Ask Away: Do lie-flat seats really lie-flat?

AirAsia planes at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia. Photo / Getty Images

Whether you deem a seat lie-flat or not really depends on your tipping point, writes Eli Orzessek.

Have you travelled on AirAsia from Auckland to Kuala Lumpur in Business Class? If so, do the lie-flat seats really lie flat? I cannot seem to get a real answer from the airline.
- Stewart

From what I gather, AirAsia offers something a little different to the usual Business Class experience, in that you pay for the seat, but receive the same food/drink/entertainment service as in Economy. There are 12 of these seats, with a "quiet zone" behind, to ensure a good sleep.

Although none of the Travel team has tried these seats just yet, I've done a bit of online research. According to the website Seat Guru, they are "angle-flat seats". A review by travel blogger The Points Guy said that this was their biggest drawcard - but with a 60-inch pitch, they're not entirely flat and he found the bed length wasn't quite long enough for him.

"That said, I still found the seat comfortable for lounging, especially while letting my infant son nap on my chest. It sure as heck beat sitting in standard economy for seven hours," he added.

That's a comment I've seen often about AirAsia seats, they're made for smaller people - so if you're really tall, it may not be the most comfortable option.

However, on TripAdvisor, I see a lot of positive reviews about these seats. One person said they were roughly 180cm tall and could fully stretch their legs and not be touching the wall in front.

Readers Respond

A couple of readers had further suggestions for music tours of Europe. Briar Gregory highly recommended Academy Travel to any older travellers with an interest in music.

"The tour leaders give pre-concert talks and are really knowledgeable about music, performers, composers, etc - it all hugely enhances the experience.

"On each of the tours we have done there has been at least one person in their 80s and we have noticed them being really well looked after by the leader, manager and other people in the group."

Marilyn Carter recommended London-based Martin Randall Travel - "Last year we participated in two tours with them: Organs of Bach's time (seven days) followed by the Johann Sebastian Bach Journey (nine days) and can recommend them highly."

Brownyn and Les shared their experiences getting travel insurance with a pre-existing condition.

"I had great difficulty in securing travel insurance for a trip to the USA in 2015. I have CHF or CCF as they refer to it in America (heart failure) and my cardiologist strongly advised me to make sure I had adequate cover as medical costs are prohibitive over there. Even though I keep well and had had no recent hospital admissions, it cost $2000 with Cigna. I grieved for a millisecond then got over it. We had a wonderful trip, NYC was amazing!"

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