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British Airways announces a modified First Class Suite with – finally – a door

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Somewhat unexpectedly, British Airways announced to its staff today that it is introducing a modified First Class seat on its new Boeing 777 aircraft arriving this year.

This is a bit of a surprise to be honest, as the last we heard British Airways was hoping to launch a new First seat with the arrival of the 777X, originally due to arrive in 2022.

In the meantime, British Airways has been undertaking a refurbishment program of its existing 777 fleet, which involves fitting the new Club Suite seat in Club World and refreshing the existing 777 First class seat with new textiles and other new parts.

BA A380 First
This is not the ‘modified’ first class!

British Airways to put a door on its First Class seats

It is not clear whether this ‘modified’ First class seat on new 777 arrivals is the ‘new’ First class seat or another intermediate seat aiming to bridge the gap.

When Club Suite was initially unveiled, there was some concern that it was actually better than the existing first class seat due to the increased privacy and storage. It seems like British Airways had the same concerns.

Club Suite, featuring a door and three-point seat belt

The ‘modified’ seat appears to be bringing some of the improvements from Club Suite over to First, including the introduction of a privacy door and three point seat-belt, which should be far more convenient.

Here is the email sent to staff this morning:

“We are always listening to customer and colleague feedback about ways to improve our products. The response to our Club Suite has been great, and we are now applying some of the same thinking to a slightly modified version of the First seat on a few of our new 777 aircraft, creating even more privacy for our premium customers.

Starting in October, we will welcome two new variants to our 777 fleet: the 77L and 77H. The 77H variant will offer the modified First seat experience, which includes a privacy door and a three-point seat belt.

It’s important to note that these new aircraft were ordered well in advance of the Covid-19 crisis, but we could not defer their delivery.

I look forward to hearing how our customers and colleagues feel about the modified First seat when they see it on our 777s soon.“

British AIrways A380 First Class
The existing First class seat on a British Airways A380

Photos of the ‘First Suite’

Photos of the modified First class seat are now available from the crew information guide. These are technical photos and I expect BA will be in touch to supply some nice glossy PR photos very soon!

Unlike Club Suite, which featured one door, the ‘First Suite’ seems to have two doors that meet in the middle. These are not full height doors but slightly higher than the shell of the rest of the seat.

Here is a photo of the seat belt:

British Airways First class refresh seatbelt

Based on crew reports it looks like the seat is based on the newer First Class seat on the Boeing 787. This would be the first time this particular variant is installed on a Boeing 777 aircraft, as current refurbishments have been refreshing the slightly older 777 variant.

What we don’t know yet

Based on crew reports, it sounds like this variant won’t be part of the ongoing fleet refurbishment of existing 777 aircraft. If this is true, the ‘First Suite’ will be in very limited circulation as BA is only taking delivery of a handful of new 777s before the 777Xs arrive from 2022.

It’s also not clear yet whether this is this a stop-gap until a totally new seat will be revealed with the 777X or whether this is the reported new seat.

Conclusion

Details so far are scant, but we are looking forward to hearing (and seeing!) more about what this new seat offers soon.

The modified seat is likely to debut on some of the four new 777-300s arriving into BA’s fleet this year.

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Comments (86)

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

  • @mkcol says:
    18 Sep18 September 12:09

    Any idea what the 777L variant is?

  • marcw says:
    18 Sep18 September 12:17

    Big IF. IF First class product survives the COVID19 storm. IF

    • Anon says:
      18 Sep18 September 12:51

      Why ‘if’? Premium is literally their monopoly market in the UK and most of the long haul routes. Premium seats are no more empty than economy seats are at the moment. Covid hasn’t killed spending or premium ideals, it’s just stopping people boarding planes. BA have a huge premium loyalty club and have premium products people enjoy (and endlessly moan about). Think how many Y seats they’d have to sell to match 1x F seat revenue.

      Also think about how well Y and Y+ airlines are doing around Europe in their long haul markets? Practically all of them have died.

      • Opus says:
        18 Sep18 September 13:09

        Yup. And that’s the thing. Majority of the people that fly premium cabins aren’t flying because they don’t have money. It’s because they can’t fly without health risks and or having to quarantine or zero access to their destinations. Lagos is a popular route of mine and have many fiends that have been on the route since it came back on a few weeks ago and the premium cabins have been almost full on the occasion that I know someone that has been on said route. Which is about 4/5 times

      • marcw says:
        18 Sep18 September 14:12

        BA doesn´t agree with you. They´ve got rid of 25% of their long-haul fleet, but circa 32% of their long haul premium capacity.
        And of course, old 747 had 16 first seats. New planes have a 50% cut on that number.

        So… this suggests only one thing. And this is *just* the beginning.

