British Airways business class seating sucks on the A380

[Rotty]

None of the A380's as yet have been fitted with the CW cabin suite which is in the 787,777,A350 having had the opportunity on each with BA always choose anything other than the A380 which you can at booking time through BA's site

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it's not on most 787s

 

[arknor]

That was your first mistake, not hiring a charter flight you peasant

 

[nam]

it's not on most 787s

They are being retro-fitted, the 787's i have been on to the ME have all had the CW cabin suites

Boeing 787-8 Club Suites: route info and updates - FlyerTalk Forums

British Airways | Executive Club - Boeing 787-8 Club Suites: route info and updates - In keeping with the previous B777 Club Suite thread ( B777 Club Suites ), here is a new one for the B787-8 fleet which starts its Club Suite refurbishment program this month, with an expected introduction into...

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[M1k3H]

Old BC is rubbish, flew on both the old and new on the A350. Wasn't impressed by the A350 one either, it's just a slightly customized super diamond seat by BE/Rockwell Collins and not very well specified either.

 

[Penfold101]

Randomly, Turning Left for Less just posted an update on the state of the Club Suites throughout the BA Fleet.

Spoiler - it isn’t as good as I thought it was but the pandemic won’t have helped that…

British Airways Club Suites: how many aircraft have it and on which routes? Plus how to check if your flight does

How many aircraft have the new Club Suites? Me on BA's first A350 with Club Suites British Airways originally planned to have 100% of the fleet fitted with Club Suites

www.turningleftforless.com

 

[Ryan-3]

This. Budget service for premium prices, I always avoid BA if possible

Flew cheap to the US the other year, myself with American and boss with BA. He had nothing at all on board, less room and a generally crap pair of flights. I had too much food, a beer and a decent selection of movies to sit and watch for 9 hours.

 

[NickK]

My only experience of BA was in 2006 - flying back business class upper deck HK to LHR sick as a dog.
After basically being soo ill in the upper deck loo, the stewardess didn’t bat an eyelid, genuinely sounded concerned and I the passed out in the cramped (for 6’4) business class. 14 hour flight and I remember about 2 hours of it. It was the last leg of a business trip that went from LHR on the monday -> Dubai (2 days) -> Bahrain forced qatar 24h due to weather -> Manilla (military coup friday morning) forced to stay weekend, client meeting monday (almost comatosed of dehydration) -> HK -> LHR monday.

I still think Singapore airlines had the best food in business class.. proper steak

BA lost “the worlds favourite airline” about 10-15 years ago. It is something they are aware of and the civil service with wings is genuinely wants to change. It just needs a good kick up the behind and remove some of the cultural issues.

 

[R.O.S.S.I]

Is there a way of finding out which routes have the better equipped planes in business? I'm going to be looking at booking something for Feb/March next year and want to make sure i'm booking a plane that has a better spec business if poss!

 

[Penfold101]

Randomly, Turning Left for Less just posted an update on the state of the Club Suites throughout the BA Fleet.

Spoiler - it isn’t as good as I thought it was but the pandemic won’t have helped that…

British Airways Club Suites: how many aircraft have it and on which routes? Plus how to check if your flight does

How many aircraft have the new Club Suites? Me on BA's first A350 with Club Suites British Airways originally planned to have 100% of the fleet fitted with Club Suites

www.turningleftforless.com

Is there a way of finding out which routes have the better equipped planes in business? I'm going to be looking at booking something for Feb/March next year and want to make sure i'm booking a plane that has a better spec business if poss!

Aircraft are always subject to change but the only sure fire guarantee is to fly a rote with the A350.

 

[R.O.S.S.I]

A350's gotcha. Will keep my eyes peeled. And what would be considered the oldest?

 

[Penfold101]

A350's gotcha. Will keep my eyes peeled. And what would be considered the oldest?

As per the link above, none of the A380’s, 787-8 and 787-9 have been fitted so far. The 777 fleet is in the middle up being upgraded so it’s a case of seeing what the seat selection plan looks like after the tickets are booked.

