Starting this fall you lucky travelers in UA Intl's Bus Class

http://suitedreams.united.com/

Aloha!

ht, thanks for that link! Looks just great! But... I wonder how hard it is to climb over the aisle "bed" if you are in the window "bed" and need to get up from your seat. Other than that, I can't wait to try it out!
Carol

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that 1. the seats will be comfortable for me (I find many lay-flat seats to be hard on my back) and 2. the seats will be installed in the 777 we fly in November.

simpsonc510 - UA's new C-product is the same configuration as BA's. About half will be facing backwards. There's room between sequencing aisle seat for the person in the middle to walk out. No need to climb over anything.

Here's a picture of BA's 744:

www.airliners.net/open.file/1201503/L/

Wow. Great news.

The in-laws are flying United on our Nov. trip LAX--Tokyo--BKK. 747s the whole way, I believe. Will this be the new setup for them?

If so, I love that--it means they'll be in a good mood when they arrive.

Don't get too excited. UA is only going to start reconfiguring planes late this year, and it will take until (at least) late 2009 before they get to all of their a/c. The likelihood of being on a new C plane in Nov. is extremely small.

I am encouraged by the UA setup, though. I love BA's seats and sleep like a baby in them. I always sit backwards in them to get a window seat, and there's zero issues in flying that way. (A bit odd the first time taking off and landing, but no difference when in the air.) I like the flat seats *way* better than the angled ones I've flown on -- Thai, Singapore, Lufthansa, Swiss. I haven't flown on Air Canada's new C Yet, but I don't like the notion of having to turn 135 degrees to look out the window in a window seat.

One minor point: UA's configuration will not be the same as BA's. Although some of US's seats will face backwards, it will be the entire row of C seats that face forward or backward, and not the alternating front-back within each row, as on BA.

The UA makes it <i>much</i> easier for people traveling together -- on BA, the only way to face the same way as your travel-mate is to take the 2 seats in the center of the 4-seat center section.

Ah... Yes, a bit different from BA's layout. However, I think it may be a bit difficult for some to get out. Like Seat 8A, the window seat on the 744. When everybody's sleeping, this passenger has to maneuver around 7A, 8B and 7B to get out.

Seat maps are here:

www.prnewswire.com/mnr/united/28964/

About time they did this. Hope its in good timing for all fodorites flights

Aloha!

i don't have any sympathy for any of you.....!!! fly coach and see how comfortable the seats are: just like a feather bed...

I'm anxious to give it a try. Bob, use some of the ff miles to upgrade like I do!

Carol

Carol - There are fewer C seats on all the new configurations, so upgrade opportunity may be fewer. Just to keep that in mind.

Also very interesting that they're dramatically cutting the number of E+ seats on the 744 while increasing those of E-. Seems like UA's realizing the Chinese are cheapo (or they're short), and don't care about paying extra for legroom.

[Those relatives of mine that fly UA to China/Hong Kong are both short and cheap!]

rkkwan
I appreciate the info about fewer seats. I may have to start booking much farther in advance to be sure I get my upgrades. Drat... I'm often booking about a month to 6 weeks out.

I'm not a cheapo and I'm not short, at nearly 6', so those business class seats are really important to me. E+ is nice, but not as much space as I really need to be comfortable, in order to survive the long hauls to BKK from ORD.

Carol

I wondered whether they had cut the number of biz seats. It's really too bad. It's already very difficult to get biz class upgrades from Seattle, this will make it harder.

I'm with Bob. We want to get the entire long haul experience unadulterated by comfort or service. It's important for us to get off the plane in Asia with as little rest as possible. United economy is very helpful in this regard.

From a quick scan of the promo site and the current seat maps, it looks like C seat reductions from:

73 to 52 on the 747
49/45 to 40 on the 777
32 to 26 on the 767

I've already resigned myself to the probability of admiring them from E+.

We'll continue to use United miles to fly business class on Thai or other Star Alliance airlines when possible. Flat seats or not - its still UAL.

As long as you people stay back there in whatever place they put you, and do try not to make much noise, then it really doesn't make any difference to me.

The more I study the seating plan, the more I worry about these seats on the 777. 8 seat across - and this is actually side-by-side across, not staggered, not head-to-toe - will mean the narrowest international business class seats out there.

Sure, if you're on a red-eye flight to Europe, you want a flat bed to sleep. But during daytime flights, or the waking hours on trips to Asia, I seriously worry about the comfort level with these very narrow seats.

8 across in the 777? They are 7 across now. That would be a real downgrade.