        • pickle says:
          18 Sep18 September 14:48

          BA doesn’t agree with you either, they had 14 F seats on their jumbos

        • Opus says:
          18 Sep18 September 15:08

          We are saying the same thing. They can’t fly because of health reasons and the pandemic not because they don’t have money. There’s pent up demand but that demand will remain repressed till there’s a vaccine and of course a change in demand for business travel in premium cabins. The 747 being retired is the premium config in which it’s the only way it’s economically viable. If BA thought this would completely deplete premium demand they won’t continue to refurbish the 77Ws in the manner in which they are.

          • marcw says:
            18 Sep18 September 16:56

            Iata and airlines don’t expect to recover EVER business and first demand pre-covid19. That’s why, for instance, BA are getting rid of their 747s – because they are so premium heavy they will not be sustainable to fly. You don’t seem to get it and embrace reality. Business and First demand will be lower in a future post-Covid (if that ever happens, we don’t know) compared to pre-covid.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            18 Sep18 September 18:35

            They are getting rid of them EARLY.

            There was always a plan to replace them with less 1st and Club premium heavy planes, WTP is expanding considerably though. As far as I know not a single new plane order has been cancelled.

          • Opus says:
            18 Sep18 September 20:00

            Who said it won’t be lower? Did I say all will recover? These jets have about 16 less premium seats than the 747. Premium traffic from 2008 never recovered either so please relax.

          • Rob says:
            18 Sep18 September 20:57

            2008 was a different dynamic. The boom (and later bust) was essentially driven by bankers flying around the world, so it was not surprising that business travel never returned to those levels. This is because investment banking never returned to those levels.

            It is a different scenario here, because you will see the key drivers of business travel back to normal. Investment banking isn’t going to see a downturn in 2020. It is only the willingness (or not) to travel which may change.

          • Nick says:
            18 Sep18 September 20:58

            I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t know the difference between ‘less’ and ‘fewer’, sorry.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            18 Sep18 September 21:43

            It’s a comment on a website not a published article.

          • Opus says:
            19 Sep19 September 07:04

            This is so dumb. Because I made a mistake doesn’t mean I don’t know the difference. Like you’ve never made a mistake while typing on social média. This is not an essay please. Thank you & buzz off

          • Anon says:
            18 Sep18 September 23:20

            It’s really interesting to see how data can be interpreted so differently. The 747s are going for a wide variety of quite simple reasons. It is not simply because of premium seats. Fuel dominates every single airline’s balance sheet, and the 747 burns double what a 350-1000 or 787-10 does. Why would they continue to fly a specific aircraft that is more expensive than every other aircraft they have, if it can carry the same amount of cargo and passengers, and is cheaper to fly into airports and maintain down route?

            Don’t forget that BA have configured new and old 777s and 787s to have less seats than their 321s! Premium travel is going nowhere. Demand is inevitably going to be lower, but it isn’t disappearing. Economy travel is not the future of long haul, as the market has told many, many airlines over the past 20 years. When there is demand for an extreme, there is demand for the other extreme. It’s the middle ground that loses, which BA is certainly not in the UK or Europe.

          • marcw says:
            19 Sep19 September 10:40

            BA retired early 747s because there´s no premium demand. You can twist it with your argument – but it´s invalid. Since 777, flying 747 has been always more expensive on a 747. In essence, your argument could have been valid when in the early XXI century.
            Airlines expect premium demand to be lower. Not only in absolute terms, but also in relative terms. Let me explain you: if pre-covid19 there were 100 passenger, 40 travelled in a premium seat. If, lets say, premium demand falls by 25%, then only 32 passengers will travel in a premium seat, and 68 in economy.

            That´s why the notion of BA retiring 25% of it´s long haul fleet and 32% of their long haul premium seat capacity is so relevant. In other words, % wise there will be more economy seats at BA than preCovid19 (long haul).

            Please, don´t bring into the mix short haul plane configuration, as in the long haul configuration, a like for like comparison is irrelevant.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            19 Sep19 September 14:01

            We’ve had this discussion before.

            Include WTP the premium capacity on new planes is just as premium dense as 747.

            I agree completely that over the short term both overall capacity and % premium will be down and but it’s a fact that 747 was expensive to fly and maintain and the only way to make a real saving at BA is to dump the complete 747 programme and get real savings across the board.

            But by the very fact BA has not cancelled or adjusted any of its new plane deliveries tells you that it’s sticking to its medium term plan just as it was pre covid. With exactly the same premium mix they always planned to have following final 747 retirement in 2023/4.

          • Anon says:
            19 Sep19 September 19:11

            You are so aggressive in the way you respond. If your argument is valid you can explain it without emotion or finger pointing.

            I would really like to know what your notion of ‘relevance’ is based on. If you have no access to load factors at BA, and no understanding of day-to-day booking trends, it’s really important you don’t make assumptions. There is no frantic decrease of premium bookings. There just isn’t. There is a frantic decrease of all bookings.

