[superchris]

sparkyflyer. I agree, what a great opportunity for someone (BA hopefully) to buck the trend and go with 8 abreast. in % terms, I imagine a very small financial impact, but a massive statement in terms of passenger comfort.

Ultimately an extra seat per row represents around 12% more seats in economy. Its a fairly simple calculation, could an airline increase average ticket price by 12% to accommodate 1 less seat per row than their competitors, would passengers be prepared to pay 12% more, or looked at another way, would the economies of scale for an airline of ordering 2 sizes of seat outweigh this 12%?

ooh the complexities of running an airline!

[Henkel.Trocken]

It looks more and more as though economy is getting like package tour used to be.

[AMcWhirter]

Becky

sparkyflyer provides feedback which is probably the first we have seen on this Forum – see the original post.

When the 3-3-3 configured B787s operate more European routes I think we will have a better idea of what the travelling public think.

3-3-3 seating is not limited to short routes. It will feature on long distance routes of up to 14 hours. eg UA will operate its B787 on Denver-Tokyo.

The seating layout for this flight shows that UA will offer 3-3-3 seating in both Y and in the UA version of Y+

http://airlineroute.net/2012/05/22/ua-dennrt-s13/

Other B787 operators with 3-3-3 seating will be using them on long routes like Mumbai/Delhi to Sydney (that’s AI’s intention), Doha to N America (QR) and Santiago Chile to Madrid (LAN).

Vertrek

I guess that solves SIA’s dilemma. The A350 will have a wider cabin than the B787 so I imagine SIA will go 9-across on the former.

[AMcWhirter]

I see that LOT will be using its B787s with 3-3-3 on fairly long routes like WAW to ORD, YYZ and NYC.

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/lot-takes-delivery-of-first-dreamliner

WAW-PEK is about 9 hrs. WAW to the US East Coast and Canada takes around 10 hrs non-stop.

[Bucksnet]

The 3 seat units are exactly the same as would be found by the windows in a 3-4-3 layout on a 747, which was regularly scheduled on flights over 13 hours.

[AMcWhirter]

The 3 seat units cannot exactly be the same because the seats will have to be slimmer otherwise the 9 across layout could not fit within the 787s cabin. Or they might fit but then the aisles would be very narrow indeed.

According to thebasource.com an economy seat on a BA B747 is 17.5 ins wide.

http://www.thebasource.com/b747mid-jseatmap.html

According to QR itself, an economy seat on a B787 is 16.9 ins wide.

http://www.qatarairways.com/english_global/press-release.page?pr_id=pressrelease_pressrelease_20120307

Some of my early long-haul flights in the 70s were with carriers like PA and JL who, in common with other 747 operators at that time, had installed 9-across seating on their 747s.

Those were the days when economy class provided decent comfort.

[InterContinentalFlyer]

ANA also has a nine across version of the B787, I flew it, It’s cramped just like the 10 across on the B777.

[AMcWhirter]

Hello InterContinentalFlyer

Did you take the ANA B787 on a domestic route ? I ask, because ANA does fit 9-across seating on those B787s which are mainly used for domestic flights.

It’s difficult to find this infromation out because ANA’s English language web pages display only the B787 international configuration which is the version that operates on the HND-FRA route and is, of course, eight across 2-4-2.

Here’s the configuration of ANA’s B787 domestic configured 3-3-3. It’s the top plane of the two types displayed:

https://www.ana.co.jp/dom/inflight/seatmap/b8p/

[Bucksnet]

LondonCity, the BA source is wrong then. The seats are 17.2 inches wide maximum. They also quote a 17.5 inch wide seat on a BA 777, but those seats are clearly wider than a 747.

According to QR, an economy seat on their 787 is 16.9 inches. It could be wider if they wanted it, but have chosen a narrower one for some reason.

[Bucksnet]

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ana.co.jp%2Fdom%2Finflight%2Fseatmap%2Fb8p%2F

The top spec box is for a 787-3 which got cancelled, but ANA ordered some beforehand and have not updated their website

[AMcWhirter]

Hello Bucknet

I would have thought that ANA’s staff are fastidious in which case I am surprised that the website might need updating.

Anyway, it turns out that ANA’s initial domestic flights were operated by a B787 configured 2-4-2. Perhaps the idea was to gain favourable comment from passengers and the media ?

However ANA is operating its latest B787s for domestic use in a new and denser configuration which is, as InterContinentalFlyer notes above, disposed 3-3-3.

See this ANA domestic B787 article with the picture of the 3-3-3 economy cabin:

http://upgrd.com/regionalfirst/boeing-787-in-the-ana-domestic-configuration-the-journey-the-destination.html

[Bucksnet]

Following Boeing’s cancellation of the 787-3 program, ANA converted their orders into the -8 but still intended to use them on domestic flights. The 3-3-3 seating is exactly the same as it would have been on the -3, but is acceptable for shorter flights.

It seems ANA put their long haul 787s on domestic routes to start with. A bit like A380 operators starting with short flights first.

[AMcWhirter]

It’s understood that BA will configure its B787s 3-3-3. There will be seating for 154 economy passengers.

This hardly comes as a surprise seeing as all other carriers, with the exception of ANA + JAL, have so far adopted this layout.

In a previous thread, Le Tigre, indicated that VS was going down the 3-3-3 route too.

Also, as noted in a posting above, ANA now configures B787s 3-3-3 when used on domestic routes inside Japan.

[InterContinentalFlyer]

Indeed domestic, flew Haneda – Itami.

[Author]

Posts