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Will you be the first today to fly the new British Airways A321 with the tiny loos?

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The first ‘densified’ British Airways A321 – G-MEDN – is back from the hanger and is ready to fly.

If you are travelling on Thursday, keep an eye on the following flights:

LHR-GLA BA1474 0740
GLA-LHR BA1479 0955
LHR-NCL BA1332 1215
NCL-LHR BA1333 1425
LHR-GLA BA1488 1655
GLA-LHR BA1495 1915

British Airways A320

This list only applies to Thursday.  The plane is likely to be flying to entirely different cities on Friday.

It turns out this aircraft has NOT been fitted with the new super-thin seats.  This will only be installed on new deliveries.

USB and standard power sockets have been added.  That is the good news.

Here’s the bad news, as per cabin crew rumours online:

Total A321 seating goes up from 205 to 218 (I’m not sure exactly how that works with 13 extra seats instead of 12 but I quote directly from BA’s Investor Day presentation)

The rear toilets have been moved.  Smaller, thinner toilets have been built into the back wall of the aircraft.

Two additional rows of seating are added

No duty free, as there is no space for the trolley (although today the aircraft is on domestic routes)

There will be no waste facilities or potable water supply at the rear of the plane, due to the need to free up space to fit in the loo.  This means that all waste will be carried through Club Europe for disposal at the front, and all requests for free tap water will require a trip to the Club Europe galley.

The Club Europe wardrobe will remain but will also be used for general storage of medical equipment and may not be available for coats

If you find yourself on this aircraft today (registration G-MEDN) please take some photos and send them over.


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Comments (75)

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

  • Luca says:

    This is a massive downgrade even for Y pax. I really enjoyed the ‘iPad holder’ magazine rack freeing up my tray for BOB drinks….

  • Cheshire Pete says:

    O/T Rob is there an option in your wordpress installation so we can choose to view replies in chronological order of posting, rather than nesting? This is one of those fast moving topics whereby I’m going to lose track of replies due to the default nesting layout.

  • Paul says:

    “I would be surprised if even 20% of pax on a typical BA short haul had picked on price alone. Schedule is more important for corporates. And price is a function of other things too eg cost of getting to the airport”

    Not to the corporate I worked for. If you didn’t pick the cheapest flight the system reported this to your manager. Any inconvenience in time or schedule was to be borne by the employee.

    As others have said, for shorthaul I prefer the slimmer seat and when commuting weekly STN-AMS on easyJet was delighted if the aircraft had them installed.

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:

      People need to demand overtime or time off in lieu if they have to travel for business in their own time!

    • Scott says:

      More fool any employee who accepts that. My time is far more valuable than a small financial cost to a large company.

    • Genghis says:

      A previous employer of mine had a similar system which meant you had to get approval if it wasn’t the cheapest available flight, but it was possible to “frig” the outcome by narrowing the search parameters. Meant I always flew from LCY at times convenient to me.

  • Benj says:

    I was in a DL A-320 with the tiny loos last week and they’re fine (unless you’re perhaps very large!). A very good use of space.

    • Lumma says:

      I don’t see anything wrong with them either, at least BA allow you to use them during boarding rather than having to wait until after takeoff like easyJet and Ryanair

      • Rachel says:

        You can use them during boarding on easyjet

      • Tim says:

        The loos themselves don’t seem such a bad idea unless you’re a bit of a cannonball. One bit of logical reasoning for the increase in number of rows in seats is reduced levels of compensation when things go belly-up. More passengers can be shifted more quickly when things aren’t extreme. Also: as someone who typically does 50+ short haul in economy per year – many segments are quite full. If the fuller ones get more revenue, then even if the less full ones do not, BA are still quids in?

        • Rob says:

          Yes, BA are quids in. Passengers are not. On a flight which is not full to within 13 seats, no-one benefits from the new set-up but everyone in rows 13+ loses.

    • riku says:

      I don’t know why rob continually writes that the toilets have been REMOVED, they have been MOVED. That itself doesn’t seem a big deal.

  • craig says:

    Are they rolling out wifi on the plane while they are reconfiguring the aircraft to the new seat config?

  • JamesB says:

    Loos might be small but I bet they are still wider and with greater pitch than the new seats. They also come with privacy so they are undoubtedly the best seats on the plane, reserved for GGL only.

  • Anthony Burns says:

    As somebody who does circa 50 European flights a year price is exceedingly important to me.
    I would always prefer BA but after them Easyjet, Jet2, Norwegian and then Ryanair.
    In my experience more and more employers are insisting on staff travelling at the lowest price and Easyjet have done well by frequent flights to the most important destinations.
    Frankly BA can’t survive on the ‘posh boys’ flying as not enough of them to generate the revenue needed since the LCC’s seat costs are so much lower.
    The constant bashing of BA on here is sad as I believe they are doing a pretty good job in an exceedingly tough market place. If BA don’t take the sort of action they have they will not be flying within Europe.
    Other legacy carriers such as Lufthansa, KLM/Air France have set up LCC’s to compete.

  • Travel Strong says:

    Just a quick note as I get off the phone with Virgin Atlantic: Their customer service is fantastic.

    I <3 dealing with Virgin!!! And I loathe having to contact BA – or whoever BA are outsourcing to…
    ABBA

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