[Anonymous]

[openfly]

On April 14th I flew CDG-JNB on the Air France A380, in Business Class.
I found it impossible to sleep due to the constant noise from the seat electric motors whirring away, and the unbelievably loud call-bell system.
The aircraft is superb, as is the Air France business class experience. They have certainly improved since the last time I flew with them.
I gather from the cabin crew that they are also complaining about the constant noises, along with the passengers. The cabin is normally amazingly quiet. But there is a design fault with the seat motors and each time a seat is moved the noise can be heard around the cabin. The bell signal which goes through the PA system is very loud. This occurs prior to a PA announcement, the seat bell sign being illuminated and the passenger call bell being pressed. It is very easy to accidently knock the callbell when you are turning over in your bed consequently the ‘ding’ goes all the time. Impossible to sleep! Something so simple spoilt what could have been a perfect flight.
When Airbus sort out the problem maybe I shall use it again.
The problem is generic and all operators are suffering from passenger complaints. Such a disappointment.

[MarcusUK]

Strange to have made such a design fault.
cert the SQ A380 isn’t like this, very strange for such quiet when flying.
Lets hope they listen, but being AF i doubt it.

Would be interesting to see which A380 is the overall best design?

[cityprofessional]

It’s not Airbus’s fault that the cabin is quiet. I’d rather it be quieter than the constant hum of engines on a long haul flight that keep ringing through your ears for hours afterwards

Have you thought about earplugs?

[openfly]

Hi City…
Yes I used my earplugs, but the constant ‘dong’ of the call bells through the PA still gets through!!
Marcus….so it appears that the AF cabin crew were telling porkies about it being a ‘generic fault’…maybe it is only the AF A380. The electric seats may be unique to AF but they are damned noisey…such a shame!

[MarcusUK]

All i can say is the SQ A380 there was no such noise, take off was very quiet, no call systems or bold lighting either, just soft contemporary cabin in C.
I Have flown several of them between LHR-SIN-SYD, same all through.

Trying the EK in Economy between Auckland -Sydney next week, be interesting to see a comparison between the two, in terms of design internally, & the overall feel.

[TominScotland]

I have travelled on the A380 with EK and SQ, always in Economy and have was impressed each time by how quiet the experience was. EK’s layout (on DXB-AKL) had a real feeling of space, especially if you can get a seat in the relatively small forward cabin. Downstairs in all Economy. On my three legs with SQ (LHR-SIN; SIN-MEL and SIN-LHR), I made sure that I got seats in the small upstairs Economy cabin, behind Business Class – that is relatively quiet in aircraft and passenger noise terms. Downside is slow disembarkation.

[AMcWhirter]

Tom, I agree about SQ’s A380 rear upper deck having the best economy seating. As far as I know, SQ is the only carrier allowing economy passengers to occupy this area as other A380 carriers like QF place their premium economy section here.

[openfly]

The rear upper deck on AF A380 has about 20 rows of Y seating, behind J. It looked quite cosy compared to the ‘zoo’ downstairs! On my recent flight we were totally full with 544 pax…it seemed that they were all in economy!!! Downstairs were disembarked well before the upper deck (J) which meant that there were a lot of pax ahead in the immigration queue.
Thanks for the comments about the noise problems on AF…it looks as though the other carriers A380s are ok.

[AMcWhirter]

Openfly, I’d forgotten about AF’s A380 upper deck Y class. Best take advantage of it while you can. AF is busy installing premium economy seating on the rest of its fleet and this seating type will eventually find its way onto AF’s A380s.

[MarcusUK]

Took the EK flight on the A380 Auckland to Sydney on Monday.
(See diff thread re EK Nz-Oz)

Apart from about 10 seats along the whole economy cabin, it was full to Sydney! i suppose charging £89 one way for a 3 hrs flight, with all the plush of a long haul Aircraft, & being the A380, people would take it compared to a Qantas 737.

Layout was pretty spacious, & I must say as quiet as the SQ i travelled on also numerous times. I sat in the 2nd economy cabin just in front of the engines & wings. Taking a walk around, it certainly was more noisy as you would expect at the back.
So i wonder what AF have or have not done, & maybe LH?
they seems to be packing in more seats on their configurations…

MH & CX have chance to build on others better & lesser points with their A380’s in the pipeline, with PE being built in. Interesting to see what transpires as other Airlines take delivery, & what they choose to configure…

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