Continental Flatbed: Review part 1

I recently flew on the Continental flatbed seats from CDG to Newark and noticed a few things. First of all, the seats felt squished in. They were angled to fit in but still very nice.

Boarding: We boarded early and upon boarding were offered drinks and menus and the International service manager, basically a pursor, gave us a tour of the seat. Blankets, pillows, headsets, and amenities kits were already on the seat.




The Seat: The Continental Businessfirst seat on their 757 is a flatbed seat. The seats recline to a full 180 degrees. The seat cusion moves forward as it goes flat and connects with the footrest to make a fully flat "bed". The seat controls offer a button to make a bed, a button to sit up, two buttons for lumbar support, the footrest, and for the seat. When reclined you can also adjust using a separate seat control built into the shell behind your seat. Also on the shell is a reading light with three settings. Unfortunately it was too bright for normal use.

I was doubtful that the privacy screen would be effective but it
Was when reclined.

The most important discovery was one I made midway through the flight. The seat is very narrow compared to most First class seats. The solution I found was that with the push of a button I could put the armrest down. This adds inches to seat width. This is very valuable.
To be continued