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AIRLINE REVIEW Business class seat survey and customisation updatesA frequent flyer's guide to executive stretch from Qatar's Qsuite Next Gen that offers more social interaction, to SIA, and Cathay Pacific's 'Aria Suite' business class seats. Beond, the all-business airline from the Maldives, takes shape and Air India introduces 40-inch seats on A320neos. We find the most legroom, and widest seats...    by Vijay Verghese SEE ALSO First Class Seat Survey | Economy Class Seat Survey | Small Airlines Guide | Airbus vs Boeing | Frequent Flier Programs | B737 MAX-8 safety issues | Round the world fares | Top Asian hotel reviews | Airline Bailouts 
The Qatar Airways Qsuite Next Gen arrives late 2025 on Boeing 777-9 aircraft offering a customisable experience in business class with the oppostunity for greater social interaction too. THIRTY THOUSAND feet aloft, coddled in business class, having mortgaged the car, house, wife, kids and dog, it is perhaps reasonable to expect two things – that the champagne is fizzy and the bed is flat. After all this is the FRONT of the plane, not the cattle-class rear end where noses are jammed into armpits, tighter than Rubik's wettest dream. Send us your Feedback / Letter to the Editor
The proof of the pudding is in the sleeping. How flat is that bed? Can both corporate cheek bottoms coexist in unfettered harmony as you stretch out languorously for yet another prime cut of juicy steak? Now, customisation is the new buzzword. Generous aircraft seat size, roomy seat pitch (the distance between rows, seat anchor to anchor), and comfortable seat recline, are not the only prized assets of Club Class travel. You'll get a personal TV (or PTV), with movies on demand, swivelling screens, and even Internet WiFi access. For on-the-go executive travellers, inflight Web access is a great way to stay ahead of the competition. We surveyed a broad range of airlines to see how their bottom lines compare in business class. Strap in, lie back, and read on. In early 2024 at the Farnborough Airshow, Qatar Airways (www.qatarairways.com) introduced its new Qsuite Next Gen with a raft of advanced features including customisable Quad Suites, 4K OLED for immersive movies, more stretch space and 'companion suites' in a window-aisle configuration. By late 2025 on B777-9 aircraft expect higher more private partitions, in-flight safes, wireless charging, roomier lie-flat seats and double beds that come with a spoiling turn-down service. Passengers can use the touch screen to customise privacy and other features like ambient lighting. One of the key features of these seats is the increased social interaction. Another to get in on the wide business seats act is Air India, which is starting to gets its new livery up in the skies. Interestingly, on its A320neo fleet for short-haul international and domestic, passengers will start seeing new 40-inch business seats in late 2024. Expect a deep seven-inch recline — substantial for a narrowbody jet. Also find calf rests, foot rests, adjustable armrests, push-button food trays, and a range of charging ports. The A320neo fleet will offer a revolutionary three-class configuration with business, premium economy and economy. Newbie Beond from the Maldives is a bold new all-business airline that plans non-stops to Zurich, Dubai and Milan summer 2025 flying A319s and A321s with 44 to 68 lie-flat seats. The seat configuration is a very roomy 2-2 with no economy class and just one "Premium Class". The eventual route network envisages flights from Male (Maldives) to Dubai, Jeddah, New Delhi, Mumbai, Paris, Munich, Milan, Singapore, Taipei and Astana. With the Maldives as a driver destination, this airline is one to watch as it develops and expands a rather bold vision that did not fly for a number of other high-reaching all-business experiments. Maybe Beond (pronounced 'Beyond') has it right this time. First things first. If you're travelling flat out, you'll need to be flat. It took a while but airlines are cottoning on faster than you can say 180-degrees is the new black. The first three airlines capable of escorting you absolutely horizontal were Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and South African Airways, and now 22 airlines have at least one longhaul aircraft where you can kick back and find a perfectly flat bed business class seat. Recline is measured in degrees, inches and centimetres. A simple rule of thumb – six inches (15cm) translates roughly into 25 degrees. Unabashedly over-the-top is Singapore Airlines (www.singaporeair.com) whose A380 now flies to Sydney, Melbourne, London, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong. This behemoth carries just 471 passengers (not the sweaty 800 of lively scuttlebutt, though that figure does represent the aircraft's maximum capacity). In addition to 12 partitioned Singapore Airlines Suites in a grade beyond first class – where a double bed can be created for passengers travelling together who might thus fully enjoy the feel of Givenchy linen aloft – the 60 business class seats on the upper deck recline fully flat and offer USB ports, in-seat power for a laptop, a height adjustable table, and a 39cm (15.4-inch) LCD video screen. These are the widest business class seats in our survey at 86cm or 34 inches. A