I'm with Princess Fiona on this one... the seat is pretty awful.
We're not comparing 10 years ago - we're comparing now. The seat is outdated - arguably outdated even from it's inception (or shortly thereafter) - given british airways has had full flat beds for a long time.
Other airlines adopted changes pretty rapidly - Virgin Atlantic for example moving from angled flat to herringbone PDQ. Even CX is now on it's second generation, and managed to roll them out quickly.
Some people (like me) can't sleep on a steep angle. I don't like slipping down, and I don't like the blood collecting in my legs and feet over a long period of time. So for me the seat functionality is pretty much useless. I don't need the width, I can use the legroom, but i don't like my TV screen so far away. (do people sleep at home on an angled bed?)
As far as I'm concerned, Mk1 skybeds are good for a two things:
1) driving pax to competitors
2) driving revenue to First class for those who need a flat bed.
We're kind of diverting course on the thread purpose right now.
Yes the Mk I is a dated product.
No, people don't usually sleep at an angle to the floor at home (unless you count the fact that most mattresses assume part of the shape of the individual as "angle"). I'm sure that fact was not completely alien to people since the inception of the commercial aircraft seat, let alone when First Class (or a class other than the main cabin) was introduced as a concept.
It seems you can't sleep on one (and possibly
Princess Fiona likewise) - fair enough, you fly with someone else. Call me an apologist, but I don't have trouble sleeping on one. For some reason when I sleep in one, I don't feel the slipping sensation. I developed my own technique to sleep in one successfully without feeling like I'm slipping down.
The blood doesn't seem to collect in my legs; well, at least when I wake up (if I do happen to wake up), I don't feel light headed or pale. I'm not exactly fit but I haven't had a case of DVT yet - touch wood. Strangely never have that kind of problem when I'm standing up or falling asleep in a chair, either. Have you talked to your doctor about blood circulation?
As for the TV, well so be it, but I rarely watch much TV anyway (usually just the air map if I'm lucky).
I'll take a better product if I can, for sure. But if it came down to it, I'll still take the Mk I over Economy, or even Premium Economy (assuming I didn't have to pay a large differential for it). Especially in the case of the OP on QF52, there aren't many other choices from SIN direct back to BNE. You could purchase EY J or EK J, though the latter is possibly on a 777 which also has angle flat beds. SQ J may have three flights a day to BNE, but all of them feature A333 regional J product, which is again angle flat. (In fact, SQ run this J product to all Australian destinations except for select MEL and SYD flights). Barring connections, that's not a lot of choice, particularly if you aren't able or going to stump up the cold hard cash for the product in the first place.
As far as angle flat seats go, the Mk I is not alone in its continued existence of the dated concept. In fact, some Business around the world still has the recliner type Business (i.e. reclines to about 150 degrees or so, a bit like a recliner couch chair), even for long haul flights, and even on well known carriers!
