The last British Airways A350 arrives: how is the Club Suite roll-out progressing?

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• Catalan says:

  19 Feb19 February 09:41

  Despite its age I think the (ying/yang) CW seat is the best seat for the LGW leisure market. High density (great for yield), and family friendly (great for party of four with two children). Now compare this with Virgin’s A330 UC config on similar routes.

  • Mark says:

    19 Feb19 February 13:54

    I think that was BA’s justification for not rolling them out on the Gatwick aircraft. I can see the point, though it is somewhat undermined by the deployment of Club Suite on premium leisure services from Heathrow.

    In reality of course it’s a commercial decision from their perspective and, as you point out, Virgin’s seating won’t be causing them any concerns on that front.

    • Bervios says:

      19 Feb19 February 16:06

      The LGW fleet were all refurbed in 2019 , so although it’s a old product the planes seem to be in good condition. It’s not all bad, I find old CW seats a better sleep as my legs aren’t restricted.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        19 Feb19 February 16:22

        Exactly. I don’t think people understand even all CW seats aren’t the same.

        LGW fleet has the very latest version with the latest IFE etc

• John says:

  19 Feb19 February 09:43

  When does the summer season start? Due to fly to DEL on 23rd March, shows as club suite on MMB but they’re currently running 787s on that route…

  • Rhys says:

    19 Feb19 February 09:43

    Last few days of March.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

      19 Feb19 February 12:49

      It’s always the Sunday after the european clock change so 31st March for 2024.

      • John says:

        19 Feb19 February 13:48

        So even though MMB shows club suite it’s likely to be a 787-8 and therefore old ying-yang 😫

  • Ironside says:

    19 Feb19 February 10:03

    Summer / winter schedules usually swap over around the time that the clocks change across Europe.

• Rob says:

  19 Feb19 February 10:18

  Whilst I like the new Club Suites the cabin crew need to work out where to stand when communicating with passengers as flying from Phoenix in 1A the surly flight director stood to the side of me and as I had noise canceling headphones I was unaware he was there then I took my headphones off to hear him saying – “I’ll take it that you don’t want a drink” as he walked away ! He continued to do this the next time – I asked him if he had a problem with me and of course said “ no” ! Him and the rest of the crew then did the bare minimum for the rest of the flight. This was all unavoidable if he had tried to stand further forward as the seats angle inwards. Not sure the crew like these seats as those on an outside are angled.

  • Sarah says:

    19 Feb19 February 11:08

    It’s got to be preferable to trying to serve someone sitting in the window or middle seats in old CW, particularly when they’re not travelling with the person sitting in the aisle. The whole experience is painful for passenger and crew.

  • Mike says:

    19 Feb19 February 13:41

    You can not tell me you don’t notice the crew next to you when they are trying to take your order.
    Whenever I sit in the Club Suite you can definitely see and feel when the crew or other passengers are standing next to you, especially when they open your door.
    You even notice it while you lie flat when there head appears over the door.
    It’s not an enclosed Suite.
    It sounds like you are just being difficult………

    • Mark says:

      19 Feb19 February 13:46

      I guess it depends on what your peripheral vision is like, and how good your noise cancelling headphones are (not the ones they hand out?)!

• John says:

  19 Feb19 February 13:44

  My experience of club seat 4/4 times is that the door won’t close because someone earlier has pulled the emergency lever and taken it if it’s runners and the cabin crew can’t fix it. Easy of time really

• Mark says:

  19 Feb19 February 13:48

  Anyone else notice that the last picture in the article says Welcome to Club Europe on the TV screen?

  • Stuart says:

    19 Feb19 February 14:12

    Oh the memories, 777 to Madrid.

  • Rhys says:

    19 Feb19 February 15:06

    It was taken on one of the Madrid training flights when they first got the aircraft.

• George K says:

  19 Feb19 February 14:49

  What was the upshot of the A350’s interior redesign after the years of galley/space issues? I was under the impression that half-way through the A350 deliveries there was supposed to be a design change. Did I dream all that up?

  • Rhys says:

    19 Feb19 February 14:51

    Never seemed to happen even though they implied it would happen on later deliveries.

    They’ve now specced up incoming 787-10s to include crew rest seats so taht they can fly those further.

    • Mark says:

      19 Feb19 February 15:48

      Is that expected to be the IGW version with greater maximum take-off weight? Given the limited range-payload performance of the original design surely the addition of crew rest otherwise hinders how far they can fly (due to the additional weight) as much it helps?

      That said, I’m sure those crew operating sectors to the likes of Seattle and Dallas on them would welcome it.

      • jjoohhnn says:

        19 Feb19 February 16:31

        Presumably its about being able to use the 787 more flexibly on routes they don’t use it on at the moment by providing crew rest. It’s not like BA have new destinations that they are itching to fly but can’t due to range on 787-10, and there aren’t too many that are out of reach.. Australia/New Zealand/EZE?

        • Mark says:

          19 Feb19 February 17:22

          It’s rather more restrictive in practice. The 787-10 is a stretch of the 787-9 with exactly the same maximum take-off weight.

          Anything further than Seattle or Dallas, which is the furthest BA have flown them to date, starts to limit payload weight. That may not matter to a point but it will start to restrict the amount of cargo that can be carried in the cavernous hold. They could fly them much further, but by the time you’re talking about destinations like Singapore you’re probably able to carry little if any cargo. After that it becomes a case of flying with empty seats.

          There comes a point (probably fairly early on in that equation) where even if the flights are still commercially viable on a 787-10, using a different aircraft makes more sense.

• Bervios says:

  19 Feb19 February 15:51

  The fleet status thread on FT is a good read. A poster (who appears to be an internal source) says the first 787-8 will go to Cardiff this month, and the fleet complete by Q4 2025 , then the 787-9 will go in, followed by the A380. Possibly some overlap as the A380 will need to be done overseas.

• Mark says:

  19 Feb19 February 19:14

  I’ve got two club world trips lined up this year.
  Cape Town and Santiago. Think both are in the old layout.
  First world problem and all, but boo!

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