ALL QF's 330's to get lay flat Business seating - Including Domestic

[Awesom Andy]

Hmmm, if I book now, can I tell which 330s have the upgraded seats for July, or not, or is that a known unkown?.

If you must book now, I guess we can look up the seat map and hope for the best. Otherwise, waiting would be the best option.

 

[moa999]

AusBT has tweeted pics of the new A330BS Economy seats and 11" IFE:
See - http://t.co/fKXt4QuszJ
(this site does not embed Twitter easily)



Very similar to the mockup drawings:
Qantas upgrades economy class seats on domestic international Airbus A330s - Australian Business Traveller

But quite different to what is in the first A332BS (VH-EBV)
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ll-qfs-330s-get-lay-53445-17.html#post1173958

 

[eminere]

Screen grab from around 1min5 in the promo video and 10 seconds in the shortened version - Oroton logo next to Old Roo….

Overall though it looks good and a much needed improvement for QF on flights into Asia. From the looks of things, QF 35/36/81/82 will be prioritised for International routes? Hopefully after that QF 5/6/51/52 will be targeted so at least there is one destination where the business suite is guaranteed.

Oroton confirmed as the partner of the new business class amenity kit on flights departing from Asia on the' upgraded A330s.

 

[get me outta here]

I have my last 30K USDM miles in J before AA subsumes them so would need to book soon once I decide.

If you must book now, I guess we can look up the seat map and hope for the best. Otherwise, waiting would be the best option.

 

[markis10]

Oroton confirmed as the partner of the new business class amenity kit on flights departing from Asia on the' upgraded A330s.

Confirmed by RedRoo up thread

We're also excited to welcome Oroton onboard as the latest designer brand to create our Business amenity kit: Oroton adds extra luxury on Qantas flights to Asia

http://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/oroton-adds-extra-luxury-on-qantas-flights-to-asia

 

[Awesom Andy]

But quite different to what is in the first A332BS (VH-EBV)

Only the A333s get the new economy seats.

 

[ajw373]

Only the A333s get the new economy seats.

Though the -200s are getting new seat covers so you would think they might have been similar to the -300's.

 

[Awesom Andy]

Though the -200s are getting new seat covers so you would think they might have been similar to the -300's.

I think they would still look quite different given they are different seats.

 

[ajw373]

I think they would still look quite different given they are different seats.

Of course there would be physical differences, but no reason they couldn't have looked alike. Take the headrests for exmaple, black on -EBV, red on -QPA, different patterns. All things that could been the same.

 

[ChrisCunard]

Hello,



EBV already had excellent economy seating while QPA had very old economy seats.

It makes sense to me that Qantas would utilise the existing product which is already best in class for domestic.

International, longer haul needed the new seats as the original product wasn't up to scratch compared to the competition.

Now it's EBA/EBB/EBC et. al. which I think will be the problems for the Qantas fleet.

When I was aboard EBV last week I walked both cabins and trust me it was smiles all around. People were delighted with the product. Perhaps not so with iPads in economy.

The potential issue will be when an economy pax flies over with Panasonic IFE and the newer seat design and then gets an iPad and an older (albeit recovered) seat on the return.

Qantas must have reckoned that expense of adding IFE and new seats to EBA (and friends) is higher than the benefit of domestic fleet consistency and passenger experience.

Perhaps they are right. People seemed happy enough with iPads on the 763 fleet - at least on the 10+ flights I did with them.

But VH-EBV is, IMO, currently the best domestic experience around. It was absolutely superb (granted I was in J, and all aircraft will have the new J).

Plus the crew on QF772 were amazing. Red Roo take note

 

[ajw373]

Hello,

EBV already had excellent economy seating while QPA had very old economy seats.

Have no problem with the seats being re-used, just questioning why they have gone different colours and patterns down the back, ie created a different look. Nothing what so ever to do with the actual seats.

 

[under the radar]

Have no problem with the seats being re-used, just questioning why they have gone different colours and patterns down the back, ie created a different look. Nothing what so ever to do with the actual seats.

same colour palette ...slightly different applications...big whooop!!!...if it concerns you that much...contact QANTAS for an official response

 

[Mr_Orange]

People seemed happy enough with iPads on the 763 fleet

I beg to differ. I thought iPads were a cough idea and still do. I realise they served a purpose for the 763s which were to be shortly retired but continuing the use of iPads on aircraft that still have many years of service ahead of them was a cheap and tacky decision.

If there is one thing that QF are constantly criticised for it is their consistency, or lack thereof. They had the perfect opportunity to create a consistent product across the entire A330 fleet and they couldn't even get that right.

 

[moa999]

Any airline beyond startup phase will have inconsistency.

Note the oldest A330-200s are 12yrs and as short/medium haul aircraft will have done more cycles, so much like the 767s it may be a sensible decision. Also suspect that installing Y IFE on an aircraft that never had it is not a simple task if cables not laid in the initial build

 

[eosphoros]

Any airline beyond startup phase will have inconsistency.

I agree. I am not sure that there is any legacy airline that will have a completely consistent product.

 

[RooFlyer]

same colour palette ...slightly different applications...big whooop!!!...if it concerns you that much...contact QANTAS for an official response

Isn't that the Qantas official response ... right there?

 

[wenglock.mok]

I beg to differ. I thought iPads were a cough idea and still do.

The iPads when they first rolled out on the 767s were actually okay and pretty usable I thought. They just needed more content, which was easily solved by loading the server up.

However, as time wore on and nearer to the end of life of the 767s, I noticed they updated the iPads with newer versions of the software and that's when I thought it sorta went to pot because the updates introduced lagginess into the UI and made it quite prone to crashing at times. It was almost as if any action on the iPad required some sort of communication to and from the server which made selecting and pressing buttons pretty excruciating at times.

I would have thought the ideal way of designing the software is that there be an independent client software running on the iPad that would load up a list of content from the server and allow the user to select without actually needing to talk to server until the content needs to be streamed but from what I've observed, that does not seem to be the case. It's almost as if the iPad is a thin client that relies almost too much on the server for its behaviour. On an aircraft with 250 (or 300 on the A330) iPads talking to the few Wi-Fi access points on the aircraft, you can imagine how responsive that is going to be.

In short, it could be workable especially given that CASA now allows for them to be used gate to gate. However, they should probably get the software right and actually test it by having 300 people actually on an aircraft and pressing buttons before rolling it out on the A330 (not that they haven't already, but if my experiences on the 767 were anything to go by, the testing was obviously not sufficiently rigorous).

 

[ajw373]

If there is one thing that QF are constantly criticised for it is their consistency, or lack thereof. They had the perfect opportunity to create a consistent product across the entire A330 fleet and they couldn't even get that right.

Exactly and that is why even though relativity minor in the grand scheme of things I question why a different pattern and colour scheme on the -200 Y seat's.

 

[Awesom Andy]

Currently sitting in the MEL F lounge, and have been informed that QF 35 will indeed have the new seats today. Let's see how this goes.

 

[cmon0005]

Currently sitting in the MEL F lounge, and have been informed that QF 35 will indeed have the new seats today. Let's see how this goes.

Woohoo! pics please! Does it have a new paint job on the outside of aircraft?