forward-facing configuration of 1-2-1 permits aisle access from every seat. These seats have already appeared on the B777-300ER fleet. SIA A-380 business class toilets offer special amenities including a shaving mirror but, for practical and weight considerations, no shower. Sensitive ears will be happy to hear that the SQ A380 cuts take-off and landing noise in half and dramatically reduces it in-cabin throughout the flight. On 9 July, 2013, SIA announced its NextGen look with the first new seats in all classes rolling out - with enhanced KrisWorld entertainment - from September 2013 on the Singapore-London route on new B777-300ER aircraft. SIA's new business class seats are an evolutionary rather than revolutionary step with the same popular forward-facing seats with additional stowage (including for the laptop), better lighting and lumbar support. Set in a semi-private "enclosure" there's 132 degrees of seat recline. With the seat flipped down (train style) and covered with a duvet, passengers enjoy a spacious, extra wide, fully flat 78-inch-long bed. Two additional lounging positions have been included on the seat button menu - "Lazy Z" and "Sundeck". Business is set up in a 1-2-1 configuration. KrisWorld content flashes up on an18-inch LCD touch screen and for workaholics, the seats include sockets for USB, HDMI and in-seat power. The new KrisWorld is based on a state-of-the-art Panasonic Avionics platform. SIA is the launch customer for the next-gen eX3 system that debuts on the A350s, with the current B777-300ERs boasting several eX3 features. Meanwhile inflight web connectivity has been rolled out on the A380 and several aircraft types. Inflight WiFi is for entertainment and not for voice calls. You can pay by sector unless you are a Starhub subscriber, in which case there's a better rate on offer. In mid 2014 Singapore Airlines announced an upgrade to business class seats on B777-300ERs with a 132-degree recline and 78-inch length when the seat is fully extended as a flat bed. New aircraft will have the new seats in place while older aircraft will undergo a steady overhaul. Expect a padded headboard and soft cushion, a "Lazy Z" seating control for varying posture, expanded stowage choices, and entertainment by way of the signature KrisWorld with on-demand movies and music on an 18-inch video LCD screen. All eyes are on the A350-900ULR ultra-longhaul version that helped SIA launch the longest nonstop route in the world, beating the Perth-London Qantas feat with a Dreamliner B787-9. The new long-range A350 aircraft ensures all seats have a window (not between rows or gone altogether) and there is a significant lack of draft as the air is recirculated and purified. The pathfinding flight - Changi to Newark - took off on 11 October 2018 covering 15,000km in under 19 hours, an epic feat for engineers, pilots and passengers alike. There is stretch room on the aircraft with no economy seats, just premium economy and business. SIA's excellent regional feeder SilkAir (www.silkair.com) was integrated and merged with parent Singapore Airlines in 2021 with the first SilkAir flight flying in SIA colours on 4 March to Phuket. The B737-800 NG aircraft were being refitted with 12 business class seats and 150 economy seats. The refit for nine aircraft was to be complete sometime in 2022 but late 2024 the old seats were still in use with 'limited recline and pimped out with new seat covers', according to flyers. The B737-8MAX has also arrived, freely interchanged with the older fleet, offering some 'claustrophobic' full recline seats. The airline had been operating A320-200s earlier (as on this chart). Business class was in a 2-2 configuration (leather seats with 39-inch pitch and eight inch recline, with three-pin and USB in-seat power) and economy in 3-3 (with a 30-inch seat pitch and a five inch recline). Running the length of each aircraft are 11 dropdown video screens. Cathay Pacific (www.cathaypacific.com) introduced the de rigueur herringbone business class to an expectant audience, who were split down the middle. Long haul passengers appreciated the private space and flat bed. But for short haul flyers (who flayed the “anti-social” seats), “herringbone” was a dirty word. Cathay Pacific planned to debut its exciting new 'Aria Suite' - a new business class product - on a fresh batch of 777-9s, but the Covid production delays have meant getting this suite launched on the new-look 777-300ER aircraft by Q2 2024. An earlier version of the Cathay business class seats were introduced March 2011 on select A330s flying HK-Sydney and from April 2011 on select B-777ERs on HK-USA routes. European routes will see these changes in 2012. The new CX seats offer a robust rejoinder to the earlier feedback with some very generous specifications. The new business class seat on the A330 reclines fully at 180 degrees, doubling as a flat bed. It also offers considerably more stretch space as the armrests retract and elbowroom materialises. While the seat cushion width is an unremarkable 20.2 inches, the bed extensions and retracted armrests offer a usable bed breadth of 27.6 inches. On the B-777ER the seat width is 21 inches with a full stretch bed width of a comfortable 29.5 inches. The bed length has also increased to 75 inches (up from 71 inches) on the new Cathay Pacific business class