Introduction
This is my review Gulf Air’s Business Class seat on their Boeing 787-9 – which is also known as Falcon Gold.
As far as I am aware, the seat is only operated on Gulf Air’s Boeing 787’s.
In many ways, this seat reminds me of JAL’s Sky Suite Business Class seat offering – although it’s not quite the same.
The Layout
All of Falcon Gold cabin is in 2-2-2 layout. In the case of the window seats (A/C and H/k) they are stepped/offset – where as the D/G seats are more ‘couples’ seats.
There are a total of 26 Falcon Gold seats on the 787-9.
Privacy
However you sit in 2-2-2 format, privacy is obviously a concern if you don’t know the person sat next to you.
The good news is that once the screen is up you wouldn’t know anyone is sitting next to you.
There was however a small problem with 1D, it was next to a toilet – as in fact is 1G.
This didn’t bother me too much on this flight – but I can see it getting annoying!
The Seat
The seat itself is very comfortable to work from. In some ways it feels ‘bigger’ and more spacious than many business class offerings – and reminds me not only of JAL’s Sky Suite – but also Cathay Pacific’s First Class.
The seat is controlled from a seat arm, which isn’t necessarily that good as it can end up with runaway seat!
Table
I found the table to be a pretty good size. I was fairly solid, and good to work from.
When note in use it folds vertically into the side – and also turns for toilet breaks.
Storage
Storage is one area that this seat was weak. There is some side of seat storage – bit it is very limited.
There is also limited storage under the otterman – but really pre-takeoff the only thing you can store are things like chargers – and you’d need to go to your overhead once taken off for things like a laptop. But this would also need to be put somewhere for eating.
Charging/Power
Finding the charging/power, let alone grabbing a picture, was somewhat challenging!
In essence, there is a UK/Euro/US socket and 2 x USB sockets – both are buried next to the seat, and quite difficult to use!
Conclusion
All in all, this is a very comfortable seat, and there is a lot of space for working and generally relaxing. Despite being in 2-2-2 configuration, if you don’t know your partner, the privacy is actually very good.
However, the limited amount of storage was annoying – as was the charging.
Whilst there are far better Business Class seats, this seat should not be undermined!
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