My British Airways Club World experience was interesting. This post walks you through my experience with Lounge, Aircraft, Seat, and Food.
Lounge
Business class passengers have access to the Galleries Club lounges. There are 3 of these in terminal 5 - two next to A gates and 1 next to B gates. Unfortunately, there is no lounge next to C gates and my flight was departing out of concourse C. So, I walked in the opposite direction to get to the South lounge on concourse A.
a380 at entrance of South lounge in Terminal 5
The south lounge has a capacity for 800 as opposed to the north lounge which is half the size at 400, but I still had a hard time finding a spot to sit. After a few rounds of the entire lounge, I managed to find a person leaving and took their seat. The lounge was very ordinary with the usual hot and cold food options along with alcoholic and soft drinks.
Aircraft
The plane that I flew on was a Boeing 777-200, powered by massive Rolls Royce Trent 800 engines, each producing a thrust of over 90,000 pounds. It was a 4-class airplane: First, Business (Club World), World Traveller Plus and World Traveller with a total of 224 seats. British Airways currently has 46 777's in its fleet with some over 15 years old.
Boeing 777 stats (Image source: British Airways)
There are 6 rows (row 10 - 15) of 8 club world seats each for a total of 48 seats in one huge cabin. Yes, british airways 777 has 8 seats ACROSS in one row in its business class cabin! While there are airlines that do not have 8 economy plus seats across in one row.
Business class cabin onboard the 777. (Image source: Seatguru)
The seats are laid out in 3 sets of 2-4-2 with both front and rear facing seats. All the window seats along with the center 2 seats of the middle set of 4 are rear facing. Basically, only the aisle seats are front facing but there are still plenty of aisle seats to chose from since British Airways has 4 in each row.
Business class cabin onboard the 777
Business class cabin onboard the 777 - showing pairs of seats on the left side
The club world cabin features 3 scattered chandeliers that shine bright yellow.
Chandeliers onboard the 777
If you are flying alone, I would recommend picking one of the window seats - 10A/K, 11A/K, 12A/K, 13A/K, 14A/K, 15A/K since they offer the most privacy that you can get out of british airways club world seats. If you are travelling with a companion and you dont mind proximity, then the middle couple seats - 10E/F, 11E/F, 12E/F, 13E/F, 14E/F, 15E/F are made for you.
Seat
I am glad that I got assigned 14D which happened to be an aisle seat. I said I am glad because even as a business class passenger, British Airways doesnt let you select your seat before check-in begins, unless you have very high elite status. Even a $4000 business class ticket cannot get you any seat that you want. At check-in, the only other available seats were the hated middle seats.
My seat: 14D
The transparent thing that you see on the left in the picture above is the dreaded privacy divider that exists between all pairs of seats except the middle 2 couple seats. Now, the thing with the divider is that it is always down during takeoff and landing and you are forced to look right into the eyes of the stranger who is sitting on your side. To make matters worse, the divider is always lowered every time anyone from the middle seats wants to eat.
Middle couple seats
Now, the worst club world seats are without doubt the middle 2 couple seats pictured above. Why am I calling them couple seats? Well because the privacy divider is barely there and if you happen to turn the wrong side while sleeping, then your face is just 2 feet away from the complete stranger sleeping next to you. These seats only make sense for couples or families travelling together.
Privacy divider
There is a little sense of privacy when the translucent privacy screen is rolled up but if you try hard enough, you can see through the divider. The seat controls are fixed into the seat on just under the privacy divider. The controls are pretty basic and easy to use. The thing that matters is that the seat changes into a fully flat bed with a total length of almost 6 feet with the ottoman put down. Even though I am about an inch or two more than 6, I was able to fit in the seat without bumping into the ends. The width of the seat is also very limited at just 20 inches.
The sad thing though is that the armrest goes down with the seat and when the seat is fully flat, the armrest no longer exists which basically means that you can easily roll over and fall into the aisle. Also, sleeping on the seat does feel like sleeping in the aisle since you are completely exposed. Inspite of all the issues, I think it is always great to have a lie-flat seat.
Seat at 180 degrees
British Airways offers a luxury pillow with over 200 threads inside of it that actually feels really plush and soft. The blanket is pretty long and there is even a padded mattress topper. Everything is designed by The White Company including the amenity kit that contains soothing products, creams, oils and the usuals.
The in-flight entertainment system was bad and not at all responsive. Additionally, the headphones were pretty average and there was no Wifi onboard.
In-flight entertainment system
I would suggest that you bring your own headphones and download some movies on your laptop/tablet to watch offline if you want to enjoy the flight since the British Airways entertainment selection isn't great.
Food
I was offered a choice of either a glass of water or a glass of champagne as I was settling in. Soon after take-off, the real meal service started with a hot refreshing towel followed by a choice of beverage along with warm nuts. There were two specialities - Kir Royale and Buck's Fizz. Most people seemed to be going for the Kir Royale. Other than alcohol, they had the classic English tea and a variety of juices and soft drinks.
This flight had two meal services - lunch after take-off and light refreshments before landing. For the lunch service, there was a choice between 4 starters, 4 entrees and plenty of desserts.
Menu
Menu
Menu
Starters:
Entrees:
Desserts:
I went with the artichoke soup followed by butter chicken - served with black lentils, rice with peas and Indian bread. For dessert, I chose warm chocolate brownie with walnuts and vanilla creme which was absolutely delicious. If I had space in my stomach, I would definitely have asked for another piece.
Cream of Jerusalem artichoke soup
Butter chicken
Warm chocolate brownie with walnuts
I think I slept for about 5 hours after the meal service and woke up right before the cabin lights were turned on for the pre-arrival service. There was an option between Indian style snacks and Western style snacks.
Western style snacks:
Indian style snacks:
I really liked the Indian style snacks but the classic Bakewell tart smelled of preservatives even though I was told that it is freshly made.
Indian style snacks
Overall
I think that British Airways can improve upon a lot of things especially the club world seats. In fact, British Airways is planning to redesign the seats and install them in planes starting 2019. In addition to the seats, they should also focus on the overall club world experience if they want to compete against other European and Gulf carriers that already have a great product.
Nonetheless, I had a comfortable 9 hour flight and was happy with the food, crew and the fully-flat bed. Would I fly it again? Probably but I would consider other options first.
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