seats. Perhaps the most appealing thing about the new design is an end to the W configuration of the herringbone and the introduction of an M configuration that is almost the exact opposite. The single window seats angle modestly towards the window (offering a view this time) and with swivel tables. The LCD screen is vast. The centre two seats angle in gently towards each other, toes almost touching, offering passengers a chance to chat with each other while a screen can be employed to create private space. Also expect power supply, a USB and an iPod dock enabling playback through the personal TV. And from 15 September 2016 the airline offered 10kg extra baggage allowance on every class. That's a lot of extra shopping with a 40kg allowance in business class. Cathay Pacific's first A350 launched 1 June 2016 on the HK-Manila and HK-Taipei routes. Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh follow 1 July 2016 then HK-London Gatwick (1 September 2016). Long-haul routes follow thereafter on the 280-seat aircraft. Cathay's NextGen Airbus A350 aircraft offers WiFi connectivity (shortly over Mainland China too) at just under US$20 on its longest route with unlimited data. The aircraft also serves up high definition in-flight television. New seats are featured in all classes. Expect mood lighting, controlled humidity and cabin pressure set at a comfortable 6,000ft. The business class seat configuration is 1-2-1 with a 45-inch seat pitch and a 20.2-inch seat width. Inflight duty-free shopping is a cinch as you can place your orders directly from your seat using the hi-def 18.5-inch touchscreen. There are 38 business class seats on CX with a fully flat recline delivering a bed length of 75 inches. This is a comfortable, quiet aircraft with a spacious cabin. {Newbie Beond from the Maldives is a bold new all-business airline that plans to add non-stops to Hong Kong early 2024 flying A319s and A321s Philippines Airlines A330-300 aircraft flying to the Middle East and Asia tend to run in a two-class (premium and economy) configuration while other international flights may offer a business class in pastel beige rexene in a forward-facing standard 2-2-2 seat configuration. Inflight entertainment may be streaming via myPAL to your mobile device. Larger Philippine Airlines planes do have WiFi with fair global coverage except for over India, parts of Africa and South America. The WiFi is free for the first 30 minutes and then is charged at US$10 per hour or a maximum of US$40 per flight. The smaller A321-200 narrowbody single aisle plane has business class seats set up forward-facing 2-2. Expect a high level of inflight service and attention to detail. The long-haul PAL A340-300 business config is 2-2-2 with a power socket under the armrest. The seats are around 21-inches in cushion width with a seat pitch of 54 inches. The seats recline sufficiently but are not 180-degrees flat. Expect seat-back video screens or personal Apple iPad minis packed with a good selection of movies and well stocked L'Occitane toiletry kits. Malaysia Airlines (www.malaysiaairlines.com) has gracefully bowed to the pressure of horizontal pleasures and added a business seat that reclines a full 180 degrees. That's flat. There are innumerable variations in position and lumbar support. Go ahead and play around. The seats are being introduced progressively on the B-747 and B-777 fleet, along with the “new average” 10.4-inch personal TV screen and a 50-inch seat pitch. On B777s the seat pitch could be as high as 75 inches while some B747s offer 58 inches of leg room. From July 2012 the first MAS A380 offers 64 seats in business, with a 2-2-2 configuration, a 75-inch seat pitch and a large 17-inch PTV. Korean Air’s (www.koreanair.com) new A380 (June 2011) has an entire upper deck devoted to to on-the-go business travellers. In Prestige Class, the layout features 94 lie-flat beds with a spacious seat pitch of 74 inches and large privacy screens. Even the 301 economy seats have a roomy 36 inches between them. The aircraft has 407 seats including 12 first class Kosmo Suites. Routes from Seoul to Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok are the first to greet the A380 with transpacific flights following. The carrier has ordered 10 aircraft with half to be delivered by the end of 2011 and the rest in 2014. Korean Air’s B747-400 also offer fully reclining Prestige Sleepers along with Prestige Plus and Prestige Class seats. Prestige Plus is a bed-type seat that reclines 170 degrees and comes with adjustable privacy screens and personal TVs with 10.4-inch screens. Expect a little less tilt from the Prestige Class seats, which only recline 138 degrees but come with ergonomic headrests. Park on a seat that is 20.2-inches wide and stretch your legs out with a seat pitch of 50 inches. Personal TV screens are a little less generous at only 6.5-inches. On the B747-400 business class seats are in a 2-3- configuration in pale blue and grey trim, all set in a shell seat. The shell itself does not recline, but the seat angles, if awkwardlly, to get you almost flat but not quite. The seats are forward facing which is nice. No herringbone angles here. There is no coat hanger on the seat but staff will deal with this for you quite efficiently. Seat-pocket inflight slippers are provided. The headphone is a bit of