I recently wrote about the forthcoming Boeing 787-9 aircraft that British Airways is about to start receiving. There were a few hints about what the ‘evolutionary not revolutionary’ First Class seat would look like – now we know.
BA released some images yesterday which you can see below.
The first flight will be to Delhi on October 25th, followed in quick succession by Abu Dhabi / Muscat, Kuala Lumpur, Austin and San Jose.
Whilst the new seat certainly looks impressive – although hardly likely to give Etihad executives sleepless nights about the performance on the Abu Dhabi route – it is important to remember that there are only eight seats. This is down from 14 on the Boeing 777 aircraft it is replacing and will mean far lower chances of Avios availability, especially for multiple seats.
According to internal BA publicity, the key differentiators are:
New storage areas – a new ottoman next to the footstool shoes, handbags and personal items, a redesigned coat cabinet which is now accessible from their seat, a new locker at eye-level for smaller personal effects and a discreet stowage area next to the armrest for charging devices
Upgraded IFE – the handset will be integrated into the seat, the handset will have a small screen which can show a different service to the main TV (eg moving map on the handset, movie on the TV), the TV screen will be 23 inches
New controls – the ‘jog-dial’ now has five additional functions including the headrest and lumbar inflate and a ‘global’ lighting control
There are also the general benefits of the 787 – larger windows, greater humidity and a new pressurisation system which, apparently, is now the equivalent of being outside at 6,000 feet rather than the previous 8,000 feet.
I am due to fly a 787-9 next Easter, albeit in Club World, so it will be interesting to try it.
If you want to see more, there is a video:
You can also learn more about the new 787-9 fleet on ba.com here.
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About Head for Points
Slightly OT.
These images don’t look as good:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34193767
Thankfully a lucky escape it seems.
I think posting about that might have upset HfP’s main affiliate partner.
Let’s scrap the comment then and brush the issue under carpet !
I have flown 787 on LAN and QR in last couple of months. In both cases in business class and in both cases with same number of windows as BA is showing here. LAN was 2x2x2 however QR was same as BA First and whilst the seat footprint was smaller it was not cramped (and the service was outstanding)
It’s good to see BA doing something with premium products but frankly it not enough to make me pay and their biggest issue is still cramped world.
Hey Raffles,
Just a heads up that BA are running a code off long haul flights today, giving £63 off any long-haul flights. Code is CELEBRATE
thanks
Thanks – will take a look once the kids are at school 🙂
Looks nice, will give it a go to San Jose next year.
Am I likely to be on one of these when I fly First to Sao Paulo in Jan?
No – these planes are only trickling in slowly and are being used only on the routes I listed. Even on those routes, you are at risk of a late switch if some mechanical work is needed because BA won’t have any spare 787-9 aircraft to cover.
OT but seen a lot of news about Amex decreasing the conversion to British Airways rate (albeit all seem to be American articles). Is this affecting UK accounts too? Did I miss an article where you covered this?
I suspect no article because as you say this is a US change – although it has come up in the comments here a few times in the past couple of weeks. They already have much more generous earning rates than here anyway and BA have changed their main card partnership in the US so the old one is now less generous.
US only. It is being done because BA wants the ‘official’ Chase-issued BA credit cards to be more generous than Amex cards. That is not an issue in the UK because a) Amex issues the BA card anyway and b) the BA card is more generous (comparing fee and Avios earned) than Amex Gold or Platinum.
The point about these having fewer F and J seats needs to be considered in the wider context though. The fact that these have fewer F seats is balanced to an extent by a reduction in the number of 3 class aircraft once the 767s are all retired (and of course G-VIIO now out of action). Without doing the calculations I would have thought the average number of J seats is increasing with the reconfiguration of the 747s and the retirement of the 767s.
Beautiful, But I wouldn’t call it First Class, Looks like a Business Class product.