Rather than fly nonstop from London to Los Angeles, I flew via Chicago in order to try out the Boeing 787-10 on British Airways in Club Suites business class. While BA’s meal service is below average, the seat is superb and it was an extremely pleasant flight overall.
British Airways 787-10 Club World Suites – My First Impressions
The business class cabin is large on the 787-10, with two large cabins comprising 48 seats. This is a very attractive cabin with closed-door suites and a dark color scheme with a white patterned bulkhead featuring a blue-lit British Airways logo in the middle. Very beautiful.
Even better, the seat is just comfortable: the cushion is plush, the pillow is huge, and the comforter is soft and cozy. There was also plenty of room for my feet (I chose seat 13A). I must admit, I spent almost the entire flight sleeping.
The door wouldn’t stay shut…a common problem I run into when flying in business class with closed-door suites.
I generally enjoy British Airways catering (Do & Co out of London) and this flight was no exception. On the menu was a British slow roasted short rib with Yorkshire pudding, roasted potatoes, peas, carrots, and horseradish.
It was really a satisfying dish, but the presentation left so much to be desired. The starter, main course, cheese, and dessert were all hastily assembled on one tray and plopped down before me.
The advantage was that within 45 minutes after takeoff, I was done eating, which allowed plenty of time to sleep. But the presentation really pathetic.
British Airways has indicated this presentation style will continue through the summer due to staffing shortages (I suppose it does take more staff to properly plate meals, but even a few seconds more effort would have made this tray look much more presentable).
The pre-arrival meal was so decadent…but so unhealthy! A “homemade” Hertfordshire saddleback pork sausage roll with fennel and onion seeds. Very delicious (I wasn’t even hungry but could not resist). Do try the grilled vegetable panini if you are looking for the (much) lighter choice.
The flight really went by quickly – before I knew we were landing in Chicago.
A note on masks: this flight was just before the mask mandate was lifted and the crew was clearly over the mask mandate. At three points in the flight I visited the galley (twice to use the lavatory, once for a snack) and the masks were off. Even whilst serving, the flight attendant working my side of the aisle wore her mask below her nose.
It’s all moot now, but I found it a good indicator that most people are simply over wearing a mask on a plane and it seems flight attendants are in particular.
CONCLUSION
Another solid flight on British Airways. While the food presentation has really fallen behind other carriers, the food itself tasted great and most importantly, the new Club World Suite is extremely comfortable. I look forward to flying British Airways again.
In my full trip report, I’ll share additional details about the menu, amenity kits, IFE, lavatory, and service onboard. Stay tuned.
Is BA still on track to refit all its long haul business classes by the end of the year? Have they said anything about this? Flights in December from SFO are still showing the old configuration.
I think they are behind. I do have a LHR-LAX review coming up on the old seat. It will be with us for awhile.
Question, is BA biz worth the extra money with fuel surcharges over Turkish Airlines 787 biz or the current LH biz (if flying with a companion)? or even United/American/Delta?
It’s really not when departing from the USA or UK. However, when departing from other parts of Europe, the fuel surcharge is much lower and thereby worthwhile. It’s still tough to justify an extra $250 out of pocket, but that’s a lot better than an extra $700.
BA are experiencing massive issues that affect key parts of their operations (IT, crewing, baggage handling), resulting in relatively frequent disruption, cancellations etc. Moreover, rebooking is painful and they repeatedly and deliberately lie to pax and mislead them about their rights under 261/2004- you will have to sue them if you want to receive the compensation to which you are entitled. Regardless of whether the product is any good, and despite living in England and having OW status (without having flown a single flight, courtesy of the Finnair miles offer over Christmas) , I won’t be going anywhere near them until at least the end of the summer schedule- reliability risks are very considerable.
The product/service on Lufthansa may be mediocre, but at least you can count on them getting you to your destination without too much drama or delay.
You know I’m one of the biggest LH F fans there is, but I would take BA J (and risk the operational issues) any day over LH/LX J and even OS J, which has incredibly good catering, but a lousy seat and no wifi.
LH make me feel a bit miserable nearly every time I fly with them (even the one time I was in F- the purser was not amused when she asked me if I enjoyed the flight and I responded I would have preferred business class on Turkish). However, there’s no escaping the fact they are super dependable, and when something does go wrong they have countless rebooking options, plus I always travel with checked luggage and the last time I had a delayed bag with them was in 1998!
I flew this DFW-LHR over Christmas holiday and found the footwell to be too small to be comfortable for me. But I think that about all Super Diamond seats so expected it. The A350 return flight had the same foot space issues for me. I was pretty happy about the quick meal service though as on the eastbound overnight, I really value sleep time and hate drawn out service. I think business class should reflect what you described here — quick service, good quality, sleeper seat.
Did you mean to write “On the menu was a British slow roasted short rib…” instead?
Did BA switch to “all new deliveries of 787-10s will have the new business class product?” I thought the 787-10s still had the old yin-yang product… (and first class)
No, the 789s do, but the 781s.
Yes, short ribs, not short rub (though I’d love an in-flight massage!)
Matthew –
It’s sad to see your comment about masks on the plane, but it’s consistent with my experience. I flew 4 flights on UA domestically last week, and I was pretty much the only person wearing a mask (mine is a well-fit N95). But it’s totally worth it to me.
