Both flights were served by British Airways’ second A350-1000 (G-XWBB) as the flight is short enough to be served by one aircraft within a 24-hour period. The compartment by your head can fit a smaller laptop (up to about 13 inches) while the compartments on the armrest are variably sized. There isn’t a huge difference between the seats in the main cabin, so picking any one of the rows between 3 and 8 would avoid the most disturbance from the galley and toilets. It is the little things like this that leave an impression. Do you think that the aviation industry will recover by 2024? British Airways has unveiled its highly-anticipated new business class seat - 'Club Suite' - and confirmed it will arrive on the first of its A350 aircraft in July. Now, it’s the turn of the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner. Please view our advertising policy page for more information. MIAMI - 2020 has been a year like no other for aviation. While I didn’t get too much sleep in either direction (I spent most of both flights working), I did test out the bed. I did, however, watch a couple of the short documentaries that celebrate 100 years of BA, and actually managed to cry my eyes out two minutes into a five-minute show about the Concorde. I’m almost certain that the crew were hand-selected for this flight, so we were really treated to the best of the best. That being said, the true highlight for me is always the afternoon tea on the daytime flight back from the UK. See, British Airways’ new business-class product, on board the inaugural flight from London (LHR) to Madrid (MAD), Reminder: You don’t have to be on the ‘No Fly List’ to receive an airline ban, Marriott reinstates elite benefit guarantees effective immediately, Check your American Airlines accounts: 2021 rollover elite miles, dollars and segments now posting, Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express. When seated, there is plenty of legroom. The 1-2-1 configuration looks a little bit dense when seeing it for the first time, which is also due to the pricavy … I boarded through door 2L to a warm welcome by the crew, who pointed me in the right direction towards my seat. The lounge is quite nice, with one side sectioned off for Business Class passengers and the other side reserved for First Class and Gold members of Executive Club (British Airways’ frequent flyer program). I made my usual plea for tabasco, but forgot that there’s no first-class cabin on this aircraft, so the crew were not able to nick the bottle of spice which is usually kept all the way up front! The new seat, manufactured by Recaro, offers 38 inches of pitch and 18.7 inches of width. I joined British Airways A350-1000 inaugural flight from London to Madrid on August 5th 2019. The Lavatory was on the smaller side but it was wide enough to allow me to sit comfortably and the toilet was reasonably sized. I sat there for a few minutes to get a feel for it. Business-class passengers are invited to use the fast track security lines, but again, I’m not sure this saved me much time. Having the door closed while working and watching movies also added an extra element of privacy, but I actually preferred having the door open during these times. It was moist and in a delicious fragrant Middle Eastern sauce, with roasted vegetables (not my favorite, but these were actually OK) and freekeh, which again was very tasty. I made my way to my seat, 4K, which was set up with pillow and blankets, and settled in. It contained lip balm, moisturizer, a relaxing pulse point roller, socks, toothbrush and toothpaste, eyemask, eargplugs and a pen. In fact, there’s more than I would need. Now British Airways just needs to up its game selection to match. There is also a video touch handset in the main armrest compartment that controls the screen. The A350-1000 also features British Airways’ newest product in World Traveler Plus (premium economy), with 56 recliner seats in 2-4-2 configuration. The seats definitely weren’t International First Class, but having just flown the old Club World product on a 777-200 from Boston to Heathrow, this felt like a major leap forward. Seen as the natural successor to the aging fleet of 747’s, the excitement over the new Club World features has been somewhat diluted by the announcement that there will be no first class on the British Airways A350. My seat for the evening was 4K, a window seat on the right side of the plane. Seatback entertainment is provided in the form of Panasonic’s top-line eX3 system with an 18-inch video touchscreen. So, many of the non-AvGeek passengers (understandably confused by my excitement) skipped ahead of me. However, in the rev… There were banks of self check-in machines where I was able to print my boarding pass. I think time may have been saved by using the Fast Track queue at the other end of the terminal. There was also a cool stress roller that you could roll on your temples to de-stress in-flight. One of the armrest compartments houses the video handset plus a 110V power outlet and a USB charging outlet. The Airbus A350-1041 was delivered to British Airways on November 26, 2019. British Airways has ordered 18 of the largest A350 variant, which seats 331 passengers in a three-class configuration. Many of the credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which ThePointsGuy.com receives compensation. Heathrow felt rather peaceful on the morning of my flight, but the actual Club World check-in desks weren’t. The state-of-the-art aircraft is built from advanced materials. An example of the efficiency and helpfulness was when I first plugged in my headphones and discovered that one ear was not working. Finnair has two types of business class seats and no first class cabin on … To kick things off, the flight attendants offered us a choice of water and champagne as a pre-departure beverage. If you’re traveling alone, though, your first choice