Dreamliner 787-8

[BarraMarra]

I flew on Dreamliner a few times great Aircraft. Aisle seats are a no no for me whatever Aircraft you're on. If its a long haul you might try and sleep but people have a habit of brushing past you if your arm is on the arm of the Aisle seat or the Trolly dolly smashes into you if you are not in your little space ie not overhanging on the Aisle. The cabin lights on my Gulf Air flight into Bkk were dimmed with a light show including purple, yellow, and blue lighting throughout the Cabin Soothing.

[georgegeorgia]

2 hours ago, Chivas said:

 

lol 80% is the seat and configuration

 

The point of an aircraft is to get you from A to B safely I couldnt care less if the foods not the best  or the flight crew look like Russian shotputters with hairy legs

 

Seat seat seat !!!

I agree 85%

It's up to the seating comfort

I don't really care if I never see the cabin crew as long as my seat is comfy 

[jippytum]

On 4/5/2024 at 4:23 AM, still kicking said:

I fly Thai airlines 

That information was a great help to the poster

[Rampant Rabbit]

19 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

I agree and love the A380 for all the reasons you say but I didn't enjoy the business class on the A380 as I found it too big!

u should try first

[CANSIAM]

One of the faster birds in the air today, or fastest. BC was very nice on the Qatar 787........

[Scouse123]

2 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

u should try first

 

 

 

Which plane is that?

 

 

The cabin layout looks like a relic very poor and dated.

 

I can see an Orchid, is it Thai?

 

You will have to help me here.

[Scouse123]

Gents,

 

I'll be travelling on three different planes with Qatar next month, A380 BKK-DOH, 787-9 Dreamliner DOH-MAN

 

Return is A350 Qsuites ( upgrade Q credits) MAN-DOH and A380 DOH-BKK.

 

With these choices and picking my seats, it will be the best trip I can arrange for myself without splurging 3500 GBP for business class.

 

I can't justify it to myself when I am used to paying 1700/ 1800 GBP for business class.

 

I still queue in the business lines, priority boarding, access to business lounges and 20 kg extra in luggage, what's not to like?

 

My total flight price is around 1,000 GBP, I did say I paid more to use the A380 on two legs.

 

I could have saved more cash if I had used Q points, but I didn't bother using them.

 

When my other half flies with me at the back end of the year I will use them up, then next year join the other guys on here who forget about loyalty to one airline and just shop for the best deals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rampant Rabbit]

16 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

 

 

 

Which plane is that?

 

 

The cabin layout looks like a relic very poor and dated.

 

I can see an Orchid, is it Thai?

 

You will have to help me here.

Its Typical Emirates over blinged with gold, they still use this on  some of their A380s others have been upgraded without all the gold, the bathrooms  great 

[Scouse123]

@Rampant Rabbit

 

To be fair, I love those bathrooms on Emirates. I haven't flown business with them since the days you could smoke cigarettes on board, and I stopped smoking twenty years ago.

 

A big pal of mine swears by Emirates for BC, but he loves the Chauffeur pick up from his home.

 

Two or three years ago, I flew business with Etihad which was fine, since then, I've been chasing my tail trying to get the best deals possible with Qatar, paying for tier bonuses etc.

 

As I said in a different post, after this trip, my next one I will use up my Q points and Q credits and then next year I am shopping around for the best deals.

 

On my last business A380 flight with Qatar, we didn't have doors on the business cabin, I am fairly sure we didn't.

[Rampant Rabbit]

1 minute ago, Scouse123 said:

@Rampant Rabbit

 

To be fair, I love those bathrooms on Emirates. I haven't flown business with them since the days you could smoke cigarettes on board, and I stopped smoking twenty years ago.

 

A big pal of mine swears by Emirates for BC, but he loves the Chauffeur pick up from his home.

 

Two or three years ago, I flew business with Etihad which was fine, since then, I've been chasing my tail trying to get the best deals possible with Qatar, paying for tier bonuses etc.

