraft that fly the ultra long haul LAX and Newark to Singapore routes will be converted to all-business class flying.

Sounds good, right? So why is it an “unenviable position”? Those planes have not exactly been the shining stars for the airline. Originally, that plane was expected to have greater range than it ended up having. Now, it can’t even make those routes nonstop with a full load. That’s why the airline has only 181 seats onboard with a mix of the old business class Spacebed and “Executive Economy” onboard right now.

I’m guessing they didn’t put First class on because the seats weighed too much. And though they’ll tell you that they put Executive Economy with more legroom onboard because the flight is so long and they wanted to offer a better experience, methinks the truth is that they just can’t put on any more seats and still make the flight nonstop. This plane is pushing it.

So, with fuel prices where they are, these flights must be absolute dogs. They can get a small premium for Exec Economy, but not enough to make up for the fact that there are only 181 seats on that dog of a plane. And they can’t get much in the way of a business class premium because they have the sub-par Spacebed on board instead of the amazing new business class product that they’re putting on the rest of the fleet.

Solution? Kill the Economy seats, put on 100 of the new business class seats, and hope you can charge like crazy for the privilege of sitting there.

Admittedly, this’ll be one heck of an experience to fly. Will it make money? Maybe. They can probably get away with jacking up fares significantly, but with only 100 seats onboard, that’s still going to be a stretch. My guess is that they still just don’t know what to do with those planes since they’ve never lived up to expectations.

Starting in mid-May, Newark will start getting the new interiors, and the transition will be done by the end of June. LAX will have the new configuration by late September. And if you’re booked on this plane in Exec Economy, they’ll rebook you on a one-stop flight. Now there’s a bummer. You’ll be back in regular economy and you have to add a stop.

A couple of weeks ago, I received an invitation to “the British Airways Club World Experience” being hosted at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. Not having flown BA’s Club World (their fancy name for Business Class) since 2003, I was certainly interested to hear about their enhancements. This was especially interesting to me since I had just “experienced” the Air New Zealand (Virgin Atlantic) seat, so I could really judge the seats side by side.

The event was last night, so what were my thoughts? Similar to what I’ve heard others say. The NZ/Virgin seat seems better for sleeping but the BA seat is better for relaxing. So for my westbound late afternoon flight, the BA seat probably would have been better, but for a flight over to Europe, I’d prefer NZ.

I headed over to the swanky Four Seasons to find a very nice spread. They had all kinds of food lining both walls of the room with a variety of exhibits scattered around the floor. One featured the new kitchen option which replaces the old “Raid the Larder.” Now you can get a variety of light meals instead of just snacks throughout the flight whenever you’d like. They also showcased the new Elemis toiletries which replace the old Moulton Brown ones.

I know, boring stuff. Let’s get to what really matters. The seat. I spoke with one of the “ambassadors” who also happened to be a flight attendant. She said there were really two big changes in the seat on which passengers commented most often.

First, they’ve changed the divider between the seats. Before, it was a flimsy fan-type device that folded out and attempted to give you privacy. It was not nearly as effective as you might hope. (Click here to see a picture of the old seat.)

They’ve now replaced this with an electronically-operated panel that slides up and down. The panel, as you can see, has a unique quality in that it’s only opaque from some angles. So when you’re sitting in the seat, you cannot see the person next to you. But if you’re a flight attendant and you’re looking down into the divider, you can see if the person on the other side needs any attention without having to lean over the person on the aisle. That’s nice.

Second, and definitely the best enhancement, is the new Z position. This is what the NZ seat was really missing when I flew. It’s a seat position unsurprisingly in the shape of a Z which is perfect for relaxing. Take a look at the picture to see what I mean. It would be nice if the head didn’t have to recline as far as it does, but since the screen is elevated, it’s actually in the perfect position to watch a movie.

The bed itself also seems more comfortable, but it doesn’t have as much width as the NZ seat when you’re fully reclined. I liked the room of the NZ bed and it would have been welcome on an overnight flight, but for a daytime trip, the BA seat probably has the advantage.

