[Chutzpahflyer]

My first experience of a neo on a short-hop AMS – LHR – an A321 Neo. Lovely plane! Quiet and v smooth. So it’s a shame that BA has chosen to yet again match the LCCs by installing non-reclining seats. Why?

[Montysaurus]

Recline on short haul is unnecessary. One area where Easyjet beats BA – not having recline.

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Londonian, flyingdutchman1, Gin&Tonic

[AlanOrton1]

The LCCs are who BA and other legacy carriers are up against intra Europe.
For some the lack of recline may be a big thing, but BA’s approach appears to be one of competing with the LCCs on cost, and thus has cut its cloth accordingly.
I’ve booked a handful of Euro flights for the months ahead and where historically Easyjet were more often and not the lowest price, BA are now often coming in lowest, with their hand baggage only fares.
For some it demonstrates a ‘race to the bottom’, however, for others (myself included), I’m quite happy to have the choice of low fares on short flights such as these, where I’m more interested in getting from A to B at the time I want to fly and at an economical price.

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TimFitzgeraldTC, Folium

[Swissdiver]

[quote quote=929687]Recline on short haul is unnecessary. One area where Easyjet beats BA – not having recline.[/quote]

Strongly disagree. I want the recline. It helps napping at the end of a long day. And for tall pax, it is really necessary.

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Frederic, PeterCoultas

[BackOfThePlane]

[quote quote=929723]

Montysaurus wrote:

Recline on short haul is unnecessary. One area where Easyjet beats BA – not having recline.

Strongly disagree. I want the recline. It helps napping at the end of a long day. And for tall pax, it is really necessary.[/quote]

As a ‘tall pax’, are you not relieved that the person in front won’t be reclining into your space / knees?

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PointyMark, lostantipod, TravellerHK1, Folium, Gin&Tonic

[TominScotland]

AlanOrton1 – very valid points about short-haul competition in Europe. Today’s BT’s report on losses across the Lufthansa Group (https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2019/04/16/lufthansa-group-issues-q1-profit-warning/) highlights, in particular, issues with their point-to-point businesses, Eurowings, Germanwings, Eurowings Europe and Brussels Airlines (although I did not see the latter in the that category). These are the carriers in direct competition with LCCs with little or no connecting traffic. This puts into perspective some of the decisions made by BA (seating, newspapers, BOB) which have generated so much fury and hot air on this Forum. Maybe Messrs. Walsh and Cruz are better at their jobs than they are given credit for!!

[openfly]

As BA has squeezed in extra rows into the new Neo 320/321 there just is not the space to have the luxury of reclining seats. The “ironing-board” seats that BA have fitted are so uncomfortable for any journey over one hour. Of course, the seats have to be suffered for much longer than the airtime….add on the boarding time, the taxi time at both ends and all waiting time and an hours flight easily becomes a 2 hour bad experience especially for tall passengers.
This also applies to Club Europe as the seats/pitch are the same, with the middle seat empty. The only solution in Club is to sit with your legs into the area of the empty middle seat!

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[Swissdiver]

[quote quote=929728]

Swissdiver wrote:

Montysaurus wrote:

Recline on short haul is unnecessary. One area where Easyjet beats BA – not having recline.

Strongly disagree. I want the recline. It helps napping at the end of a long day. And for tall pax, it is really necessary.

As a ‘tall pax’, are you not relieved that the person in front won’t be reclining into your space / knees?[/quote]

The person cannot on regular seats (my knees are on the seat). That said, I pay for extra legroom seats whenever I can.

[PeterCoultas]

Got caught out on a recent miserable return flight from Bulgaria… a rubbish seat notably no recline but also almost no padding….worse than Ryan and a reason to avoid BA. Clearly others are also avoiding this horror as we manage the empty middle seat so could manage a bit of stretching.

[EU_Flyer]

“As standards decline, so too does the recline”.

If anyone from BA marketing is reading this, I take commissions. Thank you.

To Fly, To Suffer

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openfly, JJ, AllOverTheGaff

[LondonViking]

I’m 6’2 in height and I applaud seats that don’t recline. It really bothers me when the person seated in front of me reclines their seat immediately after take off. It gets worse if there is a drinks/meal service and they don’t put their seat back to the upright position. I actually give BA a big thumbs-up for this!

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Londonian, TupeloKid, flyingdutchman1, Flyingsoldier1993, RomP, Montysaurus, Folium

[Chutzpahflyer]

Interesting to see the variety of views on this. I find BA and EasyJet are my usual choices for flying around Europe and prices are indeed fairly comparable these days, once all EasyJet’s extras are added. I can live without the recline on a 60-90 minute flight, but once it gets to 2-3 hours or more then I use the recline as a means of adjusting position during the flight, which I find very helpful to getting in to different comfortable (well. reasonably comfortable) positions. My point, though, is that this is just another way in which BA is taking the short-term view – compete by copying – rather than the longer-term view of compete through improved customer service and satisfaction.
No doubt there will be an announcement sometime soon about the removal of recline being an improvement in response to customer demand.

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[EU_Flyer]

[quote quote=929782]I’m 6’2 in height and I applaud seats that don’t recline. It really bothers me when the person seated in front of me reclines their seat immediately after take off. It gets worse if there is a drinks/meal service and they don’t put their seat back to the upright position. I actually give BA a big thumbs-up for this![/quote]

I agree. I’m also tall (6’5) and find BA’s new A320 seat pitch appalling. The prospect of the person in front reclining isn’t a pretty one, irrepective of whether I also recline. So this move preserves everyone’s space. But the legroom is still appalling.

I now avoid BA shorthaul wherever possible for the reason of space alone. Even Ryanair and Easyjet give me better options re space.

[Swissdiver]

I am 6″4. For me, non reclining seats are a reason to select another airline. So I guess I’ll have to find another short haul carrier, which basically leaves me with Swiss. Not sure I am a winner…

[canucklad]

There’s one factor not being taken into account here….

BA’s business model is heavily dependent on transfer traffic, not point to point.

I’ll happily sit upright for a Ryanair flight to and from Edinburgh to Alicante. I’ve started and ended my journey at each end.

Not sure if I was a Greek passenger flying from Athens to Los Angeles I’d be as happy.
Possibly tolerate the seat from ATH to LHR, but on the way back after a long night in Y , I’d not be at all impressed.

And , if I had forked out for a Club world ticket, I’d be even less impressed, I’d want to maximise my comfort as best I could.

You can’t replicate a LCC model if you stive to be a premium long haul carrier .

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PointyMark, lostantipod, Carlton-Browne, theworldtraveller, Jacob, Swissdiver

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