In 2019, British Airways introduced an all-new business class product, which represents a massive improvement compared to the carrier’s previous product. As is often the case when airlines introduce new business class seats, the challenge is actually getting a plane featuring those seats (Lufthansa can tell you all about it!).
While the airline had at the time outlined a rollout schedule for this new product, as you’d expect, the pandemic delayed things a bit. So in this post, I’d like to take a look at the current state of British Airways’ Club Suites rollout.
In this post:
What are British Airways Club Suites?
Club Suites is the name of British Airways’ new business class product. This cabin consists of reverse herringbone seats with doors — specifically, British Airways selected a modified version or the Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seat. This gives each passenger a fully flat bed, direct aisle access, and a privacy door.
This is an excellent product, among the better business class seats you’ll find out there. Read my review of British Airways Club Suites here.
While this is objectively a solid business class product, what makes it most exciting is how much of an improvement it is over British Airways’ old Club World business class. British Airways’ previous business class product consisted of seven to eight seats per row (depending on the plane and layout), and was among the tightest business class products out there.
You can always tell if your flight is scheduled to feature Club Suites based on the seat map. If you’re flying a wide body British Airways jet and the seat map shows four seats per row in business class, then your flight features Club Suites. Meanwhile if it shows more seats per row than that, then it doesn’t feature the new business class.
Of course keep in mind that last minute aircraft swaps can happen, especially for routes operated by planes that don’t have full product consistency.
Which planes have British Airways Club Suites?
Back in 2019, British Airways announced it planned to complete its Club Suites installation by 2025. At the time the airline shared the below graph about the rollout schedule.
As you’d expect, a lot has changed since then — British Airways retired the 747, the Boeing 777-9 is delayed until at least 2027, etc. So let’s take a look at the current state of British Airways introducing Club Suites by fleet type.
All Airbus A350-1000s have Club Suites
All British Airways Airbus A350-1000s feature Club Suites. This was the first plane to feature Club Suites, and all planes have been delivered factory fresh with the new cabins. The airline has a total of 18 of these in its fleet, and there are an additional six A350-1000s on order.
All Boeing 787-10s have Club Suites
All British Airways Boeing 787-10s feature Club Suites, as they were all delivered with these cabins. Aside from the A350-1000, this is the only other plane to have 100% consistency when it comes to Club Suites. The airline has a total of 50 of these on order — 12 have been delivered so far, and the remaining aircraft will join the fleet in the coming years.
All Boeing 777-300ERs have Club Suites
British Airways has 16 Boeing 777-300ERs, and all of them now feature Club Suites. So this is the only aircraft type where all planes have been retrofitted with the new Club Suites product.
Most Boeing 777-200ERs have Club Suites
This is where it gets a little tricky. British Airways has 43 Boeing 777-200ERs — 31 of those are based at Heathrow Airport, while 12 of those are based at Gatwick Airport. British Airways doesn’t have plans to reconfigure the Gatwick jets anytime soon, since they operate leisure oriented routes.
The good news is that all Heathrow based 777-200ERs have the new cabins, so as long as you’re flying on one of these planes out of Heathrow, you should be good. Meanwhile it’s a different story out of Gatwick, where you’ll end up on the old product.
Most Boeing 787-8 have Club Suites
British Airways has 12 Boeing 787-8s, and this is the current focus for British Airways when it comes to introducing Club Suites. The airline now has seven 787-8 with the new Club Suites product. There are five more that need to be reconfigured, and this feels like it has been really drawn out. I would expect this project to be complete at some point in 2026.
No Boeing 787-9s have Club Suites
British Airways has 18 Boeing 787-9s, and none of them feature Club Suites. While the 787-8 retrofits are well underway, the 787-9s are way behind that. The first 787-9 is in the process of being reconfigured at the moment, but expect the certification process to still take some time. Maybe this plane will be in service before the end of 2025, but I’d expect it to be well into 2026 before several of these planes have new cabins.
No Airbus A380s have Club Suites
British Airways has 12 Airbus A380s. Currently, none of these planes have the Club Suites product. However, in 2026 these planes are expected to get an overhaul, including the Club Suite product, as well as an all-new first class product.
What about first class on planes with Club Suites?
This is a question that frequently comes up, so in the interest of being thorough, I’d like to address that as well. For planes that have been reconfigured with Club Suites, what’s the deal with first class?
- British Airways 777-200ERs have the same first class seats as before, so it’s interesting that there are doors at the seats in business class, but not in first class; the cabin has been reduced in size from 14 seats to eight seats
- British Airways 777-300ERs have new first class seats with doors, which represent a marginal improvement over the old product; the size of the cabin has also been reduced from 14 seats to eight seats
- British Airways 787-10s have the same first class seats that you’ll find on 787-9s
- Airbus A350-1000s don’t have a first class cabin
Bottom line
British Airways has made good progress with rolling out its Club Suites business class, and at this point the airline offers the product fairly consistently, at least on certain aircraft types.
Currently you’re guaranteed Club Suites on all A350-1000s, 787-10s, and 777-300ERs, and on all Heathrow based 777-200ERs. Meanwhile as of now, a majority of 787-8s have Club Suites, while no 787-9s or A380s have Club Suites yet. At this point I’d expect that it’ll likely be 2027 before this project is complete, best case scenario. If you are flying British Airways business class, it’s definitely worth seeking out the new Club Suites product.
What’s your take on British Airways’ Club Suites rollout schedule?
As someone who lives near an airport that flies to Gatwick (TPA), we sometimes get BA's Heathrow 777s with Club Suites, so it's more of a hit or (mostly) miss.
