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An intriguing hint about the new British Airways Club World business class seat

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As most Head for Points readers know, British Airways is launching a new Club World business class seat this year.

It will debut on the A350 fleet when they are delivered, with retrofitting commencing at the same time on the Boeing 777 fleet.  By Christmas there will be six aircraft with the new seat.  Oddly, they will not be used to fly on ‘flagship’ routes such as New York because there is no First Class on the A350.

My expectations for the seat are not high.  My money has been, at best, that we get the Iberia seat on their A350 fleet which I reviewed here.  BA has confirmed that the TV will be fixed to the back of the seat in front, which supports the Iberia thesis.  Everything we know about the way British Airways behaves leads to that.

British Airways BA 777X 777 9X

And yet …..

British Airways has launched a questionnaire via its Future Lab customer panel to shape the name of the new seat.

Let’s ignore, for a second, the fact that asking people to suggest names for something that they haven’t seen is not necessarily sensible.

Four concepts are presented:

Name it in a way that describes the product

Name it with a model number, like an iPhone (eg Club World XIX as it will launch in 2019)

Name it using a random word pulled out of the air (eg Club World Vector, Contrail, Ventral)

Name it using an evolutionary phrase (eg New Club World, New Generation Club World)

 Here are the examples for the first option:

This is very interesting.

We have to assume that whoever set this questionnaire has seen the new seat.  This means that ‘Club Suite’, ‘Club World Suite’ and ‘Club World Space’ are being seriously considered as names.

Now, there is chutzpah and there is chutzpah.  I doubt even the most confident marketing guru would call the new Iberia business class seat a ‘suite’.  The same goes for the American Airlines seat.

Yes, they are very impressive.  Yes, I like to fly them and I would be happy if British Airways introduced them, but they are not ‘suites’ in the sense the word is used now.

In 2019, a ‘suite’ on a plane, if you follow the definition used by Qatar Airways with their business class Qsuite:

Qsuite

….. has a door which opens and closes.

See also the new Emirates First Class Suite which – spoiler alert – I am flying on Thursday and am quite excited about:

Emirates First Class Suite Boeing 777

Whilst it seems hard to believe, there is a chance that British Airways is really planning to launch a Club World ‘suite’ with a door.  This is a phrase I never expected to write.

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Comments (173)

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

  • Simon says:
    30 Jan30 January 07:59

    Could be a QSuite with a few modifications.
    My concern is, if there are less seats in business class, then prices will have to go up…….

  • Lawrence Howard says:
    30 Jan30 January 08:03

    I can’t be the only person wanting Seaty McSeatFace to be the most popular nomination

    NEVER ask English People to comment on a naming process

  • Graham Walsh says:
    30 Jan30 January 08:03

    Slight On Topic. My G/F fly to FLL on Monday from LGW on a 777 and she said the CW seats were different and you didn’t have to step over each other. She was back in WTP and said it was good. Have they updated some planes? She might have got it totally wrong too 😂

    • Stuart_f says:
      30 Jan30 January 08:16

      Perhaps she only saw the aisle pairs or only the back row or CW which does indeed have direct aisle access.

    • Andrew says:
      30 Jan30 January 08:39

      Maybe she was in the back row, then you don’t have to step over anyone.

  • Ian says:
    30 Jan30 January 08:19

    As said before, Virgin says suites and BA calls their first a suite when it’s not based on what you are saying.

    I think the seat will be underwhelming. Seeing as Qatar is an investor to IAG why can’t the Q-Suite be used by BA? There is probably a very simple reason…

  • Shoestring says:
    30 Jan30 January 08:21

    O/T for IB a/cs, Spanish addresses only (might be a way round that!) – 50% discount on all Avios flights on Iberia, Iberia Express or Air Nostrum between 1st Feb & 15th April.

  • Nick M says:
    30 Jan30 January 08:27

    Completely OT – can anyone recommend a nice but not too expensive hotel with a pool close to the M1 or A1, ideally somewhere between Coventry and Sheffield? (Driving from Kent to York and would like a stop en route for the children)

    DT Sheffield Parkway was one option, but ideally looking for somewhere a bit further south. Also considered Hilton St George but from memory it’s a bit too far cross-country

    • john says:
      30 Jan30 January 08:32

      Doubletree Coventry was ok last time I stayed and that was during refurb. It has a pool. Breakfast was decent enough and it’s close to some other kid friendly things (cinema/bowling). Have had it for £60 a night before but that was a year+ ago

    • Charlie says:
      30 Jan30 January 13:20

      I think the Holiday Inn Doncaster A1 has a pool.

    • John says:
      30 Jan30 January 22:16

      Or Hilton Leicester also has a pool and both hilton and Marriott just off junction 21 on the m1

  • Dev says:
    30 Jan30 January 08:39

    Galley FM seems to think the new CW seats will be based on Qatar’s Business class…..intriguingly l, the crew member does not mention Qsuite but my money is on the fact that they got no idea that Qatars business class is Qsuite. As I said, this is Galley FM but I’ve heard this in numerous times since early 2018 as my wife’s beat mate is crew and we meet regularly, and the generally poor showing on BA is a regular whinge.

    • SuitedandBooted says:
      30 Jan30 January 08:45

      Don’t know if anyone has thought of this but what about the etihad business suite? No closing door on that one…could it be a derivative?

  • Tony says:
    30 Jan30 January 08:45

    I flew in QSuites last week for the first time. Flight was showing as regular seats so I selected a middle aisle. Thought something was up given the lack of options to change to a different seat and sure enough, it was QSuites.

    Flight back I was in a window seat – the comparison was unbelievable. Put simply, the middle seats are a very poor second if you have the dividers up. I’m not sure the hype is warranted.

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

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