Austrian introduced angled lie flat seats in business and upgrades service

Austrian Airlines (Star Alliance) has upgraded its long haul business class seating and service to standards that broadly reflect those of its bigger neighbour airline Lufthansa.

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Austrian does not have an extensive long haul network, with flights to the USA, Asia and Australia hubbing at Vienna (although the route to Australia will be discontinued before the end of the year unfortunately - meaning no continental European airlines will now fly to Australia).

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The new seats look like being one of the best angled lie flat products around - but again, why bother upgrading to angled lie flat seats when the world's leading airlines are moving to fully lie flat in business class? Similarly, it has two entertainment systems- the Airbus A340s and A330s have an on demand system, while the Boeing 777s and 767s have a looped multichannel system. However, on the bright side Austrian has an excellent reputation for in flight food, claiming six courses in business class. As a part of the experience that is often neglected, Austrian does deserve credit for putting effort into catering.

Singapore Airlines announces major upgrade

Well, not to be outdone by Cathay Pacific and concerned it has slipped behind the likes of Virgin Atlantic (49% owned by Singapore Airlines), BA and others in business class (the Singapore Airlines business class Spacebed is an angled lie-flat seat), Singapore Airlines (without question the leading airline in quality in the Star Alliance) has announced significant improvements to all three classes which will be launched with its first new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in December.

Singapore Airlines was meant to launch the new products as the first airline with the new Airbus A380, but that has been delayed until next year (and apparently is a further improvement on what is below). All new long-haul Singapore Airlines aircraft will have this product, and it is expected that some of the new 777s will be on routes to and from Australia and NZ. I expect within the next year Singapore Airlines will have this new product on all routes that compete with BA, Qantas, Emirates, Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa.

The biggest improvement is in Business Class (above), (no longer Raffles Class), with what is definitely the widest and longest horizontal lie-flat seats in business class ever. The proof will be in the testing, but this looks like quite possible the best business class seat in the world. The seat is 30 inches wide. There is an 15 inch AVOD screen, with 2 USB ports and essentially equipped with a miniPC (with what appears to be an "office suite" of software). The idea being you don't need to take a laptop on board, just a USB stick. Hmmmm fine until you get to the other end! Other details like luggage storage within your seat space, duvet in addition to pillow/blanket. The entertainment system has over 500 CDs and is a further step up from the already excellent Krisworld.













First Class gets a wider longer suite as well. 35 inches wide, it's easily the width of a single bed, with a 23 inch entertainment screen (and the same software/USB ports as the business class seat). This is more a larger version of what Singapore Airlines has now, than a revolutionary step forward, unlike Cathay Pacific which has essentially chosen a bed with an adjacent seat. Nevertheless, both airlines have reputations for impeccable first class service - so the battle is on - only Emirates is a rival in First, and that is the only class Emirates comes close to being competitive in.
















Economy Class has also had a spruce up, with seat redesigned to create a little more legroom, a few little compartments for glasses and personal items. A new 10 inch screen, power supply at every seat and, yes, the screen also has a mini-PC with a USB port and "office" software. So a level of computing power at every seat! Nobody can beat that, yet. Blankets and a renewed menu (for all classes) mean Singapore Airlines has evolved economy class, rather than made a big leap forward. It has 32" seat pitch, which is nothing special (Singapore Airlines has bigger seat pitch on its current 777s). Cathay's new seats are a far bigger leap forward.



















So there you go, Singapore Airlines has lifted the bar. Easily the best Business Class, excellent First Class and highly competitive Economy Class. Time for the rest of the Star Alliance to look to catch up, and I'm looking especially at United - which remains two generations behind.

Cathay Pacific launches major product upgrade

Cathay Pacific (One World) has announced a significant upgrade of all three classes as of next year. As an airline that pretty much deserves its five star Skytrax ranking, it is excellent news that it is now moving to be ahead of the game once more with new seats that, at the very least, put it on a par with the best available today.

