Review: British Airways Club Europe Business Class Airbus A320neo (MUC-LHR)

For the next segment of my trip of downgrades, suspensions, and delays, I flew British Airways’ Airbus A320neo Club Europe business class on the 1hr35min flight from Munich (MUC) to London (LHR).

Intra-Europe business class isn’t much to get excited about, but British Airways does a solid job on these sectors, with power ports, Wi-Fi, friendly service, and a full hot meal. While not my favorite airline for intra-Europe business class (I’m a fan of Aegean and Air France), I do consider British Airways to be above average in this regard.

How I booked my British Airways business class ticket

I booked this flight as a standalone segment, and redeemed British Airways Club Avios for this flight. Specifically, I booked the following for 16,250 Avios plus $25 in taxes & fees:

7/27 BA947 Munich to London departing 7:20AM arriving 8:30AM

Compared to the cash cost of $600 for this flight, redeeming points was definitely the better value (not that I would’ve spent that amount for a cash ticket).

British Airways business class lounge & boarding

In a previous installment, I reviewed Airport Lounge World Munich, which is the contract lounge that British Airways sends its premium passengers to. For a contract and Priority Pass lounge, it’s actually a pretty nice facility.

My flight was departing from gate B17, just a short walk from the lounge. This is an absolutely horrible gate setup, as there’s not actually a proper gate seating area. Instead, this gate is along a narrow hallway, and there are just a few dozen seats along the side of that.

There I spotted G-TTNL, the roughly five-year-old Airbus A320neo that would be my ride to London.

Boarding was scheduled for 6:50AM, 30 minutes before departure, and sure enough, that’s exactly when boarding started. Business class passengers were invited to board first.

British Airways A320neo business class cabin & seats

I was greeted by the friendly crew at the forward door, and turned right into the cabin. As is standard on intra-Europe flights, the size of the business class cabin varies based on demand. On this flight, the first six rows of seats were Club Europe (British Airways’ name for short haul business class), for a total of capacity of up to 24 people.

I assigned myself seat 6F, the window seat on the right side in the last row. While middle seats are blocked in business class, there was no tray on the center seat, as you’ll find on some airlines. Business class was about 75% full, and as usual, the aisle seat in my row remained empty as well.

These are pretty standard economy seats, as they have 30″ of pitch and nearly 18″ of width. So there are worse seats out there, but these aren’t exactly spacious.

As you’d expect, the seat back had a literature pocket, plus a tray table that folded down.

Each business class seat had an AC power outlet plus a USB-A outlet, so I appreciate the charging opportunities, as those are still not consistently available on flights within Europe. Note that while USB-A outlets are available throughout the plane, the AC power outlets are only available in the first 12 rows.

The overhead console was modern, and had reading lights and individual air nozzles.

So in terms of hard product, I’d say this was a pretty typical experience, in line with what you’ll find on most carriers.

British Airways A320neo business class entertainment & Wi-Fi

British Airways offers Wi-Fi on its Airbus A320neos, which still isn’t something you’ll consistently find on airlines within Europe. You can connect to the Wi-Fi by opening your browser and typing in shop.ba.com.

As far as Wi-Fi pricing goes, there were a few options:

• You can buy a messaging pass available for the entire flight for £1.99, though this is free for British Airways Club members
• You can buy a streaming pass for one hour for £4.99, or for the entire flight for £6.99

That pricing is reasonable, if you ask me, though there’s really not much use for Wi-Fi on flights this short, especially if you partake in the meal service. Unfortunately there’s not any streaming entertainment beyond that.

British Airways A320neo departure from Munich

Boarding was efficient, and took around 20 minutes, wrapping up by 7:10AM. The plane was roughly equally full in economy and business, so it wasn’t a totally full flight. At 7:15AM, the first officer made his welcome aboard announcement. British Airways pilots always give mighty detailed announcements, both in terms of the amount of information shared, and the frequency with which they make announcements.

He informed us of our flight time of 1hr35min, and our roughly 10-minute taxi to our westerly departure runway, along with our cruising altitude of 38,000 feet.

We started our pushback at 7:20AM, and around that time the manual safety demonstration was performed. We then started our taxi at 7:25AM. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great, which made it difficult to get good pictures out the window.

We made it out to runway 26R by 7:40AM, and were immediately cleared for takeoff.

Despite the nasty looking weather outside, it was a smooth climb, and the seatbelt sign was turned off around 10 minutes after takeoff.

As always, the weather looks a lot nicer above the clouds!

British Airways business class breakfast

Once the seatbelt sign was turned off, the crew closed the curtains between the cabin and galley, and sprung into action to start the breakfast service. British Airways deserves credit for offering hot meals even on most short flights, which isn’t the case on many other European carriers.

In theory, there were two breakfast options — the full English breakfast, or a cheese omelet. Unfortunately since I was seated in the last row, only one of the choices was remaining, so I ended up with the full English breakfast. That doesn’t have a lot of appeal to me, but I know it’s something that others enjoy.

This was served with a side of fruit, a croissant, and a packaged apple breakfast bar.

Drinks were then offered from a cart, and I asked for a glass of water and a cup of coffee.

I even received a coffee refill, and was offered some shortbread cookies to go along with that.

British Airways A320neo business class lavatory

Before landing, I decided to check out the lavatory. The business class lavatory was located at the front of the cabin by the flight deck, and was reserved for Club Europe passengers.

It was pretty basic, though it did have some soap and hand cream from The White Company.

British Airways business class service

The crew working business class on this British Airways flight was excellent. They were attentive and friendly, and addressed passengers by name at virtually any interaction. When you get a good British Airways crew, they sure are great. They also hustled. Despite the short flight length, they constantly offered to top up drinks.

British Airways A320neo arrival in London

55 minutes after takeoff, at 7:35AM London time, the first officer was back on the PA to announce that we were commencing our descent, and would be at our arrival stand in 40 minutes, at 8:15AM. The views on the initial descent were nice, but nothing to get excited about…

The seatbelt sign was then turned on around 8AM. My goodness, at this point we were treated to an unbelievably beautiful aerial tour of central London. Admittedly the weather could’ve been a bit better, but at least it was a clear day. I don’t think the pictures do it justice, but my eyes were glued out the window.

We then made our westbound approach to Heathrow, and at 8:10AM local time, touched down on runway 27L.

We had a smooth touchdown, and then taxied for around 10 minutes to our gate at Terminal 5, where we parked at the middle pier.

With our 8:20AM arrival, we were 10 minutes ahead of schedule. After clearing immigration, I headed for the Park Hyatt London River Thames, where I’d be spending the night.

Bottom line

Intra-Europe business class is pretty consistent in terms of getting an economy seat with a blocked middle. So the opportunities for differentiation are fairly limited. With that in mind, this flight was above average, thanks to the power ports, Wi-Fi, friendly service, and hot breakfast. For a flight of this length, this is just about all you could ask for.

What’s your take on British Airways’ A320neo Club Europe business class?