I live in Northern California, in an area with 90%+ vaccination rates. I know more people who have caught COVID in the last month than all of the people I’ve known who caught COVID since the beginning of the pandemic. All of them are fully vaccinated, many “fully boosted” (some even a 4th). Some of the them have been very sick. The case rate in my kids’ high school has skyrocketed to the highest levels of the year.
Yes, it’s anecdotal, not data, but the data that is out there is consistent with my personal experience about infection rates. W
Just because people don’t want to wear masks doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t.
So you know some people, some of whom caught it, some of whom got sick, some of whom got pretty sick. A subset of a subset of a subset of a subset.
Isn’t there a point where we say “yes, people will get sick out there in the world living life”?
That wasn’t something you could say for most of the pandemic, but I feel it is now.
Cases are up, and therefore what? What’s the actual impact?
I don’t like masks, I’ll be the first to admit that. But I strongly supported them until we hit vaccine critical mass. We’re in a different place now, and there’s just a limit to what people will collectively do for a small few. I’m not arguing right or wrong, I’m saying that’s how it’s always been, and we’ve lived with it.
Totally agree with you, shame to see the comment about people being ‘over’ masks. Not everyone can afford to be over them, any immune deficiency or doubt over that for them or their loved ones and masks are a no brainer. Luckily a decent mask will protect you despite what everyone else decides to do, and perhaps it’s OK that this is the new phase we’re all entering. Just be nice if authors who are in a position to influence public thinking would recognise the nuance instead of stoking a possible anti-mask stigma that seems to be brewing.
Yep. I’m also over taking off my shoes at security, so just not gonna do it, like the FA”s in the story with the masks. I’m sure my freedom to choose will be respected rather than an unreasonable government intrusion into my life. Also, I’m going to have an abortion in Texas, and talk about having two dads in a Florida school.
Have to love how freedom only applies when it matches someone’s point of view, and government intervention is encouraged again only when it matches a point of view. Crazy to think 30 years ago I was a Republican.
Sad social commentary aside – one good thing I have seen in the last couple of weeks is that at least people are letting each other go about their business. Some human decency within an iffy situation. If everyone had been intelligent enough to get vaxxed, boosted, and wear proper masks from a long time ago, we might actually have been rid of this thing. And then we could all have our FREEDOM.
I really hate this one tray presentation. OK, if business is full, do what has to be done. But, if not, adjust service accordingly. Unfortunately, it’s the same story with UA and AA is not on our list of preferred carriers.
Nice update Matt, looks like a great product to fly.
What points/miles did you use to book the flight? Thank you!
AA miles. 70K for DOH-CPH-HEL-LHR-ORD.
What happened to High Tea on Westbound TATLs. Was it a choice, or is it gone?
My understanding is high tea is served on flights to East Coast, the hot sandwich on flights to central USA, and a full hot meal on flights to West Coast. Indeed, I would have preferred a nice scone with clotted cream.
I haven’t seen one of those clotted cream scone things in a year or more.
That foot-pocket looks really narrow to me.
Been flying business on BA for years and I have seen the reduction of quality of food and amenities, wine gets cheaper by the year as well, the food now is at an all time low and as for the presentation it’s just rubbish, how long are we to listen to the well worn Covid excuse
They reduce the quality of everything however not the price of the tickets……
Great way to feed the anti mask morons Matthew, how predictably pathetic of you. Let me guess, you never went to medical school but you now magically know more than doctors?
Lol.
For 2 years in a row I have chosen to fly my family of 6 from Seattle to London which was one of the first routes to introduce the new Club World 1-2-1 business class configuration on the new 787-10 Dreamliner. I chose British airways as the business class on the new plane and the ones which have been retrofitted with the new club word suites were leaps and bounds more attractive from a space and seat quality standpoint. From what I have seen the seats are identical to the first class cabin which is a big step up from the dated old 2-3-2 configuration which in my opinion isn’t worth calling business class. Last summer I booked the flights with 6 business class seats showing the 787-10 with the new upgraded seats and configuration…a couple weeks before summer hit and travel picked up they switched the plane to the 787-9 and old configuration to my family’s disappointment. I figured this was a one off event and this summer decided to book the same 6 seats again showing the 1-2-1 spacious configuration, low and behold British Airways once again switched out the plane to the old plane and outdated and no value business class seats. When one buys 6 business class seats which isn’t cheap one should expect quality and be delivered the experience they paid for. I do not understand why an airline would switch out planes right when booking and demand go up other then there is profitability in doing so. Could anyone elaborate on this, it seems they advertised their best product/plane and then when demand filled the plane they switched to the old outdated business class which may have many more seats? I don’t think it is a coincidence that 2 years in a row right when summer travel starts they pulled this. Whatever reason that is…I told British’s Airways that I will never fly them international again and go with another carrier who doesn’t disappoint nor advertise a new product and deliver a business class seat which is the worst in the industry from the price point they charged. Maybe they don’t care, however if someone is booking 6 business class seats for each flight, I would be interested in keeping them happy if I was the CEO.
Wow, sorry to hear this. That’s really unfair of BA – I agree with you.