Around five years ago, British Airways introduced its Club Suites business class. This represents a massive improvement for the carrier’s long haul business class product.
As you’d expect, the challenge when introducing a new business class product is actually rolling it out, and the pandemic didn’t help with that. While newly delivered aircraft have come with the new cabins installed, retrofitting existing planes has been a different story.
While I’ve written about British Airways’ Club Suites rollout schedule, I wanted to specifically highlight an impressive milestone that British Airways has just reached when it comes to reconfiguring Boeing 777s, as it’s the backbone of the carrier’s fleet…
Heathrow-based British Airways 777s now all have Club Suites
British Airways has just finished the process of installing Club Suites business class on all Boeing 777s based at London Heathrow Airport (LHR). The airline has a total of 44 of these jets based there, including 28 Boeing 777-200ERs, plus 16 Boeing 777-300ERs.
So that’s an exciting milestone, even if this has happened way slower than expected. For reference, in October 2021, British Airways announced all Heathrow-based 777s would have the new Club Suites by the end of 2022, but it ended up taking until the middle of 2024.
British Airways’ 777s with Club Suites have business class seats that are in a 1-2-1 configuration, so it’s a much improved product compared to the previous layout, which was in a 2-4-2 configuration. The 777-200ERs have 48-49 business class seats, while the 777-300ERs have a staggering 76 business class seats. British Airways’ Club Suites are a modified version of the Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seat, with a door.
Now, for the Heathrow-based 777s that are in a four cabin layout (with first class), this also means that the first class cabin on all of these jets is smaller than before. All the reconfigured 777s have eight first class seats, down from the previous 14 seats. Obviously that’s not great for award availability.
In terms of the first class passenger experience, the 777-200ERs have older seats, and the 777-300ERs have newer seats (neither of which are the new first class that British Airways is expected to introduce in 2026 on the A380s).
Gatwick-based British Airways 777s are a challenge
Now, there’s a slight caveat to the above. British Airways also operates flights out of London Gatwick Airport (LGW). Historically, the airline has kept fleets (and staff) between the two airports totally separate.
It used to be that 44 British Airways 777s were based at Heathrow Airport, and 15 British Airways 777s were based at Gatwick Airport. British Airways never formally had plans to reconfigure the 777s based at Gatwick Airport, since they’re more leisure oriented.
However, due to how demand has evolved post-pandemic, British Airways actually has three Gatwick-based 777s that are currently at Heathrow. Those planes haven’t been reconfigured, so it’s possible to end up flying the old product out of Heathrow, by being on a 777 intended for Gatwick.
It remains to be seen how this unfolds. I’ve heard rumors that these three 777s will also be reconfigured in the coming months, as these planes might stay at Heathrow in the long run, but only time will tell. In case you want to track these jets, they have the registration codes G-VIIV, G-VIIW, and G-VIIY. They seem to most frequently fly to Atlanta (ATL), Bahrain (BAH), and destinations in the Caribbean.
As you can see, that’s a major catch. British Airways has reconfigured all the 777s it said it would reconfigure, but due to fleet changes, there are now a few extra 777s that are causing issues with managing expectations.
Bottom line
British Airways has reached an impressive milestone, as the airline has reconfigured all permanently Heathrow-based Boeing 777s with the new Club Suites business class. The catch is that three Gatwick-based 777s are flying out of Heathrow at the moment, and there are no plans for that to change anytime soon. So only time will tell if those planes are reconfigured, or if they end up going back to Gatwick.
Either way, at this point you’re guaranteed the new Club Suites business class on the 777-300ER, and are very likely to get it on the 777-200ER.
What do you make of British Airways’ 777 Club Suites rollout?
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