In late July, British Airways took delivery of their first Airbus A350-1000. The airline has a total of 18 of these planes on order, which are being delivered at a fairly quick pace.
British Airways had announced their first four A350 destinations before they even began service with the plane, and they’ve now updated their schedule to reveal the next four destinations, all of which are in the US.
In this post:
British Airways’ A350s Feature New Club Suites
In March 2019, British Airways revealed their new Club Suite, which is the name of their new business class product. This caught almost all of us off guard, as British Airways is going from offering a pretty lousy business class seat, to offering an excellent product.
The catch is that the rollout of this seat will be fairly slow (here’s a timeline of the rollout by aircraft type). While most long haul planes should feature these seats within several years, in the meantime the A350 is the only plane that will guarantee these seats, since the A350-1000 is being delivered with this new business class seat.
You can read my review of British Airways’ A350-1000 Club Suites here.
British Airways’ First Four A350 Routes
British Airways had revealed their first four long haul A350 routes before the plane even entered service, and as of now three of those four routes are operated by the A350.
British Airways’ first four A350 routes are as follows:
British Airways’ A350 Dubai Flights
Since September 2, 2019, British Airways has been operating the A350 on the following frequency between London and Dubai:
BA107 London to Dubai departing 12:45PM arriving 11:00PM
BA106 Dubai to London departing 1:30AM arriving 6:15AM
British Airways’ A350 Toronto Flights
Since October 1, 2019, British Airways has been operating the A350 on the following frequency between London and Toronto:
BA93 London to Toronto departing 1:05PM arriving 3:55PM
BA92 Toronto to London departing 6:30PM arriving 6:40AM (+1 day)
British Airways’ A350 Tel Aviv Flights
Since December 1, 2019, British Airways has been operating the A350 on the following frequency between London and Tel Aviv:
BA163 London to Tel Aviv departing 8:55PM arriving 3:40AM (+1 day)
BA162 Tel Aviv to London departing 6:15AM arriving 9:40AM
British Airways’ A350 Bangalore Flights
As of January 1, 2020, British Airways will operate the A350 on the following frequency between London and Bangalore:
BA119 London to Bangalore departing 1:45PM arriving 5:00AM (+1 day)
BA118 Bangalore to London departing 7:00AM arriving 12:40PM
British Airways’ Next Four A350 Routes
While there hasn’t been a formal announcement, British Airways has updated their schedule to reflect four further A350-1000 routes over the coming months. I imagine these remain subject to change, especially given the lack of a formal announcement. However, they do already show as bookable.
So here are the new four routes:
British Airways’ A350 Washington Dulles Flights
As of March 29, 2020, British Airways will operate the A350 on the following frequency between London and Washington Dulles:
BA293 London to Washington departing 5:10PM arriving 8:20PM
BA292 Washington to London departing 10:20PM arriving 10:35AM (+1 day)
British Airways offers 2x daily flights in the market, with the other flight being operated by a 747.
British Airways’ A350 Philadelphia Flights
As of March 29, 2020, British Airways will operate the A350 on the following frequency between London and Philadelphia:
BA67 London to Philadelphia departing 12:40PM arriving 3:35PM
BA66 Philadelphia to London departing 6:40PM arriving 6:50AM (+1 day)
British Airways offers 2x daily flights in the market, with the other flight being operated by a 777.
British Airways’ A350 Austin Flights
As of March 29, 2020, British Airways will operate the A350 on the following frequency between London and Austin, which will mean the airline will no longer offer first class to Austin:
BA191 London to Austin departing 11:55AM arriving 4:15PM
BA190 Austin to London departing 6:30PM arriving 9:50AM (+1 day)
British Airways’ A350 Boston Flights
As of August 1, 2020, British Airways will operate the A350 on the following frequency between London and Boston:
BA203 London to Boston departing 5:10PM arriving 7:45PM
BA202 Boston to London departing 9:35PM arriving 9:10AM (+1 day)
British Airways offers 4x daily flights in the market, with one other flight being operated by an A380, and two other flights being operated by 777s.
