19 Dec 13
1225-1605
Boeing 777-200
4 class (no First Class service)
Club World
6 rows; 10–15
2–4–2
Seats 10JK
Booking
We booked World Traveller Plus (WTP) and then upgraded the outbound flight to Club World (CW) using Avios points. For each of us this cost 25K Avios plus £60 additional fuel charge. We also paid £65 each to choose our seats – this costs £32 in WTP. So in monetary terms, the upgrade from WTP to CW cost us £83 each.
I found upgrading with BA far easier than with Virgin; in fact I never have managed to upgrade with Virgin using points. It is easy to check upgrade availability online with BA. I understand that, as with Virgin, only certain classes of ticket are upgradeable. However, I believe that all WTP classes fall into this category. Also, you do not need to know the upgradeable classes in order to seek upgrade availability. You log into your account online, search for the route and dates, and the calendar shows if an upgrade is available. You can also see a month at a time which is handy if you can adjust your travel dates to fit in with upgrade availability.
This is far better than Virgin where it seems only the most expensive class of ticket can be upgraded. My experience with Virgin has been that in order to upgrade from Premium Economy (PE) to Upper Class (UC), the class of PE ticket required actually cost as much as paying for the lowest price UC ticket in the first place. Also, it cannot be done online so there’s no easy way of checking prices and availability.
We booked with BA as soon as the upgrade availability became available for the outbound flight, which was a couple of weeks before the return flights were available to book. This had to be done by phone but BA allowed us to book the outbound flight, including the upgrade, with a hypothetical return date and the facility to make one free change to the ticket. Once our return date appeared on the system, I had to phone to change our hypothetical return date to the one we actually wanted. We then had to pay the small difference in cost between the 2 dates (or, if it had been cheaper, BA would have refunded the difference). This arrangement was of great benefit as we almost certainly would not have been able to upgrade on the outbound flight if we had had to wait until the return flight was available to book.
Baggage Allowance
Another excellent benefit with BA is that if you travel in more than one class on your booking you get the higher baggage allowance for all flights in that booking. The CW allowance for checked baggage is 3 x 32kg (officially 3 x 23kg but BA waive the ‘heavy bag’ fee for CW passengers, allowing up to 32kg per bag), WTP is 2 x 23kg. As we were travelling in CW on one flight, our allowance for both flights was 3 x 32kg.
We didn’t need the additional allowance on this occasion but it is a good benefit for BA to offer and it seems odd that Virgin haven’t matched it.
Check-in/Bag Drop
We checked in online the day before. Flying CW we could check-in/bag drop at Terminal 5 any time from 0500, rather than being restricted to no earlier than 3 hours ahead of flight time. There is a separate ‘zone’ for business class (Zone H) but we were less than impressed as this is identical to all the other zones, with the haphazard queuing system. There are several desks all with separate queues so you have to take your pick and hope that no-one in front of you has any problems at check-in. It would be far better to have one queue, feeding into the desks as they become available. It certainly had no feel of being a ‘premium’ service.
Security
Another CW benefit is Fast Track Security. In reality, this probably took longer than if we had gone to the general security line. In fact, at one stage a member of staff came along taking people out of the fast track line and pointing them over to one of the general lines.
Lounge
Having read much online about the dire food situation in the Galleries Lounges at Terminal 5, and particularly the poor hygiene ratings, we chose to eat elsewhere before heading to the Galleries South lounge. First impressions weren’t good, with a receptionist who really needs to re-think her career choice. We approached with a smile and “good morning” but in return received simply “boarding passes” and no other greeting let alone a smile. The boarding passes were thrust back at us with no further utterance.
The lounge is huge but it was packed and noisy. We managed to find a seat, and availed ourselves of a soft drink and the free wi-fi. Other than ice-cream from a fridge I found tucked away in a corner, we didn’t even bother looking at what food was available.
We knew that there is a satellite lounge at T5B but notices advise that you shouldn’t travel to T5B until you know your flight is leaving from there. We kept checking the screens but our gate didn’t come up until 1125, sure enough from T5B. We immediately headed there and to the satellite lounge but by the time we arrived it was almost 1140 and the (far more professional, pleasant and friendly) receptionist advised that our flight would start boarding at 1155. So we didn’t have the opportunity to explore or enjoy what appeared to be a much quieter and relaxed lounge.
Next time I think we will take the risk and head straight to T5B and use the satellite lounge.
Boarding
The flight left from B48 at one far end of T5B, and in fact the aircraft itself was a good distance from the building accessed by a long airbridge.
