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Published: 22/01/2009 - Filed under: Ask Alex » 2008 » Ask Alex »
Dear Alex,
Do you agree that one of the biggest marketing ploys in the airline industry is the introduction of new business class seats? Swiss is currently touting its new seats for introduction in spring 2009 – in reality the fleet might not have 100 per cent configuration until 2011. American, United and a good many others play the same game. So in my opinion it is absurd to be even talking about the product because a passenger has only a slim chance of getting the new seat.
Gerhard Mueller, Zurich
Alex replies:
Business Traveller is receiving more and more complaints from readers who book an airline expecting the latest premium class seating but end up with older versions.
While the airlines will never admit the fact, they do seem to be dragging out the installation process. This might be down to technical problems but I also believe the carriers’ current sickly finances are a contributory factor.
I checked with airlines mentioned above for the latest state of play. As far as Swiss is concerned the above schedule stands, while American says that all its B777s and B767-300s on transatlantic routes have its new business class seating.
United is tardier. Even though it’s been over a year since the carrier announced its flat-bed seats, not a single route has 100 per cent availability. However, a spokesperson did indicate that United hopes to have all Heathrow-Chicago flights fitted with its new seats by the end of December 2008. But United has a huge international network so elsewhere there’s still only a slim to zero chance of finding the new product on your flight.
But others are taking their time. Emirates has taken years to reconfigure its diverse fleet. Glaswegian Martin Shaw discovered this when he booked business class to fly Glasgow-Dubai-Singapore in June. He wrote: “The B777-300 I took as far as Dubai was an old aircraft with limited legroom for a business class seat. Had I known this I would have booked with KLM which is £200 cheaper but I saw an article on Emirates’ new business class and thought ‘wow’”. Emirates said it hoped its B777-300 reconfiguration programme would be completed by the end of 2008.
It’s also ages since Cathay Pacific launched its new seating yet there are still planes with the old product. Reader Christopher Freeman flew Cathay business class from Rome to Sydney via Hong Kong. In common with other Asian carriers a plane change takes place at the carrier’s hub.
So everything was fine between Rome and Hong Kong as the B747-400 was fitted with Cathay’s new flat-bed seat, but matters went downhill on the connecting service between Hong Kong and Sydney. This flight, wrote Christopher Freeman, “was operated by an Airbus A330 which had a very old configuration where the seat hardly, and I mean hardly, reclined. It was impossible to sleep or work. It was barely a premium economy seat.”
Cathay never offered an explanation. It merely sent Freeman a US$75 travel voucher for the inconvenience.
Judging by internet chat postings, this incident with the A330 on this route isn’t an isolated one. It seems this A330 was fitted with Cathay’s regional business class (normally rostered for short flights within Asia), making it quite unsuitable for a nine-hour intercontinental stretch. I guess this was an aircraft substitution. Perhaps Cathay’s other A330s were being reconfigured at that time.
When I attempted to check the latest A330 layout at cathaypacific.com in early October, I found that none of the seat plans (both for the existing and new configurations) were available to view. All had been removed from the website.
Can passengers expect compensation should the latest seating be unavailable? The simple answer is no. But a reputable airline should offer something (travel vouchers or bonus FFP miles) for the sake of goodwill.
Visit seatplans.com for detailed information on seat configurations.
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