Our flight from Rome to London was pretty uneventful, as was our long layover in London. It was actually one of my most pleasant Heathrow transit experiences yet. Transit security didn’t take too long, and we even managed to secure spa treatments at the Elemis Spa. The treatment was good, except for the fact that the advertised 15 minute treatment only lasted for eight minutes.
We spent our time in the Galleries First Lounge thanks to my oneworld Emerald status, and at around 1PM we headed to our departure gate, C57, which is the furthest pier from the lounge. It took about 10-15 minutes to get there, and at around 1:20PM fast track boarding was called for our flight to San Francisco.
British Airways 287
London (LHR) – San Francisco (SFO)
Sunday, September 18
Depart: 2:05PM
Arrive: 4:59PM
Duration: 10hr54min
Aircraft: Airbus A380
Seat: 58B (Business Class/Club World)
British Airways has business class on both the lower and upper deck of the A380. First class is at the front of the lower deck, and there’s a business class cabin behind it. Then on the upper deck there are two business class cabins. On our last British Airways A380 business class flight we sat in the forward business class cabin on the upper deck, while on this flight we sat in the rear cabin on the upper deck. Therefore we took the jet bridge directly to the upper deck.
Upon boarding we presented our boarding passes and were pointed right towards the rear business class cabin. The rear upper deck business class cabin has four rows, and we were in the second to last row.
While the seats are in a 2-4-2 configuration on the lower deck, on the upper deck they’re in a 2-3-2 configuration, so the cabin doesn’t feel quite as crammed (admittedly the cabin is also narrower on the upper deck, though…).
British Airways business class three seats in the center section
We chose an aisle and window combination, 58A & 58B.
British Airways A380 business class seats
Much like on the 777, the business class seats on the A380 are still really narrow.
British Airways A380 business class seat
The ottoman lowers from the seat in front (though is quite flimsy, and if you apply too much pressure, it’ll “collapse”).
British Airways A380 business class legroom
The window seats are already the best seats in British Airways’ business class, though what makes them even better on the upper deck of the A380 are the storage lockers. So while the seats don’t usually have much storage, there’s plenty of storage at the window seats here.
British Airways A380 storage lockers
Waiting at our seats were headphones, pillows, and blankets. Once again, the blankets were scratchy and pillows thin.
British Airways business class pillow & blanket
A few minutes after settling in one of the flight attendants came by to offer pre-departure beverages off a tray. We both selected champagne. The crew on this flight seemed to be friendly, though not quite as good as on the outbound. Still, they were infinitely better than the flight attendant I had on my previous British Airways A380 flight.
British Airways business class pre-departure champagne
About 10 minutes later we were offered drawstring bags with amenities, which are pretty basic.
British Airways business class amenity kit
After that we were offered the menus for the flight.
British Airways business class menu
Boarding was fairly efficient, though the flight was booked out, so it took a while.
By 2PM boarding was complete, at which point captain Tim came on the PA to welcome us aboard on behalf of his co-captain and the senior first officer. He informed us of our flight time of 10hr35min, which he anticipated would get us into San Francisco on shed-jewel.
The second he finished his announcement, the customer service director, Damon, made his welcome aboard announcement. He did it as if they were doing some sort of a routine, because the captain finished his announcement by saying “I’ll now leave you in the capable hands of Damon and his crew,” and without even a two second pause, Damon said “thanks for that captain,” and continued with his announcements.
At 2:05PM we began our pushback, at which point the safety video began to play.
British Airways 777 London Heathrow Airport
After pushback we held position for about 10 minutes as the engines started up. Fortunately from there it was just a quick taxi to our departure runway, 27R.
British Airways 777 London Heathrow Airport
As usual, the views enroute to the runway were interesting, though unfortunately the windows on the A380 are on the small side, and are extremely difficult to photograph out of. As an aviation geek that’s rather frustrating.
British Airways 787 London Heathrow Airport
Taxiing to runway London Heathrow
By 2:25PM we were cleared for takeoff, after waiting for a couple of British Airways narrowbody aircraft to take off.
Taxiing to runway London Heathrow
Taking off London Heathrow
Our takeoff roll and initial climb out were smooth and gradual, as is the norm on the A380.
Taking off London Heathrow
Taking off London Heathrow
We had some fantastic views of Terminal 5 on our initial climb out, before entering a layer of clouds.
View after takeoff from London Heathrow
View after takeoff from London Heathrow
View after takeoff from London Heathrow
About 15 minutes after takeoff the seatbelt sign was turned off.
British Airways A380 upper deck business class cabin
Service on this flight was really slow to get started, which I don’t mind as much on a daytime flight as a redeye, but still. About 45 minutes after takeoff the customer service director came through the cabin to take meal orders. Unfortunately they were already out of our first choice of starter, which seems to be the disadvantage of sitting this far back in the cabin without British Airways status.
The menu read as follows:
And the beverage list read as follows:
As the CSD came through to take meal orders, another crew member came through the cabin with warm towels.