British Airways 777s & 787s Also Get Club Suites
British Airways’ second aircraft type to exclusively have Club Suites is the 787-10, the first of which will be delivered early next year. The plane will debut on the Atlanta route, and will also be flying to Seattle as of next summer.
On top of that, British Airways is in the process of reconfiguring some 777s with their new Club Suites. They started flying these in October to New York.
We should see quite a few of these flying to New York, and the reason is that they’re trying to compete with Virgin Atlantic, which is putting their first A350-1000s on the New York route, featuring new Upper Class seats.
The reason they’re putting the 777s on the New York route rather than the A350s is because the 777s will still have eight first class seats, and New York is a market where first class sells.
First class on reconfigured 777s & 787-10s
Bottom Line
British Airways has now scheduled eight A350 routes, with the last of the eight launching next August, less than a year after they took delivery of their first such plane.
Between the A350-1000, as well as the 787-10s that are being delivered, along with the 777s being reconfigured, there are an ever-increasing number of options for flying Club Suites, which is awesome.
Do you plan on flying on any of these new A350 US routes?
Seems like BNA will get club suites as well (but not until September 2020).
Overall, it’s nice to see Austin and Nashville get Premium business class products considering they only got transatlantic service recently
It is unfortunate that as of March, they will no longer fly the A350 on the Toronto - London route
I’ve been looking at YYZ-LHR in November and it appears they have reverted to the 787. Any idea if they will get the A350 back on that route?
Tom and CC,
I do LAX - LHR - LAX fairly often flying F. Most of the time on the A380 but once in a while on the 747 (2A). I am not eager to move from that. The A350 looks really nice but I just don't think it will be better than what I am doing now. Some day it will change but hopefully not soon. I think there are a number of us in LA that feel that way. Hope that helps to understand an LA customer.
@Ross, this article originally appeared in the summer. Lucky just updated it with new information.
Uhg. I have my sister booked on an F award LHR to PHL on MAR 28! Guess she will be on the last 747 service to Philly:)
Why are the earlier comments appearing with dates in May, June and July? Or is that just my computer?
@Tom Thank you! I didn't know that. So there's a better chance of getting onto an "empty" cabin in those carriers than American ones then. Good to know.
Hmmm... I had a First award booking to Austin for later next year, just got the BA email saying they’ve downgraded it to Club World on the A350 but no refund of points or surcharges! Poor form.
I'm going to miss seeing those summer 747's here in Austin :(
Also, for the record the whole F cabin filled with free upgrades and non-revs is basically a US specialty, European and Asian airlines don't typically upgrade anyone to F for free without an operational or other reason.
Is the average passenger in BA F on LHR-LAX paying $10k for their ticket? Absolutely not! Are there passengers basically every day paying $10k for LHR-LAX? Absolutely.
You're talking the only direct flight with F (ignoring AA's comedy F product) between two global cities each rammed with millionaires. There will be people on the route that honestly don't even look at the price (or go anywhere near the booking process themselves).
@Tom OK, it makes sense, but I wonder. Are people really paying $10k for LAX-LHR in F? Those people are getting free upgrades/non-rev, aren't they? Are even the super-rich really paying that? For BA F?
They are clearly not 'just flipping up coins', say what you like about the on board product but it's difficult to argue that BA doesn't have one of the most sophisticated revenue management models in the industry.
LHR-LAX is probably the second heaviest F demand route for BA after JFK and I would guess one of a few routes where F actually makes money, it makes zero sense for BA to put an A350 without...
They are clearly not 'just flipping up coins', say what you like about the on board product but it's difficult to argue that BA doesn't have one of the most sophisticated revenue management models in the industry.
LHR-LAX is probably the second heaviest F demand route for BA after JFK and I would guess one of a few routes where F actually makes money, it makes zero sense for BA to put an A350 without F on LAX when they can sell 8-14 F seats on a flight for up to $10k+ each way. Possibly once they have enough 777s with Club Suites to completely cover JFK and maybe start BOS they'll start to add them to LAX, but until then it makes no sense. You also have to consider that LHR-LAX is a long flight and ties up a frame for a long time.
