British Airways admits the A350 cabin layout has failed

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• Stu says:

  7 Feb7 February 14:56

  I wonder if this has any influence in them dropping the A350 on Vancouver which we were booked on in 4 weeks?

  We’re only Blue at the moment and had paid £400 to prebook 9A/10A both ways as they’re the suites with double windows. The email advising the seat changes said they’d tried to give us comparable seats … how the **** is 4E/4F or comparable in any way to 2 window seats, especially when there were window seats available, albeit an extra £8 a pop?

  Booking cancelled, they can shove their manky old 777s!

  • Rhys says:

    7 Feb7 February 15:06

    Doubt it affected your flight!

• Josh says:

  7 Feb7 February 15:17

  Another sign Cruz was unfit for the job. The door fetish will have added huge weight to the plane – just to please some spotty kids on FT (who the cleverer bits of BA know are fakes anyway… but no one bothered to tell Cruz). And now there’s several hundred $m of duff fitted fleet.
  The locking the front loo thing is a huge pita, too. Happens every flight.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    7 Feb7 February 15:43

    Sorry which doors a fake?

    • KP says:

      7 Feb7 February 15:46

      Same question

      • Josh says:

        7 Feb7 February 21:28

        It’s not the place for it, but BA management is well aware that many of the self proclaimed Golds and higher that the kids on FT claim to be, are not.

        The experience of being stuck in business flight to Sofia with these kids isn’t fun. Pre cv19, they would try monopolise crew time in conversation which affected service, then get drunk even in the morning – maybe that’s why they yearn for doors? (To stop them falling out). Then they tried to push past everybody on exit. Getting the same plane back. Odd. Sofia is fun in parts so weird not to see a bit first!
        Don’t get me started on kids with flytalk tags on their bags begging for lounge guesting at the lounge desks at Heathrow

    • Aston100 says:

      7 Feb7 February 16:44

      Did he mean the ‘spotty kids on FT’ are fakes? i.e. trolls that didn’t really want a door?

  • Track says:

    7 Feb7 February 17:30

    If the crew locks the front loo — to use themselves, that’s not a good practice.

    Doubt that plastic doors alone add that much weight, compared to full suite equipment. Other hand, the equipment shouldn’t be much heavier than comparable AA/CX Recaro business class seats.

• Fay Barrett says:

  7 Feb7 February 16:51

  I have just “lost” 140,000 avoid points and no one from BA will tell me why or how I can get them returned. Shocking. They have have some monetary value so perhaps BA could pay me instead.

  • Rob says:

    7 Feb7 February 17:30

    Hi Fay. Avios only expire if you go three years without earning or spending 1 point. If this is not the case, they are still there somewhere!

    If this is linked to an old avios.com account, it was turned into a British Airways Executive Club account in 2019 – see https://www.headforpoints.com/2018/08/20/lets-clear-avios-com-not-closing/

    • Dubious says:

      8 Feb8 February 14:43

      If this is from a refunded flight booking on your old avios account, then those Avios are still there – but you have to phone up BA Executive Club with your former Avios details. They can transfer you to one of their dedicated team members who can then search for your old account and move them over manually.

  • meta says:

    7 Feb7 February 17:31

    Sorry how can you lose Avios? Most people here earn at least 1 Avios every three years which is sufficient.

    • Lady London says:

      7 Feb7 February 22:00

      I lost about 102,000 in a similar way @meta.
      I’ve never quite forgiven BA for what sounds like the treatment Fay is getting.

      • meta says:

        7 Feb7 February 23:14

        @LadyLondon please explain how as it is not clear from Fay’s post or yours.

        • Lady London says:

          8 Feb8 February 01:02

          I had paper ones, they changed the rules, and refused to honour them as originally no time limit indicated then they introduce done – but did not communicate it. They just stonewalled much as it sounds like Fay is getting.

          This is why I will never really trust them. The DNA of companies never really changes even over very long periods (decades).