A full hour after takeoff the crew came through the cabin with drinks and packaged mixed nuts. I had the Italian white wine, which was nice.
British Airways business class lunch — mixed nuts and white wine
A full 80 minutes after takeoff the meal service began, starting with the salad and appetizer being served.
British Airways business class lunch — appetizer and salad
The salmon starter was decent, better than on the outbound.
British Airways business class lunch appetizer — Scottish smoked salmon
The salad was good as well.
British Airways business class lunch — fresh seasonal salad with vinaigrette
I chose some focaccia from the breadbasket to accompany the meal.
British Airways business class lunch — focaccia bread
It was another 45 minutes after the appetizer before the main course was served, which is simply way too long. On the plus side, it tasted good — we both had the buttered chicken. I feel like that’s a dish that works quite well on planes, for what it’s worth.
British Airways business class lunch main course — buttered chicken
Finally another 20 minutes later the crew came through the cabin with dessert, which consisted of apple and blackberry vanilla crisp with cream. It was pretty good, even though I’m generally not a huge fan of sweet, fruity desserts.
British Airways business class lunch dessert — apple and blackberry vanilla crisp with cream
After lunch bottled water was distributed.
British Airways business class bottled water
By the time the meal service was done we were over 2hr30m into our flight, well past Iceland and approaching Greenland.
Airshow enroute to San Francisco
Service throughout the meal was friendly, though I did feel like I was part of an assembly line. That’s to say that the crew didn’t offer refills if they saw an empty glass or clear plates if they saw them empty, but rather only as they were coming through the cabin with their carts and performing the main service.
However, this was one of the better British Airways business class meals I’ve had, as the food was actually pretty good. Still, I wish the meal wouldn’t be so drawn out. They could just as easily serve the starter, salad, and appetizer on one tray, and then separately come around with dessert to speed things up.
After the meal I decided to watch a couple of sitcoms, including two episodes of The Middle that I hadn’t seen before.
British Airways entertainment selection
One of the good things about the upper deck of the A380 is that it has two huge lavatories at the front, which are certainly better than the tiny ones they have in business class on the 777. However, one of the lavatories was inoperable, meaning there were only a total of two working lavs in business class on the upper deck (there’s also one on the right side in the galley between cabins).
British Airways A380 business class lavatories
British Airways A380 business class lavatories
British Airways A380 business class lavatories
Between meals the crew did have a snack bar available, though the offerings have been watered down significantly over the years.
British Airways A380 business class snacks
British Airways A380 business class snacks
One other nice thing about being in the rear upper deck business class cabin is that it feels quite private. There’s very little foot traffic since all the service is done from the galley in front of the cabin, and the lavatories are all in front of the cabin as well.
British Airways business class cabin
After watching a couple of sitcoms I managed to get some rest. I napped for a few hours, and woke up about three hours from landing in San Francisco. I took the opportunity to get caught up on some work up until 75 minutes out, when the lights were turned up and the pre-arrival meal was served.
The menu read as follows:
By the time they got around to us they once again didn’t have our preferred starter.
British Airways business class pre-arrival meal — fresh fruit and appetizer
Maybe it’s just me, but it’s unfortunate when the only appetizer is by far the less agreeable one. The sea trout timbale was borderline inedible.
British Airways business class pre-arrival meal — sea trout timbale starter
Fruit was served on the same true, even though it was intended as the dessert.
British Airways business class pre-arrival meal — fresh fruit
While there was a full bar on offer, flight attendants prompted passengers by asking if they wanted coffee or tea, and sure enough almost everyone selected that. It’s not often you have sea trout and coffee together.
British Airways business class pre-arrival meal — coffee
For the main course I chose the “Far East salad” with prawns, which was very good.
British Airways business class pre-arrival meal — salad with prawns
Ford wanted the chicken sandwich, but they were out of it, so he got stuck with the toasties.
British Airways business class pre-arrival meal — toasties with chorizo and chicken
Around 4:20PM Pacific Time the captain came back on the PA with updated arrival information, informing us of our expected landing time of 4:55PM.
It looked like a gorgeous day in San Francisco, and our eyes were glued out the window for the entire descent.
View approaching San Francisco
View approaching San Francisco
View approaching San Francisco
Sure enough we had a smooth touchdown on runway 28R at 4:55PM.
Touchdown San Francisco
Our taxi to the gate took about 10 minutes, and we arrived there at 5:05PM, just a few minutes behind schedule.
British Airways A380 Club World bottom line
I’ve learned to manage my expectations with British Airways, so given that, I thought the flight was very good.
I’ll note that the rear upper deck cabin is probably my favorite place to be in business class on the A380 thanks to how little foot traffic there is. That being said, they also seem to run out of meal choices when they get that far back. Next time I fly British Airways business class I’d like to try the 747, as I imagine the upper deck on it is probably the best British Airways business class seats there are.
Is British Airways business class globally competitive? Heck no. Is it worth it on a super-duper-discounted business class fare? Yep!
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