 

As I said in a different post, after this trip, my next one I will use up my Q points and Q credits and then next year I am shopping around for the best deals.

 

On my last business A380 flight with Qatar, we didn't have doors on the business cabin, I am fairly sure we didn't.

sent you a  pm

[AverageAussie]

20 hours ago, Chivas said:

 

lol 80% is the seat and configuration

 

The point of an aircraft is to get you from A to B safely I couldnt care less if the foods not the best  or the flight crew look like Russian shotputters with hairy legs

 

Seat seat seat !!!

 

17 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

I agree 85%

It's up to the seating comfort

I don't really care if I never see the cabin crew as long as my seat is comfy 

 

Each to his own. My numbers were a personal weighting, based on my subjective preferences.

 

There's not a lot to differentiate seats other than the materials used, width and of course leg room. Service on the other hand goes well beyond the greetings and coffee & biscuits on offer. It includes the boarding & deplaning process, entertainment, and even communication skills by crew such as announcements and defusing potential issues with passengers before they become serious.

 

Why do you think people are prepared to pay double or triple the airfare for a personalised experience on business class, when there's only an incremental improvement in the seat itself? IMHO - I'd much prefer to fly Economy class on EK with only 1" extra width in their seats, rather than JQ with their limited IFE, servings of dried out pasta, stale sandwiches, $10 beers and a corporate culture that sees every gram of passion sucked out of their crew. When the service is less than optimal, you can have the best seat on the plane and still feel disappointed when you get to your destination.

[AverageAussie]

3 hours ago, CANSIAM said:

One of the faster birds in the air today, or fastest. BC was very nice on the Qatar 787........

 

Yes. It makes sense if you consider that the 787 actually evolved out of Boeing's "Sonic Cruiser" project in the 1990s. That concept passenger plane featured Delta-wings (seen on the Concorde) and was designed to fly at Mach 0.98. In a post 9/11 world there wasn't much interest from the airlines for that, but Boeing chose to dial down the cruising speed to Mach 0.85 and focus instead on fuel economy. Some of the technological advances carried across to their 7E7 project - and that eventually morphed into the 787.

 

It's not unusual for the "ground speed" on a 787 flight to exceed supersonic speeds - with a decent tail wind of course.

[Bob12345]

Dont forget the internal pressure at 7000 feet making it more comfy than the normal 6000 feet or 8000 feet. Its nice inbetween, but dont select the middle seat cause then you are inbetween in the wrong way

[Chivas]

11 hours ago, AverageAussie said:

 

 

Why do you think people are prepared to pay double or triple the airfare for a personalised experience on business class, when there's only an incremental improvement in the seat itself?

 

I have absolutely no idea why they do !

 

I was upgraded very luckily on Etihad on both sectors London to Bangkok last October.

 

All very fine and nice I totally agree but Biz was 4 times the cost I had paid. Bigger seat china plates food was nice....err thats it

 

I still didnt sleep

 

You gotta be bonkers to pay triple let alone quadruple for a seat that lands 20 metres in front of economy down the runway

[AverageAussie]

6 hours ago, Chivas said:

I have absolutely no idea why they do !

 

I do.

 

If you have the discretionary income (or reserves) then why not enjoy what's left of our short lives? Some people do appreciate the finer things and place a high value on being fussed over.

 

The only thing that ever concerns me when I'm lucky enough to fly business, is dying 0.08 seconds sooner in the event of a full-speed crash somewhere than those plebs 20m further back in cattle class. I've lost 80 milliseconds of my life. 

[Rampant Rabbit]

19 hours ago, AverageAussie said:

Why do you think people are prepared to pay double or triple the airfare for a personalised experience on business class, when there's only an incremental improvement in the seat itself?

