New seating on QF A330's - a user experience...

[munitalP]

I experienced the new Y seating on a QF A330 yesterday. My impressions were good - I was 24K with 24J empty - MEL/PER

The seat pitch seems to be slightly greater, and the new tray and AVOD system fantastic.

I crashed the AVOD while playing between the messaging and the flight path option, however, the flight attendant reset the AVOD (my seat only) and was all up and running in a few minutes.

The recline / slide function is great, the feeling of a greater angle of recline makes the seating far more comfortable if deciding to sleep, and the interference to the PAX behind seems to be less than the standard seating on QF.

The in seat USB socket is good if needing to recharge an iphone or similar device, but again, there is no in seat AC or DC for laptops in Y - oh yes of course, business people only travel J :shocked:

 

[munitalP]

The screen size is fantastic and the choice of media was as good as I have experienced in INT J on QF.

Seat to seat messaging is going to be an instant hit - I think the continuous tap tap tapping on the screen behind your head may become irritating after a while though...

 

[munitalP]

The menus are all touch screen including volume control etc.

 

[munitalP]

As previously said, all in all, I was impressed with this seating. I hope it eventually finds it's way into the entire fleet.

Mr!

 

[samh004]

The ability to chat with other passengers looks like fun

But wow, was it cold outside :shock: -62ºC, really?

 

[ejb_nz]

The ability to chat with other passengers looks like fun

But wow, was it cold outside :shock: -62ºC, really?

That is pretty normal for 12 km up.

I think that is the reason you can't open windows onboard

I am on one of these new A332's on Monday and if I can figure it out I will post some pics of J seating.

ejb

 

[mannej]

Having been on Clare Valley last week (EBN), I can say that I was very impressed compared to Margaret River (EBJ). I think QF is onto a winner with this design, and apart from one little improvement I can think of, I think this product will easily eclipse any other existing domestic product.

The IFE was great, and responsive, and the seats were good, if not a bit hard for my liking (this may do with the injuries from a car accident the week prior...)

Certain airlines (MH for one) have a button which adjusts the firmness of the seat, this would be my only suggestion but its only a minor one.

 

[milehighclub]

The in seat USB socket is good if needing to recharge an iphone or similar device, but again, there is no in seat AC or DC for laptops in Y - oh yes of course, business people only travel J :shocked:

There should be power points - the new 737's have them in Y and these are the same seats.

They are a little bit hidden though so this picture should show you where to look (This seat is a A380 seat but used as a diagram to show where to find it) Picture belongs to eoinnz

 

[Davo70]

...and the seats were good, if not a bit hard for my liking (this may do with the injuries from a car accident the week prior...)

Certain airlines (MH for one) have a button which adjusts the firmness of the seat, this would be my only suggestion but its only a minor one.

+1 on the seat hardness comment. Quite noticeable at first however once you're butt goes numb after the first 20 minutes of sitting - no problem.

 

[serfty]

Seat hardness is an issue, but at my shoulders.

The new seats are 'shorter' than those previously employed, but the head rest still raises.

The first time I used them (trans-Tasman) I found the top of the backrest cushion formed a ridge digging into me, just below my shoulder height; I found this very uncomfortable. (just the wrong height for me)

However, the seats must get a fair bashing as I did find with subsequent travel that the ridge has softened somewhat.

 

[b_a_g]

Flew on of these to Auckland.

2 things struck me as particularly annoying:
1 - Games such as bejeweled (and messaging for that matter) get frustrating when people tap on back of seats - fortunately not mine, but i pitied the person across the aisle and 1 row in front of me

2 - the in armrest controls get bumped by arms and elbows, which sometimes go out of a program, and then you can't go directly back to where you were, so spend the next 5 minutes fast forwarding from the start. Very annoying an hour in to a movie.

 

[tuapekastar]

I thought the TT 738 with the new touchscreen AVOD was great. I hardly ever watch movies at home, but seem to make up for it on planes...makes the trip go so much quicker.

Didn't notice anything radically uncomfortable about the new seating, but I may (hopefully it's a 'new' 738) have another go at it in a couple of weeks.

 

[thewinchester]

Having used the inter-seat chat, it's a royal PITA.

The calibration of the screens and the size of the virtual keyboard makes it near impossible to use or type a correctly spelt sentence.

Interestingly, no censorship built in to the system. The swear words me and my friend were sending back and forth might have made builders blush.

 

[737]

Having used the inter-seat chat, it's a royal PITA.

The calibration of the screens and the size of the virtual keyboard makes it near impossible to use or type a correctly spelt sentence.

Interestingly, no censorship built in to the system. The swear words me and my friend were sending back and forth might have made builders blush.

I have paxed on the new A332, and was chatting to a colleague of mine, and found that the end of a pen works well on the screen. The soft touch of a finger doesn't seem to work as well. As long as it isn't the ball-point end (don't want to damage it!) then it works fantastically, much like a stylus does. However, I don't know if this would annoy the person in front on a Y seat, as I was in J at the time and had no problem, but give it a go!

And for those of you who have long fingernails with pretty nail polish on them, that works just as good, lol

 

[anat0l]

I have paxed on the new A332, and was chatting to a colleague of mine, and found that the end of a pen works well on the screen. The soft touch of a finger doesn't seem to work as well. As long as it isn't the ball-point end (don't want to damage it!) then it works fantastically, much like a stylus does. However, I don't know if this would annoy the person in front on a Y seat, as I was in J at the time and had no problem, but give it a go!

The impact of a stylus tapping away probably won't annoy the pax in front of you, but the noise just might. Oh well.

I have to admit sometimes that those remote controls with alphanumeric keypads on them can be slow to register and tend to have sticky keys.

 

[oz_mark]

And for those of you who have long fingernails with pretty nail polish on them, that works just as good, lol

I have found that they are quite easy to operate with even short fingernails free of nail polish.

 

[Pvcmenace]

It will only be a matter of time till we are all banging away on Apple ipads on the back of seats, surely gonna work out cheaper for the airlines and with better functionality.