In April we first learned that British Airways plans on refreshing their business class (Club World) product, which is long overdue. As far as I’m concerned, British Airways offers one of the worst fully flat business class products of any major airline, both in terms of the hard and soft product.
So I’m happy to see that British Airways is making a big investment in their premium experience, which also includes introducing Club Europe on domestic UK flights, new lounges, a new First Wing at Heathrow Airport, Wi-Fi on their short-haul and longhaul flights, etc.
While British Airways will be rolling out a new Club World seat in 2019 that features direct aisle access from every seat, they’re improving their soft product in the meantime. British Airways is starting by introducing their new soft product between New York and London to test things out, before expanding it to other routes.
British Airways already offers improved catering to New York
Since September 1, 2017, British Airways has been offering their new DO&CO “restaurant-style dining experience” on flights between London Heathrow and New York JFK. With this offering, passengers are able to select their choice of starters and desserts from display trolleys, and also receive new table settings.
In addition to new rotating main courses, they’re also offering an improved wine selection.
British Airways’ new bedding is now available to New York
For a while British Airways has been talking about how they’re introducing new amenity kits and bedding from The White Company.
It’s my understanding that this was initially supposed to be rolled out around the same time as the new catering, though British Airways had a bit of an issue. Apparently the bedding was too close in color to the carpet on the plane, and as a result, it posed a safety issue (presumably because of the risk of people tripping/falling in the event of an emergency evacuation). So they had to change the color of the bedding to something that didn’t match the carpet, and I guess that explains the delay.
However, British Airways is now offering their new bedding and amenity kits from The White Company on flights between New York JFK and London Heathrow. So if you’re flying this route, you should be experiencing British Airways’ new business class soft product.
Per the press release:
Exclusively for British Airways, The White Company has designed a luxuriously soft large pillow and white cotton pillowcase to enhance customers’ comfort and to help them sleep well in the sky.
Customers will also receive an elegant day cushion, which will double up as a lumbar support when working or relaxing on board, a super-soft woven blanket with satin trim, a bespoke luxury duvet, and a padded mattress cover to give them an extra layer of comfort and improve their quality of sleep.
The new Club World amenity kits come in a bespoke bag from The White Company and contain products from the retailer’s ‘Restore & Relax Spa Collection’ offering a further touch of luxury in the sky. The products have been specially selected to help counteract the effects of long haul air travel, each item is designed to provide a relaxing boost whenever customers need it during their flight.
The new bedding will gradually be rolled out through British Airways’ longhaul fleet between now and the summer of 2018.
I hope to test this out myself soon.
I kind of like BA J seats, especially the window seats of the 777. It's like a little private cabin. It's also rearward facing.
No matter how you tart up this crap airline,its still a crap Airline-just do a search on line,its not about bedding!!!!!
I just wish I had a £10 note for every time someone here moans about BA. Yawn. They make money. They have their monopoly. They are cheap from the States.... Seat is crap etc. Heard it all before. Martin sort of gets it right basically. Guess what guys, BA does not care what you think of them. More reviews of more interesting products please.
@ Martin
I agree: the First Wing at T5 is an utterly brilliant innovation. The main thing I hate at airports is the endless "retail opportunities" which we are usually forced to navigate. The First Wing bypasses all that crap. It makes LHR much less vile than it used to be.
You may hate LHR but if you are on BA F or are BA Gold, you get to check in at First Wing, have your own dedicated security check with no line, which leads direct to the First lounge.
That takes a lot of the sting out of LHR.
Based on some of these comments, I am wondering if we are even talking about the same airline. I always find BA to be pretty good, when cost and convenience is factored in
@ Alan
"Boarding in LHR is pure chaos, everyone runs to the boarding door while the BA customer service reps are trying to get the passengers with kids and priority boarding passengers through the mess and up front."
I hate LHR - it's a truly evil airport and one I use a couple of times a month. But I have never, ever experienced what you claim is normal. Never.
Kids and wheelchairs always...
@ Alan
"Boarding in LHR is pure chaos, everyone runs to the boarding door while the BA customer service reps are trying to get the passengers with kids and priority boarding passengers through the mess and up front."
I hate LHR - it's a truly evil airport and one I use a couple of times a month. But I have never, ever experienced what you claim is normal. Never.
Kids and wheelchairs always go first. Always. Only then do they open priority boarding. And only after that do they open general boarding. If anything, I'd argue the mechanical predictability is dehumanising - but at least it's ordered and clear.
I've been in many airports where boarding is a free-for-all (a polite word for a "cluster"), but LHR is not one of them.
I can only assume you are allowing your irrational hatred of BA to generate fantasies.
Business class seat layout is terrible,, especially when you're in a window seat and have to step over the sleeping passenger sitting in front of you.
Their food is almost uneatable.
