Time for bed

As Delta, Continental and US Airways join United in going fully-flat in business class on transatlantic routes, Tom Otley reports on what passengers can expect.

It’s been a long time coming, but the US carriers are finally going fully-flat in business. To the fortunate transatlantic travellers who have been enjoying the fully-flat beds of British Airways and Virgin Atlantic for the past decade, this might not seem like front-page news, but the majority of those flying across the pond in business class are still flying in cradle-style seats of one form or another. What’s more, as budgets have tightened and travel policies become more constricted, even Virgin and BA addicts may have found themselves being forced to downgrade cabins or look to other carriers on these routes. So it’s a welcome note of cheer that the US airlines are finally seeing the benefit of getting horizontal. So what do they each have to offer?

United Airlines

Despite a glacially slow roll-out, United has for some months been flying its new flat-bed product across the Atlantic on its refitted B767 fleet, with its B747 fleet being completed by the end of the year. In addition, the B777 fleet will be refitted next year (visit suitedreams.united.com). To be fair to United, it was slow to promote the new seats because of the size of the fleet. Graham Atkinson, executive vice-president of United and president of the airline’s Mileage Plus frequent flyer programme, says: “We have tried to make the new seats ‘route dedicated’ so that customers know they will be getting the new seats, but the complexity of our route network makes that difficult. “We have five hubs in the US and our planes flow through our system – so an aircraft taking you to Chicago might be in Tokyo the next day, followed by San Francisco and Denver. Some only flow through Chicago every six weeks, so trying to develop closed loops where we put them only on the London route, for example, is challenging for us. “Having said that, the approach was to try to accelerate [the roll-out] through each of the fleets in order, and since fleets are dedicated to markets, it was possible to focus on, say, Chicago to London.” Visit united.com

Delta Air Lines

This summer, Delta announced that its new fully-flat seat was on all of its flights between London Heathrow and Atlanta, New York JFK and Detroit. In September, it was introduced on the carrier’s flights between Heathrow and Minneapolis. The new Business Elite seats are on its B767-400 aircraft and feature 77- to 82-inch (195.5cm-208cm) fully-flat beds in a 1-2-1 layout, every seat having direct access to the aisle. Armin Venencie, Delta’s sales director for the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia, says the airline’s frequent business travellers had said the comfort of a flat-bed seat with direct aisle access was a must-have on flights to and from London, adding that passenger feedback had been very positive. The new seat has full-size pillows, quilted duvet comforters and new dinnerware, on-demand digital entertainment, and a PC power and USB port. Visit delta.com

Continental Airlines

Meanwhile, Continental, which announced its new seat in July last year, is now proving coy about the roll-out. As with United, part of the reason is undoubtedly not wanting to over-promise and under-deliver – put bluntly, there’s not much point in telling people about a seat that they probably won’t encounter until the last quarter of 2010. In difficult times, all airlines are becoming expert in managing expectations. However, we do know that the new seat converts into a fully-flat bed, and the UK will be seeing this seat (albeit firmly on the ground) when it is brought to the World Travel Market exhibition at London’s Excel in November. A spokesperson for Continental says: “[We expect] the seat to be flying on the first B777 by the end of October and on the first B757-200 sometime in December.” Visit continental.com

American Airlines

American is sticking with its angled lie-flat bed in business, now familiar to many transatlantic passengers flying in that class with the airline, and has no plans to change to fully-flat. A spokesperson said: “We completed the roll-out of our new business class last year across our transatlantic fleet of B767-300s and B777s, choosing the [angled lie-flat] seat for two reasons. “First, our tests showed there was not a significant difference in comfort between it and fully-flat, and people liked seats that could be customised to suit what they were doing. Second, [angled lie-flat] seats consume considerably less pitch [the distance between your seat and the one in front] than fully-flat ones, so we can fit the same number in a cabin as before.” Visit aa.com

US Airways

Last month, US Airways, which flies from London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Dublin to either Philadelphia or Charlotte in the US, announced its new fully-flat Envoy Suite in business class. The product will be fitted in its fleet of Airbus wide-bodied aircraft, starting with the A330-200 this December. The remainder of the A330-200 fleet, which will total 15 following new deliveries, will be fitted by summer 2011, with each aircraft offering 20 of the seats. The airline says the Envoy design for its nine A330-300s is under development and installation is expected to be completed by summer 2012. The new seats will have AVOD (audio-video on-demand) in-flight entertainment systems by Panasonic Avionics Corporation, with 12-inch adjustable touchscreens. Envoy Suites will also feature a 110-volt universal power outlet, a satellite telephone and USB port, a dual satellite telephone and entertainment controller, and a technology panel with an adjustable personal reading light. The pictures that have been released (see previous page) show that the seating is in the herringbone configuration pioneered by Virgin Atlantic with its Upper Class suite, although the seats face forwards at a different angle. The US Airways layout shows Envoy Suites facing the window rather than away, as with Virgin, and the centre seats face inwards rather than outwards towards the aisle. Nevertheless, like Virgin, the configuration allows all passengers direct access to the aisle. The seats recline to 180 degrees fully-flat and have a range of lengths from 77 inches (195cm) to 81.5 inches (207cm), depending on the suite’s location in the cabin. Seats are 20.5 inches (52cm) wide, and a fully adjustable, drop-down armrest allows an additional five inches (13cm) when sleeping. US Airways calculates the seat has 42 inches (107cm) of personal space, with the choice of either a raised side table or tray table for working and dining. Laptop cases can be stowed beneath an ottoman-style shelf. Visit usairways.com

Why go for a fully-flat bed?

Although it’s possible to fall asleep sitting up, for longer repose most people find that a fully-flat position is most comfortable. It’s what they are used to at home, and it allows several hours of uninterrupted sleep. This is important because to justify the extra room fully-flat seats occupy on the aircraft, airlines look to charge a premium price, and to justify paying more for the ticket, business travellers have to arrive fresh at their destination, ready to step off the aircraft and start work. These new fully-flat products offer a lot more besides. They are new-generation seats, so have laptop power allowing you to work for the duration of your flight, which is particularly useful if you are travelling in the daytime. They also tend to have more space than the old cradle-style seats, and good-sized tables for working and dining. When cabins are upgraded, they are also usually fitted with the latest in-flight entertainment systems, allowing you to stop, start, fast forward and rewind (known as audio-video on-demand, or AVOD). When these systems are fitted to an aircraft, they are usually installed throughout all the cabins, so economy benefits as well.