In First Class (pictured) it is taking a step beyond all other airlines. More space, with a private closet, 17" screen with AVOD. With a longer wider lie flat bed seat, there is a separate side seat so passengers can choose to be seated or lie in a bed. Cathay has always been rated as having one of the best first classes and will be maintaining that status with this new product.

In Business Class, Cathay Pacific, after only introducing angled lie flat seats four years ago has made the jump to horizontal lie flat beds - similar to Air New Zealand. With BA, Virgin Atlantic, South African Airways, Air NZ, Iberia, LAN Chile and now Cathay going horizontal, it is clear that this IS the new standard. Cathay has essentially bought seats similar to Air NZ's new Business Premier class, except unlike Air NZ/Virgin Atlantic the seat does NOT flip over for a mattress side, but reclines fully flat with one surface. With Air NZ and Virgin Atlantic having similar seats between London and Hong Kong, and BA with its own fully lie flat product, the differences between seating for the airlines are small - it will be more about service. In addition, a 15" monitor has been installed with full AVOD.

Economy Class does not go untouched, in fact Cathay can be said to have led the way now with its new economy class seats. It needs it, it only gets a 3 star ranking with Skytrax overall in economy mainly because of the seating and catering. The seats recline within a shell, so you no longer have economy class seats reclining back into the row behind. This means more room and no complaints when you do recline. The seat pocket is now below the seat so there is a bit more room. In essence Cathay has taken a seat which does the most with the limited space in economy. I'd like to know if Cathay still uses the 32" seat pitch, which frankly is only a suitable standard for regional international routes, not long haul. Nevertheless, this is a step forward that is world leading, with a 9" monitor and AVOD - this gives Cathay one of the best economy class seats in the world. The only question is whether with the seat bottom sliding forward during recline that this costs you legroom (although removal of the seat pocket partly compensates). It will be interesting to see what passengers think.

All of this puts Cathay Pacific undoubtedly at the top of OneWorld alliance in terms of quality, and gives something for BA and Qantas especially to aspire to (Qantas in particular is lacklustre in economy and first class).

bmi upgrades business class - to remain below BA and Virgin Atlantic

bmi, the Star Alliance carrier of the UK, which primarily is a low-cost carrier around Europe, also provides long haul services to North America and the Middle East. It has a 3 star Skytrax ranking, and deserves it. Its long haul business class has 4 stars and has a good reputation for service, but still has the reclining "cradle" seats that were the standard of the late 1990s - the type that is still standard on most US airlines and on regional business class in Asia/Australasia.

By June 2007 it will have new business class seats on its Airbus A330 aircraft with 80" seat pitch (bmi has no first class), which is generous (similar to first class on other airlines). The seats are angled lie flat seats very similar to the current Singapore Airlines Spacebed. It is about time, but with BA and Virgin Atlantic both having had horizontal lie flat seats in business class for some years - bmi is still behind the ball. It's an improvement and Star Alliance frequent flyers will welcome it - but given that Cathay Pacific has just announced new business class seats that REPLACE seats like this, bmi is a generation behind.

Delta Airlines becomes first US carrier to introduce lie flat beds in business

Finally!! Northwest was first with angled lie flat business class a couple of years ago, American announced a few months ago it would do the same. United and Continental still have long haul international business class seats that are two generations behind airlines like BA, Virgin Atlantic, Air NZ, Iberia and soon Cathay Pacific. Delta (in the Skyteam alliance) has leap frogged the angled lie flat design and gone for gold - and is acquiring similar seats to Virgin Atlantic, Air NZ and Cathay with horizontal lie flat angled business class seats.

Starting with its brand new Boeing 777LRs, they will also be installed on the rest of the international 777 fleet with full conversion achieved by 2010. Delta, while ranked 3 star overall (like other US airlines), is ranked 4 stars in international business class and has aimed to upgrade service and catering.

So kudos to Delta for making the leap, it could well have a business class of world standard next year and be outside the reputation that international business class travellers hold "all US airlines are crap". It also helps to lift the standards of the Skyteam Alliance, which frankly is the poor cousin in quality terms among the three main airline alliances.