British Airways First Class Archives

British Airways Introduces Modified First Class Cabin

British Airways has introduced a modified First Class cabin with a sliding door on its latest Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

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British Airways First Class Seat With Sliding Door, Boeing 777-300ER Aircraft (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways has introduced a modified First Class cabin on its latest Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

BA was due to take delivery of four new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft this year. It has recently received the first of these aircraft, which bears the registration G-STBM.

As expected, this aircraft features a smaller eight seat First Class cabin. The First Class seat is largely based on the First Class cabin on Boeing 787-9 aircraft, but with the addition of sliding door for complete privacy. This follows the decision to add a door to BA’s new Club Suite on all aircraft.

The new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft is currently operating selected flights between London Heathrow and New York JFK (BA113 & BA114).

In total, the aircraft has 8 seats in First Class, 76 seats in Club World, 40 in World Traveller Plus and 136 in World Traveller.

Clearly, passengers will have their own views on the benefit of complete privacy versus being able to keep an eye on movements in the cabin, and not being out of sight of cabin crew.

BA had planned to refurbish its 12 other Boeing 777-300ER aircraft this year which were delivered to the airline between 2010 and 2014. This is to not only reduce the size of the First Class cabin from 14 to 8 seats, but also retrofit the Club Suite and “densify” World Traveller from 9 seats to 10 seats abreast.

More broadly, given the retirement of the entire Boeing 747 fleet and possible conversion of some four class Boeing 777-200 aircraft to three class, it is inevitable that First Class will be withdrawn from many routes in the medium term. The seating configuration of future deliveries of Airbus A350-1000 and Boeing 777-9 aircraft is also likely to be reviewed.

British Airways New First Class Dining & Amenities

British Airways is to introduce new menus, tableware and amenities to its First Class cabin from 31 March 2019.

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British Airways First Class Dining

Whilst many airlines have withdrawn international First Class altogether, it’s clear from BA’s most recent aircraft order that there is a future in the cabin for the airline. Albeit, it will have fewer seats with a smaller 8 seat cabin and operate on fewer routes.

One of the reasons why First Class has been withdrawn is that business class has adopted many of its features. BA is of course due to introduce a new Club World cabin later this year.

In advance of this, BA has announced that new bedding, amenities and dining will be introduced to its First Class cabin from Sunday 31 March 2019. As is to be expected from BA, there is an emphasis on working with British brands and manufacturers.

The new features include:

– New a la carte menus with bone china tableware designed by William Edwards (who supply many Five Star hotels), cutlery from Studio William, and Dartington glassware.

– A redesigned Afternoon Tea service.

– New foam and microfibre mattress topper and 400 thread count bedding, day blanket and bolster cushion.

– Loungewear, slippers, and amenity kit bags designed by Temperley London, with skincare products from Elemis.

– Meridian Audio headphones.

The roll-out will be complete by mid-April. This is a relatively short amount of time compared to the roll out of new catering and bedding in Club World last year.

From next year all London Heathrow long-haul routes will also be catered by Do&Co which should also be a significant improvement.

As with any change at BA, post-flight survey scores will be monitored closely to track customer reaction. Do make your views known if you receive a survey. Please see our guide to which routes operate with First Class from Gatwick and Heathrow.

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BA withdraws First Class from Vancouver from Thursday 21 January to Monday 29 February 2016

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British Airways First Class Cabin (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways is to temporarily withdraw its First Class cabin from its daily flight from London Heathrow to Vancouver from Thursday 21 January to Monday 29 February 2016.

The airline will continue to operate the route with a Boeing 747. However, the First Class cabin will be closed.

The reason for this is that the route is being operated with a Boeing 747 that is not fitted with the latest First Class cabin

This is not the first time BA has done this. Readers may recall BA temporarily withdrew First Class from a number of routes including Cape Town, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Vancouver last year.

Affected passengers can either accept a downgrade to Club World business class or an alternative indirect routing to Vancouver via Seattle (with onward travel to Vancouver at the passenger’s expense) or another BA or American Airlines gateway in America (such as Dallas Fort Worth) with an onward connection on American Airlines.

