How many of you saw Cathay Pacific’s announcement that it’s putting new seats in business class? It seemed relatively quiet on this side of the world, but it is big news. Possibly the biggest news is that Cathay is following the lead of . . . US Airways!?! That’s right, it’s the reverse herringbone. What do you think?
9 comments on “Topic of the Week: Cathay Pacific’s New Business Class Seats”
Direct Window View
The outboard seats are gently angled towards the windows, giving passengers a perfect view.
———————————-
That’s nice, people like to see out the window during the day and when on the ground. The airlines that angle the seats with your back to the windows maybe didn’t think that out to well. At least that’s what I think.
I was all excited to hear about this until I learned that new biz class won’t be on the 747’s flying to/fr SFO for quite a while. Wah! Near term plans are for B777 and A330 only.
If Cathay are as previous, it’ll be years before all the fleet is refitted. Have the finished installing the previous incarnation fleetwide?
Let’s hope this latest version fits people other than Asian sizes. Last time I flew CX J Class it was horrendous. If you’re over 6ft, you’re screwed!
These seats are getting to look more like what the doctor tells you to lay over and relax…..
This new seat overhaul at least demonstrates some serious commitment to improvement backed by serious cash investment.
Cathay has had lie-flat seats in for long-haul Business Class for a few years now, but they were criticized quite a bit for being very narrow and sort of coffin like in their herringbone config.
I cannot comment on the new seat since I have not seen it, but it looks like (a) they may be listening to consumers and (b) trying to implement continuous improvement rather than waiting till the next generation seating concepts.
Personally, I have never travelled in any class higher than Economy (or World Traveller Plus on BA). But at 6’2 I feel that business class is about the flat bed. It’s not about how much space you have to work, individual light lamps, etc…
So I would think having a business class configuration of 2-3-2 on the A330/A340 and 2-4-2 on the 777 (basically one less seat per row than economy) is fine. After all, it should be somewhat affordable. People over at airliners.net were outraged over Turkish Airlines 2-3-2 config on the new 777-300ER’s but I think it’s fine.
For that matter, whenever I walk past Club World on BA, that arrangement looks fairly good to me and still manages to be 8 across on a 777.
Anyway, sorry for the long rant but just thought I’d throw that out there, no offense to anyone.
I hope they’re putting in new coach seats too…
Cathay’s First may be at at par or slightly better than Singapore’s, but their business is way behind in the Asian airline race now. Of course, compared to US carriers, I’d opt for Cathy even in the current “coffins.” It’s still better than sliding to the floor on other “flat” beds where you can’t sleep at all.
As someone who just flew almost 20 hours in those seats (one way!) my biggest complaint is the seat width. Re-directing/-aligning the seats isn’t that noteworthy to me, at least on those particular flights. But as a side sleeper, the seats were pretty danged narrow, and I really couldn’t cross my legs sitting up. That’s a bigger deal, and hopefully these new wider seats will rectify that.