[GordyUK]

be careful what you jump at nscb1973. if you’ve never been in O/F then you may find it ok, but i booked F for LHR-MIA and the only flight in the past 3 weeks to get the misfortune of this old bucket, was mine. It was awful.

There are forum posts online which say that if, when you check-in, a “COT” appears by seat 5K and the closet between 1a/k dissapears – that this is a sign of new first. I had that on checkin… i then asked at First check-in and was assure it was NF.. We got to the aircraft and it was O/F.. i was so angry, i asked to be moved to Club World. At least there you get a monitor that’s usable and a modern comfortable flat-bed. The only benefit of O/F over CW is the food/service but if that cabin is only being sold as C/W, – personally i’d move!

[passionateflyer]

@GordyUK out of interest, did they allow you to downgrade onboard?

[GordyUK]

I don’t know what the policy was, but the flight attendant went and asked the pax on the upper deck if anyone wanted to swap with me. Needless to say there was. Someone probably thought Xmas had arrived early.

[tangey1]

Nscb1973.

You don’t say when you are flying. But if it’s after oct, then that LAS-LHR flight will be an OF 747, and the F cabin will be getting a biz service, which is why youve gotten a seat in it.

[GordyUK]

That’s the point I was making tangey1. I assumed NSBC1973 new it was going to be Club World and was commenting accordingly.

Oops, did you think BA had just Mis-seated you?

[nscb1973]

Thanks for your thoughts guys. Yes I knew it would be CW but I am weighing up the pro’s & cons of the OF seat with CW service on an overnight 10+ hr flight verses my usual upper deck CW seat. I have been lucky enough to experience NF 4 times on the 77W and thoroughly enjoyed it but never flown OF. OF seat overnight flight in 2A = no neighbour! very limited footfall and I get to fly in the nose of a B744 before they disappear! Your thoughts?
Also looking forward to my outbound flight in AA’s new business on the B777-300 ER. Sure it will be a very interesting comparison to BA CW.

[nscb1973]

Oh and tangey1. I’m flying out end of February back first week of March next year.

[Speedbird_ABZ]

Snap nscb1973! I’ve just booked the same itinerary in July. First of all I was shocked to find Avios availability, then also concerned that I could choose 2 A/K. I had the same thought regarding being moved. I too like UD – don’t we all -but am excited about 2A/K. I don’t think anyone on here will make me change though?

[dutchyankee]

@ nscb1973 – 28/08/2014 10:06 GMT

I would keep 2A, especially as your intent is to sleep most likely, and for sure even in OF the bed is better than CW. GordyUK sounds as he has much more experience with First on BA than I do, and I have only flown NF twice and found it very nice on the 777, a bit less so on the 747, but have flown OF quite a bit in the past and find OF to be still a good product compared to CW except as Gordy indicated with regard to the IFE. OF and NF pale however when compared to most other international carriers` first offerings.

I have flown AA`s new business class on their 777-300 a few times, however, and this kicks the butt of CW without doubt. And if you like the upper deck on BA, be sure to block a seat in row 3 or 4 on the AA 77W to give you that exclusive small cabin feel. The main Business Cabin on the AA 77W feels a bit like a dormitory, but the seat is without a doubt leaps ahead of CW.

[GordyUK]

I have to agree with dutchyankee and at the end of the day, its all about personal preference vs what you’ll be doing on the flight. If you are on a red eye, then I agree, stick with O/F 2A. Once its a bed and you are eye-shaded and ear-plugged, you’ll benefit from this. If, you’re on a day flight and NOT getting the F food/service, I would most certainly go U/D and enjoy its modern comfort. Sure there are physically more seats and you have the potential to “face” someone, but some of these O/F seats are held together with duck-tape, dirt and prayers 😉 – the CSM on the A380 flight home referred to them as “the old walnut coffins” – catchy? 😉

Whichever you go with, enjoy it. I sometimes have to remember that people may look at conversations like this and scream #firstworldproblems 🙂

[dutchyankee]

@ GordyUK – 28/08/2014 10:26 GMT

`the old walnut coffins` that is too funny!!!

Fully agree with your points re: OF and UD CW.

[GordyUK]

funny right…. I wish i’d thought of it 😉

[nscb1973]

LOL! Indeed first world problems! Thanks for everyone’s thoughts.
dutchyankee I have already done my research and have reserved 3J on my AA flight!
My flight from LAS to LHR is indeed the overnight ‘red eye’ so thinking I’m going to try and hold onto 2A if I can.

[IanFromHKG]

Ie with dutchyankee that the AA 77W J seats beat the pants off CW, but disagree with him about row 4 – I sat in 4J and it was awful. It isn’t aligned with the centre seats but is behind them, which means the galley is virtually next to you and the toilets immediately behind.

OPh, and Tom Otley agrees with me (see his full review at http://www.businesstraveller.asia/tried-and-tested/airlines/american-airlines/100199/american-airlines-b777-300er-business-class-2). He says:

“In this front cabin, avoid 4A and 4J because of galley noise, which to start with was very impressive, with sharp loud bags as various items were stowed before take-off and later at various service times.

Row 3 is quieter, but it only has one window compared with the two that row 4 has. All the seats have a good amount of room in the overhead lockers. Best seat would be in row 3 in this cabin.”

[dutchyankee]

Hi Ian,

I have always had 3G, which I found perfect, but will for sure avoid row 4 on the basis of what you say. The main aspect I did enjoy, however, after the great seat, was the intimate size of the cabin versus the main Business cabin.

I often wonder if the crew are ever taught to be more aware of the noise they make as this is also the case on a number of aircraft with various airlines. I had it once on BA 744 main deck CW, where I actually went to the Galley and asked them to quiet down, which they did and were quite apologetic too.

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