  • Blenz101 says:

    7 Feb7 February 17:32

    They don’t have monetary value or belong to you. I would suggest posting in the forums on this site with a little more detail and perhaps more guidance can be given.

    • Jon says:

      7 Feb7 February 18:35

      Actually you can swop them for nectar points, so the do have a monetary value as printed on your sainsbury’s till receipt.

      • meta says:

        7 Feb7 February 20:51

        They don’t. BA and Nectar can remove your points as they please. Read T&C conditions of Executive Club and Nectar. Of course, you’re free to challenge this in court and I’d be intrested how this goes actually.

        • Will says:

          7 Feb7 February 22:42

          You’d challenge it like this.
          They sell them, so you buy what they’ve removed, or even just a token portion.

          Then as U.K. courts value reasonable behaviour highly, and consumer rights are very strong in the U.K., you’d formulate some argument around selling points, giving them real value as nectar points and then more notional value in advertising as “take out a credit card and get a free flight to xxx” being entirely inconsistent with them having no value and being revocable on demand as being somewhere between misleading and fraudulent.

        • meta says:

          7 Feb7 February 23:13

          Good luck going via MCOL, this will need to be a civil litigation and it will cost you a pretty penny in legal fees.

• Nate says:

  7 Feb7 February 17:30

  Just flew the A350 to Vancouver and the CS layout is awful. The noise from the front galley was terrible and throughout the flight you could hear crew talking and slamming cupboards shut. The lack of toilets was also an issue with the front toilet blocked for the entire flight. Also, WiFi is not great – works fantastically on a tablet Christmas does not work on laptops if wanting to work (eg use Outlook or OneDrive) / have to log into the web based versions. Great service but crap layout and doesn’t suit the needs of business travel. Found the same level of privacy in AA without the door.

• Nate says:

  7 Feb7 February 17:31

  Just flew the A350 to Vancouver and the CS layout is awful. The noise from the front galley was terrible and throughout the flight you could hear crew talking and slamming cupboards shut. The lack of toilets was also an issue with the front toilet blocked for the entire flight. Also, WiFi is not great – works fantastically on a tablet Christmas does not work on laptops if wanting to work (eg use Outlook or OneDrive) / have to log into the web based versions. Great service but terrible layout and doesn’t suit the needs of business travel. Found the same level of privacy in AA without the door.

  • The Canuck says:

    7 Feb7 February 18:12

    Couldn’t agree more… BA have taken a really good product in the seat and royally mucked up the implementation of it on the 350.

    I don’t think the 350 is rostered to YVR in the summer but I would recommend going Westjet instead. Same seat (minus the door), much more intimate cabin, and you don’t need to deal with the inexperienced cabin crew that BA seems to be filled with now…

  • Track says:

    7 Feb7 February 18:46

    I disagree here on the suite product itself. There is finally a seat you can enjoy, foot length is more than adequate. If you close the door — crew cannot step in (to give way to oncoming traffic) — but that is a good thing for distancing.

    A350 are less comfortable for crew I heard, smaller facilities. But seems BA puts in extra crew members because they have no one on outstations.

• Swifty says:

  7 Feb7 February 18:40

  Seems like I’m missing something about the priority pass. I have 2 free ones from the gold card, but if I book won’t i have to pay the 6 fee and then also pay for the actual lounge upon booking instead of using my freebies? Thanks in advance

  • Rob says:

    7 Feb7 February 19:35

    No, you still get to use your free pass. Nothing extra to pay except the £6.

• Catalan says:

  7 Feb7 February 20:41

  I really have to laugh at how fickle some people are on here. Four years ago there were shouts for doors, doors, doors. BA MUST fit doors in business class. Now doors have been introduced the same crowd are shouting the opposite. Wow people. Get a grip.

  • Lady London says:

    7 Feb7 February 22:02

    Some people might even hint this could be similar to the idea of a forum

    • Aston100 says:

      8 Feb8 February 00:07

      Have the loudest advocates of forums changed their minds suddenly?

• Ally says:

  7 Feb7 February 21:54

  Cruz knock effects will take time to wash out

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