When was the last time you flew  Business  Class, there is no massive increase in service form the crew, the seat IS way  bigger  with way more legroom and is almost al lie flat these  days. Ive been on Emirates in Business  when they forgot my "welcome drink" twice, hows  that for greeting their premium passengers. Then again in business  asked for chicken.none left, ended up with economy  meal as they had  chicken. trust me the service these  days is so so.

DElta Airline ,Business  UK to New  York booked  seats business class  together, when boarded wife and i split up, no reason, then lost the bags for 4  days, had to buy Clothes to wear at new  York

[Rampant Rabbit]

7 hours ago, Chivas said:

 

I have absolutely no idea why they do !

 

I was upgraded very luckily on Etihad on both sectors London to Bangkok last October.

 

All very fine and nice I totally agree but Biz was 4 times the cost I had paid. Bigger seat china plates food was nice....err thats it

 

I still didnt sleep

 

You gotta be bonkers to pay triple let alone quadruple for a seat that lands 20 metres in front of economy down the runway

If you shop a about and travel dates  are  flexible with longer  transit times Business is not even DOUBLE the price, just paid £1800 Bankok UK with one airline most economy  tickets hovering around  £1000 at the moment

[treetops]

10 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

Then again in business  asked for chicken.none left, ended up with economy  meal as they had  chicken. trust me the service these  days is so so.

 

Emirates have recently introduced pre-ordering meals so that should be a thing of the past once it's fully rolled out.

[AverageAussie]

10 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

When was the last time you flew  Business  Class, there is no massive increase in service form the crew, the seat IS way  bigger  with way more legroom and is almost al lie flat these  days.

 

To answer your first question, it was 2023 (several times). But why is this relevant? Would my opinion be any less worthy if it was 10 years ago? 

 

In any case, it's all about perception when it comes to airline ticket sales, not necessarily the reality. Pricing is dynamic, but certainly not arbitrary. Every airline will have an actuarial department that does nothing but constantly analyse and price their seats for every single flight. If cumulative booking rates fall behind on their algorithm, then they will either drop the fare, run a special on select flights and/or release a few reward seats.

 

The pricing is ultimately determined by supply & demand. One example for the Aussie market is QF. Business fares on their A380 might typically be about 4½ times the Economy fare ($705 vs $3,226 in early May, SYD to SIN route) whilst the seats themselves only occupy about triple the real estate. So if that's happening and tickets are still being sold with those fares, then there's more to it than just the seat.

 

You can come up with as many personal anecdotes as you wish, but until the overall PERCEPTION of value diminishes there won't be any drift back to Economy travel or re-alignment of the fare differential.

[tomazbodner]

On 4/5/2024 at 2:38 AM, still kicking said:

Anybody used it yet? I booked a flight to Swampy next week and the plane will be 787-8. So, my question is has anybody used it yet, and what is it like? I will fly cattle class since I picked up a cheap flight.

One of my favourite birds despite some bad press on battery and assembly quality issues.

Took it just a month back to SG and it's quiet, seats had lots of space, just outside engine covers looked a bit discolored, and some paint towards the back of the plane chipping off, but nothing serious. Service was ok, food was a bit below par, but acceptable for bankrupt airline.

 

Overall, not complaining.

[Rampant Rabbit]

2 hours ago, AverageAussie said:

 

To answer your first question, it was 2023 (several times). But why is this relevant? Would my opinion be any less worthy if it was 10 years ago? 

 

In any case, it's all about perception when it comes to airline ticket sales, not necessarily the reality. Pricing is dynamic, but certainly not arbitrary. Every airline will have an actuarial department that does nothing but constantly analyse and price their seats for every single flight. If cumulative booking rates fall behind on their algorithm, then they will either drop the fare, run a special on select flights and/or release a few reward seats.

 

The pricing is ultimately determined by supply & demand. One example for the Aussie market is QF. Business fares on their A380 might typically be about 4½ times the Economy fare ($705 vs $3,226 in early May, SYD to SIN route) whilst the seats themselves only occupy about triple the real estate. So if that's happening and tickets are still being sold with those fares, then there's more to it than just the seat.