Boarding in LHR is pure chaos, everyone runs to the boarding door while the BA customer service reps are trying to get the passengers with kids and priority boarding passengers through the mess and up front.
Matt
Agreed, and for business flyers BA is first rate because of their schedules, routes and the access to Heathrow.
Sure the odd blogger and upgrade junkie here will complain. But for business travel, if the choice is non-stop to Heathrow or one-stop to Gatwick, the former will win every time
Gregg,
The thing is that BA doesn't need you. I've taken dozens of flights to and from London in the last few years in BA CW and the cabin is usually full or close to.
Now, if you ran an airline and got full loads with 8-across seating in CW and somebody suggest halving the capacity, what would you do? Throw all that money away just so that you and Lucky are happier?
The reality is that BA only has to be as good as it needs to be.
@Matt - BA J is not a smooth experience and their F is definitely not luxurious.
Quite happy with 64 or 62K, thank you very much. And 'business class' should not equate to 'luxury travel', that's not what companies and clients are paying for. They're paying for a smooth experience and functionality, that' all. For luxury, book First.
Thx for the info !
Do we know when they are extending the product to other routes on a MIA-LHR for example ?
Cheers,
Cyril
@Dennis
Unreceptive management is right. BA's COO (or was it IAG's?) in a recent interview claimed never to have received a single letter complaining about lack of direct aisle access in CW and, therefore, he believed that passengers clearly didn't care about that.
As an OWE I get asked to fill in half a dozen BA surveys every year, and I scrupulously list direct aisle access first. No-one has ever told me that's pointless...
@Dennis
Unreceptive management is right. BA's COO (or was it IAG's?) in a recent interview claimed never to have received a single letter complaining about lack of direct aisle access in CW and, therefore, he believed that passengers clearly didn't care about that.
As an OWE I get asked to fill in half a dozen BA surveys every year, and I scrupulously list direct aisle access first. No-one has ever told me that's pointless and I should be writing directly to the COO... Clearly this guy isn't bothering to listen to customer feedback. Certainly I've been acting with my employer's wallet and booking other airlines where that's feasible - and telling BA about that in those surveys. But BA's stranglehold on LHR makes that difficult sometimes.
An anecdote: on a trip to Montreal earlier this month the FA told me I was the only BA Gold on the flight. I always thought there were dozens of us, though maybe Montreal is more a leisure than a business route. Or maybe BA is losing our loyalty?
@ Dennis
"BA's first approaches Qatar's business"
Qsuites is a game-changer for me. Staggeringly good product. In those wretched BA surveys I always suggest BA should compare themselves to their partner / part-owner to see how business class should be done.
The good news about BA is that it is relatively low cost compared to other carriers notably Emirates. As I commute between the East Coast USA and the Middle East on a regular basis I travel principally on Air France / sky team (Delta and Saudia) and BA. BA has more frequency and capacity but I find the prices vary about $1500 at different times one to the other.
I agree with Lucky and...
The good news about BA is that it is relatively low cost compared to other carriers notably Emirates. As I commute between the East Coast USA and the Middle East on a regular basis I travel principally on Air France / sky team (Delta and Saudia) and BA. BA has more frequency and capacity but I find the prices vary about $1500 at different times one to the other.
I agree with Lucky and the others that BA's Business Class is much less comfortable that either Air France, Delta, or Saudia.
The one good point about BA is that its First Class Product is quite comfortable and priced reasonably on advance purchase. However, BAs first approaches Qatar's Business. I am not able to use the latter now given the current "embargo" against Doha imposed by the GCC.
One bad point about BA is that it teams with American which is frankly terrible. American on long haul flights uses 757 narrow body aircraft and has some horrible flight attendants (especially the young plump woman) with a really nasty attitude. I avoid at all cost flying American Airlines overseas. Be very carful booking BA due to the code sharing resulting in one being on an American flight rather than BA.
It's bloody hell out there!!!
The bird’s eye view photo shows how awful the seat is. Talk about narrow! Also, those stupid fold out tv monitors are garbage as they seldom fold out straight, and they have to be stowed for takeoff and landing. Defenders of BA business must be once a year travel wonders because there are sure lot better options out there! :/
The seat simply “sucks”!
BA has had a long history of following the practice of waiting for enough complaints to pile up before making any changes. The airline owns a monopoly of routes and operates out of a world hub. They continue to turn out a profit and could care less about passenger comfort. Their first class is one of the worst hard products out there and one of the most costly of all carriers. (Personally I think Heathrow...
BA has had a long history of following the practice of waiting for enough complaints to pile up before making any changes. The airline owns a monopoly of routes and operates out of a world hub. They continue to turn out a profit and could care less about passenger comfort. Their first class is one of the worst hard products out there and one of the most costly of all carriers. (Personally I think Heathrow is one of the most poorly designed airports in the world)
The roll out of new bedding has more to do with the product placement deal they signed with the White Co. The bedding company wants their product out there as soon as possible, BA could care less.
