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Take a look at BA’s new short haul seating in the wild

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British Airways has released some photographs of its new short haul seating on an actual aircraft. To date we’d been restricted to seeing a mock-up in a staged environment.

The first aircraft with the seating, an A321neo registered as G-TNED, is now flying. Eight A320 and A321 aircraft will be delivered in the first wave.

New British Airways short haul seating

Unfortunately there are no plans to retrofit the new seating to existing aircraft.

Whilst arguably the existing seats are not life expired, what is less forgivable is the refusal to retrofit the new larger luggage bins – although a few recent deliveries do have them. The increase in capacity by letting suitcases be stored end-on is substantial.

Here is a long shot down the cabin:

New British Airways short haul seating

Unlike the more recent additions to the fleet which use two different seats, the new aircraft use the same seat throughout the aircraft. There is no swap to a thinner seat beyond the exit row.

However, leg room is still reduced beyond the exit row. You need to be sat in front of this for maximum space, but if Club Europe extends to the maximum then this won’t be possible.

Seats do not recline behind the exit row but all seats are installed with a slight recline built-in.

New British Airways short haul seating

As you can see above, a fixed table is back in Club Europe. This had been removed on more recent aircraft deliveries, ostensibly to save weight, but had clearly proved unpopular.

The antimacassars for your head to rest on do still exist but are not photographed here.

New British Airways short haul seating

Power sockets, USB-A and USB-C, are installed in seat backs (under your seat in Row 1). There are no 3-pin plug sockets.

The USB-C power output is lower at the back of the aircraft (15W) but the 60W USB-C at the front should be good enough to charge a laptop.

There is no wi-fi on the new aircraft. It is not installed by Airbus and the aircraft will need to be retrofitted at a later date.

New British Airways short haul seating

Finally, here is a view of the new larger luggage bins. These allow a wheely case to be stored ‘wheels in’ and on its side, which leads to a substantial increase in capacity. One issue I experienced, having flown recently on an existing delivery which had these bins, is that passengers do not realise that the bins are larger and store their luggage as usual.

Whilst no photographs were supplied, feedback on Flyertalk is that the loos are larger.

All in all, the cabin looks good – it even has mood lighting as the photographs show – and it is a shame that there are no plans for retrofitting.

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Comments (176)

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

  • Joe says:
    17 May17 May 06:11

    The lack of wifi if they’re flying this thing right now is shocking.
    The overhead bins are great. They should retrofit these everywhere. Would be a reason to book BA.
    I also think that BA should look into doing a ‘proper’ business class within Europe. Would be interesting to see if there’s a market for it on premium routes.

    • Kowalski says:
      17 May17 May 07:43

      I don’t see BA ever doing a ‘proper business class’ in Europe sadly. The flexibility of the current model gives BA a huge revenue advantage over a proper fixed business class set up

      • JDB says:
        17 May17 May 08:16

        @Kowalski – as you identify, the flexibility for BA to flex the size of the CE cabin, even on one leg of a return trip and significant commonality of short haul aircraft is a revenue advantage but also acts to the advantage of the customer in the event of disruption so aircraft can be swapped more easily.

        As it stands today, the BA Club Europe product compares very favourably to that of its competitor legacy carriers and I really don’t need to have some huge 2×2 padded seat on these short hops which would also inevitably push up fares significantly.

        It’s funny that those on this thread criticising BA for not having a ‘proper’ business class product on short routes are some of the same people in the forums saying it’s not worth paying for First or Club on short routes from the US east coast to London as Y or PE is fine…

    • AJA says:
      17 May17 May 08:24

      I assume BA will retrofit WiFi at some point? That said do we really need to be connected 24/7? Can people really not cope without Internet for a few hours?

      As for proper business class seats I too would like this particularly on the longer short haul flights. I thinknits such a shame that the likes of Cairo and Tel Aviv are now shorthaul destinations and would like a more comfortable seat to the Canaries or Greece and Istanbul. That said I think the increase in fares would not be so welcomed. Especially as it would mean restricting aircraft to certain routes and without sufficient numbers imagine the delays or cancellations if a replacement aircraft was required.

      The reality is that BA and other European airlines have worked out that we consumers still pay an enhanced fare for the same seat albeit with a bit of food and drink and lounge access in most if not all destinations more TPs thrown in.

  • david says:
    17 May17 May 06:19

    As both new to the game, my wife didn’t believe me when we boarded short haul and I told her those seats are business class. No skepticism in long haul obvs.

  • Nick says:
    17 May17 May 06:22

    It looks like there’s almost as much padding on the fixed table in Club Europe as there is on the, IMHO, ultra-skinny seats!

  • John says:
    17 May17 May 06:22

    “There is no wi-fi on the new aircraft. It is not installed by Airbus and the aircraft will need to be retrofitted at a later date.”

    Bizarre.

    • IanT says:
      17 May17 May 06:46

      Yep.