 

You can come up with as many personal anecdotes as you wish, but until the overall PERCEPTION of value diminishes there won't be any drift back to Economy travel or re-alignment of the fare differential.

you  commented on it being 4  times the price I showed my latest fair was about  double, its also relevant when the last time you flew  because in the last 10 years service has gone down the pan on all airlines . Nothing to do with perception, I cant lie  flat in an economy  seat, or maybe you are 3 feet tall and can🤣

[AverageAussie]

2 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

you  commented on it being 4  times the price I showed my latest fair was about  double, its also relevant when the last time you flew  because in the last 10 years service has gone down the pan on all airlines . Nothing to do with perception, I cant lie  flat in an economy  seat, or maybe you are 3 feet tall and can🤣

 

Well if it isn't the "perception" of premium, then what is it? There is still a massive difference in price (well beyond just seat comfort) for 99% of business tickets and someone is still paying it. Otherwise airlines just wouldn't get bums on those seats. 

 

Your point that there's been a decline in #2 & #3 (service and all the peripherals attached to the fare class) just underscores the fact that marketing of the product works.

 

A survey by Australian Frequent flyers suggests there is a split in preference for business travel. 43% prefer a daytime flight and only 36% prefer nighttime flights. The lie-flat feature doesn't get much use during the day.

 

[qwab32]

I had a return flight to Cuba this month on it.  Thought it had more leg room and also the seat was slightly more reclied.  Overall...good flights 👍🏾

[josephbloggs]

On 4/9/2024 at 4:30 AM, Rampant Rabbit said:

If you shop a about and travel dates  are  flexible with longer  transit times Business is not even DOUBLE the price, just paid £1800 Bankok UK with one airline most economy  tickets hovering around  £1000 at the moment

£1,816 return? Which airline?

[Rampant Rabbit]

3 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

£1,816 return? Which airline?

yes RETURN message sent to yuor  inbox

[Rampant Rabbit]

On 4/9/2024 at 8:33 PM, AverageAussie said:

The lie-flat feature doesn't get much use during the day.

disagree and  on  almost everything else too, lie  flat when you travel intercontinental is a  must and is  used on every flight ive been on, if  you only travel 3-4 hours maybe not, Im talking LONG HAUL 12hours  plus

[AverageAussie]

1 hour ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

disagree and  on  almost everything else too, lie  flat when you travel intercontinental is a  must and is  used on every flight ive been on, if  you only travel 3-4 hours maybe not, Im talking LONG HAUL 12hours  plus

 

If you scroll up a bit you'll note that I qualified my %s pointing out that they are subjective.

 

So fine. In your case the %s might be something like:

#1 98%
#2 1%
#3 1%

 

Each to his own.

 

As the AU FF survey pointed out, there is a split in preferences - and Australians have some of the longest flights in the world. 5 different routes are in the top 20 globally.

 

And maybe it's because I'm used to it. I have a job where I need be standing for most of my shift - and whilst thankfully not so common, a 10 or 12 hour (or more) stint can be on the cards. Hence if there's a lie-flat option then that doesn't necessarily mean I'll still pay 4½ times the Economy fare - just for that feature in isolation.

 

For me little things like being addressed by my name, small talk and the things I don't even notice like lighting and cabin air pressure all contribute to a "good" experience. They add value. So does being able to relax in a lounge before the flight.

[Rampant Rabbit]

5 hours ago, AverageAussie said:

For me little things like being addressed by my name, small talk and the things I don't even notice like lighting and cabin air pressure all contribute to a "good" experience. They add value. So does being able to relax in a lounge before the flight

i agree its subjective, because for me none of those matter at  all, all I want is the space, the other stuff is  just bumfluffery.

However all those u mention could be done in economy bar lounge  access but theyve even ruined that by letting in anyone with £30-60 these days