 

[R.O.S.S.I]

I don't mean the absolute brand newest, just the more newer of whats currently in market.

We flew to NYC last year with BA in Business and that felt like quite a new cabin in comparison (admittedly that was my first Business class flight so probs no idea what im talking about). I flew back from Argentina with Air Europa and the cabin on that flight felt a lot more dated and in a 2-2-2 config which I didn't like.

 

[Penfold101]

I don't mean the absolute brand newest, just the more newer of whats currently in market.

We flew to NYC last year with BA in Business and that felt like quite a new cabin in comparison (admittedly that was my first Business class flight so probs no idea what im talking about). I flew back from Argentina with Air Europa and the cabin on that flight felt a lot more dated and in a 2-2-2 config which I didn't like.

It was probably the Club Suites then, as opposed to the older Club Seats which are an objectively worse product overall. They were replaced starting in 2019 and all the A350’s came with the suites from the factory, with the other aircraft being upgraded over time. The pandemic did slow things down a bit so a lot of the older stuff is still around, along with the A380’s not being expected to make the return that they have in the last couple of years.

 

[Rotty]

As per the link above, none of the A380’s, 787-8 and 787-9 have been fitted so far. The 777 fleet is in the middle up being upgraded so it’s a case of seeing what the seat selection plan looks like after the tickets are booked.

I have a 777 flight to Singapore booked which currently shows as Club Suite, the return from Bangkok unfortunately not

 

[R.O.S.S.I]

I know there's systems like Seatspy but are there any other easy ways to check reward flight availability on routes at a glance, like over the course of a spread of months without me having to go in and specify specific dates.
Its a bit hodge podge doing it through BA's website.

 

[Penfold101]

BA’s website is crap, but the app is surprisingly good for reward flights where you can look through the whole year at a glance.

SeatSpy is also brilliant for it, and I set up alerts and got return flights in business class to the Maldives several times. In that instance, I booked the premium economy reward seats so we could arrange the holiday, and then waited for club seats to pop up closer to the time. When they came up I got the email from SeatSpy within the hour and just had to phone the executive club hotline to pay the extra Avios and cash.

 

[R.O.S.S.I]

BA’s website is crap, but the app is surprisingly good for reward flights where you can look through the whole year at a glance.

SeatSpy is also brilliant for it, and I set up alerts and got return flights in business class to the Maldives several times. In that instance, I booked the premium economy reward seats so we could arrange the holiday, and then waited for club seats to pop up closer to the time. When they came up I got the email from SeatSpy within the hour and just had to phone the executive club hotline to pay the extra Avios and cash.

Thats handy to know. Will give it a look. How often do flights come up in business if they arent available when you look? i.e. why would they become available closer? Just banking on people cancelling?

 

[Penfold101]

Thats handy to know. Will give it a look. How often do flights come up in business if they arent available when you look? i.e. why would they become available closer? Just banking on people cancelling?

Actually surprisingly often - it can be a combination of people cancelling or BA opening up more seats closer to the time. Booking premium economy so you have a seat and can arrange hotels etc and have a holiday I found was the best option, and then just have the alerts set up and be ready to jump on the phone to BA as you can’t change class online.

 

[EvilRob]

Actually surprisingly often - it can be a combination of people cancelling or BA opening up more seats closer to the time. Booking premium economy so you have a seat and can arrange hotels etc and have a holiday I found was the best option, and then just have the alerts set up and be ready to jump on the phone to BA as you can’t change class online.

Do you wait for two biz class seats to come up or book them one at a time as they become available?

 

[Penfold101]

Do you wait for two biz class seats to come up or book them one at a time as they become available?

It depends what the ticket has been booked as. Mine have always been booked with a companion voucher so both seats have to be in the same class. This means that two seats have to be available in the same class at the same time, even when upgrading the reward seats from a lower class.

You can set SeatSpy to only contact you when the specific number become available.

If they just two reward seats but WITHOUT the companion voucher, I don’t see why you couldn’t upgrade them individually but you’d have to check the T+C.