We duly arrived at the gate just before 1155 but boarding didn’t commence until after 1200. It seemed obvious that the scheduled 1225 departure was going to be delayed. Priority boarding was called including CW and we went through, and joined a long queue which remained stationary for some time. Word was passed back that the aircraft was still being cleaned so no passengers were being allowed on board. This was presumably a breakdown in communication between the aircraft crew and gate personnel.
Cabin
Once we got on board we found our seats, 10JK, front row of the 48-seat CW cabin. 10J faces forward, 10K faces backwards. The CW cabin looked to be fully occupied and there were a few passengers in the First Class cabin although FC is not actually offered on this route.
When we originally booked it was a 3-class 777 on which we chose 5JK because 5K has direct access to the aisle without possibly having to climb over another passenger’s legs. However, several months before the flight it changed to a 4-class 777. For some reason BA moved us into middle seats rather than a comparable ‘2’, but we then moved ourselves to 10JK.
I took 10J so that I wouldn’t have to climb over anyone. DH was happy in 10K but said it was odd having to climb over a stranger’s legs when he needed to access the aisle, especially as the woman in 11J (whose legs he had to climb over) had her seat lie-flat for most of the journey.
My first overall impression of the CW cabin was that it was grey and confined. I’ve seen it referred to as “the dorm” and I can see why. Although to me it was more like an office with cubicles – I wouldn’t have been at all surprised to see Dilbert appear from behind one of the dividing screens! 48 seats in one cabin doesn’t give much of a ‘premium’ appearance, especially with 8 seats across – which is the same as in WTP. It looked cramped, as well as drab and dated, especially those large ‘lightshades’.
Neither of us have any issue with flying backwards. We’re both ex-RAF and that used to be how all RAF passenger aircraft were set up because it’s proven to be safer in the event of a crash. But this top-to-tail set-up is all down to BA cramming in as many business class seats as they can across the aircraft. In a traditional business class cabin you may well have to get past a stranger to access the aisle. But you are sitting next to them, facing the same way, and you can see whether they’re asleep or stretched out. But in CW you are not sitting next to the person you may have to climb over, you don’t know until you get up from your seat whether they are asleep or stretched out. If DH found it awkward to climb over someone to access the aisle, I’m not sure it would have been possible with my short legs without making the person move. Hardly a ‘premium’ experience.
The dividers between seats were fun to play with for a while and certainly provide privacy if you’re next to a stranger. But it’s hardly ideal when drinks and food are being passed over you and through the divider to the other passenger. Potentially unsafe too, with a more than usual chance of things being spilled on the passenger nearest the aisle. Although in traditional seating food and drink is passed across the aisle passenger, it doesn’t then have to be manoeuvred through a restricted opening, ie the divider. That restriction makes it awkward for both the FA and the receiving passenger, with the aisle passenger pressing back into their seat to keep out of the way and hoping nothing is dropped on them.
I know that many people don’t like the herringbone layout of the UC seats on Virgin and find the UCS claustrophobic, but at least everyone has direct access to the aisle as well as their own personal space. Previously I’d thought the ‘mood lighting’ on Virgin was a gimmick but I now appreciate it, as the CW cabin was depressingly grey.
Seat
DH found the seat comfortable but he didn’t recline or use the footrest. I’m not sure exactly why but I found the seat uncomfortable, no matter what reclined position I tried. I found the footrest extremely awkward to use. It is completely separate from the seat and I couldn’t reach it whilst seated, and it wasn’t particularly easy to use. It isn’t a case of simply ‘footrest up or footrest down’, there are instructions to follow according to whether you just want it as a footrest or as part of the lie-flat bed. Once lowered, you can’t access anything stored in the magazine holder because that’s now the underside of the footrest. It also effectively blocks access to the one small storage area, ie the laptop drawer. To get into the drawer you have to lift the footrest which, I discovered, snaps back to fully upright with a bit of a bang if you lift it more than slightly.
Unlike with the UCS, the footrest can’t be used as a visitor seat – the instructions on it made that very clear. This scuppered my plans to sit on DH’s footrest and look out of the window, although climbing over Ms 11J would also have affected those plans.
The seat has extremely limited storage, just a small laptop drawer almost at floor level. Not ideal, especially when non-aisle passengers don’t have easy access to whatever they stow in the overhead locker.