Full refunds do not appear to be available.

Which BA routes operate from London Gatwick with First Class?

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A short while ago, we compiled a list of the British Airways routes from London Heathrow that operate with a first class cabin.

To complete the list, here’s a list of long-haul Gatwick routes that operate with and without a first class cabin.

It’s a relatively easy list to compile. BA’s routes from Gatwick are operated exclusively with either three or four class Boeing 777 aircraft.
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Which BA routes operate from London Heathrow with First Class?

Here’s a full list of long-haul BA routes from London Heathrow that operate with a first class cabin.

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British Airways, First Class, Airbus, A380 — British Airways First Class, Airbus A380 (Source: BA Press Office)

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.

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BA to reintroduce First Class to Vancouver, Cape Town, Las Vegas and Phoenix

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A few months ago it was announced that BA would stop offering first class on flights to Cape Town (selected flights only) and Las Vegas, Phoenix and Vancouver.

The reason for this was that even though the flights continue to operate with a four class Boeing 747 aircraft, these routes would be operated with aircraft that have not been fitted with the latest version of BA’s first class cabin.

Instead, BA would operate the old first class cabin as an extension of Club World business class.

As the airline continues to retire its older Boeing 747 aircraft, it is reintroducing first class on these routes with the assurance that all flights will operate with the latest first class cabin.

First class will return to Vancouver from Sunday 29 March 2015. First class will return to Cape Town, Las Vegas and Phoenix from Sunday 25 October 2015.

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BA to stop First Class on Cape Town, Las Vegas, Phoenix & Vancouver from 26 October 2014

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Update December 2014: BA has announced that First Class will return to Vancouver from Sunday 29 March 2015 and Cape Town, Las Vegas and Phoenix from Sunday 25 October 2015. More details here

Many readers will know that, over the past five years, British Airways has been progressively updating its four class Boeing 777 and 747 aircraft with a new first class product.

The roll out on Boeing 777 aircraft has long been complete. Out of BA’s fleet of nearly fifty Boeing 747 aircraft, less than ten do not have the latest first class product. These aircraft are left with the Kelly Hoppen designed interior from the year 2000.

It is no exaggeration to say these cabins are showing their age and, in response, BA has by default offered 50,000 Avios to members of the Executive Club frequent flyer programme as compensation.

With number of 747s in BA’s fleet expected to fall to approximately thirty by 2018 and the last 747 due to retire after 2020, many of those aircraft that do not have the new first class cabin are likely to be retired over the coming year.

BA has now decided to stop selling first class on these aircraft and will instead offer a three class service, with business class passengers seated in the first class cabin (who will receive the standard “Club World” service) if there is the demand.

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BA to trial pre-ordering of meals in First & Club World on London – New York JFK

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BA Club World Cabin - 2006 (Image Credit: British Airways) — BA Club World Cabin – 2006 (Image Credit: British Airways)

Many airlines have long offered passengers in first and business class the opportunity to pre-order their meals in advance of boarding their flight. Singapore Airlines has its “Book The Cook” facility. Qantas offers the same facility under the guise of “Q Eat”.

The passenger benefits in securing their preferred choice of meal and the airline benefits in reducing wastage – catering being one of a very few areas where airlines can actually control costs.

One notable exception in offering this service is British Airways, in spite of it carrying very large volumes of first and business class passengers (some 84 on most Boeing 747s) and having one of the highest proportions of revenue attributable to first and business class traffic.

From an as yet unspecified date in the second quarter of next year (so possibly some six months away), BA is to trial the pre-ordering of meals in Club World business class and First class on the London – New York JFK route.

From what is known so far, passengers will only be able to choose from the existing menu and will not have additional menu choices (and opting out of “Afternoon Tea” does not seem to be an option!). No doubt this is being driven by the desire to reduce wastage, but it would be good to see the proceeds in any savings reinvested in the improving catering.

Update: This facility is now available on all long-haul routes from London Heathrow and Gatwick. You can pre-order your meal through the Manage My Booking tool.