British Airways business class seating sucks on the A380

Quartz

Quartz

Quartz

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I flew from Heathrow to Dallas and back on a BA A380. I flew business class and the seating really sucks. The problems are that to get to the window seats you have to squeeze through two other seats and that you have to go through the space of the aisle seat. The latter isn't really a problem during the day when passengers are sat upright but is during a night flight when the passenger with the window seat needs to get up to visit the toilet because the aisle passenger needs to wake and move their legs out of the way.
 
Looks like BA A380s have 7 seats to a row in business class vs 4 on Emirates. Wow. I'd have had high expectations for BA biz class on the A380.

Although I'd expect to be able to step over someone's legs without having to move them.
 
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Saw a similar thing when flying Business back from Argentina. They had a much older 2-2-2 config which like you experienced meant if you were in a window seat you had to climb over someone to get out into the aisle (if they were lay flat). Our flight on the way out was a different aircraft which was just 1-2-1 which was much nicer. Luckily I was in the middle 2 on both flights with my but can see how it would be a bit annoying, especially like you say, with the amount it costs.
 
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I'm actually really disappointed with how far the A380s seem to have aged.
I flew on one shortly after launch and it was ace, flew on one recently and can see why airlines don't want them around, horribly configured planes that are clearly being run into the ground.

787 is the future.
 
That’s BA’s old Club World seat, and is being replaced fleet wide with their Club World Suite, first introduced on when the A350 came into service in 2019. I believe all the 777’s out of Heathrow have been done, and the Gatwick fleet is in the process of it. The 747 and A380 were pretty much dropped during the pandemic so may not have been planned for replacement, but with the A380 making a comeback I don’t know if they’re on the schedule for the upgrade or not.

You’re right though, the old ones are awful in comparison to the new suites. Compared to economy they’re in a different world, but compared to business class across the other airlines they’re hugely out of date.
 
While I haven’t had the pleasure of business class, I also agree with the comments about BA.

I flew with BA on an A350 for the first time back in February. Only in cattle class admittedly, but the seats were awful and quite possibly the worst seats I’ve ever encountered on an airline. Cramped and like sitting on an ironing board. You can kind of expect that in economy class, but I flew to Switzerland with EasyJet a short while ago and the seats were much more spacious and comfortable on that.

A 2 hour flight on a budget airline should surely not have planes with better seats than a 10 hour flight with BA. I won’t be using them again, and I think I’ll try to avoid any A350s in future too.
 
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BA have just been a bit later than other airlines to introduce the latest generation of business class seating - as Penfold said, they're not deployed on A380 so personally if I was paying for BA business, I would make sure I was booked on a different plane.

Their latest seat is getting some great reviews.
 
It was a good few years back, and I can't remember the plane. But I found the same on a BA cross-atlantic flight. Brilliant that the seats go fully horizontal. Less brilliant that if you've got a window seat, that means there is no way out of it without disturbing your neighbour.
 
Because posting photos on here from my phone is difficult, I’ll just a link to an article I wrote as part of a competition for a travel review blog detailing how I got into the premium travel world. It contains photos of the old and new BA business class product mentioned above:

www.turningleftforless.com

READER ARTICLE: My Introduction to the World of Turning Left (for a lot less than I thought)

Today’s reader review for our competition is from Martin. If you enjoyed it, let us know in the comments below. We do not encourage criticism of reader reviews. They are
www.turningleftforless.com www.turningleftforless.com
 
Phemo said:
I flew with BA on an A350 for the first time back in February. Only in cattle class admittedly, but the seats were awful and quite possibly the worst seats I’ve ever encountered on an airline. Cramped and like sitting on an ironing board.
Click to expand...

I'm tall enough to require a seat pitch greater than economy class provides. For short haul trips I can often just sit diagonally, perhaps extending my legs into the aisle but that's not always possible and taking the risk long-haul is foolish. I prefer to arrive alive.
 
Quartz said:
I'm tall enough to require a seat pitch greater than economy class provides. For short haul trips I can often just sit diagonally, perhaps extending my legs into the aisle but that's not always possible and taking the risk long-haul is foolish. I prefer to arrive alive.
Click to expand...

One of my excuses for premium travel - why am I paying to arrive on holiday feeling miserable…
 
I actually prefer the old BA seat for a night flight. In the new club suite your legs are tucked into a cubby hole which makes sleeping very restrictive, but maybe I just sleep weird
 
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