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The first British Airways long-haul Gatwick plane with 10-across seating is now in service

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The first ‘densified’ British Airways Boeing 777 is now in service at London Gatwick.   The number of seats has been increased from 280 to a whopping 332.

The main way this has been achieved is to make World Traveller / Economy 10-abreast.  To be fair to British Airways, a lot of other airlines – including many with a better reputation than BA, such as Emirates, Air France, Qatar Airways and Cathay Pacific – have already or are in the process of doing the same.  BA is playing ‘catch up’ (or ‘catch down’, possibly) in this area.

New British Airways economy World Traveller seating

There have been some improvements to the World Traveller seat.  Most obviously, the size of the TV screen has increased from 6 inches to 10 inches.

You also get “a six-way headrest with adjustable ears for added comfort and movable middle arm rests, which is particularly useful for customers travelling with children”.

New British Airways economy TV screen

USB power ports have been added but there are no plug sockets.  Whilst not an obvious change, the IFE system has also been replaced and now has substantially more capacity to add additional movies.

There have also been major changes in World Traveller Plus.

The World Traveller Plus cabin has been increased from 24 to 52 seats.  This is likely to drive a substantial change in the amount of Avios reward availability in this cabin.

If you are wondering where the space came from, the number of Club World seats has been reduced from 40 to 32.

New British Airways World Traveller Plus cabin

Word Traveller Plus DOES now have plug sockets which will take UK, US and European plugs.

The seat also has “a new leg and footrest, as well as an improved fully adjustable six-way headrest to suit customers of all heights. The new seat also has a cocktail table at the front and in-arm tray tables”.

The TV screen has increased from 6 inches to 12 inches, meaning that there is now a difference between the IFE in World Traveller and World Traveller Plus.

The new World Traveller Plus seat will be added to the Boeing 777 fleet at Heathrow from “Autumn 2019”.

Where will you find these new seats?

The new aircraft are initially being timetabled onto Punta Cana, Cancun and Kingston.  All six of the three class Boeing 777 aircraft will be done by the end of 2018 – it is a slow process, taking two months per plane and requiring the aircraft to be sent to Singapore.  BA will then start making similar changes to the four-class fleet of four aircraft at Gatwick.

It remains to be seen if customers in World Traveller can be ‘bought off’ with a bigger TV and a USB socket when faced with a sharp drop in seat width.


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Comments (65)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Sam says:

    Cisoard – i’ve seen this discussed at length within the travel trade as no-one has managed to get a firm answer. We’ve had one ‘yes’ and one ‘no’ from BA reps – but a friend flew to Sydney and used it with no issues (but a few jealous / admiring glances from other parents and questions from staff) – but i’d assume that was 4 different sets of staff that allowed it. So my thinking is that there is no current policy, but you’d probably (but not definitely) get away with it.

  • Ben says:

    OT but does anyone know when the new CW soft product (ie food and new bedding) will be released on other flights. Im heating to Cape Town in April (and back from Johannesburg) and was hoping that would be updated by then.

  • mutley says:

    O/T is it possible to get the 20000 bonus on Amex gold Business, if i have BAPP and Amex Plat?
    Also can I self refer?

    • Rob says:

      No, because you already have a Membership Rewards account.

    • Peter K says:

      As you have one MR earning card then you should not get the bonus 20k signup for the corporate version, even though the Platinum you have is personal. Some get lucky but don’t count on it.
      Some have had success self-referring and if it works you should get the 18k referral bonus.

  • Tim says:

    What is the difference in seat width in world traveller?

  • Ralf says:

    10 seats a row in a 777 is torture, more important than pitch

  • Hanna says:

    I saw someone using it on BA plane to Dubai and this person was sitting in aisle seat in WTP.

  • DavidK says:

    Well the seats and IFE looks nice in fairness. Just a shame they are densified. I suppose it is a reflection of what the market wants. The average punter books the cheapest possible fare in my experience. Not much else matters to the majority……

  • Tarka says:

    I had the misfortune to fly from Madrid to Heathrow last year in economy on a BA B777 (company I work for has an all Y travel policy for flights up to 6 hours) in 3-3-3 fit and that was so uncomfortable. The window seat I was in was cramped, didn’t have much leg room because of the seat leg and IFE and the seat was so hard. I was glad to get off after 2 hours so couldn’t contemplate a TATL in these conditions, this seat fit will be even worse. Won’t be travelling on a BA 777 again any time soon.

    • Talay says:

      Perhaps when people move company the travel impact of forced economy ticketing (at all, nevermind up to 6 hours) might reflect in whether someone wants to join a company or not ?

      Though retired from investment banking (still running my own businesses), we never had to consider economy though I understand that a circa 4 hours economy directive may have been introduced in some quarters. Whether that exists across all seniority I do not know but I cannot imagine any of my compatriots ever considering medium or long haul at anything other than the pointy end.

      If I were looking to join a company and they wished me to fly medium haul or longer in economy, I wouldn’t take the job. I might even (probably would to be honest) throw down the gauntlet at economy short haul. Assuming they value me, then the additional cost of a business (or even first) ticket is negligible.

      • Ian says:

        A belated comment on this. I am also retired and would take exactly your view. If I’m worth it to the company, the value I add will be far greater than the cost of premium tickets. Will we start seeing employees rising up to recognise their worth? I doubt it.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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