A few days ago I wrote about how British Airways is introducing new high density Boeing 777s at their London Gatwick base. Many of British Airways' leisure routes are operated out of Gatwick, so the airline is trying to compete more effectively with airlines like Norwegian. With these reconfigurations, British Airways is increasing seating capacity…
Continue reading: British Airways’ Heathrow-Based 777s Will Get Tighter Economy Seats Next Year
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
A BA presentation said 25 x 777s will be densified. I think there are 10 at LGW, is that would leave 15 at LHR.
That makes sense now, I was confused as to the reference to WT+ on the Heathrow fleet; the 77Ws and some of the Heathrow 772s already have fairly new WT+ seats so it wouldn't make sense to change them out right now.
@debit . "British women thankfully still are slim and trim" hahhahahhahha hahahhahahhhah hahahhahahhahahahhahahah. too much fish n chips. maybe they'll drop a few pounds after brexit
British airways is an absolute disgrace to the flag of our country. They’re a total shit show what’s a fall from grace.
A good IFE screen is far, far more important to me than 9 or 10 abreast seating. Honestly, I can't really tell the difference between the two (and I'm not a small person).
I agree with Alex. If I'm going to be sat in a big metal tube for 6 hours plus, the thing I really need is something to do, whether or not my seat has an extra half-inch of width really doesn't matter to me. To be honest, I'm glad that the BA cabins are getting refreshed like this. I flew BA LGW-OAK recently and the IFE screen was tiny, and very grainy.
I have a feeling that BA will use the opportunity while the aircraft are offline to install new seats in economy, prem economy AND business. It would make sense.
Alex and IAC
Agreed, and a proper IFE largely obviates the need for power points, which are only for people who want to watch movies on their personal devices, which some airlines are trying to force upon pax
How much narrower is a 777 than a 747? Flew to Boston on a 747 with the newer IFE and it was a far nicer experience than the A380 on the way back, due to the responsive bigger IFE screen. It's not like BA is going to be any narrower that its rivals flying the 777, although I'll still seek out A340 or A330 routes when I'm in long haul economy
@Lumma. Cabin width
Dash8 : 2.52 M
CRJ : 2.55 M
ATR42 : 2.57 M (and ATR72)
E-Jet : 2.74 M
717 : 3.15 M (ad ARJ21, MD-80)
CS1 : 3.28 M (and CSeries 300)
757 : 3.54 M
737 : 3.56 M (and 707/727)
TU204 : 3.57 M (and TU214)
320 : 3.7 M
MC21 : 3.81 M
C919 : 3.9 M
767 : 4.7 M
330 : 5.28 M (and 300/310/340)
787 : 5.49 M
DC10 : 5.54 M
350 : 5.61 M
C929 : 5.61 M
IL 96 : 5.7 M
MD11 : 5.71 M
L1011 : 5.77 M
380 : 5.8 M (Upper deck)
777 : 5.86 M
777X : 5.97 M
747 : 6.1 M
380 : 6.5 M (Lower deck)
Agreed about IFE being a major factor in enjoying long haul. However, where you do notice the high density configuration is when it comes time to using the bathroom: it’s basic math, more people trying to use the same number of bathrooms does not equate to a pleasant experience. Same applies to overhead space or loading and unloading of passengers, it’s a really horrid, stressful experience. But with airfares insanely and unrealistically low in general worldwide, densification is the outcome.
For crying out loud. Álex Cruz needs to stop the charade and either call it Budget Airways or Vueling, because that's what it is now.
Mark B's right. With this densification, the airlines aren't adding extra overhead space nor extra bathrooms. It's no wonder unruly behavior is happening more often. It's been proven in numerous science experiments that the more mammals you cram into a small space, the worse their behavior will become.
Customers are leading the charge for airlines to do this. If customers weren’t always looking for the lowest price, but also looked at comfort we wouldn’t be in this sitch.
Nice to see you aren’t offended by this, but your offence should be directed towards the paying public who prioritise low airfare over comfort
Hmmmm. I will admit I thought they would keep the outdated (but wider) 9 across configuration at Heathrow for longer. it Seems like this is a minority of their fleet but we can safely assume they will proceed with 10-across as they refurb older 777 interiors I suppose.
It’s mildly disappointing but to be fair I would rather have a new interior on most of the BA fleet. I wonder if they will take the opportunity to fix business class which is their essential problem? Perhaps installing the (still unknown) seats they intend to use on the A350s? One can hope...
@747 inclined to agree. I routinely see economy fares to Asia on BA at sub 600 GBP now - that would have been totally unimaginable in the “glory days” of the 80s-2000s that people love to talk about.
At that price point hard to see how anyone can afford to be generous with space.