Heathrow to Dubai – New Suites

[omariqy]

Hi all

Apologies I’m sure this has been discussed before but I can’t find it. How can I ensure I can get the new suites for business class from Heathrow to Dubai? Are there set times of the day/year etc that they use the right plane for this or is it pot luck? Looking on google flights it seems the lunchtime flight is always an a380 and the flight through the night is in the new suites. Not sure if this is correct.

Thanks

[NorthernLass]

You can check which type of seat is on a flight by doing a dummy cash booking and going as far as seat selection, where you’ll see if it’s club suite. However, BA seems to do equipment changes a lot on this route so it’s never guaranteed. I got changed from CS to the A380 last year but noticed in time to move us to one of the best pairs of seats on the upper deck and loved it.

[AndrewT]

The only way to ‘ensure’ it is to wait a few years until all the fleet have been converted!

All you can say at present is that a 350 or 777 will be CS (don’t think the last unconverted pair venture to Dubai), a 380 won’t be, and a 787 might be.

And that’s before you factor in potential equipment changes!

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

If any doubt, I’d avoid the route tbh. I flew DXB-LHR overnight on the A380 upstairs and I hated it. Old rickety aircraft, a leaky aircon unit dripping water then ice on me, having to stare face to face with another passenger who seemed unaware of either the reclining seat or the partition thus she fell asleep during take off with her lomg hair against the partition (!). I swapped future flights to alternative dates when the A380 got scheduled on one leg, then cancelled entirely when it got scheduled again.

Controversial view here but I am currently in the UAE, having enjoyed my flight here on Virgin’s 787 coffin seat. Sat in 1A and I found it perfectly fine. Plenty of space to sleep, well away from the dormitory meerkats further down in the cabin, and it was a very clean aircraft.

[JDB]

NorthernLass wrote:

You can check which type of seat is on a flight by doing a dummy cash booking and going as far as seat selection, where you’ll see if it’s club suite. However, BA seems to do equipment changes a lot on this route so it’s never guaranteed. I got changed from CS to the A380 last year but noticed in time to move us to one of the best pairs of seats on the upper deck and loved it.

It is free to check seating plans on ExpertFlyer which is not only much simpler and quicker but wastes much less of BA’s rather limited IT capacity/resource.

[AndrewT]

True, and ExpertFlyer is probably quicker and easier than the BA or indeed any other airline website purely for that purpose.

However you need the flight number first, which most would get via the airline website …

For a one off check, a dummy booking is therefore probably the sensible route for most. Plus of course if ‘too many’ people start using ExpertFlyer they may feel the need to restrict free use.

[omariqy]

Thanks all. Really useful.