To kick off this trip I flew British Airways’ A350-1000 Club Suites from Toronto to London Heathrow. The A350 features British Airways’ brand new business class seat, which is ushering in a new era for British Airways, given their previous woefully outdated business class seats.
How I Booked British Airways’ A350 Club Suites
While I could have redeemed British Airways Avios (or other oneworld miles) for this trip, I ended up booking a discounted business class ticket instead.
British Airways and Finnair had excellent ~1,500USD one-way business class fares from Toronto to Singapore, via London and Helsinki. So I booked the following:
12/02 BA92 Toronto to London departing 6:20PM arriving 6:25AM (+1 day)
12/03 AY1344 London to Helsinki departing 1:50PM arriving 6:45PM
12/03 AY131 Helsinki to Singapore departing 11:55PM arriving 5:15PM (+1 day)
Not only is that a pretty great fare, but the trip also earned me about 21,000 elite qualifying miles and 2,600+ elite qualifying dollars, which would help me requalify for Executive Platinum status with American AAdvantage (for better or worse).
For context, if you were to redeem points for the one-way ticket from Toronto to London you’d pay:
- 50,000-60,000 British Airways Avios plus $411.40 in taxes, fees, and carrier surcharges (the best credit cards for earning British Airways Avios)
- 57,500 American AAdvantage miles plus $411.40 in taxes, fees, and carrier surcharges (the best credit cards for earning American AAdvantage miles)
- 60,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles plus $411.40 in taxes, fees, and carrier surcharges (the best credit cards for earning Alaska Mileage Plan miles)
Given the high carrier imposed surcharges on British Airways award tickets, the itinerary I booked seemed like a no brainer.
British Airways A350 Business Class Review
Boarding for the flight was scheduled to start at 5:40PM, though ended up starting 10 minutes ahead of that for business class passengers, at 5:30PM.
British Airways 92
Toronto (YYZ) – London (LHR)
Monday, December 2
Depart: 6:20PM
Arrive: 6:25AM (+1 day)
Duration: 7hr5min
Aircraft: Airbus A350-1000
Seat: 11A (Club Suites Business Class)
At the second set of doors I was greeted by the cabin service manager and pointed left into the business class cabin. based on the age of the crew I could immediately tell that this was a mixed fleet crew (British Airways’ newer flight attendants who are on a different/cheaper contract than the more senior flight attendants).
British Airways has a total of 56 business class seats on the A350-1000. 42 of those seats are in the forward cabin, and then there are another 12 seats in a mini-cabin behind that. There’s no first class on the A350-1000 (though British Airways is installing first class on the 787-10).
Off the bat I noticed that British Airways chose to install overhead bins in the center section of the cabin. The cabin still felt spacious, but it feels even more spacious when there are no overhead bins there, as you’ll find on the Qatar A350-1000.
British Airways A350-1000 business class cabin
British Airways’ new business class should look familiar, with one unique element. They chose standard Collins Aerospace Super Diamond reverse herringbone seats, which you’ll find on a countless number of airlines, and they added a door to it.
The seats in each row are configured in exactly the same way, so it’s not that even numbered rows are better than odd numbered rows, or anything like that.
In the center section, seats are angled towards one another. There’s a privacy partition between seats, so if you’re seated in one of these seats and traveling alone, you can still choose to have privacy.
British Airways Club Suites center seats
Along the windows, the seats face towards the fuselage.
British Airways Club Suites window seat
Like I said, this is more or less a generic Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seat, minus the door.
British Airways A350 Club Suites business class
British Airways A350 Club Suites business class
With these types of seats, the entertainment monitor is mounted to the back of the seat in front, so it has just one position. Then the tray table folds out from underneath that, and can also be folded over in half.
British Airways A350 Club Suites business class
British Airways business class tray table
To the side of the seat was a large counter that had two panels that could be opened.
British Airways A350 business class seat storage
On the left was a shallow storage compartment (for a phone, glasses, etc.), and then on the right was a slightly deeper compartment that also had the entertainment controller, power outlets, and headphone jack.
British Airways A350 business class seat storage
British Airways business class entertainment controls and power outlets
The seat functions can be controlled from a panel to the side of the seat.
British Airways business class seat controls
These seats usually have a small enclosed storage compartment to the back side of the seat, though British Airways combined this with the literature pocket, and that meant the compartment is now tiny, maybe big enough to hold a book vertically (and not even a big one — we’re talking “50 Shades of Grey” at most). There was also a mirror here.
