I hadn’t really planned on heading back to Beijing until the end of next year, but the biggest bargain of the century appeared on Black Friday to fly with BA direct in Club World (for a mere £695 + 30k Avios – to put this into context, one would typically be paying c.£800 for a direct return in Y), which would’ve been rude to miss
. As some of you know, I have had rather mixed experience on this route with BA in economy to say the least 
, and as a result I had rather low expectations of its business class offering. Pre-flight
The pre-flight experience was inevitably less glamourous than the usual VS offering.
Firstly, BA wanted £65 each way to select my seats
. Now I know that I had not exactly spent a fortune on the tickets, but your usual pax would’ve forked out around £2k on these tickets, and I thought it rather cheeky to demand such sums for seat selection. But perhaps I’ve been spoiled by VS too much. Thankfully when OLCI opened, there were still forward facing seats available, so I selected 11D with aisle access, as I was travelling solo this time. The seat map of the 777 looked a little cramped, with a 2-4-2 set-up in CW, but I didn’t feel it when on-board.
Upon being dropped off by the hubby at the north end of the shiny T5 (this was trickier than it sounded, since we have a tiny convertible these days and as he was heading straight to his parents for Xmas, the boot space was very limited – I had to travel with a suitcase under my feet, and bags on my lap
), I discovered that I had to walk the length of the terminal “towards the Xmas tree” to reach CW check-in. Wouldn’t it be better to have them more spread out? Although I had read that the North security is normally quicker with fast track (probably due to it being at the opposite end of CW check-in/bag drop), I was not in the mood to walk all the way back, so settled with security south. The check-in agent and fast track security were both friendly, though, which I appreciated.
Lounge
I had spent a bit of time looking into the Galleries Lounge offerings at T5. In case it would be helpful to others, there are T5A North and south, and T5B, all of which CW pax are allowed to enter. I got in touch with the very knowledgeable Rob from Head for Points, and was advised that I’d be better off asking the check-in agent to establish whether my flight would depart from the satellite terminals B or C. Having tracked the same flight a couple of days before, I was almost certain that it would go from either B or C, and indeed this was right.
Following Rob’s excellent advice, I headed straight to the T5B lounge, in the knowledge that my gate is only a short train ride/walk away. Indeed it was a great choice. The lounge was very quiet, and the spa had a whole afternoon of appointments available.
Now, we all know that the Galleries Lounges (or indeed many other lounges) are no CH; but objectively speaking, recognising that the CH is VS’s best lounge offering (ie. It does not offer an F product), I actually thought that the lounge was pretty good. Sure, the food offering looked pretty horrendous (I’ll upload a picture shortly of what I managed to scoop up from the buffet), but the chili and coq au vin both tasted delicious. And yes, everything is self-service and there’s no champagne openly available, but upon request I had Taittinger in-hand quickly enough. I’d say that it’s better than the No.1 Lounge at T3, which isn’t all that bad to start with. The main downfall for me was the staff – they looked like they’d rather be elsewhere.
Flight
After a bit of buffet lunch washed down by a glass of Taittinger, and a 15-min massage at the Elemis travel spa (neck and shoulder massage received by the therapist whilst sitting on the massage chair – it was pretty relaxing
), the gate had opened so I made my way towards the transit train to the C gates, which took less than 10 mins. Priority boarding was quick, and a welcome drink was offered and received promptly. The CC were very friendly, and had great energy. I knew we were in good hands for the flight.
I settled into my seat, and was very aware of the lack of privacy, with a couple in 11E and 11F facing me. Luckily they turned out to be rather lovely – it was to be their first time in Beijing, and they were on a 2-4-1 Avios redemption to Beijing, using the 72-hour visa-free transit before visiting Vietnam and Cambodia for a couple of weeks. One of them was BA AU, and clearly an avid collector of Avios, so a brief chat about miles collection strategy was obligatory. Some tips on visiting Beijing and China in general were discussed, and grateful received by the couple.
Shortly after take-off, the privacy screen went up, and amenity kit was handed out. I’m not a huge fan of the VS amenity kits – the only one that I was really fond of was the folded ipad style ones a few years ago, and I generally find the bits inside a little disappointing and plain. The BA ones, in comparison, was not bad. At least it was products from a well-known brand, and the drawstring bag, although simple, was functional and quite handy for putting bits and bobs from the plane in one place. That said, I think the actual case is less re-usable than the VS ones.