      It’s 2024 and a ‘premium’ airline isn’t fitting wifi on it’s new aircraft.

      Good Lord.

      • Rob says:
        17 May17 May 07:08

        Airbus is not certified to install the new next-gen WiFi apparently.

        • cc-not-bcc says:
          17 May17 May 07:29

          what do you mean by “next-gen WIFI”?

        • IanT says:
          17 May17 May 07:48

          Surely ‘this-gen’ WiFi is better than none at all?

          • Ziggy says:
            17 May17 May 09:17

            No one is saying the new aircraft will not have wi-fi. They will. They just need to have it fitted after delivery, and sometimes that can take a disappointing amount of time

  • x2000traveller says:
    17 May17 May 06:52

    It might be useful if an aircraft engineer could comment on the question of retrofitting bins? Presumably because of higher loading on the aircraft structure with these larger bins, the modification can’t be made without some (difficult) certification work?

    The pictures are of A320neo which is, of course, newly built (and certified) and a considerable advance on the A320s that BA currently use. Shame about the reduced leg room from the exit row onwards, presumably we are talking about 1 to 1.5″?

    • Rob says:
      17 May17 May 07:42

      Many airlines are retrofitting the new Airbus bins. According to the recent GGL event though, BA is planning a ‘commercial solution’ to overcrowded bins once the new app is ready.

      • memesweeper says:
        17 May17 May 07:56

        “Commercial solution” that requires an app update? Not just charging for larger cabin bags then?

      • jjoohhnn says:
        17 May17 May 09:55

        Presumably this means overhead cabin bags will be charged in a similar way to Easyjet?

    • memesweeper says:
      17 May17 May 07:54

      What’s the actual legroom (pitch) front and back? Have BA published that?

      • Rob says:
        17 May17 May 08:31

        Row 1 is apparently a couple of inches higher. Rest won’t change (except due to seat padding) as same number of rows.

  • Ben says:
    17 May17 May 07:24

    They need those dual USB sockets on Club Suite too.

  • Paul says:
    17 May17 May 07:37

    On many occasions I have said that it’s always jam tomorrow with BA but I never expected them to deliver just one short haul plane with the new seats and trumpet this as a success! None of the current fleet are getting the new seat let alone new bins so it’s going to be nearly a decade before this seat is guaranteed!

    • Peter K says:
      17 May17 May 07:51

      So basically like all the other airlines then 😂
      They all get maximum PR they possibly can. For example, the much acclaimed Q-suites on all Qatar planes? Not a chance!

  • ClubSmed says:
    17 May17 May 07:44

    Whilst I like the idea of a more visible socket, and the advent of USB-C, I am not sure about the placement. I am not going to be enjoying the person behind me pushing at the back of my seat in order to insert the USB fully.
    On a comfort note, I hope that the headrests are adjustable. I find the seats that do not have an adjustable headrest very uncomfortable due to my height.

    • AJA says:
      17 May17 May 08:27

      I think the USB socket location is great. Much more convenient than leaning down under your seat. Most people insert the cable into the USB socket once and it’s done. How many times do you unplug and reinsert a cable?

      • ClubSmed says:
        17 May17 May 10:03

        I agree that it is more convenient than the under the seat location, though some planes have it under the seat in front, which is not a bad position. I think if you are not longer using the 3-pin plug, the the profile should be small enough to fit into the armrest. That I think would be the ultimate position.

    • Rhys says:
      17 May17 May 09:40

      Are you really going to be upset about someone inserting a USB device once, maybe twice during the flight?

      • ClubSmed says:
        17 May17 May 10:06

        How many times do you insert the USB the correct way up first time?
        Then if you need to change cable to charge your other device that has a different plug?
        The few times that this will be involved will be easily tolerable on a longer flight, the the several pokes on a short flight from Manchester, Edinburgh or Glasgow and it could be irritating.
        Placing in the arm now they do not need the larger profile with the removal of the 3-pin plug would have made more sense to me.

        • Rhys says:
          17 May17 May 11:27

          Even if you change it 5 times in a 50 minute flight…who cares? You’re probably not even going to notice!

          • ClubSmed says:
            17 May17 May 12:30

            It is a stacking cups issue.
            Whilst the USB plugging in/out will not by itself be enough, add it to the already existing similar issues of table up/down and back of seat pocket item removal/addition and you could reach a breaking point.
            When you add further minor irritants in an area that already has minor irritants, it can become a major irritant.
            I still think the better placement would have been in the arm rest.

        • jjoohhnn says:
          17 May17 May 16:31

          Better hope that the person behind you has USB-C then as they don’t have a right way up!

    • babyg_wc says:
      17 May17 May 11:49

      I can see the Dailymail head lines now – fight breaks out on BA flight to EDI due to unruly passenger attempting to to plug in his USB device more than 3 times. Captain forced to divert to the closet airport. Police were involved but say USB port was faulty so nobody was “charged”…..

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