a let-down and resembles what Cathay serves up in economy. The seat itself is comfortable enough but also suffers from uneven-height armrests that can affect comfort after a while and the power socket and USB are somewhat hard to access under the armrest. Movie and TV drama selection is limited and TV series do not seem to run in entirety, just a couple of episodes for each. The Row 7 bulkhead seats in business are set too far back from the wall mounted video screens but offer great leg-room. The upper deck on the Korean Air B747-400 offers a more cosy setting in a 2-2 configuration. The best seats for stretch space and legroom are the mid-section ones on Row 19. The B777-300 also offers the Prestige Sleepers and Prestige Plus seats. Japan's All Nippon Airlines (ANA, www.ana.co.jp) has the distinction of operating the first B787 Dreamliners in Asia. The space age seats are wide, spacious, and look onto a wide screen PTV (more details as we receive them). The Air India B787 Dreamliner has roomy high ceiling interiors with the overhead bins well away from tall heads. The large windows are welcoming of light though the blue UV sun blocker that shuts out light turning the glass a deep opaque blue, garners mixed reactions. You can darken or lighten the window at the press of a button.The 2-2-2 seating in business class is roomy enough with forward facing seats in tan with lots of legroom and large on-demand video LCD screens. Alas, the choices are somewhat limited. The TATA-SIA chaperoned Vistara (www.airvistara.com) took to the skies on 9 January, 2015 linking Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad on a three-class A320. By February the airline had added Goa and Hyderabad. Vistara, a Sanskrit word for 'limitless expanse' flies a purple tail, or 'aubergine' as the airline describes it, with a gold eight-point interlaced star. This is a premium full service airline for discerning travellers and harks back to the pioneering days when JRD Tata launched the first commercial flight Karachi to Mumbai, 83 years before. Vistara offer Business Class in a 2-2 seat configuration with a 42-inch seat pitch and seven-inch recline. In March 2024 a mega merger is planned between Air India, Vistara and Air India's smaller offshoots. Air India MD and CEO Campbell Wilson, the former CEO at Singapore Airline's low-cost Scoot, has opted for a fast lease of 36 aircraft "as we finalise plans to refresh and significantly grow our long-term fleet". The airline will need at least US$1bn to revive the brand (US$400m alone is going into cabin upgrades on widebody planes) but its cumulative investment will soon dramatically eclipse this as it gets a lock on about 400 narrow-body and 100 widebody aircraft from Airbus and Boeing. On 14 February 2023 Air India announced its order for 220 aircraft from Boeing and 250 from Airbus. This is the biggest aircraft order ever in terms of volume, and it has sent a frisson of excitement through the beleaguered aircraft manufacturing industry. Look forward to a vastly revamped business class as the new aircraft arrive though plans for a new livery have not been well received. The Maharajah has been dumped in favour of a liberal red look that makes Air India appear more a budget carrier than a national airline. Thai Airways (www.thaiair.com), which has searched for some years to find the right mix, has been making a strong comeback with its new A380-800s since September 2012 serving up a flat bed, 74 inch seat pitch and 20-inch cushion width. There is also a 15-inch personal LCD TV that can compete with the best in the sky. Business class is in shades of pink and grey with mood lights and, wonder of wonders, a 1-2-1 seat configuration that is private but not anti-social. The design of the seats is a bit stubby, lacking the moulded curves of some competitors, but everything you need is available, including the ability to talk with your neighbour on the centre seats, which are set in an alternating pattern of two together and then two apart. This makes excellent sense should you need to travel with a business partner or family. Expect an ottoman for your feet with stowage space underneath and pipe reading lights. The new business seats are in the upper deck with a nice option being the rear cabin seats, rows 25 to 27 where 12 seats are in a more private space. Bulkhead seats are on row 12 and 25, while row 24 is perhaps too close to the toilets. The older version of the THAI business class product called, unsurprisingly, Royal Silk Class, has seats that recline, but not quite the whole hog, at 167 degrees. This was launched on the longhaul A340-500s plying the groundbreaking 17-hour Bangkok-New York nonstop route. The route was canned in July 2008 and the THAI Airbus A340-500 fleet was put to pasture. Retro-fitted B747-400 aircraft also offer generous 167-degree recline (old B747’s retain the 49” pitch and 133 degree recline). Personal entertainment options have started appearing with 10.4-inch screens and a choice of over 30 films and documentaries on all classes on younger and re-fitted aircraft. The THAI Airways B787-8 Dreamliner entered service third quarter 2014 with a 2-2-2 forward facing seat configuration in business class. The seat pitch is a comfy 60 inches with ample leg room but the seat width at 21 inches is average or below par for a