Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

British Airways and the mystery of the missing super-thin seats

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

We ran an article last week about the return to service of G-MEDN, the first British Airways A321 aircraft to be ‘densified’ with additional seating.  This was primarily due to the two loos being moved into the back wall of the aircraft.

The other change was meant to be the introduction of super-thin Recaro seating in two thirds of the aircraft, from row 12 or row 14 depending on aircraft type.

And yet, in an article published late on Friday night, British Airways spoke to Business Traveller to refute this.

British Airways A320

This is a summary of what British Airways said:

All of the people writing about the new configuration online are confused

The new A320neo and A321neo aircraft, to be delivered from April, WILL have a mix of the current and super-thin seating

However, the existing A320 and A321 fleet is not changing.  All seats will be the current (‘Pinnacle’) seat, albeit reworked to include USB and power sockets. 

This creates as many questions as it answers.  This is what British Airways told the City:

How can British Airways have the same numbers of seats on an A321 with the current seating and the forthcoming A321neo aircraft with super-thin seating?  Has the seat pitch been reduced even though the seats are the same?

To make things even more confusing, Iberia is definitely retro-fitting its super-thin seats onto its existing Airbus aircraft as well as on its new deliveries.  The article does not, admittedly, imply that BA was planning a retro-fit.

It is all a bit odd.  It is even odder than BA is telling Business Traveller that ourselves, Flyertalk, PPrune and various other sites have been printing incorrect information, when they could have contacted all of us directly.

If we have been sharing incorrect information about the new seats then, BA, we’re sorry ….. but you could just have rung us or even invited the media on the Glasgow flight on Thursday.   It probably didn’t help that the entire travel press, including ourselves, was in Berlin last week for the ITB trade show.

It seems that we may end up with two types of Airbus short-haul planes at Heathrow.  New neo ones with a mix of current and super-thin seats, and the older Airbus aircraft which just have the current seats.  All with have the new thin toilets built into the back wall.  Confusing …. and unhelpful if you want to avoid the new Recaro seats.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (October 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

10,000 points bonus – plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 80,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Get up to 40,000 points as a sign-up offer and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (33)

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

  • Ian says:
    11 Mar11 March 06:56

    I wonder if they are keeping these planes for when club Europe is too busy for 8 rows…

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:
      11 Mar11 March 13:05

      The limit to 7 rows is due to galley space and these aircraft have limited galley space due to the reduction in the rear galley to fit those new mini toilets.

      I believe the row limitation is only for the longer flights as they have more extensive catering, although this is just as frustrating as the longer the flight the more likely you’re going to want to upgrade.

  • Kiran says:
    11 Mar11 March 07:08

    Are there any European regional airlines with decent seats anymore? I was on Lufthansa business class flight from FRA to MUC on n A319 and the seat was pretty horrible and cramped.

    • Ian says:
      11 Mar11 March 08:57

      Yes, Air France refitted its A320s a few years ago with a new seat. It’s quite thin and doesn’t recline (GOOD). I’ve only flown internal flights of 1 hour+ (where at least until recently you were still served a drink and biscuit) and found them quite comfortable. I’d probably choose Air France all the time for Paris-London flights if they didn’t use T4 at LHR.

      • Bob says:
        11 Mar11 March 11:53

        And Iberia has bought one year ago one Airbus A319 from Air France which had the AF recaro seats.

        Iberia has not refitted anything and this plane is used by Iberia, with the Air France seats, probably not to LHR I guess.

        Just think about this.
        Ryannair said at the time, it will choose non reclining seats.
        And Air France, 10 years ago already now I think, was the launch customer of this recaro non reclining seat.
        Before Ryannair had started any roll-out of its non reclining seats.

        Now on a Orly-Toulouse flight, you have the choice of a 180 recaro seats A320 with Air France or a 180 recaro seats A320 with easyjet.
        Only the color changes.

  • Mikeact says:
    11 Mar11 March 07:58

    A classic case of the left hand / right hand etc.

  • Dave says:
    11 Mar11 March 08:19

    For consistency I wonder why they don’t take the back rows from the existing fleet and put them at the front of the new aircraft. Then they’d only be buying the slimlines.

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:
      11 Mar11 March 13:08

      All the seats on this aircraft are new. It was a bmi midhaul aircraft which had proper lie flat business class seats and the economy seats had seat back screens therefore they needed to replace all the seats on here with the new style. That’s another reason why it’s odd they never added the slimline seats.

  • Harry says:
    11 Mar11 March 08:31

    Best not to try to avoid the new Recaro seats, just avoid BA!

  • Jane says:
    11 Mar11 March 09:25

    So does this mean that the pitch will be even less at the back of the refitted planes?

    • Rob says:
      11 Mar11 March 10:27

      The new planes, definitely. We simply don’t know on the retrofits. Perhaps I try to fly G-MEDN this week, diary is very clear.

      • Save East Coast Rewards says:
        11 Mar11 March 13:10

        I wanted to fly it this weekend but it doesn’t seem to be operating (or is there a way for BA to hide its movements from Flightradar24?)

  • Mark says:
    11 Mar11 March 09:28

    What I don’t get is it says there’s 205 seats on the 321. Where’s the odd seat?

    • Nick says:
      11 Mar11 March 10:10

      Ever flown on rather A321? It has a few rows of 2 seats near the emergency exits (currently – on BA at least – rows 8 and 20). On the left there’s a gap, on the right there’s crew jumpseats by the doors. Add a few of these in and you get an odd number.

      • Lumma says:
        11 Mar11 March 10:18

        There’s one non exit row which only has two seats too, which makes the odd number.

        On the a321 it’s better to avoid the 2 seat exit rows as they don’t seem to have any extra space than the normal seat. The other exit rows are great as you can get up from the window without disturbing the other two passengers

  • Dave says:
    11 Mar11 March 10:25

    OT.

    I have 4 seats in CW LGW-MCO late august booked with Avios and 241 voucher.

    How likely is it that the aircraft used for LGW-MCO will be re-fitted with the new seats before then?

    I’m concerened about a possible downgrade, especially with the rumours of avios 241 bookings being targetted. (The seat plan already shows 40 out of 48 seats taken).

    • TGLoyalty says:
      11 Mar11 March 10:43

      Not always the case, not sure if you’re good but seats are blocked for golds only until 24 hours before etc

    • Anna says:
      11 Mar11 March 14:19

      How did you get the 4 seats?!

      • Dave says:
        11 Mar11 March 17:04

        I booked at about 11.5 months out

        • Roger says:
          11 Mar11 March 18:02

          I will be trying my luck later in the year!

        • wally1976 says:
          12 Mar12 March 09:00

          Late August is probably not too difficult to get redemption seats outbound once it’s too late for people to get away and back for the start of school term.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

NEW: Sign-up bonuses boosted to 3,000 and 18,000 points

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET POINTS WORTH 10,500 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points (converts to 20,000 Avios) with 'first year free' American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!