Whilst some people find the UCS too enclosed, with ‘walls’ either side of you, I found my CW aisle seat ‘neither fish nor fowl’. In some ways it felt narrow and enclosed, but then on the aisle side there is no protective ‘wall’ so I was just as open to being bumped into by passing FAs and passengers as I am in an aisle seat in WTP. The A and K seats are more enclosed with a wall either side, and DH was happy with his personal space.
I believe the variation in seats across the cabin detracts from the ‘premium’ experience as the seats are not consistent. A and K are enclosed on both sides, but they face backwards (which may matter to some passengers). B, D, G and J are all aisle seats with a ‘wall’ on one side only. EF are in the middle, backward facing seats, with a ‘wall’ on one side only and no space between them. Whilst EF may be good for couples travelling together, providing a joint personal space, for 2 strangers they offer no more individual privacy than a traditional seat, with the added inconvenience that they don’t have direct aisle access.
Although this variation in seating does offer options to passengers, it means that if the preferences of those travelling on any given day don’t happen to meet the seating available, the CW experience could be inconsistent. For routes with mostly solo business travellers, this must be a regular occurrence. I personally believe that the product should be consistent and not have the potential to vary widely according to which seat you happen to get.
Service
Whilst the FAs were generally pleasant and friendly, the standard of service was poor. (In military terminology, they were NFI.) We were not greeted on arrival and no-one checked to see if we had travelled CW before and knew the features of the seat.
Provision of an amenity kit was hit-and-miss. I saw an FA head down the opposite aisle with a basket of them, the 2 different coloured bags. She then came back up my aisle with just one men’s kit in her hand, tried to give it to the chap in 10F who said he already had one, so she then passed it through the divider to my DH in 10K. She didn’t speak to me at all so I had no indication whether she intended to come back with a kit for me. In the event, she didn’t. I left it for a little while then asked another FA who said she would get one for me, but it didn’t appear. So later again, I went to the galley and asked, and this time one was found. Not that the kits are really worth having, a pretty poor excuse for a business class amenity kit, but that isn’t the point – it’s another example of inconsistency in service.
The flight was delayed for 35 minutes on the ground so it isn’t that the FAs were rushed for time to get their various duties done.
During the flight there was one drinks run following by lunch service. There were no further drinks runs, no water/juice runs, no offer of anything. The Club Kitchen was available and I saw people ask for drinks at the galley, but everything was based on passengers having to ask, nothing was offered.
Food/Drink
We were offered champagne or orange juice before take-off, menus were handed out and meal orders taken.
The one drinks run was done with the trolley just as in the WTP (and presumably economy) cabin, unlike business class on some other airlines where the FA takes orders and brings the drinks to you. The much-vaunted champagne cocktails were listed on the menu card but weren’t actively offered by the FA so I have no idea whether they were actually available.
Lunch was also served from the trolley, again unlike business class on other airlines. The hot entrée choices were beef with horseradish, dill and chive sauce; chicken with herb cream sauce; and mushroom risotto with mascarpone. I asked if I could have the beef without the sauce but was told this wasn’t possible. So we both opted for the cold entrée, a ploughman’s salad, and were not impressed. Bread was offered from a basket but there was no plate on which to put it.
DH had key lime pie for dessert which he enjoyed. The menu offered “A selection of fruit” for dessert so I asked for this and the FA came back with a bowl from which I selected a banana. The menu also listed “Tea, coffee and chocolates”. DH had coffee but no milk or sugar was offered and it wasn’t already on the lunch tray. There was no sign of the chocolates, either on the tray or being offered by the FA.
The afternoon tea was extremely poor. The “individual selection of sandwiches” comprised of 3 tiny rectangles of sandwich stuck together in a packet. In fact, the chap in 10G ate his like a club sandwich. DH separated the 3 sandwiches and ate one part but declared the other 2 inedible. I didn’t even bother opening the packet.
Warm scones were offered from a basket and were quite nice but tiny, the smallest scones I’ve ever seen. I sat waiting to be offered jam and cream to go with them, then realised it should have been on the tray (I hadn’t seen what was on DH’s tray as it was passed over me, through the divider). Given how little there was on the tray, the FA should have spotted that I didn’t have the main components of the meal on mine. I had to flag one of them down to get it.
At both lunch and tea when coffee/tea was offered and accepted, sugar and milk was never offered. The FA poured the coffee/tea then immediately moved on, and if you wanted sugar or milk you had to wait until another one came along to ask for some. This was yet another example of their lack of attention to detail.
