It was amazing. It's the only time in my life that I wish a flight had lasted longer than it did. It took me the better part of an hour just to figure out what all the controls did for the seat and entertainment system.
First class is incredible. There are only fourteen seats in three columns, left, center, and right. Actually, calling them "seats" is not really accurate. They are more like little apartments. Each pod actually has two seats so you can entertain a guest (though the second seat isn't all that comfortable.) The pods are so big that even the left and right columns aren't really "window seats". To actually look out the window you have to get up out of the seat and walk over to the window (the window shades are electrically operated from your seat so you don't have to get up to close the shades). The individual pods are so far apart it's nearly impossible to talk from one seat to the next, so to make up for that there are phones that let you make seat-to-seat calls!
The flight deck is all-electronic. There's a lounge area upstairs, which is not as posh as the old first class lounge on TWA 747s, but still pretty cool. But the best part is that there's a camera mounted on the tail that you can watch on your video screen. It's the first time I've ever gone into LAX and actually been able to see the airport on approach!
You can actually get a pretty good view of what the plane is like at:
How was it? :) I haven't flown in one yet... my wife did back in June and I was *very* jealous!
ReplyDeleteIt was amazing. It's the only time in my life that I wish a flight had lasted longer than it did. It took me the better part of an hour just to figure out what all the controls did for the seat and entertainment system.
ReplyDeleteFirst class is incredible. There are only fourteen seats in three columns, left, center, and right. Actually, calling them "seats" is not really accurate. They are more like little apartments. Each pod actually has two seats so you can entertain a guest (though the second seat isn't all that comfortable.) The pods are so big that even the left and right columns aren't really "window seats". To actually look out the window you have to get up out of the seat and walk over to the window (the window shades are electrically operated from your seat so you don't have to get up to close the shades). The individual pods are so far apart it's nearly impossible to talk from one seat to the next, so to make up for that there are phones that let you make seat-to-seat calls!
The flight deck is all-electronic. There's a lounge area upstairs, which is not as posh as the old first class lounge on TWA 747s, but still pretty cool. But the best part is that there's a camera mounted on the tail that you can watch on your video screen. It's the first time I've ever gone into LAX and actually been able to see the airport on approach!
You can actually get a pretty good view of what the plane is like at:
http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/a380/global/en
If you dig down into the presentation you can actually get a VR simulation of the first class pod. It's pretty life-like.