To kick off this trip I flew British Airways’ A350-1000Club 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brand new business class seat, which is ushering in a new era for British Airways, given their previous woefully outdated business class seats.
Continue reading: Review: British Airways A350 Club Suites Business Class
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Nice review. Please try some Pasta dishes and / or other veg dishes, I love seeing more reviews of those over Fish/meat/chicken/animal protein.
Thank you.
BA not installed individual air nozzles on any of its long haul aircraft.
The A350 is equipped with tail cameras (they are viewable in the flight deck) although BA chose not to link it to the IFE (a cost consideration).
The ‘Club Kitchen’ snack area should have absolutely been set up mid flight. There must have been a loading abnormality or such.
They’ve always been cheapskates with optional aircraft comfort extras. All of the BA 747s I have been on (only using the upper deck) lack air nozzles and also the only sockets are US rather than UK or European configured for some bizarre reason.
It makes me wonder if many of BA’s ‘newer’ 747s were originally ordered by TWA before their administration. If anybody could shed light on that it would be appreciated.
That’s the second time we’ve been on the same flight in the past few years... also my first time on BA A350, huge improvement for BA. Agree the turbulence was unusually bad for transatlantic hop, would’ve said it lasted 30mins at least?
"The cabin lights were kept down for much of the breakfast service, as many people chose to sleep."
Is it impossible to turn the screens off? I dont understand why everyone would have it on when trying to sleep
Lucky, the WiFi tariff is for short-haul ...so is an error and a hangover from when the new BA 350's were tested on LHR-MAD-LHR.
All long-haul BA WiFi flights should have the tariff you are used to.
Very solid. The $1500 one way fares are still live, deep into April actually, on this same routing!
Lucky,
Weren’t you just lecturing all of us about saving the planet a few weeks ago and our carbon footprints and LH CEO?
You then said you were tell us how you’re working on your carbon footprint. Can we assume this is the follow up and how you’re helping to save the planet and your carbon emissions?
Because if it is I’m not sure how serious to take you anymore on climate change or if you’re just trolling us with your climate comments?
@ Abe -- Honey, chill. You've shared your politics plenty on the blog, and it's pretty clear you're from a different planet (so you don't have to worry about climate change, or anything else!). You can just live in your little world where we're winning so much that we're getting tired of winning, and where America is once again respected around the world and not laughed at.
To answer your question, I am putting finishing touches on the post and it's a bigger project. It will be up in the next day or two. I very much look forward to your support and valued opinions on the topic.
@ Noah Bowie -- Because it's the last paper book I read, so was the most useful reference point for me. 😉
@ Jason -- Interesting. Any clue if this has been a common issue on all A350s since they've started long haul flights, or why this plane was singled out?
@ James S -- Hah, good observation. In this case an announcement was being made, so then the screens turn on to display that.
We flew LHR to YYZ on the A350 biz class last month. Impressed but not overwhelmed. Food was great, hard product was very good but service was inexperienced. Not a huge deal, but for the money we paid, I kind of expected a little bit more. Anyways, an improvement on their other biz product on 787 and 747.
"Left some low-hanging fruit on the table" is a beautiful mixed metaphor. Well played.
When I saw that suite door my first thought was, “people are going to pull the red handle.” After Googling, I see it’s a significant problem that has prompted some sort of engineering solution.
Does anyone else find peculiar that a British airline would invest in Ciroc vodka but only spring for Gordon’s gin and Tanquaray? Where’s the Hendrick’s or The Botanist at?
It looks a bit tight, claustrophobic. I fly and love the A380 in F and like row 2 in the 747s. Not sure I would prefer this though it may be a while before we (LAX) sees this plane. Thoughts?
Your old colleague James reviewed this for TPG, and one issue he had with the seat was that the wall of the suite was too low (compared to the one on Qatar), but then again, it's TPG, where making random eye contact with a stranger and/or having someone able to see part of the back of your head just ruins the flying experience...they're a bit more obsessed with privacy than Lucky is.
For me the biggest improvement of these seats is everyone gets aisle access and the storage at each seat has improved considerably.
That breakfast was carb heavy. Bagle (super dense bread) with a bread basket and to top it off, museli. Just reading about it makes my stomach knot up, lol!
I don't see how this is the "best" reverse herringbone seat. CX's seat on the 350 is much more spacious, particularly the footwell.