No LAX? Are you for real? That should've been in the first rollout, or at least, at the same time as NYC. Virgin Atlantic is already putting their new A350s on that route next year! They just flipping up coins and making decisions that way.
I’m aiming for either the A350 to IAD or the B787 to Atlanta in First for RTW20 the Birthday Trip next July! :-)
...and a 2019 estimate puts the Bangalore population at close to 13 million.
The list of current flights promises "on the following frequency," but doesn't show how often. Maybe you mean radio frequency for ATC?
The population of Bangalore is more than 8 million. I think that's somewhat more than Austin.
Those spewing some "disbelief" over Bangalore (now Bengaluru) probably have little clue about the city. Like MS previously said, they are one of the larger Silicon Valley/Techie Metropolis' of the world. I believe bridging San Jose, CA and Bengaluru was the true reason why Air India even bothered with San Francisco as a Gateway without politically downplaying the larger metros DEL and SFO, as opposed to relying only on their codeshare with SIA for India-Bound...
Those spewing some "disbelief" over Bangalore (now Bengaluru) probably have little clue about the city. Like MS previously said, they are one of the larger Silicon Valley/Techie Metropolis' of the world. I believe bridging San Jose, CA and Bengaluru was the true reason why Air India even bothered with San Francisco as a Gateway without politically downplaying the larger metros DEL and SFO, as opposed to relying only on their codeshare with SIA for India-Bound passengers.
BA292/293 is my favorite flight to get to Europe out of IAD and when I’m able to I enjoy splurging for First. I’ll be really bummed if and when the A350 takes over this route everyday - I’ll be curious to see if the 787-9 will come back full time starting next fall.
Why Bangalore ? Simply because loads of Western multinational companies are there ,Cap Gemini, Nokia, Air Liquide etc
Tons of British ones too given the strong ties the UK has with India.
@Frederick: Haven't you learned that nobody cares about economy passengers?
Expect to get bitch-slapped by FA's if you even ask where the toilet is.
Lol - anyone thinking that BA gives squats about what VS does knows sh*t about BA and the industry. The only thing that can move the dial towards VS in these markets is pricing, not product, simply because BA’s corporate deals are much larger than VS’. Think about it: if you were Accenture would you rather go with BA (that flies nonstop everywhere) or with a much smaller carrier with limited network...?
Is there a fair (or even good) chance the second A350-1000 (to be launched on the LHR-YYZ route) will be tested on the LHR-MAD route, like the first one, in September?
I have a few speculative award bookings in mid-September because unfortunately, I couldn’t get over to London in August.
BE not BE...
@The nice Paul: it's pretty much given that Ben will have a dig at BA. The vast majority of post with BE in the title seem to generate a lot of comments/views. It helps the bottom line!
Noah Bowie says:
May 16, 2019 at 5:45 pm
I'm not sure which 'constraints' BA are under when it comes to installing new seats. They have stashes of cash and a product which is way behind the curve. They need to get these seats out and quickly.
On the TLV route I wonder how long it will take for the A350 to be subbed by a Euro config A321 and for them to...
Noah Bowie says:
May 16, 2019 at 5:45 pm
I'm not sure which 'constraints' BA are under when it comes to installing new seats. They have stashes of cash and a product which is way behind the curve. They need to get these seats out and quickly.
On the TLV route I wonder how long it will take for the A350 to be subbed by a Euro config A321 and for them to tell passengers as they always do that they had business class service and a business class seat. Given how they are working the new fleet, I predict it won't be too long and I certainly wouldn't book that route in the hope of getting the new seat.
As of this week BA have finally paid for the rights to use the in-flight entertainment on B777 & A350s operating the London - Madrid route.
Ben do take note that the first 777s being refurbished are -200ERs not -300ERs
Hi lucky, Is there a typo perhaps? "British Airways has loaded their first reconfigured 777-300ERs" maybe you meant 777-200ERS? Love your work anyways!
I have a daytime LHR-TLV flight on 777-200 in mid-March 2020 that is now showing a 1-2-1 seat map, so looks like they might be changing all the TLV flights to the new seats.
