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We receive a lot of search enquiries regarding which British Airways routes operate with or without a first class cabin.
Whilst BA’s first class product is far from a market leading product in the air or on the ground, the network it covers is very broad.
It’s also a popular choice for members of the BA Executive Club to use their Avios and holders of BA branded American Express credit cards to use 2-4-1 flight vouchers. Many Silver & Gold members of the Executive Club can also find themselves upgraded from Club World on oversold flights.
The general trend in recent years has been for first class to be removed from routes. However, it has in recent times been restored to routes such as Denver and San Diego.
So we thought it would be helpful to compile a list of BA first class destinations. We have also compiled a separate list for London Gatwick.
Looking at fleet types, BA operates first class on all Airbus A380 (14 seats), Boeing 777-300ER (8/14 seats), Boeing 787-9/10 (8 seats) and some Boeing 777-200ER flights (8/12/14 seats).
BA does not operate first class on any Airbus A321, A350-1000, Boeing 787-8 flights.
BA is refurbishing its fleet of Boeing 777-200ER aircraft at London Heathrow. On these aircraft, the existing First Class cabin is reduced to 8 seats. It is also expected that some 4 class aircraft will be converted to 3 class.
Quick Links
All flights on the following London Heathrow routes should operate with first class:
North America:
Atlanta, Austin, Bermuda, Boston, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas Fort Worth, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York JFK, New York Newark, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Toronto (excluding Airbus A350-1000 flights), Vancouver, Washington Dulles
Central & South America:
Mexico City, Sao Paulo (excluding Airbus A350-1000 flights), Santiago
Middle East:
Bahrain, Doha, Dubai (excluding Airbus A350-1000 flights), Kuwait, Riyadh
Africa:
Abuja, Accra, Johannesburg, Lagos, Nairobi
Indian Ocean:
The Maldives
Asia-Pacific:
Beijing, Delhi, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Singapore, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo Haneda
First class can operate on some, but not all, flights on the following routes:
Tel Aviv
The principal exclusions are flights operated with Airbus A321, Airbus A350-1000 and Boeing 787-8 aircraft. Some flights can operate with four class Boeing 787-9 or three or four class Boeing 777 aircraft on different days.
First class does not operate on the following routes:
North America:
Baltimore, Montreal, Nashville, New Orleans, Orlando
Carribean, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands:
Grand Cayman, Nassau, Providenciales
Central & South America:
Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro
Middle East:
Amman, Cairo
Asia:
Bangalore, Bangkok, Chennai, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Lahore
The above information is (we hope!) accurate. If there are any errors or omissions, please let us know. The availability of First Class can change frequently, particularly routes that are operated with Boeing 787 and 777 aircraft.
Please note the above list does not include flights operated by codeshare partners such as American Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Qantas. BA’s codeshare partners Aer Lingus, Iberia and Finnair do not operate first class on any routes.
Thank you very much for this, I was looking everywhere for this list. Great job.
Please clarify ref flights to Rio de Janeiro because you mention it twice; the first time you say that flights to RIO operate with F.C. and then further down to contradict that
First Class used to operate on Rio de Janeiro until October 2017. It was then changed to a Boeing 787-800 aircraft without First Class. I’ll edit the post.
cheers, this is more useful than BA website!
Useful list. But one error I think, next year’s Seychelles not offering First – tried to book it with my 2-4-1 and they said the cabin wasn’t offered.
Hi, It looks like you have been given erroneous information by BA. First Class is available on this route. Worth calling again to see if you get a different answer!