About the Wifi:
It’s the only fleet at BA that’s MB based and not time as you say. This is due to BA wanting WiFi I stalked from Day one, but Airbus only provided one option from the factory and that (I believe) is the very sub-par Panasonic system. It is simply not good enough to offer the full flight passes to the plane without the system being overloaded, hence the MB charge.
Hopefully this does change or they refit the better system during some maintenance cycle or something.
The “self-serve bar” (assuming that’s the Club Kitchen) should have been stocked with drinks and snacks from the end of dinner through the rest of the flight. It’s even referred to on the first page of the menu, so it’s a poor show if it wasn’t available (and I don’t think I’ve ever had a BA longhaul flight where the crew didn’t set it up).
It certainly doesn’t look like the Club Suite will win BA the crown for “best J seat”. Unlike its predecessor, it’s not a game-changer that positions BA as the world’s number 1.
But as a seat, it’s clearly better than the J seats on pretty much any BA or European legacy carrier (maybe not Polaris?).
And since BA is the only one of those legacy carriers which seems to care about fleet consistency, in a few years BA will have the advantage that if you book a BA ticket you are guaranteed this seat — unlike the “lucky dip” of every other legacy carrier where you are always at the mercy of equipment swaps.
Brand consistency for the hard product is really important to the business travellers who buy most of the big-money tickets.
That doesn’t solve BA’s problem with brand inconsistency in their soft product. But, as Lucky usually says, J is “all about the seat”.
If I were working for Virgin I think I’d now be worried.
I look forward to the revised list of the world’s best business classes, and where this fits in the list of best J class seats.
Lucky,
Thanks for the excellent review. I haven’t flown J on the A350 yet, but flew PE couple weeks back which is a huge downgrade in product, tiny 8-across seats, much narrower than ok the rest of the fleet.
The Wifi pricing is unique to the A350 from what crew told me. Interestingly enough, an FA I was speaking to bemoaned the cramped A350 galley set up and it sounded like the cabin crew really don’t like working this aircraft very much.
Once the 772 and 77W refits come in and the 777x fleet is arriving they should have bigger footwells (due to the wider cabin), better wifi pricing, better PE product and a First cabin, ironically making the A350 the aircraft to avoid in the BA fleet.
As previously mentioned, sadly the WiFi is a factory item so won’t change on the 350 in the near future. Tail cam - it was a decision between putting the money into a nicer moving map or the live camera feed. Sadly they don’t make enough money to have both
@ Kerry. It's true what you say regarding the crews feelings about the A350.
The new Club Suites take up more space overall than the old ying-yang set up so BA was determined to not give up too much space to galleys so they could fit in as many Club Suites as possible. Even an extra one or two seats can be a huge difference in revenue over a year. BA is not unique in this respect, most airlines that need to make a profit these days are doing the same. The A380's and 787's also have a reputation for poor galley spaces for crew.
BA is also reducing galley space on the 777-200's that are being retro-fitted with the new Club suite.
Ironically ask any crew member at BA which is their favourite aircraft to work on and most will say the 747. Yep, she's old but she was also kitted out at a time when the be all and end all wasn't to ram as many seats as possible into every conceivable space. Galleys and crew areas are roomy and large.
"And since BA is the only one of those legacy carriers which seems to care about fleet consistency"
Lufthansa as well.
Ben,
You specifically said in the LH post you don’t ever fly to make status only for “us” to review stuff and products and family.
But a great fare half way around the world to “help you keep executive platinum” using all these different airlines is saving the planet. Do you think you get a pass because you have a blog so you’re not subjected to climate change like all the Hollywood actors?
Do as I say, not as I do...
@ Aaron
You’re right about Lufthansa — I have a blind spot there: after the ludicrous award of 5* status now, in recognition of a new business class seat that will be installed, er, some years in the future, I just can’t take them seriously.
And God knows I like meat, but the last meal I had on LH seemed to consist of nothing but smoked meats and blood sausage. My stomach rebelled.
@ Abe -- Wrong. I said I fly for the purposes of reviews. While one of the focuses was British Airways' new A350-1000 business class, I've also stated for a long time that I wanted to review Finnair's new oneworld Emerald lounge in Helsinki, plus Qantas' brand new first class lounge in Singapore. This itinerary was *perfect*, and let me check those out.
Or are the two new best oneworld lounges to open in recent years not worthy of reviews?