@ Ben keeps recycling this post with the comment that BA’s roll-out of Club Suites will be “fairly slow”, but not once has he provided a source, or quantified it, or compared BA’s roll-out rate to Qsuites or Polaris or even airlines like LATAM (which just aren’t going to bother standardising the fleet with their new J product).
On the other hand, we have BA insisting they chose this product because it offered the...
@ Ben keeps recycling this post with the comment that BA’s roll-out of Club Suites will be “fairly slow”, but not once has he provided a source, or quantified it, or compared BA’s roll-out rate to Qsuites or Polaris or even airlines like LATAM (which just aren’t going to bother standardising the fleet with their new J product).
On the other hand, we have BA insisting they chose this product because it offered the fastest roll-out time; that hard product consistency is essential to their brand; and that “no other airline has transformed a similar sized fleet in less than 3 or 4 years”.
So I’m still curious: what is this “slow” rate, and which airline will be faster in transforming a similar sized fleet with a new product. Emirates? No, they’re not going to bother with consistency. Lufthansa? No, they won’t even start to install their new seat until years after announcing it.
I’d love someone to have some data, rather than Ben just assuming BA is crap, because it’s easy.
Echoing The Jetset Boyz comment about crew debriefs during turnarounds, but also to say that the Engineering teams are also all over the aircraft on arrival, to familiarise themselves, get more hands-on experience and learn how to deal quickly and efficiently with any tech problems, as are the rest of the ramp staff with their own processes.
Slipping in another shorthaul sector may improve daily aircraft utilisation, but would reduce this important learning time...
Echoing The Jetset Boyz comment about crew debriefs during turnarounds, but also to say that the Engineering teams are also all over the aircraft on arrival, to familiarise themselves, get more hands-on experience and learn how to deal quickly and efficiently with any tech problems, as are the rest of the ramp staff with their own processes.
Slipping in another shorthaul sector may improve daily aircraft utilisation, but would reduce this important learning time and could even jeopardise punctuality. It's all about finding the right balance...
Deal Alert- NEW BA Club World Suite Paris to Toronto
I understand the deal is extended to July 16 - though could only find 35K flights to/from Toronto during the winter schedule, from end March it changes to a 787/777 combo from what I noticed
https://www.premium-flights.com/flash-sale-business-class-paris-to-canada-1200e/
I think the motivation behind the Bangalore flight is that it allows for the usage of only a single aircraft for every cycle. It means that the outbound aircraft from Lhr to Blr can return to lhr and operate the same flight the next day. Flying to the US. Any further than New York or Chicago would not be possible with only a single aircraft, as well as any destination further south or east of...
I think the motivation behind the Bangalore flight is that it allows for the usage of only a single aircraft for every cycle. It means that the outbound aircraft from Lhr to Blr can return to lhr and operate the same flight the next day. Flying to the US. Any further than New York or Chicago would not be possible with only a single aircraft, as well as any destination further south or east of Bangalore. Same goes for Hyderabad but Bangalore is a significantly better yield market with growing services and frequencies.
@Ayush, I asked Lucky this before and he responded and said he uses a website called Great Circle Mapper... many hours of fun for you ahead!
On this topic, what's with the funky timings for Tel Aviv?
@Willem
Many premium class passengers on these flights are actually connecting in Europe. This is particularly true for BA that has very strong coverage of the US. Passengers would rather connect in LHR and fly comfortable than connect in JFK and fly a US Domestic flight.
Also - as someone who flew into TLV recently there is a massive difference between landing at 4:00 or 5:00 AM (in which case you can be...
@Willem
Many premium class passengers on these flights are actually connecting in Europe. This is particularly true for BA that has very strong coverage of the US. Passengers would rather connect in LHR and fly comfortable than connect in JFK and fly a US Domestic flight.
Also - as someone who flew into TLV recently there is a massive difference between landing at 4:00 or 5:00 AM (in which case you can be in Tel Aviv proper within 15-20 minutes) and landing at 8:30 or 9:00, taking 90+ minutes to get into town.
I went to college with a handful of indians from Bangalore and all of them were extremely rich...also given the huge population of indians in England, the premium route makes sense.