nextgen aircraft compared with the widest economy seats in the 24-inch to 26-inch range. The touchscreen 16-inch PTV for inflight video provides generous visual space and comes from the next generation Panasonic eX3 range. The bonus is a 78-inch seat length when in full recline for sleeping with a 180-degree lie-flat shell-seat construct. {Cathay was eyeing the B777-9s to launch its new Aria Suite but has now opted to start with re-configured 777-300ER aircraft by Q2 2024 Hongkong Airlines, flying A300-200 and B737-800 aircraft, launched a revolutionary all-business service Hong Kong to London’s Gatwick 7 March, 2012 but scrapped the route by September 2012. The aircraft were fitted out with two classes – Club Premier, and Club Classic. Club Premier in the front of the fuselage served up fully flat beds in a 1-2-1 configuration with 6’1” inch of leg wiggle room. The Classic cabin had 82 cradle seats in a 2-2-2 configuration with 22 inches of bottom space and a 51” seat pitch. Jaunty Indian newcomer Jet Airways (www.jetairways.com) offers a 180-degree fully flat bed onboard its B777-300ER aircraft as well as on the Airbus A330-200s. Jet Airways offers some of the widest business class seats in this survey at 23 inches, but newbie Jet needs to watch its back as a swathe of upgrades outdo 23” with widths of 27.5” on Vietnam Airlines, and vast acres of bottom space on SIA. There's a truckload of in-flight entertainment on a large touch screen and there's power for your laptop too. The Qantas (www.qantas.com.au) International Business Class Skybed is almost flat. It is a very accommodating six feet six inches in length and almost 24 inches wide when fully reclined, with a curving cocoon headboard that offers greater privacy. In fact several other airlines provide flat, but angled, beds. This means that while your body is flat, it is not horizontal. Your head will be positioned slightly higher than your feet. The A380 changes all that with a 180 degree flatbed, an extra 20 inches of leg room and a 12.2-inch personal TV screen. It’s onwards and upwards for the Aussie carrier. Not to be outdone, Air New Zealand (www.airnewzealand.com) introduced Business Premier featuring "lie-flat" beds, 22-inch-wide leather chairs that open out into six-feet-seven-inches of stretch space when you decide to nod off, an Ottoman footrest that doubles as a visitor seat, in-seat power and a 12.1-inch screen (B777-300) for on-demand entertainment. South African Airways (www.flysaa.com) provides an exceptional bed, roomy, spacious (using a traditional 2-2-2 seat layout on the A340-600). The pitch is a yawning 73 inches so there’s lots of leg room for a good stretch and a seat width of 21 inches will accommodate a reasonably successful upwardly mobile girth. SAA has won accolades for its seat not only for its lie-flat position, but also for the numerous sitting and recline variations that account for much of the flying time. The traditional seat layout is a definite plus. For one, you can talk with a companion aloft and need not be thrust into someone's smelly socks. On British Airways (www.britishairways.com), seats are coupled, with passengers sitting next to, and diagonally facing, each other in twos. It's a private, but conversation-damping, arrangement. Separating the passengers was a flip-open fan that provided a stylish yet somewhat flimsy partition. This has been replaced in the new BA Club World with a more solid partition that covers the space at the press of a button. The new Club World business class seats recline 180-degrees flat – six feet in the fully flat position, and six feet six inches in the NASA-inspired "Z" position with the knees drawn up a wee bit. This, NASA, claims, is the most restful posture for recline. If it works in space, it should at 30,000ft. The new seats offer a few extra inches of elbow room as the armrest flattens out flush with the bed as the seat back drops down into the horizontal position. This opens up 25.25 inches of width. With a 2-4-2 seating configuration, only the centre two seats, twinned together, face the same way, forward. This is where romantics might park. Club World seats have been upgraded to offer in-air Internet access. Expect touch-screen 12.1-inch LCD with movies on demand, a footrest (not an extra seat), a small drawer for personal effects and a Club Kitchen well stocked with fruit, juice and muffins to grab munches along the way. The 110 volt power socket will need a US adaptor for some. The Boeing 747s on the Hong Kong-London and Singapore-London routes are already largely equipped with the new product (reflected on our seat chart). The new Club World offers a cosy stand-alone cubbyhole sort of feel with firmer surrounds and more legroom though passengers using the centre two seats will need to step over their neighbour's outstretched feet to get to the aisle. On then to trendsetter Virgin Atlantic (www.virgin-atlantic.com), which came out with a revolutionary piece of club-class kit. The Upper Class Suite (as the newer rig is termed) features single seats angled in from the windows and two in the middle forming a V-shaped herringbone. This is a 1-2-1 layout on B-747s but as seats are not really next to one another, each is an utterly private space unto itself. On A-340s the configuration is 1-1-1. On the plus side, each pod is a