should definitely be an A or K seat. The forward cabin contains 11 rows (44 seats), while the mini-cabin behind the door and Club World pantry has three rows worth of suites (12 seats). On a long overnight flight, this would be very conducive to a good nights rest. Every aircraft will be at least at the standard of the A350-1000’s hard product. The audio selection was pretty extensive with music, audiobooks, and podcasts. As mentioned above, the bedding is provided by White Company and is of good quality — especially the large pillow. The Points Guy will not sell your email. This crew really didn’t falter anywhere. The pillow, however, is large and very comfortable. THE SEAT There are 56 Club Suite business class seats aboard the new A350s. British Airways received their first Airbus A350-1000 to much fanfare, and most of it was largely deserved. The cabin looks sleek and smart — indeed a great place to spend seven or so hours, and leagues ahead of the existing Club World cabins. The TPG teams on both sides of the Pond have been closely following the development and launch of British Airways’ new business-class product, the Club Suite, first installed on the newly delivered Airbus A350-1000 aircraft. Overview British Airways' Airbus A350-1000 is the newest aircraft … When BA pulled back the curtains on this long-awaited and long-overdue replacement for its crowded Club World business class, w e … I didn’t have enough time, but “Aladdin” is on my hit list! It’s a nice touch, but perhaps could have been set up a little earlier. I’m undecided about the mini cabin at the rear. The amenity kit was mostly standard fare with a sleep mask, socks, earplug, dental kit, and some toiletries. I’ve never been a believer in the meme that British Airways’ business class product is terrible, but the hard product certainly wasn’t up to the standard of something like Polaris or even an older seat like Cathay Pacific’s Business Class. I find it a little bizarre that BA didn’t add the tailcam for passengers, especially after visiting the flight deck at the end of the flight and seeing the screens showing the images from the tailcam. To start, I had the Severn and Wye Scottish smoked salmon with egg and creme fraiche, which was simple and delicious. There were also pre-sets for takeoff/landing, lounging, and the flatbed. After a quick trip through security, we snaked our way through Terminal 3 towards the lounge. Other desks in the airport looked quieter, so there didn’t seem to be much advantage to the business-class option. First in the video, the … According to Duncan Robertson, British Airways’ Aircraft Product Development Manager for Cabin Interiors, the main enhancements to the hard product include the addition of water bottle stowage, calf rests, and adjustable headrests. The forward cabin on the plane is by far the smaller of the two, and if at all possible is definitely where any traveller will want to aim. It is a Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seat, which is used by many other airlines such as American, Air Canada and even Qatar on some of its aircraft, except this one features an all-important door, officially making this seat a suite. The seats are set in a 1-2-1 configuration, meaning each has direct aisle access. The table’s size is more than adequate for all eating and working — it fit my 15″ laptop nicely. Finally, there’s a small cupboard at shoulder height with a vanity mirror with a rack for magazines and the safety card just above that. British Airways will debut a new Club World business class seat on both its Airbus A350-1000 and Boeing 787-10 jets in 2019, and may refit the seat to some of its existing fleet. A moving map is available, but sadly no tailcam. the one further away from the aisle), and one storage compartment by your head (that is housed in the same area as the in-flight magazine). I actually met one of the product designers of the suite on board this flight, and he confirmed that even on the wider 777, the narrow aisles will remain, but the console by the seat will gain a few inches in width, giving passengers a little more space. Iberia which is also part of IAG already operates five of the smaller A350-900s. I arrived at the gate to find the absolutely gorgeous A350-1000 looking resplendent in the London sunshine with her wing tips, adorned with the BA motif, curving up to the heavens. In addition to the enhancements to the seat itself, British Airways has also rolled out several enhancements to the soft product in World Traveler Plus over the past year. Flying for a solid seven hours proved this seat to be a comfortable and well-designed product. The cabin was very hot when we boarded, but it quickly cooled down, and I didn’t notice any temperature issues during the flight. One point of feedback for British Airways (and all of the airlines) who have these small data caps is that there should be a guide for what kinds of things to shut down to avoid hitting the cap. The new aircraft features Club Suite, British Airways’ latest generation business class … The following video tours provide a quick walkthrough of the seat and a (much longer) walkthrough of the IFE. I’m about 5’10 and my feet didn’t reach the little ledge underneath the IFE. Overall, the business-class experience on the ground was not bad, but on the other hand it didn’t feel particularly premium, with longer than necessary queues at each step, average lounges (although the B Gates lounge is definitely more pleasant than the others) and hot jet bridge waits due to a lack of a separate jet bridge for premium passengers. It was just a water for me at this stage, but it was nice to know that had I have been in the game, Champagne was there for the taking. After encountering some severe turbulence on the quick hop from Boston to Toronto, I entered Terminal 3 at Toronto Pearson to check-in for the British Airways flight. The sandwiches were small but tasty and the scone was soft, light and fluffy, but could have been warmer. The available packages were: I went for the 150MB package, and although not cheap, it was fast with download speeds of 2.44mbps meaning a 5MB file would download in 19 seconds. