While I’ve flown British Airways first class many times before, there were a couple of things that would make my flight from London to Boston unique:
Continue reading: Review: British Airways 777 First Class
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I much prefer to walk from T5A to T5B or T5C as opposed to taking the train. Would recommend. It doesn’t take very long at all and it’s never crowded.
I think I prefer F on the BA 777, not as special as the 747 but feels far more spacious.
Great review Ben. Based on my last 2 flights in first on BA, I believe what you were served before take-off was the sparkling English and not the "good stuff".
As a First class expert, travelling on a weekly basis in First cabin (paid ticket only), I must say that BA premium offer is very underwhelming. Granted they are investing in improving their cabin but they remain miles away from Japan Airlines or Cathay or Air France. Just spent 3 hours in transit at the fantastic La Premiere salon last Thursday.
The catering revamp has been hugely beneficial. Do&Co are taking over more and more routes, though even on non-Do&Co routes the F&B is vastly - almost immeasurably - better than it was before. For the past few flights they haven’t run out of anything I’ve ordered, and I usually sit in the very last row (so I get direct aisle access in J) - they even had kedgeree available for breakfast.
There’s no getting away from it: the hard product is old and tired. But F is still adequate, and the new J also looks solid.
The lounges... none of them at LHR are frankly very nice. The sheer volumes of people going through them probably makes that impossible. For departures from B gates, there’s a lounge in that satellite which I prefer to the F set-up in the main terminal. It’s quieter, calmer, and if I’m flying out of B it takes away one more stressful pre-flight element with that stupid toy-train shuttle.
Oh — that safety video is so, so tiresome after repeated viewing.
It’s also irritatingly out of date: National Treasure Olivia Colman now has *four* BAFTAs AND an Oscar! Watch out for her taking the lead role in season 3 of The Crown, this summer. 😉
Done this flight many times back to Boston ! Doing it again in May! Done all BA first plane types LHR to Bos and I like the 777 best !
@Endre, have you ever explained what you do with all the miles that you must accumulate by flying paid international first class every week? Not to mention the credit card points you must earn from paying for all those tickets. You make very clear that you never redeem them for free tickets, because that might suggest to someone that you aren't as rich as you want us all to know that you are. So do you have frequent flier accounts with tens of millions of miles in them? (If so, I'm sure someone here would be glad to make use of them for you, so they don't go to waste). Anyway, you must be the airlines' favorite customer. Unlimited money to burn and refusing to make full use of the benefits that come from buying tickets (which is what frequent flier miles are). Truly the practices of an exceptionally savvy businessman.
Nice review. It’s good to see BA improving their product. I like taking advantage of the BA F sales, and then collecting 250% Alaska MP elite status miles, and 300% MP redeemable miles.
Ben, how far in advance did you book the flights and at the time, was F wide open?
For what it’s worth, the privacy partitions normally go the whole way back. You must have had a faulty one. If you look at your photo, you can see on the right where it’s supposed to latch into place
Implemented just in time for the coming global recession (which will be worse in the UK owing to Brexit) . . .
BA First is, in pricing and quality, a “business plus,” product, from before Malaysia started marketing in those terms. On that level, it’s a good product. BTW, I’ve seen Rami Malek on my past two late night weekend flights from JFK, he talks to the staff like they’re all friends, guess he flies them a lot. Or maybe he’s just Rami Malek and that’s what it’s like.
Nice review thanks. Over Thanksgiving on RTW19 3.0 I’ll fly the route after 2 Emirates A380 & 2 Etihad A380 or 4 Showers in a row. This flight plus the AA flight home to DCA wil hopefully give me a smooth downgrade to just being at home 🙂
Whilst yes there are not that many plugs in the CCR they do have a number of battery packs they can loan you (in exchange for your BP) to charge up your phone etc.
Just need to ask one of the staff.
@Lucky, first of all thanks for introducing me to the miles 'game'. Only started collecting/buying miles & points about 2yrs and just 3 days ago flew BA first for the first time.
I flew MUC-LHR-MEX on the 787. While the MUC-LHR was nothing to talk about the LHR-MEX was excellent. Booked with Iberia avios 109k+ €369 in charges.
Before take off i probably had 4 glasses of champagne poured directly on my seat, they constantly made sure my glass wasn't empty. The cabin crew was definitely legacy (or senior) and not the Mixed-fleet. Very friendly and attentive, adressing me by name. We had a delay as a car had rammed into a post right next to the aircraft.