self-contained bedroom, working room, dining room and meeting room with a seriously draughty 79-82 inches of legroom – that’s 6.8 feet. When the seat is upright, a guest can sit on the facing leg-rest with a fold out table in between. The guest "chair" has a seat back but can be a squeeze to slip into. Full marks for gadgetry though. There's room to stow your books and the laptop can be tossed under the footrest. The downside is you cannot actually look out of the window (as you are facing away with your back to the view), nor can you cosy up to a neighbour. These are stylish cubicles for singles who appreciate a chic open-plan office layout. Seats are 22 inches wide, claiming the edge on the average seat width on this business class seat survey. Whip out your laptop and get working. Yes, there's power. As of September 2017 Virgin Atlantic claimed to be the first carrier in Europe to be offering WiFi on all routes in-flight with Panasonic and Gogo tech. On a B787 flying Hong Kong to London basic WiFi costs £4.99 for 40MB of data while £14.99 for 'WiFi Max' offers 150MB of data. On other aircraft types, Virgin also offers a message pass at just £2.99. China Southern (www.csair.com), one of the largest carriers on the Chinese mainland, has roomy A380s that offer primarily economy and first class. On A330 aircraft, the business class set-up introduced "cocoon-style flat-bed" seats. The new Premium Business Class seat features electronically adjusted footrest extensions, a lumbar massage function, a 10.4-inch LCD video screen, power plugs for laptops (no adaptor needed) and a roomy 58 inches of seat pitch. Air China (www.airchina.com) is overhauling business class on 16 of its A330-200 aircraft. Spacious new seats are 180-degree fully flat and feature a revamped entertainment system. Kenya Airways (www.kenya-airways.com) is something of a dark horse. It does not claim to dazzle you with technology but it certainly offers comfortable seats that stretch out almost flat though the recline is described by the airline at 180 degrees. Not to be outdone, Air Canada's (www.aircanada.com) ultra-longhaul A340-500s linking Toronto and Hongkong offer a 180-degree recline Executive First (cheeky misnomer for business class) bed with stowage compartments and lumbar support. There is video on demand on a 12-inch screen, and a seat pitch described as “individual” because it points into the aisle – although we’re certain that you can’t stick your feet into the aisle. The Air Canada A340-300s on the Vancouver-Hongkong run offer a still comfortable 151 degrees of recline. With customary German efficiency, Lufthansa (www.lufthansa.com) presents exact figures for its PrivateBed: 57-59.8” pitch, 19.7-22” width and a 168-degree recline. On some B747s the middle seats are a couple of inches bigger – watch out for these to make sure you have the insider ticket and the last laugh on Lufthansa. Lufthansa flies spacious A380s as well with daily services linking Franfurt to Asian points like Tokyo, Beijing and Singapore. Both Air France (www.airfrance.com) and Finnair (www.finnair.com) have rolled out new business seat versions. The Air France B777 and Finnair A330 products offer a 180-degree recline with the Finnair A340 offering 168 degrees. The tall slender Finns on their way to Hongkong can enjoy a generous seat pitch of 62 inches, a slim-ish 20-inch width and a 15-inch screen (on the newer A330). There’s power and even e-mail/SMS capability – at US$2 a pop. Air France does one better with the introduction of its “full sleep” seats on newer B777-300s. With a seat width of 24 inches and stretch room of over 78 inches, awkwardly angled knees and elbows are a thing of the past. Bangkok Airways (www.bangkokair.com) has rolled out its Blue Ribbon business class on select routes including Bangkok-Phnom Penh, Bangkok-Samui, Samui-Hong Kong and Samui-Singapore. {The Singapore Airlines A380 hosts a 60-seat business class on the upper deck, with 34-inch wide seats that recline fully flat Continental has merged with United Airlines (www.united.com) and now flies under United flight codes. Continental's Business First seats are now sold under the United Business brand. The livery transition to United continues over 2012 and 2013. They are a real contender in the front-of-the-bus sweepstakes with a satisfying 180 degrees on the B777-200. Not best known for its in-flight entertainment, the older former Continental aircraft offer an audio-visual on demand system with a 15.4-inch PTV. There's more. Since late 2009 the airline has been rolling out its new flatbed BusinessFirst seats in most of its Boeing 777 aircraft. The 180-degree seat recline creates two metres of horizontal sleeping space, plus the seat is a generous 27-inches wide – plenty of room for tossing and turning – with a seat pitch of 55 to 57 inches. Equally welcome is the now larger 15.4-inch PTV and on-demand entertainment system offering 250 movies, 3,000 songs and 25 interactive video games. Delta's (www.delta.com) newly acquired (January 2010) Northwest Airlines aircraft following the merger, with former World Business Class "cocoon" seats stretch out an extraordinary 201cm, with a six-way adjustable headrest, lumbar support (and massager) and 176 degrees of recline. This easily puts these aircraft at the top of the US airline heap. American Airlines (www.aa.com) B777-200s flying transpacific routes offer a seat pitch of up to 61 inches with generous recline and laptop power. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offers "sleeperette" seats in a 2-3-2 configuration on A-330s and B-777s with lumbar support and electronically adjustable footrests. Seats are flat – and 78 inches when fully reclined – on the A380 and refurbished B777s, but even if there’s a little more rod to your back, there's sufficient distraction in the form of riotous in-flight entertainment. Seat pitch is a generous 88 inches. The B777 and A380 surge ahead in the inflight entertainment category with 17-inch personal television screens, still by far the largest in our business class survey. Most Emirates aircraft are kitted with external cameras offering up-close views of take-offs and scenery below en route. Gulf Air (www.gulfair.com) is rolling out its refurbished A-330s with a new premium cabin designed to enhance travel comfort with “rich, deep-pile carpeting complemented by warm, Arabian colours”. The new seats stretch out into beds with sheets, duvets and pillows. An onboard changing room, done up “spa style”, with a window and timber flooring, gets guests into the mood. Later pore over a 10.4-inch PTV and enjoy some sumptuous menus. Qatar Airways (www.qatarairways.com), an aggressive relative newcomer to the Far East, offer a generous 60-inch seat pitch with plenty of legroom though its seats are a modestly tighter 19.6 inches wide. Seats recline a comfortable 160 degrees and there's a large 15-inch PTV for video entertainment aloft. By late June 2021 Qatar Airways had on offer a new business class suite experience on some flights to Europe. The new suites on the B787-9 Dreamliners feature a 79-inch lie-flat bed, sliding partitions for greater privacy and are set in a 1-2-1 configuration. This new format is a tad smaller than the luxe Qsuite product featured on A-350s as the Dreamliner cabin is a significant 12cm narrower than the Airbus. Full details awaited. And how do the Asian giants compare? The Singapore Airlines A380 business class seats offer an expansive 34 inches of bottom wiggle room while the Raffles Class SpaceBeds open up when the armrests are stowed, to a full 27 inches wide, more than any other seat surveyed (save for Virgin's bed which, when fully deployed, has up to 33-inch breadth in certain areas of the sleeping space, and Vietnam Airlines, which trumps SIA with 0.5 inches extra). Regional flights offer the Ultimo seat with a 142-degree recline and seat width of 21 inches. On SIA's new B777-300ER aircraft business class seats go up to a roomy 30 inches wide with a 180 degree recline. The layout here is 1-2-1 with a seat pitch of 51 inches. The bed length is 76 inches. {Emirates offers sleeperette seats in a 2-3-2 configuration on A330s and B777s with added lumbar support - always a sound choice for those stopover trips Thai Airways International offers a generous 167-degree recline on its A340-500, B777-200 and newer B747-400 series. Seat pitch on the jumbos is 49 inches and there's a personal TV – this could be a measly 6.5 inches or an excellent 10.5 inches depending on your B747 configuration. Newer A380s up the ante considerably. The older B747 version also has no power for laptops so, if craving technology, make sure your aircraft is a configuration two jumbo. Seat pitch on the B777-300 is 61 inches (on the B777-300ER it's 49 inches but with a wider 23-inch seat that flips down fully flat). The aircraft features a large 15-inch PTV, telephone and PC port. THAI’s business class overhaul has seen a 170 degree recline become the norm with around 20 inches more legroom than older models and vast improvements in onboard technology. THAI's WiFi rates on Sky Connect start at US$ 4.99 for 5MB. Moving up to 10MB of browsing costs US$8.99, and 20MB usage is US$16.99. A larger 30MB plan is available for business travellers at US$24.99. Wi-Fi is available on the A380-800 flights to London, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and on some A330-300 flights from Bangkok to Tokyo, Fukuoka, Kolkata, Taipei, Yangon, Hong Kong, and Dubai. Japan Air Lines (www.jal.com) offers a staggering 60 possible configurations in its JAL Executive Class – Seasons. The greatest recline and pitch is on intercontinental flights that offer "Shell Flat Seats" as on the B747-400 and B-777s. Fly on a Malaysia Airlines A330-200 and business travellers will be treated to a substantial 62-inch seat pitch. That's a fair bit of legroom. Royal Brunei's (www.bruneiair.com) retrofitted B-767s servicing routes to Australia, New Zealand, Europe and some Asian destinations provide a modest 57-inch recline. In April 2006, Finnair became the first airline in Nordic countries to offer lie-flat seats in long-haul Business Class. Finnair A330 aircraft offer the 180-degree beds, while the A340 goes almost all the way at 168 degrees. The A330 business seat has a 15-inch PTV, power port and access to email aloft. Send email and SMS for US$2. Seat pitch is 63". The Scandinavian Airlines (www.flysas.com) Business Sleeper seats on the A340 business class recline 170 degrees now in a comfortable 2-2-2 configuration with a 61-inch seat pitch. The SAS business class seats offer a 20-inch width between armrests, 6.1 feet of stretch when extended, and