OT: Heads Up - New BA Club World Launch

Another thing not mentioned yet is that BA have yet to decide whether to fit the new cabin on the 767 fleet. They are first deciding hen they will retire the fleet before deciding whether to upgrade them - so this will add another layer of complexity to the BA offering forr some time to come...

Don't think the 767 will be getting the new NGCW cabins as they have only been refitted with AVOD and the current CW seats in the last year.
After considering the new BA offering for 24 hours I am very under whelmed. Any of you who have had to climb over your sleeping neighborÕs legs in the dark to get to the toilet will know what I mean. The service will be even more difficult for the 2 middle and window seats. The bed is still only 6'long the 6'6" quoted is pure marketing spin (6'6" in the Z position not flat bed).Still no sleep suits and that main deck cabin has far too many pax to get top notch service.It seems an awful lot of dosh to spend and still leave the major faults of this cabin in place.

[fozzyo]

Seems to be they didn't do what Virgin - chuck it all out and start with a blank piece of paper. Its not original or different enough to get excited about. Its the same room, just with newer furniture and paint.

I'm not terribly keen on the look, though I think it may grow on me. I think it's worthwhile seeing it in the flesh before drawing too many conclusions - when the A346 UCS layout was first shown there were a number of comments that it was like a sheep pen and claustrophobic, what with the 'wall' running down rows 1-8. The reality was somewhat different.

On Flyertalk there's a link to a PDF with many more pictures. I'm not keen on the look but the one area which the new layout excels in is in seclusion and privacy. That seems to have been one of the drivers, and for the majority of business passengers that will be a bonus. I suspect that, as with the UCS, there will be improvement tweaks to the design and construction over time ( think tables, lights, moving ottoman )

Looking forward to the first trip reports, Flyertalk reports JFK will be the first route later this month so wont be long. The new amenity kit looks good too ( unlike another one I could mention [ii] ) and the food should be better too....

Thanks,

David.

I honestly think it looks very good - I think BA will hae looked at whats is the best product and tried to improve and it honestly makes the VS product look now dated. It willbe very interesting to see what Virgins response will be. I do agree its a bit plastic looking but still very modern and I oulw think very comfortable - cant wait to see the new fIRST

Ooops !!
And I thought I got the News first Lol ...
Sorry guys was all excited , Little News
my Partner works with Virgin Design side and they are already
going to upgrade the Upper Class seat.

Peartree - I think they must be doing so - They have never really been an airline to sitback and get taken over by the competition - However its still taken too long in my opinion to make the fleet 100% v-port - I hope the new seats will be as good as the new BA and SIA products

I think BA will hae looked at whats is the best product and tried to improve and it honestly makes the VS product look now dated.

The VS suite is the best bed in the sky I have ever experienced, in bed mode it is better than BA First and slaughters Club, NGCW is the same footprint 8 across the main cabin, still only 6' long it's too short by a long way and the access to 50% of the seats is crap. VS shouldn't worry about the hard product too much it may need a tweak here and there but not drastic refitting. The reason my custom was lost (and my Au card[B)]) is the soft product, bad staff, bad service, bad food and drink, useless GNF service, insulting amenity kits and general penny pinching.

Jag - would you return to VS if they improved on all their penny pinching and offered you the "complete "package - would you go back to them

Jag - would you return to VS if they improved on all their penny pinching and offered you the "complete "package - would you go back to them

I have an UC trip booked next year, will have to see how that measures up.BA would really have to upset me to force a move to another carrier and on the experience of recent trips I can't see that happening.I can however see us using maxjet/eos/silverjet on the routes they serve.

I suppose if you are flying to NYNY from London you have such a huge amount of airlines you can get great deals with 5* airlines -

I'm not terribly keen on the look, though I think it may grow on me. I think it's worthwhile seeing it in the flesh before drawing too many conclusions - when the A346 UCS layout was first shown there were a number of comments that it was like a sheep pen and claustrophobic, what with the 'wall' running down rows 1-8. The reality was somewhat different.

I still think UCS is somewhat battery-farm like on the A346. However, once you're in the seat, you don't notice the difference.

VS.

The only thing I really dont like about the UC compared with say BA club is that if you are with somebody else , its difficult to have a conversation unless you get up and sit at the friends seat. BA club is better in this way and the new seat seem to have a simular system.

I think though I like the privacy of the UCS, even though I was travelling with my partner (who just sleeps no matter what![n]) it was nice to have the privacy and not feel too close to the passenger next to you. On BA in the middle to seats there are no privacy screens so if you are travelling on your own, not only it is a pain to get out of your seat, and climb over the aisle seat you are very close to the passenger next to you. I suppose there are pros and cons for both eh!

Dominic

On BA in the middle to seats there are no privacy screens

There is a small privacy screen that comes out of the back of the unit between the middle seats but I do agree these are best for couples.

[Decker]

In case you haven't seen it

I'm not that tall and I don't find talking in UCS that much of a problem and prefer it to being more exposed.

VS.

It doesn't look too bad:
The privacy screen looks much better than the old one which always looks untidy. The way suite cocoons you more is better for that too.
The colour scheme is fine, nice and neutral.
The seat does have the one thing that VS don't, which is the option to go from seat up - to half recline - to full splodge* out recline -to flat bed. I miss that halfway point on VS.

What I do find very difficult to understand though from the 360 degree view is the access of the inside and window seats. Due to the greater privacy screening I cannot see how staff or PAX can get to those seats if the adjacent seat is in recline. It looks like it will block off that whole seat [?]....Bizzare

Cheers!

Dean

*Its a proper word, you know...

Well I haven't flown business class before but will be having my first trip in the UCS in 2 weeks (going home to SYD ).

The main reason I choose Virgin over BA (I'm Qantas FF so would have been great for the points & status) was that I most of the window seats didn't have direct access to the aisle.

BA still haven't fixed this problem so I would still choose Virgin over BA. When there was only £20 difference in the price of the tickets Virgin is definitely the best option available.