There are already a decent number of airlines that have flat beds on narrowbody aircraft. This is fairly common on 757s, since they're used for transatlantic flights, though the newer trend is that we're seeing flat beds on A321s. For example, there's Mint on JetBlue's A321s, which features suites with doors. Then there's American's A321…
Continue reading: The Future Of Narrowbody Flat Bed Business Class?
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I think that looks amazing. I mainly travel through Europe from North america with the occasional trip to asia and the crappy business class on intra EU flights is such a let down compared to modern wide body business class seats.
Didn't the CEO of MH say that Thompson are currently working on the final design of their new C seats?
a bit off subject, but what about the future of RJ seating up front like this https://thepointsguy.com/2016/07/embraer-e2-regional-jet-tour/
Looks like a decent design, but at one inch narrower than Air New Zealand's herringbone seats, I'm not sure how this would feel as far as elbow room is concerned.
It seems like there's opportunity for innovation in the "height" of the seats -- i.e. if you stagger them vertically a little bit, maybe designers could further decrease their floor space. Obviously fully stacking seats on top of one another causes major egress challenges, but what if they alternated between 6" lower and 6" higher?
Are there any seats in use that do anything like this?
read this review about staggered HEIGHT biz seats on a 787 https://onemileatatime.com/royal-air-maroc-787-business-class/ review didn't think much of it
Not a chance in Europe, but I guess you don't need lie flats for mostly 2-3 hour flights. The race to the bottom continues...
1. Other than enhancements in the seat itself, I don't see additional routes in the U.S. where these seats make sense. They're already kind of pointless on transcontinental flights, except for the red-eye from the West Coast.
2. I do think it's safe to assume that premium-economy in another 5-10 years will have some sort of lie-flat seat. Look at how British Airways does business-class. You could easily have a 2x3x2 or 2x4x2 configuration in premium-economy with each seat being lie-flat.
3. I just wish Delta had improved the width of their new A350 seats. Let's hope they make some adjustments after the first couple planes come into service.
By the way, the brochure says the seats are 23-24 inches in width, not 21 inches.
By cutting out the little nook next to the window/elbow area for storage, it also gives a bit of a view (probably) out the window, so I'd argue it's solved yet another major drawback of herringbone seats.
Recent CX J RH had sufficient underside storage for me, and I bring quite a bit to my seat.
21 inch sounds narrow. I hope it's wider than VS UC, b/c that was way too cramped for me...
Time for BA to step up their Club World A318 service from LCW to JFK.
That said I wish these were reverse herringbone. I flew this in Air Canada's old business class and have to say I wish I could actually look out of my window then!
I for one truly dislike the Herringbone style seating (VA, NZ, etc) and much prefer the Reverse. I want the privacy and I enjoy seeing a bit of the window, not the person across the aisle.
MH is taking a great step introducing flat beds on narrow aircrafts. Its a pioneering step as well for other airlines operating smaller planes on regional flights.
Why on earth do people make business seats face the aisle? No one wants to see other people on the aeroplane unless they're together. Also, if you're tall, your feet will stick out into the aisle and get knocked all the time. It's ridiculous, and it looks ugly having seats face the aisle.
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It means that your head is closer to the window, for those of us who like to look out of it
I find it odd that this is titled "The Future Of Narrowbody Flat Bed Business Class?" but the comparison is made to AA's Reverse Herringbone F-Transcon product, not the side-by-side J-Transcon product...?
Martin, it looks like you have to lean over and twist yourself to see the window which will get uncomfortable after a while.