The pilot even had a chat with me - i was in 2A and the car had crashed right outside below my window. The food was excellent. I had the cheese plate for dessert and the flight attendant had a chat with me explaning all the cheese types there. We talked about the wine too.
As i don't sleep well during flights ( i think i only napped for about an hour or so) i watched movies and had wine. They crew permanently checked on me to see if i needed anything. Proactively bringing me water etc., apologising the water was not sparkling enough.
The blankets and pillows weren't collected before landing. I turned my seat into sitting position less than 20mins before landing.
After landing the cabin crew handed me a box of chocolate apologising that they forgot to open it during the flight.
I was so impressed and in awe of BA!
If you're in first, I believe the you first line can prebook you spa treatments in t5 or t5b, unless it's changed recently...
Taking this exact flight in June. Excellent review, thanks!
(As far as miles & surcharges, we booked from Barcelona to Boston for 85k AA miles & $288 pp, not terrible)
David,
Posters who say stuff like Endre are usually just fantasising. There's another guy here who does that a lot as well. When you think about what they say, it doesn't make any sense.
Also anyone like that would have such an elevated status that they'd get upgraded all the time and would not need to pay top dollar for F all the time. I know someone like that - on the VIP list - and they often pay for Economy and end up in F anyway
Ben
I had not thought about this before but if you changing at LHR T5, how do you get to the Concorde Room? The trains from the C and B gates are on the "arrivals" side. My first thought was that folks in transit would have to use the Terraces lounge at the B gates.
I had assumed the only way is to walk through the tunnel but you did not mention that.
"While these seats don’t have great privacy, I would note that at least the seats are staggered a bit, so you’re never seated directly next to someone across the aisle."
Thank God...imagine having to make a few seconds of eye contact with a random stranger...the humanity of it all...
"I selected the sandwiches and scones."
And the pastries...
@ Aaron -- The pastries weren't a "choice," they were offered automatically. The choices were between sandwiches and cold cuts, and between plain and fruit scones.
@ Tom -- When you're connecting you have to go back to the central checkpoint in the main terminal by train, clear security there, and then you can go between the concourses again. At least that's my understanding.
@ Joe -- Indeed I could have booked further in advance, though to be honest I don't think about a 15 minute back rub weeks in advance. It came to mind that morning, which is why I called. My bigger point was that in virtually any other lounge you can show up and they'll have availability within a reasonable timeframe, while that's not the case here.
@ JB -- Appreciate the enthusiasm, and worry not, there's another one coming very shortly!
Regarding lack of outlets for charging, I would think you would travel with at least two super powerful power banks. They will hold their charge for some time, so just charge them fully in advance of your flights and keep them handy.
@ Todd -- We booked at the beginning of the year. I find that availability between London and Boston is excellent. Even when we booked there were at least four more award seats on the same flight in first class.
David, I assume that you must be new to the OMAAT community. If you were, I am pretty surprised you fell in for his 'boasts' about how he flies 'First Class' every weekend and how he flew First around the world.
Endre, some of us do fly Premium but we are mature enough by not commenting on blogs and annoying the readers. If you want us to read all your 'First Class', why don't you make a blog yourself? 😉
This just looks like a polished version of their business class seats, with very slightly more room. Except when I'm by the window in business class I basically have my own private 'cabin' with tons of extra storage. Can't imagine paying thousands more just for a slightly nicer meal. The wide open sides of their seats doesn't say 'first class' when compared to so many other airline offerings out there.
They went through all that expense of upgrading their product and really missed the chance to bring it in line with (or exceed!) competitors. Too bad!
@ Ben - re LHR connections - no - there’s a flight connections centre in each of the B and C piers of terminal 5. Also, these days (especially now the e-gates are open to many non-EU citizens) for anyone travelling in F or who is OW Emerald, by far the quickest/most pleasant route is usually to head landslide and then re-clear security via the First Wing. So much better than the Flight Connections Centres, where “priority” means very little indeed.
I find availability between sfo/lax to lhr often just ok and sometimes nonexistent but if you fly to NYC, there’s always at least one if not multiple. The F award seats aren’t always released all at once. Sometimes I look and there are plenty. Then a month later, zero. Then few weeks after, a collection of them pop up for just one month. It’s very random.
I really dislike the new pj as well as the toiletry bag. I miss Liberty of London bags. They look so much better than the current lumpy ones. Food is now much better than the travesty they used to serve. Sadly fuel surcharge keeps going up. Hope the new refreshed F will start popping up soon. Current one is a bit tired. If they can just do the old Emirates A380 F seats without the bling would be nice.