Still sad it wont fly to US :(
@Ayush, I asked Lucky this before and he responded to me. He uses a website called Great Circle Mapper - http://www.gcmap.com/. Many fun hours ahead for you!
On this post, why the funky timings for Tel Aviv?
@ayush these maps are generated on great circle mapper
"With a bit more efficiency they might be able to squeeze in one more short route, but I doubt that will happen."
Crews spend time onboard the aircraft before doing the LHR-MAD-LHR to familiarise themselves with the plane. I believe they stay onboard afterwards to do a 'how did the flight go?' review and do any in-situ demonstrations they might need to do.
@Willem - It's the same reason they do land after midnight in Cairo, Delhi, and Mexico City. They have a heat issue on the takeoff for the flight back and it's better to fly out as early in the morning as possible to maximize allowable takeoff weight. That means flying in in the middle of the night to keep plane utilization high.
The dates and flights have been confirmed on FlyerTalk, credit to RDWRER.
“For August and September, starting 6th Aug.
Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri - BA464/BA465
Thu, Sat, Sun - BA456/457 and BA464/BA465
A couple of days are No Op due to training and other requirements.”
So the 777 flights remain 777 as many people (incl. me) expected.
Given BA's overpriced fares, surcharges for all and failure to even clean their cabins, let alone service damaged kit or treat customers as customers, rather than an inconvenience to the airline, I'd ask a different question.
Should you join the ever increasing band called #FlyABBA given the Beyond Abysmal service delivery, poor basic product in all classes and overpriced fares, that then come with supplemental charges if you need to eg. reserve a seat
BA never claimed the A350 will start flying to Madrid on July 1st. They said they only get 30-days delivery notice from Airbus, which they would announce (and did) in June.
Here's the original press release:
http://mediacentre.britishairways.com/pressrelease/details/86/2019-319/10846?ref=News
Hi
I love your blog & all the information you share with us. Could you tell me how do you generate the maps to show City+Route information in your posts? Is there a tool you use to create that?
For example: The image which shows LHR-DXB-BLR etc & then LHR-MAD?
Thanks
I'm seeing 777 seat maps on Bangalore-LHR flights in May and June 2020, but A350 seat maps on the same flights in Jan and Feb 2020. Does this mean the flight will go back to a 777 in the summer of 2020?
Do you know if they will use the A350 on the London Cape Town route? The 747s they operate currently are a disgrace.
so people from Bangalore like me are going to get spoiled with choices in J... both BA and QR with their a350 suites, AF with its reconfigured a330 and SQ with its a350 !!
Fielding every long-haul aircraft they've got, BOS will no doubt see the A351 in 2020 as more come on.
To all those people surprised at Bangalore, let me tell you BA have themselves once claimed that India is one of their highest revenue centre like the US and China . Plus the growing competition with ME3 has led to BA up gauging BLR.
I hope BOM/ DEL gets club suite 77W too
wow the hate against Bengaluru is strong here
@Lucky. are you saying that the hard product of ba will improve?
I agree with MS's comment on Bangalore. People have a tendency to stereotype an Indian city as third world economy-heavy traffic. I don't know what made them choose an Indian city but beyond that, Bangalore is the only city that makes 100% sense.
Literally all the top IT management whether based in LHR or BLR will fly business. It was operated by a 747-400 before with low yield in F so they are now getting...
I agree with MS's comment on Bangalore. People have a tendency to stereotype an Indian city as third world economy-heavy traffic. I don't know what made them choose an Indian city but beyond that, Bangalore is the only city that makes 100% sense.
Literally all the top IT management whether based in LHR or BLR will fly business. It was operated by a 747-400 before with low yield in F so they are now getting rid of it. They had monopoly on that route until...until AI recently started a BLR-LHR flight which (through insider info) has the youngest traffic on all AI long haul flights. BA has a good chance of maintaining their current monopoly by upgrading their product and not let young leisure flyers switch over to AI's 787 Y product (less worse out of AI's 777 and 787 products).
It's an extraordinarily palpable decision..