Over the last couple years, Midwest has been quietly changing its model to the point where they’re becoming just like every other airline. Sadly, I’d say the transformation is now almost complete.

Back in the day, Midwest was head and shoulders above the rest. While most airlines served meals in coach, Midwest served things like lobster on china. As airlines began to pack more seats on planes, Midwest stayed strong with wider, more comfortable seats throughout. Service was excellent and yes, it was finished off with a fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie. Today, the cookie and the good service are about all that’s left.

Meals are now buy-on-board and the china is long gone. Even the seats, the biggest differentiator have started to disappear. A couple years ago, Midwest decided to have two levels of service. Their 717s would continue to have “Signature” service with the nice wide and cushy seats. But on longer routes to leisure destinations, they started flying MD80s in “Saver” service, configured just like every other airline with a bit more legroom.

Earlier this year, they decided to standardize the fleets to have a little bit of both onboard. Yeah, that made me think that Saver = Coach and Signature = First Class, but that’s not exactly the case. Yesterday, they put out a press release trumpeting that their MD80s now all have Signature seating on board. Somehow I doubt we’ll see the same release when they put a bunch of Saver seats on the 717s by the middle of next year.

If you’re on an MD80, you’ll have the option of paying $60 extra per segment just to sit in the nice seats. Keep in mind, all you get to do is sit in those seats. Like Spirit, there is no difference in service when you’re up there. It’s just a bigger seat. And though I haven’t seen it confirmed in print, it appears that the seats will also have the same seat pitch as the ones in back as well. Right now, the MD80s in all-Saver configuration have either 143 or 147 seats an 33 inch pitch. The new configuration will see 12 in Signature and either 127 or 131 in Saver. Each of the three rows in Signature will have 4 seats instead of five, so I understand losing 3 seats here, but I’m not sure where the fourth has gone. Either way, seat pitch shouldn’t change.

Oh, and if you want to sit in those seats, you can only buy them at the time of check-in or at the gate itself. You can’t do it in advance. So, if you really want those seats, check-in early or you might be stuck in the back.

With Northwest taking a 47% stake in the airline recently, we should be happy the product hasn’t started to get even worse than this.

It’s time to shake off all the bad news from last week and move forward with something positive. United has finally unveiled the new business class seat, and it looks like a rock star to me. I’ve rarely had nice things to say about UA lately, but they’ve definitely done this right. You can read all about it in this press release, which must have been released just after midnight on the east coast.

When I look at that shot, the first thing that stands out are those 15.4″ individual tv screens. Nice and big, and yes, it will have full audio/video on demand. And by the way, as announced awhile ago, you can plug your iPod in to the system, listen to your music, and recharge as you fly. There’s also a USB port and a standard 110V plug so you can charge just about anything.

The bed is 6′4″ when flat, and it IS fully flat. American just rolled out their angled lie flat seat, so this has to piss them off. They haven’t even finished installing the seats and they’re already miles behind their biggest US competitor.

First Class is getting a makeover as well. The suites on the 777 and 747 aircraft will be upgraded with the new AVOD system as well and the seats will get some more subtle upgrades as well. The 767s will finally get the suite after years of having a substandard product.

So, the product is awesome, but now the big question . . . can the airline actually make them pay for themselves? They’ve got to start having fewer upgrades and more fare-paying customers in these seats. Now that the seat is at a world-class standard, they need to start charging like a world class airline. (Um, that’s assuming they can find a way to deliver world class service as well.)

When you look at the aircraft configuration, you can see that United is taking steps in the right direction.

They’ve made the business class seats alternate facing forward and backwards in order to fit more seats on the plane. BA pioneered this concept, and it really enables a lot more seating while maintaining the lie-flat seat. So now, United will actually have 8 across in business class on the 777 but the seats are longer so they take up more real estate.