@ Margo L
This is the old F hard product. It’s only the soft product that’s been upgraded (so far).
Hi Ben,
Regarding the "Lunch Menu": my husband and I flew back this past Thursday in First on the 7:50PM flight to JFK. I asked about the menu and the (fantastic) crew told me that it was just a type-o. Most of the time between JFK and LHR the crews are senior and almost always flawless. Since I'm an airplane nerd and the crew clearly got that, they gave me a tour of the crew rest area, at the back of the 747 and upstairs. It was very cool. We were also invited to the cockpit following the flight but because of weather we were delayed nearly an hour, so we declined.
Probably the worst bathrooms ive come across for a 1st class product ... BA's 777 and A380. They are Y class bathrooms.
I disagree I am afraid. BA first class is not good in general. To redeem miles - maybe but never to pay full price. In my opinion 777 is the worst actually but its personal I guess. The best for me seems to be 787. Food always the same: beef/chicken/fish/pasta. Usually overcooked. Small TV screen. Amenity kit very basic. You have to ask for pyjama. Very often cabin is filthy - seat, table, remote - everything. Only 1 ( tiny ) toilet for first class passengers. Bottom line - avoid if you can.
Great post. Love the #BAshade throughout. 🙂
PS Just to establish my credentials: I only travel in international first class -- even on domestic flights and commuter rail -- all of which is fully paid for in gold bullion, or with jewelry set with the purest South African diamonds, and is arranged through my personal brokers in Switzerland, Prussia, and Siam.
That safety video makes me want to claw my eyes out.
@Lucky did you dry the bruising sparkling wine? What did you think?
Is the Concorde room short-cut after security still available right after security?
Great post Lucky! Planning a family trip to Greece next summer with the wife and 5 y.o. I’ve been thinking of routes and which airlines to consider to and from NYC. I didn’t have BA on my radar and now I do. I’ve been fortunate to copy some of your routes/bookings in the past and appreciate you taking out the ‘guess work’ when it comes to booking trips. Keep up the great work!
Flying BA F 2 months ago we tried to book the spa a fortnight ahead and we too were told it was fully booked, maybe that's a generic answer given to all award-flyers.
Agree the Concorde room is peculiarly lacking in business-sense, there's no power-points at the lounge-seating and no desks. If you want to sit and work you have to share one big boardroom table and you'll be surrounded by DYKWIA's on their cellphones.
As for the lounge food, the less said the better. The Concorde room is looking old, tired and overcrowded - doesn't hold a candle to La Premiere in Paris or the LH first-class terminal in Frankfurt.
I tried booking the Elemis Spa treatment 2 weeks out and there was no availability!
We flew this flight a eek ago.We booked our awards 3 months out after a cruise was cancelled.We had a very good senior FA.The PBD was the genuine champagne not the English sparkling.
The meals were very nearly F standard with much better presentation than previously-I basically had the same meal as Ben.The red wines were excellent as was the Geisen sticky with desserts.
Frankly I thought it was good use of AA miles.
When we flew on award tickets several years ago in F on the BA A380- LHR-SIN, there were also no spa treatments available on the day, nor were there any available when I tried to book in advance through Me First, or whatever their concierge is called. The withering cow at the spa deigned to let me use the massage chair, with a battle-worn sigh. I imagined Edina Monsoon from Absolutely Fabulous saying to her, "You just work in a shop, you know; you can lose the attitude...".
@Harry Hv & @Sam - I also feel that they indeed do not want, and actively discourage, award tickets from using the spa.
Just recently started flying BA on a regular basis and have completed 6 flights with them in F.
Must agree with you that the 777 F Cabin is nice. I much prefer it to the 747 which is very tight and cramped and seems to lack privacy. Walk back to the Lavatories from say row 1 or 2 and it looks like a Dorm room. The 787 is the best.
Your comments on the outlet and Entertainment System are spot on. So are your comments on the mixed crew, the pouring of the Bubbly in the galley instead of at your seat and the sparse Lavs.
The catering out of LHR is such a huge improvement to what it used to be in the past and I can vouch as strongly for the Halibut as you did.
As a long time HON with LH I am making the switch to BA for a totally diff reason: its a heckuva lot cheaper. One can argue that it is "inferior" to other carriers in terms of hard product, or bling, or lack of limos to the plane etc etc - but when one is paying for these trips one has to make choices and compromises. And with many airlines - including LH - eliminating F Cabins in many sectors one has to compare the BA "F" with what is available in those sectors.