a 10.4-inch video screen. Etihad’s (www.etihadairways.com) new Pearl Business seat reclines the full 180 degrees and has a generous seat pitch of 72 inches. There is power access, USB port and an RCA socket for you to connect your laptop and work the hours away. Or if you’d rather space-out to some mindless entertainment, enjoy the Plug-and-Play feature, which works as an IP TV, to view your own videos on the 15-inch screen. A personal TV is available on most airlines but don't take it for granted. The largest 17-inch monitor can be found on Emirates, while Cathay Pacific, Etihad, Qatar, THAI, JAL, Korean Air, PAL, and United Airlines all serve up 15-15.4 inches of screen space. Making a valiant effort with 12 inches are Air Canada, Air New Zealand and Qantas. The average size on most airlines is now a generous 10.4-10.6 inches of PTV screen. Anyone falling below this should have their knuckles rapped. AVOD or video on demand is also becoming the industry standard, which means you can time the Hollywood gore pre-meal and finish with a glass of port. On SIA's SpaceBed, unwind with a choice of over 40 KrisWorld movies and features, and 50 games. Or play a networked PC game with a friend sitting on another seat. On some Finnair flights DVD players are available for in-seat viewing. We can't think of a better way to hone those executive skills. Malaysia Airlines' new business class also features a dramatically expanded inflight entertainment selection with over 200 music CDs and 40 movies available on demand. The idea of connectivity while flying is not novel and has probably been around since Charles Lindbergh discovered on 20 May, 1927 that he had taken off for Paris with just four sandwiches. Connexion by Boeing pioneered the onboard concept in 2005 but the initiative – trialled by Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa, Korean Air and others – petered out within a year. Other such ventures soon flopped. Cathay Pacific's NETVIGATOR inflight e-mail experiment shut down 1 June 2006 but stirrings are afoot in the new business class product that arrived early 2011. In the first half of 2012, Singapore Airlines, is teaming up with inflight connectivity alchemist OnAir, and will start streaming in WiFi Internet with e-mail and texting facilities for smartphones and the BlackBerry (but not voice telephony initially). The service is phasing in on 43 aircraft – the A380 behemoth, A340-500s and the B777-300ERs. Travellers pay their own service providers for international roaming while SIA levies a charge for Internet use. This is nothing short of revolutionary. Spamming the boss comes at a price, so check the rates carefully. In 2012, Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon (rebranded from Dragonair in January 2016) introduced a "Panasonic Avionics Global Communications Suite" that provides Broadband connectivity to all aboard. Talk, text, play games or knock out your teeth with a hot iron as an alternative to chatting with your eager office accountant. All this through a Cathay portal. Passengers could ring up a few dollars on live TV too. Emirates, ahead of the curve, has already rolled out WiFi on some of its A380s with the rest to be wired soon. Not only that, but on several Emirates flights a day passengers can use their cellphones to text and make calls. On Cathay Dragon, several A320 flights that lack a personal video screen offer 'Studio" entertainment streaming via WiFi onto smarphones and laptops. And darting through the electronic static is low cost gadfly AirAsia, albeit with a limited footprint. It has teamed up with Malaysia-based Maxis and OnAir to trial full service smartphone access on a few aircraft for Maxis subscribers who can e-mail, text, and access the Internet (through GPRS) at their normal roaming rates. This facility is a serious blow on the chin at around US$3.50 per minute. Qantas International Business Class SkyBeds come with telephones capable of sending and receiving inflight short messages (SMS), a handy facility if all you really need is to make contact and plan arrangements for your appointments on arrival. On Emirates, send or receive SMS at US$1 per item. Even Aeroflot (www.aeroflot.ru) the Russian behemoth is in on the act with a rebranded image and new business class featuring a la carte menus, food served on fine china and inflight crew undergoing rigorous training in service and hospitality. On its Hong Kong run the airline is code-sharing with Cathay Pacific. The new image features a silver fuselage with an orange stripe and a dark blue tail with the Russian flag. What are you waiting for? Get online and key in www.SmartTravelAsia.com – At least we're free.
NOTE: Telephone and fax numbers, e-mails, website addresses, rates and other details may change or get dated. Please check with your dealer/agent/service-provider or directly with the parties concerned. SmartTravel Asia accepts no responsibility for any inadvertent inaccuracies in this article. Links to websites are provided for the viewer's convenience. SmartTravel Asia accepts no responsibility for content on linked websites or any viruses or malicious programs that may reside therein. Linked website content is neither vetted nor endorsed by SmartTravelAsia. Please read our Terms & Conditions. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