British Airways business class seat storage
Small footwells can be a big downside to some of the more cutting edge business class seats, and this was a standard reverse herringbone seat in that regard. It was on the tight side, but not as tight as a “throne” seat, for example.
British Airways business class footwell
Underneath the seat and to the left was a small exposed storage compartment.
British Airways A350 business class seat
Then to the right of the seat was an armrest that could be raised or lowered.
British Airways business class seat armrest
I’ll talk more about the door a bit later, since the door was locked while on the ground and during takeoff.
British Airways unfortunately elected not to install individual air nozzles on the A350-1000. Grrrr…
British Airways A350 no individual air nozzles
All around this is a very solid seat. I love reverse herringbone seats, and this is the most modern version of that seat with the addition of a door. I didn’t find that the door made the seat more claustrophobic, and worst case scenario you can just leave the door open.
Anyway, on to the soft product. British Airways has invested heavily in their business class soft product as well, and that has shown. There was bedding from The White Company at my seat, which was exceptional.
British Airways business class bedding
I’d say after United Polaris, British Airways probably has the second best business class bedding. There was a pillow, a mattress sheet, a duvet, and a day blanket. Lovely.
British Airways The White Company bedding
There were also headphones at my seat, which weren’t particularly good.
British Airways business class headphones
Within a few minutes of settling in I was presented with an amenity kit from The White Company, containing socks, eyeshades, earplugs, a dental kit, a pen, lip balm, and some lotion.
British Airways business class amenity kit
A moment later I was offered a pre-departure drink, with the choice of water or champagne.
British Airways business class pre-departure champagne
Then I was presented with the menu, and was asked to fill out the breakfast card before going to sleep.
British Airways business class menu
The flight was reasonably full, and by 6:10PM the main cabin door closed. At 6:15PM the senior first officer made his welcome aboard announcement, informing us of the flight time of 6hr30min, as well as our departure from a Northeast runway, and our path over Montreal and then Gander.
At 6:25PM we began our pushback, at which point the crew performed a manual safety demonstration. At 6:30PM we began our taxi, and at 6:40PM we were cleared for takeoff on runway 33R.
As we climbed out I browsed the entertainment selection, which was a massive improvement over the old one — the selection was huge, the system was responsive, and the monitor resolution was excellent.
British Airways entertainment system A350
There was a never-ending selection of movies and TV shows.
British Airways entertainment system A350
British Airways entertainment system A350
Then there was the airshow, though British Airways doesn’t have a tail camera on their A350, unlike many other airlines. I’m not sure if that was a cost saving measure, or…?
Map for flight to London
Map for flight to London
Stats for flight to London
I then connected to the Wi-Fi service. I love that British Airways has recently been investing in Wi-Fi, but why did they have to ruin a good thing with the A350-1000?! On the other aircraft types I’ve flown they sell passes valid for the entire flight, with no data caps.
On the A350-1000, British Airways charges based on data usage, as follows:
- 25MB of data costs $6.99
- 75MB of data costs $15.99
- 150MB of data costs $25.99
British Airways A350 Wi-Fi
British Airways A350 Wi-Fi pricing
Seriously, why, why, why British Airways? Does anyone know If they’ve switched to data-based pricing on all their planes, or if this is an A350 “enhancement?”
This ultimately wasn’t a huge deal on a redeye, but on a daytime flight I’d be quite unhappy with those options. On the plus side, Wi-Fi speeds were good.
Anyway, 10 minutes after takeoff the seatbelt sign was turned off and meal orders were taken right away. Then about 30 minutes after takeoff warm towels were distributed.
British Airways business class warm towel
After that the dinner service began. The menu read as follows:
The drink list read as follows:
40 minutes after takeoff the starter and drinks were served. Usually they have a round of nuts with drinks in business class on British Airways, though I guess due to this being a short overnight flight maybe they skip that? Fair enough.
All around I’ve been impressed by British Airways’ new catering, though this flight was an exception (which might be because it was catered from an outstation). For the starter I ordered the seared Pacific scallops with cauliflower and saffron puree, and grilled asparagus. I thought it looked excellent, but the scallops were bland and tasteless.
That was served with a salad with grilled yellow peppers and tomato, and a piece of bread. The bread was cold and stale, and could have probably been used as a weapon.
To drink I decided to order the “gin zing,” which contained gin, citrus, and sparkling water. It looked a bit more Gatoreadey than I was expecting.
British Airways business class dinner — appetizer & salad
I usually don’t eat beef, but I decided to order the seared fillet of Alberta beef, with Chablis mustard sauce, roasted fingerling potatoes, carrot puree, and broccoli.