A comparison of Revenue fares in "A" or "F" to say India or the Far East from NYC demonstrates the sharp discount available on BA.
As for what does one do with all those miles by flying on Revenue F: dunno about the other person (you guys all seem to "love") but in my case I use them to get award F tickets for the Mrs. on as many trips as possible when traveling together for pleasure. Its well worth it
p.s.: my experience with the BA staff (ground, cabin and lounge) is that they are whole lot more pleasant, warm and courteous than many others. Being more pleasant, warm and courteous compared to US Airlines is easy - but compared to other European/Asian/Middle East Airlines...is an accomplishment.
Am I the only one who finds BA's first underwhelming?
I fly with Qatar's Qsuites most times, and it seems those are better for pairs, quads or singles, and cheaper too. Their food is great, service fantastic, and so in the comfort and privacy. Try their Al Safwa 1st class lounge in Doha... that's on another level!
Booked 28days in advance for the 10min shoulder massage, thats the only way to get a booking. Its really not user friendly for first class passengers.....i too asked for the slippers on my flight LHR-SIN but didnt need to ask the other way.
@KK13 obviously Qatar is better but Qatar nonstop flights from US to UK/ Europe doesn’t exist. Let’s say if I want to go to Paris. Do I want to fly to Doha and then haul ass back to Paris? Not really... especially when I’m tight on time. Obviously not all the readers here live in US but I suspect majority do hence comparing BA F to Qsuite is kinda pointless. Now if you live in Doha and choice is flying BA or Qatar to London, well, I can’t imagine anyone would want to fly BA unless it’s for status reason.
@Ben,
This Review may or may not be good. I've stopped reading it, after the first two oaragraphs, to write this comment.
Re ".... I literally couldn't find anywhere comfortable to sit that also had a charger. I ended up having to sit literally next to a stranger ....": In what way do you believe your inclusion of the word "literally" (twice) improved the piece? And how does one "sit literally"? Hopefully, your posture was less sloppy than your writing style on this occasion.
I find it odd that you loved pretty much every aspect of the flight, but concluded "it will likely never rank anywhere close to being a top product." ?
Cheap, cheap charging first class for wifi. People paying thousands for full price tickets get nicked another $30 for 6 hours? Petty.
And the between meal snacks are no better than economy class: potato chips and popcorn.
@ Donald
Not so: between-meal snacks usually include sandwiches, chocolate, miscellaneous yoghurt-like stuff, plated desserts, and vast quantities of biscuits and chocolates. Plus as much booze, tea or other fluids as you want.
What it doesn’t generally have is more substantial hot food.
BA simply does not have a dine-on-demand concept. Given its price point in J, I don’t have a problem with that (though I love it on, say, Qatar).
For F, it’s probably not good enough — though, even there, and as others have pointed out, BA flies F to numerous places that no-one else does, and at a ticket price which is usually substantially less than whatever comparable competition is out there.
If you think of BA’s F as being a J+ you’ll probably appreciate it more and be less angry about it. After all, chances are you’ve only paid J+ amounts for your ticket.
@A Consumer - I'm with you, in 95%+ of cases, the word literally is not used properly. It literally drives me up the wall (it actually doesn't, I don't have a vehicle that could actually drive up a wall).
I know this blog is about luxury travel - but the gripe about the champagne being brought to you already poured, as opposed to being poured at your seat, is about as first world whiny as it gets. I had no idea that having it poured at your seat as opposed to 15 feet away in the galley makes it taste better...
@Andrew, nothing to do with taste, everything to do with presentation. How else are you going to differentiate first class products if not by paying attention to the smallest details?
BA First - still looks way below Qatar business class with or without the Q-Suites. It's not something I would choose to spend either money or points on.
Found my experience to be very similar to Lucky's. Found Concorde room to be British genteel shabby (sorta like some of the old stately homes) and the only outstanding F&B item was their red wine. Hard to find and once was enough as they have a train going from A to B but not the other way around. Its a long walk through bare concrete tunnels to get back to A form B where the Concorde room is. Did I mention signposting is not a strength of the UK?
It was also one of the hottest days of the year and the A/C proved remarkably ineffective.
Got some nice pix out of the B concourse windows though.
My "personal" F/A was delightful and attentive without being intrusive. She kept me well plied with booze and water and once again the St Emilion Grand Cru stole the show.