@Ben - more importantly how do you rate Club Suites in your top 10 and to BA First?
@Aaron I suspect because no one is drinking martinis on board.
A gin & tonic requires a good juniper hit, and the quinine flavour in the tonic water drowns out subtle botanicals. On both counts Gordons is an excellent G&T gin, The Botanist is not. I assume the Tanqueray option is for those who don't like gin but want to order a G&T, although at a push, it is slightly better than the vodka drinkers favourite gin, Bombay Sapphire.
BA also provide that crucial ingredient, a good tonic water. Gordons and Fever-Tree beats any gin with a standard cane-sugar laden tonic every time.
@Maxim, I like Bombay Sapphire and like you said also like Vodka. I never realized the two could be connected. Can you recommend another gin to try?
@ Jason @ Lucky - i flew on BA's 350 from MAD-LHR to check it out. Flew the 777 from LHR-MAD to get to MAD and to compare old biz with new.
The wifi pass options on the 777 were time-based options with no data caps. The options on the 350 were based on data usage as they were on your flight. So different wifi pass options on the one route.
Very strange and annoying. The time-based options were good value and the 350 options most certainly were not! Hopefully they can resolve this.
I have been a long time contributor on airliners.net with the trip reports, however it appears the trend these days is to move to vlogs or simply put video trip reports.
I am all for a good detailed trip report like you do on your site, but do you see yourself moving to a video based format?
And honestly even trip reports less than 15 mins seem to be the ones people enjoy watching over more lengthier ones. It is only after YouTube allowed my videos to go over 15mins did they get much longer.
Imagine you were right here in Toronto!
The rules don’t apply to you Ben. You’re here to serve us by justifying flying for any reason. Either it’s for showing “us” products by flying, or it’s family related. So when you fly, you never admit any carbon emissions. Amazing!
You also just assumed my politics. I have never said I support Trump. I have expressed right leaning politics sometime. Really mature to fight a long time reader, and interject personal politics into it. Stay classy....
Lucky- on that YYZ-SIN fare, is it BA or AY? Which class? Any flexibility on flight timings? (I’d probably credit to AS and take a longer stop at LHR to get more sleep in, shorter at HEL. As Oneworld Nobody my lounge options aren’t as interesting as yours. :))
On Google flights it shows as $2,094 and is on the Finnair site when directed to book.
Lucky, I know you get plenty of blog post suggestions, but it would be interesting to read a more detailed comparison of all the doored business class seats, since it seems you've flown them all now?
Lucky, I know you get plenty of blog post suggestions, but it would be interesting to read a more detailed comparison of all the doored business class seats, since it seems you've flown them all now?
@Pedro I’m not trolling. Read his posts and things HE said. He’s either fighting global warming, or he’s apathetic.
He can’t have it both ways where he’s a big global warming advocate, but then has a carbon footprint the size of Uranus
Quotes from him: “ “Ben (Lucky) says:
November 26, 2019 at 12:54 pm
@ henry LAX — Virtually all of my flights are for review purposes or to visit family. I don’t do any status runs beyond that.”
Now: “ cross-crossing the globe to Toronto, Singapore, Helsinki etc... Because 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).”
So which is it Ben?
@Duck Ling
Agree with you and ironically even as a passenger I would still say my favourite BA plane to fly is the 747 (provided of course you get the upper deck in J, and because of sitting in the nose in F).
In terms of the back of the plane, there is no doubt that in Y and PE the seats on the 747 Are much more comfortable than on virtually any other type in the fleet.
Nice review - I look forward to trying this product, especially as I never use WiFi or air nozzles nor look at the tail camera views. What an improvement over the 8 across "coffins" that was hitherto Club World, without even a place to put glasses while you tried to sleep.
@Aaron / @Maxim
Maxim I agree with you that a good Tonic makes for a good GnT - and that the pressuristion makes for a Gin absent much of the botanicals.... Aaron has a point or two, BA much like JAL lacks in Gin - some of us like to drink it straight...
That said Ciroc as a Vodka, marketing aside sucks as a Vodka... always a subtle grape taste ala Cremola Foam for those of us older and Brit ...
2 Gins of moderate value and a vodka of a minimal value doesn't make a decent bar.
Though granted it is J
Kerry,
I love the nostalgia of the 747 and row 1 is special though too close to the neighbor. Row 2 is best for privacy. All the rest of the seats are dreadful. The A380 is so much nicer in my opinion. A lot of space and privacy. Hope you get to fly the A380. It does spoil us.