The fact that I fly BA at least 8 times a year isn't by choice. The carrier doesn't treat its employees all the well, for overnights in LA, the crew is bussed two hours away to a terrible hotel in a bad neighborhood in Anaheim. The business class product is a very high density flat bed system that the airline is going to hate to lose. Most the passengers in business are upgraded economy clients so as they roll out their new product they are also going to be rolling back upgrade incentives.
I can go on and on about this airline but the lack of a receptive management deems every attempt futile. Richard Branson was the only person to try challenging BA and although Virgin was successful in its first decade, they've given up the battle and today you couldn't pay me to fly that airline. No one is going to fly to the Emirates to get to LHR so for now we're stuck with BA and it's under average service.
I flew BA CW to Europe the first time in 2015. It was on an old 747 and I was appalled at how lousy it was. It thought it was a 3rd class. Then in 2016 I flew AA Business Class to Europe and was appalled at the seats and service - I was disgusted by the experience. As poorly as I thought BA CW was, I would choose BA CW over AA.
Last month...
I flew BA CW to Europe the first time in 2015. It was on an old 747 and I was appalled at how lousy it was. It thought it was a 3rd class. Then in 2016 I flew AA Business Class to Europe and was appalled at the seats and service - I was disgusted by the experience. As poorly as I thought BA CW was, I would choose BA CW over AA.
Last month I flew BA CW to Europe again and was pleasantly surprised. The seats and monitor were in much nicer condition and the service was excellent and the food was decent. What surprised me was how much I enjoyed sitting with my wife in the side by side seats. Once you put up the privacy screens it felt so private (We were in the last row, so we faced the wall and there was no one in front of us). It felt like we were in our own private suite and I have never had such a private flying experience. Only flying in Seat 1A in CX F was the privacy comparable. So to my surprise, if I can get that seat again, I wouldn't mind flying BA CW again.
@The nice Paul – I respect your comment, as I do strongly agree with you. I had my last round with BA, being stood up for compensation, and spending 6 red-eye hours in the terminal facility of IAH.
Their soft product was great in the late 90´s, but their Hard product in CW is terrible. I have just gotten of TAP from JFK-LIS-OSL on a mistake fare in Business class, and if I were...
@The nice Paul – I respect your comment, as I do strongly agree with you. I had my last round with BA, being stood up for compensation, and spending 6 red-eye hours in the terminal facility of IAH.
Their soft product was great in the late 90´s, but their Hard product in CW is terrible. I have just gotten of TAP from JFK-LIS-OSL on a mistake fare in Business class, and if I were to return to TP, I would simply be for the milage-accruals.
I am looking forward to, and also inviting the new CW product any time soon.
An excellent airline. Excellent bedding. Their fleet is great, made of steel. Can only trust the aircraft made of pure steel and BA deliver on this front. Solid.
You are often prone to exaggeration about BA so it's hard to find your BA reviews credible. It's definitely not the best but hardly as awful as you say. The private window seats are fairly amazing if you value privacy for sleeping.
@ CF Frost -- And the other 75% of the seats (at least for much of the fleet)?
@ the nice Paul. KLM does -
All 54 747s 787s and 777s all have full flat seats. The 13 a330s are all to be refurbished
@ Gregg
I actually don't care about forward- or rearward-facing. It makes literally zero difference to me (take-off is slightly less comfortable, landing slightly more comfortable. It all balances out).
In fact, half of Qatar's Qsuites are rearward-facing and I'd argue that it is far and away the best business class product in the skies right now.
But I am absolutely with you on direct aisle access.
@The nice Paul - I completely agree with you. I simply will not fly BA long haul until they get a new CW seat that is all forward-facing with direct aisle access.
No matter what kind of improvement on all the soft product, The real problem is the seats. They are really awkward and narrow.
I know you anyway hate BA and my normal comments are what I think of balance to yours, but this latest BA roll out all feels a bit "lipstick on a pig".
As it happens, I agree with your usual position that business class is "all about the seat". Everything else is a nice-to-have. So while I defend BA against airlines which *still* don't have all lay-flat seats in business (American, for instance, or...
I know you anyway hate BA and my normal comments are what I think of balance to yours, but this latest BA roll out all feels a bit "lipstick on a pig".
As it happens, I agree with your usual position that business class is "all about the seat". Everything else is a nice-to-have. So while I defend BA against airlines which *still* don't have all lay-flat seats in business (American, for instance, or KLM, no matter how great those airlines' best seats are), I'm not that impressed with these improvements to the soft product.
I'm still waiting for the new direct-access CW seat. In the meantime, BA is losing my business to Qatar and JAL and any number of others.