The beef was an unmitigated disaster as it was tough and way past well done and I left most of it. Magda, my F/A was quite concerned and offered to bring me something else but there was little else I found appealing so saved space for high tea. High tea was SUPERB! I love clotted cream and strawberry jam.
The other major disappointment was their single malt, Mortlach, which I had never tried before and certainly won't go looking for in duty free or my local liquor store.
Loved the rotary wheel seat control as it gave you a nearly infinite number of seat positions.
BA surcharge problem is largely thanks to the Brit government's APD which is eye watering and it increases exponentially from Y to F.
@skedguy
“Did I mention signposting is not a strength of the UK?”
I’m guessing you don’t know much about graphic design? Google Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert, see how you get on.
I know a lot of Americans believe climate change doesn’t exist but, with the record-breaking heatwaves we’re increasingly experiencing, a lot of air-con equipment is going to need an upgrade (as I write, England is having its hottest-ever August public holiday weekend. This public holiday is, traditionally, chilly and wet. Today it’s reached 32 degrees here).
It could be worse: energy-saving legislation in the Czech Republic prohibits cooling of greater than 10 degrees from the ambient temperature. Which is fine until you find yourself there in freak 37 degree weather.
@Kevin -- I was comparing the two classes (BA's first with Qatar's business Qs), they both fly 777, either 300 or 200. It's not about where I am flying from/ flying to, I was comparing the service, comfort, privacy and price in a 8 or 10-hour flight to begin with.
Qatar Qs has the same quality of service even for a short haul, e.g. the 3.5-hour DOH-BOM. I expected BA first to have similar, if not better, service quality that what they have now (this article).
U.K. APD is a fixed amount and is a proper government tax. It does not increase exponentially. There are two rates - standard and reduced. Reduced applies to economy and standard to all over cabins, you pay the same in premium economy as you do in club and first.
It is BA surcharges that are out of control.
On a forthcoming club flight I am doing they are over twice what APD is. the BA surcharge is £400 and APD 172 (incidental I’m paying over £45 in US government fees and taxes as well)
All easy to see in a fare breakdown and so no need to exaggerate.
And this just happened! That's a massive faux pas! https://tinyurl.com/yy2ny8w2
I would venture to guess that based on these critical comments regarding Ben's wonderful attention to detail when reviewing premium cabins, there is a demand for a Basic Economy travel blog. 😉
Infuriatingly booked BA first a year ago.....I know this is a “new” product...but it still looks like my son said “the best business class” out there...
Total waste of money!
VSM: Even the best business class (Qatar's Qsuites) according to Skytrax and others is far better than BA's F.
@skedguy
Re "It (APD) increases exponentially from Y to F.": You cannot make that assertion, with only two data points. You'd need at least three points to justify assuming anything than a linear increase. I guess maths isn't your subject?
Looks like delicious food was served on your BA flight in F. That salmon appetizer looks amazing! I've not flown with BA in years, but might try them again sometime in the future. Thank you for sharing!
@A consumer
As I have already posted there are only two rates of UK APD. Just two
A reduced rate for economy and the same, standard, rate for any other cabin so First is the same as PE as Club. It's the same rate for all direct ex UK departures no matter the airline
No exponential increase. Just two rates
My remark was addressed to 'skedguy'. It was complementary to your comment to that same person. You pointed out the facts - that there are two rates of UK APD - whilst I challenged the incorrect use of the word "exponential" from a mathematical perpespective. I think that you and I are singing from the same hymn-sheet and in harmony, whilst 'skedguy' was off-key.
Wow never thought I'd hear the Thales i5000 system described as "old school". Plenty of airlines still have this and the equivalent Panansonic (ex2) system in use. Sure the resolution isn't great, but generally the responsiveness and breadth of content is still acceptable.
Heck it wasn't too long ago we were using 4:3 IFE systems like Rockwell Collins TES and Panasonic 3000i. Emirates even still has the latter on some of their 777's.
@Ben
Which of the single seats on the side do you think are the best? I’m having to fly the 777 First in the spring.
Flew their 787 first class London to Kuala Lumpur return in 2016. Horrible from start to end. Absolute waste of money. Cabin crew could not be bothered and can't even match service of a low cost airline like Ryanair. Call to order breakfast was not even answered! No priority boarding and a joke. When I wrote to complaint I received a condescending phone call from a woman who then closed the case. This is one airline I will never use again. They can't even match service with KLM economy class. I have flown La Première with Air France several times and that is what I call a real first class service. BA does not what first class service means and if it was that bad in their first class then I dread to think how they treat their economy class passengers.