Most notable and very rare example is that at the time of writing this comment, we just had one of their 777s with first class (meaning there are Club Suites available. Look up G-VIIF) landed at our airport and expected to fly back to Gatwick...
As someone who lives near an airport that flies to Gatwick (TPA), we sometimes get BA's Heathrow 777s with Club Suites, so it's more of a hit or (mostly) miss.
Most notable and very rare example is that at the time of writing this comment, we just had one of their 777s with first class (meaning there are Club Suites available. Look up G-VIIF) landed at our airport and expected to fly back to Gatwick and then back to Heathrow (I bet everyone who booked the first rows of Club Suites were lucky they got upgraded to First)
Per planespotters.net, only 4 787-8s have the Clubsuite configured :/
Now children....
To respond to the trolls who have accused me of not responding to this BA thread: I would like to remind those who possess the memory of a bed bug …. Last century BA fitted the world’s first lay flat seat, a revolutionary phenomenon at the time.
“Everyday is a school day” …. :-)
Just flew them on Tuesday and as the business class line is queued up for boarding, the guy behind me goes to his wife "ah, I wish we were flying that! I love flying those!" and points to the A380 parked next to our gate. I had to turn and while laughing said "trust me, in this case you do not!"
I flew CX to HKG on the 777-300ER for the first time in the mid-2000s and intentionally booked a seat in the last row, 2 abreast, window position. Coworker told me he was sorry I was "stuck all the way in the back" while he was in the middle of Y, had to climb over two people to hit the lavs. Those tapered Y cabins were the days for 777s...
Santos, if you pay peanuts then you are likely to be treated like a monkey …. especially when travelling on a U.S. carrier nowadays, yes?
If they don’t have club seats, is it the 8 across sardine can J cabin?
Obviously there are some last-minute swaps, but routes where an old-style BA business class product is (unfortunately) guaranteed are one of the daily Tokyo rotations as well as any flights from Gatwick (including LGW-JFK). So try to avoid these!
Drives me crazy that they waited the longest to refit the 787-9 fleet. These planes operate some of the longest routes in the network.
Also, they will have 24 A350s, they added six more when they ordered all those 787-10s.
I think they are trying to complete the retrofit for one variant (in this case, the 787-8) before moving on to the next one (787-9)
I think it'd make sense for them down the line to eventually retire the LGW based 772s and eventually offset them with LHR based frames once more 7810s start coming in; some of their oldest 772s are from the late 90s so they should be up for retirement soon anyway.
@Ben - surprised you haven't covered the CSR hotel credit changes. Seems like a meaningful improvement and interesting they were issued around the same time as Amex Plat refresh.
What are the changes? (Sorry for the dumb question).
Voian, trust me there is no such thing as a “Dumb Question”, only dumb answers, or, the dumb people who fail to offer a sensible answer.
Weird this is your only comment on a BA post.
Weird this is your only post on a day when Tim was silent.
Weird you used to be commuting to Colorado for your Master's degree and now you're a retired British military aviator.
Weird your wife was first mentioned the same day Tim's was.
One suspects you have some discrepancies to address, old bean.
@Santos also weird he’s logged in today since he’s not a “guest.” ;-)
Timamtrak, for your information too …. Please be advised that if I choose to continue to confuse those ‘trolls of very little brain’, by not logging in on this website every time I pick up my iPad, I am entitled to do so, yes?
Thank you Santos, for confirming that …. “There is no such thing as a stupid question …. Only stupid answers!” Your answer to Volan, proves beyond any shadow of a doubt how stupid you are …. a real numpty Santos, an unmitigated numpty to boot.
Now sunshine, you have posted some very “Weird” comments which indicate that you have perhaps read some of my previous posts. However, it would appear to be an actuality that...
Thank you Santos, for confirming that …. “There is no such thing as a stupid question …. Only stupid answers!” Your answer to Volan, proves beyond any shadow of a doubt how stupid you are …. a real numpty Santos, an unmitigated numpty to boot.
Now sunshine, you have posted some very “Weird” comments which indicate that you have perhaps read some of my previous posts. However, it would appear to be an actuality that you do not possess the intellect to assimilate the facts. Please allow me to educate you.
1. Why should one be compelled to comment upon any particular airline? You Santos, have not commented upon Ben’s BA article now, have you?
2. You Santos, in common with other Tim Dunn obsessed trolls, quite wrongly assume that he and I are one and the same person. Please be advised Santos, that you and your fellow trolls are barking up the wrong tree old bean. Notwithstanding, it is such fun observing your pathetic ramblings on the subject.
3. Do try to concentrate Santos, for you have failed miserably to read, understand and recall the facts of my posts. For example: For two decades I was a monthly traveller between LHR & DEN. I was not however “Commuting to Colorado for (my) Master's degree”. I was travelling at the behest of my Masters, in simple terms, on behalf of my employer. Understood?
4. Prior to my most recent civilian career, I took my Queen’s Shilling and served her as a Military Aviator for three decades.
5. You report that I mentioned my wife on the same day Tim did so. Pure coincidence old bean! …. I have also referred to my wife as “The Dragon”, “She who must be obeyed” plus numerous other terms of endearment. Notwithstanding, those terms will have been lost on such an unobservant troll, yes?
6. Well Santo, or, whomever you are pretending to be; clearly it is you who “Have some discrepancies to address, old bean” …. YES?
@Voian - CSR has added a new annual $250 hotel credit via Chase Travel available at certain brands like IHG, Omni, etc.
They have also made the $500 Edit hotel credit easier to use.
There are full details at The Points Guy. Important to consider if evaluating refreshed Amex Plat vs CSR.