  • Solitaire says:
    18 Sep18 September 12:27

    BA doesn’t have a First Class cabin (or service standard)… it starts at 3rd Class and goes backwards.

  • Ted says:
    18 Sep18 September 13:03

    Thanks for the update. Looks good. Please stick it on the Singapore route!
    Ted

  • Opus says:
    18 Sep18 September 13:12

    Also. There are plans to refurbish across the fleet. G-STBD will be the next entering service in early 2021

    Routes this winter for the new 77W

    Hong Kong
    New York
    Los Angeles
    Male

    For the summer (for now):

    New York (3 times a day)
    Riyadh

    As more are refurbished and we get closer to the time the schedule will be updated

  • Tyler says:
    18 Sep18 September 13:28

    I’m not claustrophobic, and never have been, but thinking of this on long-haul flights could certainly change that! tall partitions I, a tiny space? I hope, there’s an option for people who actually suffer from claustrophobia to keep the doors open.

    On the plus side, the extra privacy is nice.

  • babyg says:
    18 Sep18 September 13:51

    Personally i would prefer to have a buddy dinning option rather than doors… F is fine without doors IMHO…

  • Vicky says:
    18 Sep18 September 14:14

    I have only flown first class with BA a couple of times and quite frankly it’s just not worth the money over what you get in business class. Putting doors on certainly wouldn’t make me pay the difference.

    • Novice says:
      18 Sep18 September 15:10

      I agree, Vicky.

      I also think that all airlines have improved their Business Class offering so much that I personally wouldn’t bother to pay extra for First Class.

      I’m OCD and honestly I’ve been in First toilets in a few different airlines and I can say I wasn’t impressed. And, I judge everything (hotels, airlines, restaurants, houses, parks, theme parks, attractions etc.) by how good the toilets are. I know it may sound weird to some but on a long haul flight you have to go toilet if you are hydrating and a toilet that has a tiny wash basin with not enough water is a nightmare for an OCD.

      • Rhys says:
        18 Sep18 September 15:11

        Surely the business class toilets are worse?

        • Novice says:
          18 Sep18 September 15:49

          They are to some extent. But, my issue is the washing of hands/arms which can’t be easily done in either so I wouldn’t bother paying for first then.

          Having said that, ME3 have the best toilets in air. Their business class toilets are superior to the toilets that some European airlines have on their First class. So, the first class is a different class on ME3 because that truly is worth my hard-earned cash.

          Also, Cathay, Thai, and Singapore have good toilets too.

          I don’t know any others yet. There might be some better ones on newer planes. My experiences are over 8/9 yrs of solo travelling long haul with OCD.

          I didn’t have OCD before that time and I mostly travel on BA with parents/family.

        • Genghis says:
          18 Sep18 September 15:52

          Not on 388 UD. Often go there even in F.

          • Novice says:
            18 Sep18 September 15:58

            Sorry, Genghis. UD? I don’t know what airline you are talking about?

          • Rob says:
            18 Sep18 September 16:00

            Upper Deck

          • Novice says:
            18 Sep18 September 16:06

            Thanks Rob. I realised what he meant after I couldn’t think of any matching Airline that could have the code.

          • Novice says:
            18 Sep18 September 16:04

            Or do you mean Upper deck? As I mentioned I don’t know about all toilets and some planes were old tbf when I sat in them. I assume newer planes might have better toilets.

            My biggest issue is the wash basins. they make them tiny as though a person should be glad just to was hands (I’m aware not everyone washed hands before this pandemic). I like to wash my arms too.

          • Genghis says:
            18 Sep18 September 16:09

            Clearly airlines don’t cater for those who need to wash their arms.

          • Novice says:
            18 Sep18 September 16:37

            I get around it but still I pay cash for most of my flights. It’s not much to ask having a decent sized toilet/wash basin. It’s actually counterproductive to have a tiny wash basin with a drip for water coming out because then I have to take longer in there.

            I’m aware that OCD is not common but you wouldn’t pay £5000 for a hotel room if you saw the bathroom was tiny. So, it is annoying. That’s why I just make do with flying Business because the wash basins aren’t all that different. But, if I see a plane seems to have bigger toilets in First (after checking seatmap) then I pay for First.

          • Amber Lynn says:
            18 Sep18 September 20:03

            I’m with you , I often wash my arms as well, but I am 27 stone and sweat quite a lot, I wish airline bathrooms were larger as well.

      • Dubious says:
        20 Sep20 September 08:28

        I’m not so OCD but I do judge establishments with this same approach. – it gives a good insight into whether quality/luxury is addressed holistically or just for appearances sake.

        I also judge ones attention to cleanliness in kitchens by the state of the inside of the microwave/s but that’s another matter.

        • Novice says:
          20 Sep20 September 10:44

          So true. Don’t get me started on kitchens. I feel proud that every time someone comes to my house they look around and say wow it looks and smells good. I’m a zoflora fan.

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