I would never fly BA J before but if I had to the A350 would do. Just prefer F in the others. :/
Jimmy
BA perpetually exists to underwhelm. Not at all a compelling product, other than the bedding (which sees almost nil usage on a North America - London route). And to not provide air nozzles for your flagship product? That's a nickel-and-dime decision worthy of AA.
Do BA still charge for seat assignments in business class for non-status customers? Between their random and exorbitant "fuel surcharges" and charging for seat assignments in business class, I've pretty much written them off even if they do improve their product.
@ Tom -- They sure do, though select elite members are exempt (I didn't have to pay since I'm oneworld Emerald).
"but on a daytime flight I’d be quite unhappy with those options. On the plus side, wifi speeds were good"
isn't that the whole point that the Delta CEO was saying the other day - if you give it away for free, there just isn't the capacity to handle the demand. but if you make people pay, those that do get a decent experience !
Hey Abe. You’re exactly what I’ve found with other Trump supporters. You are one... You just don’t have the guts to admit or come clean about it. Typical of almost every Trumper I’ve ever met.
Probably because T supporters have zero soul, integrity and minimal intelligence.
The WiFi is data based because that at the time was the only option that Airbus allowed from factory installation with the Panasonic system along with the IFE.
Other aircraft have been retrofitted with WiFi and that’s why it’s not a data based system.
No other airline have retrofitted WiFi onto the A350 - and many would complain if the aircraft didn’t have WiFi on delivery, and costs are apparently extortionate to go to a non data capped service.
I believe the 787-10 will also be in the same boat as the A350 in terms of WiFi.
@ The nice Paul - fleet consistency is apparently something that's reverse tested in Seattle. I swear they use Seattle to gauge how long it will take before the passengers mutiny. Possibly based on our capacity to live in (one shade of) gray for four months straight - although it's not like YYV is baking in bleaching sunshine either. However that DID give us 747s for longer - aka, "plane sucks but upstairs has bins for all your stuff and minimal hoi polloi." I sorta miss it. Felt like my childhood imagination's view of international business travel - complete with tobacco-yellowed plastics and tipsy lechers. Not enough suave spies or supermodels tho.
Anyway, I'm apparently on the Revised biz class on the return trip, so I'm excited to be excited about new equipment. I've been on BA 51 and 52 so many times that even my penknife graffiti is getting worn smooth with age. Also the references are aging. Kids don't know about YTMD.
And why do I keep forgetting that 13 K's sad semi-opaque privacy screen is prone to falling, just as I'm plucking nose hair? OH! Apparently BA has changed takeoff policy so I don't have to awkwardly nod at my neighbor until 10k feet. They closed it before taxiing. Which was kind of an upgrade in itself.
I
Hi, wondering which business class seats are the best to choose…window or center? Pros and cons? Departing from PDX. Do you know if the newer suites are on the PDX route? Thanks.
I have just flown from Tokyo to London on the 350 and would say the following:
We had window seats. The comfort level in Business Class of the herringbone configuration was very good and much better than the awful configuration on the outward flight from London-Tokyo (can’t remember which plane type we were on).
The service throughout the flight was average at best - our attendant looked disinterested.
The food was also average- decent Salmon carpaccio starter but bland Tuna as a main.
Better training for aircrew is much needed.
My first BA flight of 2025 was LHR-DEN return. In total I have enjoyed 31 such return BA, A350 flights.
My preferred seat is A2, as this works well for my embarking and disembarking, plus my choice of sleeping positions, etc. The seat is adequate for my frame, comfortable for eating, working, resting and most importantly sleeping.
I travel without checked luggage and find the storage facilities more than adequate for my needs.
All inflight entertainment, on any airline, is what it is …. proletariat fodder, best to bring one’s own.
In general, I only notice poor food quality on my return journeys, probably due to my tiredness. However, I do sleep better on the overnight return flights.
By comparison, the B787 F seat this week (LHR to IAD) was very nice too, however, I’m not as relaxed in the Boeing because of the cabin noise and air quality.
I'm considering flying business class from Newcastle to LHR then LHR to Las Vegas in April with my son for a week and wonder if it's worth the extra cost? Neither of us have flown business class before and it's our first holiday abroad together so want to make it special.