It seems Virgin Atlantic is very protective over the design of the seats in its Upper Class cabin. According to this report, the carrier is taking UK seat manufacturer Contour to court to try and prevent it from selling the seat to rival airlines.
Apparently the seat was designed by Virgin's in-house design team, so they're quite tetchy about the prospect of it being copied by other carriers.
I've been lucky enough to fly Virgin Upper Class once (one of the perks of being an aviation journalist back when times were better and airlines flew journalists around on press trips).
It was the first time I'd ever flown anything other than economy and I can remember being quite impressed with the fact that I could not only stretch my legs out, thus avoiding bruising my knees on the seat in front for once, but could also lay flat, say night-night and go to sleep.
However, I, like every other journalist on board, was even more impressed with the in-flight bar. As soon as the fasten seat belt sign was turned off, there was a stampede of hacks to the bar, which quickly resembled Saturday night at a popular nighclub.
on November 19, 2008 10:12 PM | Reply
Sir,
I think to have a seat that ables you to stretch your legs can be
very good.
I think it can be very good on short haul flights like the Navette
Air France, and with why not a film on the town destination.
I think internet and computers can be very useful on short haul
flights.
Best Regards,
William Davies.