Why did I order this? Because I don’t eat pork, and because whenever I order pasta on a plane people freak out in the comments section, so I feel like I had no choice. 😉
The dish as such was fine. The sauce was overpowering, but that was probably a good thing since It wasn’t the best cut of meat in the world.
British Airways business class dinner — main course
Next up I ordered the warm cranberry bread pudding with creme anglaise, which was tasty.
British Airways business class dinner — dessert
Lastly I had a cheese plate, for the picture if nothing else.
British Airways business class dinner — cheese plate
My tray was cleared by around 8:30PM, about 1hr50min after takeoff. That’s a bit longer than a meal service would ideally take on such a short flight.
Service throughout the meal was friendly and well intentioned, though not especially personalized or polished, as I find to be the norm for mixed fleet crews. British Airways’ business class cabin is huge, so they sure have to hustle.
By the time I was ready for bed there were under 4hr30min remaining to London, and we were over Newfoundland.
Map enroute to London
Map enroute to London
Before going to bed I checked out the lavatories, of which there are three — there is one in front of the cabin, and two between the business class cabins. Interestingly the ones between business class cabins aren’t along the outside of the plane, but rather are along the inside, where the galley/closets usually are.
British Airways A350 lavatory
The lavatory had spa products from The White Company.
British Airways A350 lavatory amenities
I also quickly peeked into the rear business class cabin. There were a total of about a dozen empty seats in business class, including all six of the center seats in the rear cabin.
British Airways A350 rear business class cabin
Between cabins there’s also an area where they could set up a self serve bar. However, I’m guessing they only do that on longer flights (or daytime flights).
British Airways A350 business class snack bar
Nothing was set up here, and quite to the contrary, the display “case” was used to store trash.
British Airways A350 business class snack bar
I reclined my bed at this point, and was ready to get some sleep.
British Airways A350 Club Suites bed
British Airways A350 Club Suites bed
So, what’s the door like? The door can be opened and closed manually.
British Airways A350 Club Suites door
The door reminded me a bit of the Delta A350 door. It’s not the highest door out there, but it does give you a bit of extra privacy. I decided to use it, and felt in no way claustrophobic. I also didn’t feel like I had full privacy, or anything. So I think the new door is a nice improvement.
British Airways A350 Club Suites door
Unfortunately it took me a while to fall asleep, because at this point we hit some pretty substantial turbulence for about 15 minutes. I eventually did fall asleep, and woke up just over 90 minutes before arrival in London. I’d say I got just over two hours of sleep in the end.
Map approaching London
Map approaching London
As soon as the flight attendant saw I was awake she brought me breakfast. Here’s what the breakfast card listed:
I had the egg and cheese bagel, and it was surprisingly good. The bagel had a nice crunch to it, and the eggs were good too. That was served with some bread, as well as a side of muesli.
British Airways business class breakfast
The cabin lights were kept down for much of the breakfast service, as many people chose to sleep.
British Airways A350 business class cabin
At around 5:30AM London time the senior first officer once again came on the PA to inform us that we were flying over Cardiff, and would be landing in about 40 minutes, and that the seatbelt sign would be turned on in about 20 minutes.
Sure enough we ended up landing at Heathrow at 6:13AM, and then we arrived at Terminal 5C at 6:20AM.
From there I was looking forward to checking out the British Airways Arrivals Lounge, and then (briefly) checking into the Aerotel Heathrow Terminal 3, before my Finnair flight to Helsinki.
British Airways A350 Club Suites Bottom Line
British Airways’ new Club Suites business class represents a much needed investment for the airline, which previously had more-or-less the same business class product for a couple of decades.
I love reverse herringbone seats to begin with, and this is the best reverse herringbone seat out there, as the door only enhances the experience further. Very well done, British Airways.
British Airways’ soft product investment is also evident… for the most part. Their bedding is excellent, and amenity kits nice, though in the case of this flight I’d say the food was more of a “miss” than usual.
Lastly, I do feel like British Airways missed some very easy opportunities. The A350-1000 is one of my favorite planes, but British Airways chose not to install air nozzles or a tail camera. Furthermore, I don’t like that British Airways charges for Wi-Fi based on data used, without the option of buying a pass without data caps. That’s a step in the wrong direction.
All things considered, color me impressed by British Airways’ new business class. When I compare this flight to my first flight in British Airways’ business class about four years ago, I can’t help but note just how far the airline has come.
I’d be even more impressed if they changed their Wi-Fi pricing, and if this were a flight out of London with (hopefully superior) Do & Co catering.
What do you make of British Airways’ new Club Suites business class?
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