To compensate for that, they’re reducing the number of seats in the premium cabins. The 747 gets the biggest change with an almost 8% increase in seating. First, Business, and Economy Plus all shrink in order to bump up the Economy Minus cabin size. This is great for routes that are lower in business demand. The airline can now finally put more seats where they need them.

The 777, on the other hand, gets the bump in Economy Plus. So this plane can be used for more business-oriented routes. The 767 just loses room all around, probably a lot of that has to do with the addition of the First Class suites to the plane.

United has done well here. The frequent flier who thrives on upgrades to business class won’t be happy since there are now fewer seats onboard to upgrade to, but those aren’t the people United wants. United can now actually compete for the paid Business Class traveler. For that segment, they don’t need as many Business Class seats. They just need the ones they have to be great.

Word on the street is that Frontier has a pretty nice product onboard their planes. They give you 33″ of seat pitch (1 to 2 inches above average) and they have Live TV on board. I’ll be taking my first flight on the airline in less than a month, and I’ve been really looking forward to it.

Sadly, what I may experience is not going to be the norm on the airline for long. They’ve decided to make some changes on the inside and that usually isn’t a good sign for the passengers.

The airline will be reducing seat pitch to be more in line with the industry standard. Most seats will have 32″ but the last few rows will have 31″ pitch. To be fair, the new seats are going to be thinner than the old ones so that means actual legroom won’t go down by a full 1 to 2″ but somewhere a bit less than that. This will allow the airline to put an extra 4 seats on each plane, and let’s face it . . . they can use some more revenue here.

In addition, they’re going to be switching to leather seats. The theory is that leather is easier to clean and lasts longer. So even though it may cost more upfront, it pays for itself quickly. I’ve been able to get an exclusive sneak peek of the new interior which you can see below.*

(*Picture is in no way tied to reality. I mean, come on. It’s not even an airplane. You can’t really believe that, can you?)

Ah, but there is some real good news here. They’re planning on offering in-flight email and text messaging. And in more good news, you won’t have to worry about having elbow room while you’re typing. The airline has done a study and found that people who fly on them weigh 17 pounds less than the norm. So even if your legs are a bit cramped, at least you can take solace in the fact that the person next to you won’t be spilling over into your seat. Happy, happy, joy, joy.

Privatair did it first. Eos and MAXjet have done it as well. So has Silverjet and L’Avion. The ongoing success of these airlines may be unclear, but if nothing else, they have proven that there is some demand for business-class only flights over the Pond. This has now been confirmed by the fact that Virgin and BA are taking notice.

BA has said that it is studying the possibility, and Virgin just came out with an announcement that they will be doing it in the next 12 to 18 months. They’ll start with flights from New York to Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Milan, Zurich, and of course, London. Is this the end of the upstart carriers?

No way.

Let’s think about this. Virgin isn’t going to try to compete with MAXjet if they’re smart. MAXjet has gone for a minimal business class product for a low price. This is not a game that Virgin wants to play (I hope). So MAXjet should be able to continue to target those coach passengers who are willing to pay a little extra for a business class product, even if it doesn’t include a lie-flat seat.

Now what about Eos? Well, they have a much more comparable (though some would argue better) product to Virgin’s and you’ll pay for it. But you still won’t pay half what Virgin currently charges for their “Upper Class” seat. On the New York-London route, you think Virgin is going to match Eos’ fares on the business class-only flights just to dilute their fares on all their regular flights? Not if they’re thinking rationally.

The secondary cities make more sense, in theory. Virgin can’t get you there now anyway, and maybe they don’t see enough demand for a full service aircraft. Instead, they put smaller planes in there with business-class only seating to take advantage of the traffic that is there. Unfortunately, I don’t think most of these routes have enough business class traffic to make them work unless Virgin decides to buy a BBJ (737) to fly the route, and even that is questionable.

In the end, this seems like some sort of fanciful reaction on Richard Branson’s part and not a sound business decision. In the London to the US market, it will simply cannibalize their existing product. In other markets, they may have trouble finding enough traffic to fill their planes.