Privacy aside, I quite liked the CW seat. It is nice and straight, rather than at an angle, and I particular liked that it could convert into a bed by reclining further and further, as opposed to having to get up from seated position to flip it as with the VS seats. The sleeping arrangement was less comfortable, however. the lack of a “mattress topper” was very much felt, and the blanket was no competition to the VS duvet. I found the fabric cover less comfortable than the VS leather seats as well. Very unlike me, I struggled to get much sleep at all on an overnight flight, even after my effort of changing into comfy PJs (no PJs were offered on CW, so I came prepared). It also did not help that other pax and the CC didn’t take as much care as they could when stepping over my legs throughout the journey.
Thankfully I was kept entertained by the AVOD, and I got rather hooked by season 1 of The Affair
. I have to say that it is really quite a clever show, with great acting. I managed to watch 6.5 episodes on this flight, and couldn’t wait to see the remainder of season 1 on the return flight. The actual AVOD itself was very good, I thought, with a very clear screen, and responsive touch screen. The noise cancelling headphones were decent as well. Food and drinks
Two meals were offered – dinner and breakfast. This was a route where pre-selection of the main meal was possible, so I had already chosen the chicken noodles with sesame sauce. So imagine my surprise when chicken in what I presume to be a black bean sauce arrived with rice
! Nevertheless, this was rather tasty, so was the scallops and caviar starter, so I did not want to make a fuss. As with the food in the lounge, although the presentation really was quite embarrassingly bad, the important thing was that the food tasted nice. I didn’t fancy the desert, so a basket of fruit was brought to me (I was expecting ready cut fruit) so I enjoyed a banana after my meal. I understand that there was a “club kitchen” on-board for snacks, which was, in my opinion, more like a “club cupboard”, or in the VS terminology a “Wonderwall” in PE. How I missed the on-board burger!
Breakfast was served about 1.5 hours before landing. I had ordered the Egg Royale, which turned out to be really rich, served on a soggy English muffin, so after one bite I gave up on it. One of the attentive CC noticed straight away, and I was promptly offered an alternative. I gave the full English a go, and have to say that it was very good, again, if you could look past the presentation.
Drinks were free flowing on the flight, and the BA AU next to me received a lot of top-ups of her champagne, and every time with a “you won’t be able to have that in Cambodia” joke. Although it kind of got a bit old after hearing it 10 times, I thought it was a nice, personal touch for a loyal BA customer.
Of course, it doesn’t matter how frequent the drinks service was, there was one big thing missing – the on-board bar!
As a solo pax, who struggled to get much sleep, I would’ve quite enjoyed some random conversations with the CC and fellow pax, but I probably would’ve arrived at my parents’ with a much less clear head, and be judged upon. Post-flight
We were allowed off the plane immediately after the F pax, and after waiting for about 30 mins at passport control (I was not allowed to keep my Chinese passport when I obtained the British one), my luggage was already waiting for me. As soon as I came out of the terminal, I could smell the smoke in the very, very polluted air.
Having grown up in Beijing, and subsequently visiting once a year/every other year, I do not ever remember a time where the air quality was this bad. More on that in the return TR. To finish off all the comparisons that I could not resist doing between CW and UC (and I know that there are often debates on this here), my personal experience is that overall, the CW offering was pitched at a level below the UC offering, probably due to the fact that BA has a proper F cabin available. The UC ground experience wins hands down, and VS does offer a more glamourous service overall. That said, my first CW experience was a solid one, with a decent lounge, good food with a friendly and energetic crew (especially as this flight meant that they were going to be spending their Xmas in a place that does not celebrate Xmas, away from their family and friends). The “controversial” CW seats were much better than expected, but I was lucky with friendly and nice neighbours, as the set-up is inevitably less private than UC. The AVOD was, in my view, better than the VERA. Ultimately, whilst I missed the on-board bar and burger, as well as the CH, PJs, and nicely presented food that’s not just been thrown onto a plate, for the very little money that I had spent, I very much appreciated the CW offering, and would be happy to use it again.