The Club Kitchen was available but other than it being mentioned in the menu card you had to know it was there as we weren’t told about it by the FAs. I did make a couple of visits to get drinks and snacks, including a tub of ice cream that DH had to drink. Fortunately I’d read online about the fridge not keeping ice cream frozen so was able to warn him before he opened it to be careful, it would probably be liquid. Why bother stocking ice cream if it can’t be kept frozen? I must say that the little Beckleberry chocolate cupcake I snaffled was good – in fact it was the best thing I had to eat on the flight.
I am not a fan of airline food but this was a very poor business class offering in terms of food, presentation and service.
IFE
The IFE was excellent. There was an extensive selection of movies, TV and audio, and it was very easy to use. I can’t comment on the quality of the BA headphones as we used our own.
Arrival
We were scheduled to arrive at 1505 but landed at 1530. Which, by the standards of this particular flight, wasn’t too bad at all.
Over the last 6 months we had got into the habit of checking the flight each day as it became a bit of a joke between us to see just how late the flight would depart. Although the length of the delay varied from a few minutes to well over an hour, the flight rarely left on time. Even when it changed from the summer timetable of a late afternoon departure to the winter midday departure, the delays continued.
Immigration
We left the aircraft through door one so we were quickly out and on our long trek from Terminal A, over the bridge and to Immigration. Almost straight to the Immigration Officer who seemed to ask more questions than usual but we didn’t have to do the fingerprint scan or photo.
Baggage Delivery
We arrived in the baggage hall before the carousel for our flight was listed. Our bags were amongst the first 20 or so which appeared, so either the priority tags worked or it was sheer luck.
Summary
This was our first flight in CW and overall we were not impressed. It did not compare favourably with business class flights we’ve taken with Aer Lingus, American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and United Airlines. If I did a detailed comparison of the 5 airlines, BA would come last overall. It would top the list only for ease of booking an upgrade and the IFE, with a few extra points for giving the same baggage allowance on all legs when only one is flown in CW.
We would never pay even a discounted business class fare to fly CW with BA. We will fly CW again but only if we are able to upgrade from WTP using Avios (as we have for our next flight to Denver). It was worth the extra £83 but not much more. We usually fly premium economy but can occasionally afford business class, and on those occasions we would happily fly with any of the other 4 airlines depending on route and price.
Perhaps our next experience will be better, but to be honest I’m not holding out much hope. The food may be different and perhaps the crew more attentive, but the cabin and seats will be the same. It will be the first flight I’ve taken where I’m not particularly enthusiastic about travelling in business class, whereas I am already looking forward to my next flight in UC with Virgin later in the year.
Interestingly, a few days after the flight I received a survey to complete from BA. The survey was about my recent experience in CW and, from a couple of the questions asked, it was obviously designed for someone having flown in CW for the first time. I wish I could have kept a copy of it for reference as it would be interesting to compare what BA appeared to think the service should have been with what I actually experienced. My answer to most questions seemed to be “no”. Those I recall were along the lines of, “Were you acknowledged as a BAEC [British Airways Executive Club] member at check-in?” (no). “Were you greeted by name when you boarded?” (no). “Were you welcomed to your first flight in Club World?” (no). “Were you acknowledged as a BAEC on board?” (no). “Were the features of the Club World seat explained to you?” (no).
The survey did ask if I would be prepared to give further information if required and I agreed but, unsurprisingly, I’ve received no further contact.
Call me a cynic, but I really don’t think British Airways care much what their passengers think. They are not the (self-styled) “World’s Favourite Airline” because they offer better service, it’s because they have a monopoly on many routes. If we want a direct flight from the UK to Denver, we only have the one choice. There is effectively no competition, so no incentive for British Airways to improve their product.
We will fly with British Airways again but it isn’t something I will look forward to. It’s just a necessary inconvenience to get from A to B, little different than my daily commute to work by rail.
)
) and like you we have been moved into the middle ( next to the bassinet ) because of a plane change to 4 classes. Thanks to our friends on BA Flyer I was alerted to the full horrors of these seats and managed to grab the last two aisle/window seats available.
As for an aisle seat, I was nudged and jostled more than I ever have been in an economy seat on Aer Lingus (or even Ryanair for that matter!)
I used to travel to the East Coast a couple of times per year for work and would invariably get upgraded at the airport from WTP to CW (pure luck i think!) but I have to say my experience then (early noughties) was much better that this TR states. It is a shame when a good product goes south but just another reason to stay on the sunny side 
) is quite claustrophobic! If we get allocated something totally unsuitable, like the middle two, we'll just have to beg at check-in I guess!