@Ray
The premium destinations you are mentioning actually have First Class demand, so they are a step above BLR, which has fine CW demand but not really FC demand.
I'm a BA frequent flyer and it just annoys me that they haven't put the Club Suite onto the routes I fly most often. I occasionally have to go to Toronto but normally I go to other places as well and don't fly there from London.
And they are rolling out the Club Suite in a relatively short time, it's less than many other airlines but it could be bigger. But given the constrains British Airways is under I would cut them slack.
Thanks, ChrisC. Very interesting.
Let’s see what Lucky thinks is an appropriate speed - or how it compares to others who are, presumably, faster.
Bangalore does make sense as it is considered silicon valley of east and most of the IT firms are either in Hyderabad and Banglore while not many airlines have direct flights to those cities
Mumbai or any other US, Asian routes have first class which they dont want to remove and get more money out of existing first class
And believe me Banglore route never goes empty in business class
Or to Doha, for the codeshare flight with QR.
Tel Aviv actually makes sense but Bangalore? 56 Club Suites from 48 Club World which I didn't think carried such heavy loads? What an upgrade! To be quite honest I was expecting Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, DC, or Kuwait as premium-heavy desinations as they carry their most important flyers.. Bangalore definitely never crossed my mind
You have to be kidding. Done waiting.
Seriously no LAX? Come on BA -- there is way too much good competing product already out there -- you can't expect loyal customers to put up with the current CW for that much longer??!
@Paul
the rollout will be as quick as it can be but apparently the real limiting factor is that the manufacturers can only complete 3 seats a day* so approx 90 seats per month (assuming 7 day a week working).
One A350 has 56 CW seats so it takes approx 5 weeks production to complete two planes. I make that 20 planes a year max
* I can't remember if Lucky has covered that aspect but a couple of other travel writes have
Always wondered why so many European airlines pick ~3 a.m. as their arrival time into Tel Aviv. Swiss, BA and others... what's restricting them from doing daytime flights?
@ Lucky
"The catch is that the rollout of this seat will be fairly slow."
Really? I haven't seen a final timeline confirmed, only Alex Cruz's interview in which he said the main reason they chose this seat was that it guaranteed the fastest-possible roll-out.
So I'm intrigued to know what the roll-out speed is, and how that compares to, say, UA's Polaris or Qatar's Qsuite or Delta's One, or anyone else, really?
And...
@ Lucky
"The catch is that the rollout of this seat will be fairly slow."
Really? I haven't seen a final timeline confirmed, only Alex Cruz's interview in which he said the main reason they chose this seat was that it guaranteed the fastest-possible roll-out.
So I'm intrigued to know what the roll-out speed is, and how that compares to, say, UA's Polaris or Qatar's Qsuite or Delta's One, or anyone else, really?
And what do you think would be a reasonable timescale, as you think the BA timescale (whatever that is) is "slow"?
@Luk,
They will reduce the amount of F seats I believe to 8 seats, like the 787, but will keep First Class on the 777s. The design will take a cue from the 787 seats.
@Aaron
A number of US routes have F cabins and BA won't want to lose those passengers.
VS is putting it's new A350's on LHR-JFK so may get some traffic from BA.
@Ryan - no guarantee as it depends on the delivery of the planes to BA and then the putting it in the rotation.
That seems like atrocious timing for the Tel Aviv flight, in both directions.
I'm surprised none of these initial routes are to the US.
How popular are these routes for BA? It does seem a random selection.
Bangalore?! For goodness sake... Could have picked any other US route or Far East route.
I wounder if the refurbished 777300s will keep their first class or if they will eliminate first on these planes as the business class seat count will inevitably go down with the new seat ?
I hope the economy seat has more support and comfort in the a350. They are almost crisp thin now the seats, even if slightly more legroom, it isn’t much use if your back is in agony.
It is true that economy has got worse, while premium cabins have improved.
Is there already more information on which flight to Madrid the A350 will be? I made a speculative booking on the current 777 for July 1 and I hope it will be the A350.
Tel Aviv has surely been chosen for the new BA seat to compete with VS flying the route now.