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. There are 56 seats in business class, 56 more in premium economy and 219 economy class seats. Flight: QR68 Frankfurt T1 to Doha Hamad Class: Business (Qsuite) Seat: 11K Aircraft Type: Airbus A350-1000 Aircraft Registration: A7-ANB Aircraft Age: 0.3 years Date: 9th September 2018 Departure / Arrival: 17:35 / 00:35 Flight Time: 6h 00m Cost: 37,500 British Airways Avios points + … There’s a total of 14 rows, 11 of those in one massive cabin and three in a smaller one behind the galley. With excellent food and top notch service, the Club Suite came into its own and has brought British Airways’ biz class into the modern age. The cool thing about this compartment is that you can plug in your various devices and then close the top of the compartment and rest drinks or devices on top. Virgin Atlantic will install the new seats aboard its forthcoming fleet of 12 Airbus A350-1000 jets, which are intended to replace the airline’s aging and less fuel-efficient Boeing 747-400 jumbos. British Airways (BA) has taken delivery of its first A350-1000 at Airbus Headquarters in Toulouse, France, making it the first operator of the larger A350-1000 in International Airlines Group (IAG). With only Delta Air Lines and Qatar Airways poised to match British Airways with doors on its business class seats, the new Club Suite positions the carrier firmly in the uppermost echelon of business class products worldwide. I sleep in a fetal position which works better, but if you sleep on your back, have big feet and are a bit of a wriggler, you might struggle. British Airways has a total of 56 business class seats on the A350-1000. I would much rather have a narrow aisle than a narrow seat, and I probably wouldn’t usually spend as much time chatting or standing in the aisle like I did on this flight, but it was difficult for two people to pass each other. British Airways' new Club Suite business class is arguably the airline's biggest leap forward since it created the world's first lie-flat business class seat almost 20 years ago.. About 20 minutes after takeoff, drinks orders were taken. Four Airbus A350-1000’s will be in service by British Airways by the end of next year, with a further 12 being delivered over the coming years. The tapas option was never going to cut it for me, so of course like the good English lad I am, I went for the traditional afternoon tea of sandwiches, scones and English breakfast tea. My biggest initial takeaway was that the A350 was remarkably quiet – even quieter than the 787s that I’ve flown on. With the seat in the fully flat position, you do feel fully enclosed, and you can’t see much of what is going on around you. It’s disappointing that the packages are sold by data chunks, not by time, as I would usually buy a package to cover the entire length of a flight. In general, the best-in-class approach to TV in AVOD systems is to provide full seasons of a show (rather than a couple of episodes). This means that if you were to sign up for a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, you’d be able to earn the miles required for a peak-season itinerary such as this one just with the sign-up bonus, which is currently 60,000 points after spending $4,000 within the first three months of account opening. The press cadre on this flight was a small group (6 people) and we boarded in advance to take some photos of the cabin. A RED VENTURES COMPANY. There was a bit of a wait on the jet bridge, mainly because I got a bit too excited making my way to the plane and took perhaps a few too many photos in the process. After boarding, I immediately turned left to take a look at the Club Suite, and I was blown away. Let’s take a look of the new cabin interiors. Great new hard product that can finally compete, excellent food and a lovely crew. However, we Brits have been waiting for the launch of this new product with even more anticipation. And according to Robertson, the Club Suite on the A350 will be the baseline for the carrier’s Club World product moving forward. The check-in desks for BA’s Club World are in Area G of Terminal 5. The key difference was the sliding door which gave the Suite a completely different level of privacy. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. This expansion presents a significant upgrade in comfort – particularly those in Business Class… Airways was invited to try out the new Club Suite on the A350-1000, flying the first Toronto-London leg operated by the type on Tuesday, October 1 and a return flight on Thursday, October 3 to test out the daytime Club World experience. One big upgrade over the previous generation Club World product is in the storage available in the Suite. Apologies for the cabin noise and middling picture quality – I am not a videographer. One of the few elements of the seat that I didn’t enjoy was the seat belt, which had an over the shoulder strap that had to be locked in for takeoff and landing. This was no ordinary flight, and the service that I experienced on it reflected that. 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The White Company bedding is soft and comfortable. The industry has gone through mass furloughs, layoffs, aircraft storage and retirement,... PRESTWICK — The Antonov AN225 Mriya has touched down in Glasgow Prestwick Airport (PIK) today. Once extended, I love that you can slide it back up halfway to be able to get in and out of the seat. The British Airways A350-1000 has a capacity of 331 passengers in three class layout including: 56 Club Suites, 56 World Traveller Plus and 219 World Traveller Economy seats.This is the seating layout for the British Airways Airbus A350-1000BA Airbus A350-1000 layout Champagne Canard-Duchêne Brut NV; Champagne Besserat de Bellefon Grande Tradition Brut Rosé NV. The Airbus A350 is one of the most fuel-efficient aircraft operating in the world today. This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers. Because this was the A350’s first flight out of Toronto, there were a few cake pops and rubber airplane toys at the gate area. The headphones are OK. They’re not noise cancelling, but they are comfortable. It was quite drawn out, but actually in a nice leisurely way. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). The loo closest to my seat was at the front, and at times a bit of a squeeze past the busy crew in the galley to get to. The chair converts into a fully flat bed at the touch of a button — I did a full recline after the meal service. Finnair. Flight details. I would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The tray table slides out from underneath the IFE screen. It made a real difference to the quality of the cabin experience and there were points where between the fast WiFi and lack of noise I almost forgot that I was on a plane. In my opinion, the new Club Suite absolutely delivers on those four elements. It’s so far away from the premium check-in desks, which means its less likely to be busy. Shortly after boarding, pre-departure champagne and water was served, and menus were handed out. Senior Business Analyst, Big Airline Enthusiast, Avid Airport Connoisseur, Frequent Flyer, Globetrotter. I noticed the ground staff actively policing the queues to ensure everyone was where they were meant to be. At the length of a soccer field (74 metres! Wherever you end up sitting, you should hopefully have a pleasant flight. My slight concern is whether it would have been possible to pick the pace up should I have needed — or wanted — to. After Toronto, the next planned destinations for the type are Tel Aviv and Bengaluru. What we know so far about the new BA business class. There are 56 business-class seats on this aircraft, split across a larger cabin and a minicabin with just three rows behind that. The credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which ThePointsGuy.com receives compensation. If you somehow find yourself stuck with British Airways, here is some exciting news for you.Following the introduction of A350-1000 service earlier this year, British Airways is expanding this service to four more new routes. Cash tickets were available for around $2,300 round-trip in business class, or for as little as $1,100 for a ticket that included one way in business and the other in economy. The lounge actually had excellent views of the tarmac but it was a rainy evening so practical visibility was limited. The big step up in the gaming experience actually came from the handset, which actually felt like I was using a Nintendo Switch. 42 of those seats are in the forward cabin, and then there are another 12 seats in a mini-cabin behind that. Terminal 3 is the smaller of the two terminals at Pearson, and it houses WestJet, Air Transat, and every other non-Star Alliance carrier that serves Toronto except Emirates. However, the same mattress pad from the “old” product is still here, and it really is a little too small. The lounge was about 100 feet from the gate, one level above the main departures floor. British Airways took delivery of its first A350-1000 (G-XWBA) in late July, and flew familiarization flights to Madrid throughout the month of August. Even though it was approaching midday, the breakfast offering was still available in one area, with more lunch choices around the corner, but generally the food looked just OK. As mentioned, the meal service was slow, but I enjoyed the leisurely pace. The seat recline is controlled by a touch screen on the side of the seat, and I appreciated the simplicity of the controls (basically just reclining the back and raising and lowering the footrest). © 2021 THE POINTS GUY, LLC. I went for a tomato juice. I wasn’t left untended to, however I would be interested to see what would happen if I was in a rush and requested a quick dining experience — would I be served quick enough on this aircraft to keep me happy? While it did feel more exclusive — some may even say “cozy” — it also felt a little bit claustrophobic. Overall the crew couldn’t have been more professional, kind and helpful, with an element of British cheekiness that isn’t for everybody, but that I personally love. This includes 56 Club Suites, 56 World Traveler Plus seats (premium economy) which are also brand new, and 219 World Traveler seats (economy class). With a meal waiting for me in Club World, I opted out of the a-la-carte menu (which looked pretty good) and grabbed a few pastries and some coffee. As my flight was departing from the B satellite gates, I chose to head over to the B gates Galleries Club lounge (dubbed a “hidden gem” by our very own Daniel Ross). Another screen sits slightly below this allowing control of the seat itself,along with light and service buttons. Because of that, it’s worth keeping an eye on which routes and times BA operates aircraft with the Club Suite so you can really maximize your experience on board. In addition to the A350, BA will be taking delivery of 12 Boeing 787-10s between 2020 and 2023, all of which will also … After a delayed delivery, British Airways finally received its first Airbus A350-1000 on Saturday, the longer variant of the two A350 types available. The IFE screen is large and clear and there was a wide selection of movies and TV programs for me to choose from, including some good new releases. Large and very comfortable very minor thing, but perhaps could have been waiting for the launch of new... Was sorted so incredibly quickly and with no special features other than nicer White hand... 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