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Home » British Airways » 12 Hours In British Airways Economy Class
British Airways

12 Hours In British Airways Economy Class

Matthew Klint Posted onDecember 18, 2018November 14, 2023 11 Comments

My little passport mistake relegated me to economy class on British Airways, my first time behind the wing on BA’s Airbus A380.

Boarding was delayed for an unspecified reason until about 9:10PM, five minutes after scheduled departure. Onboard, the captain blamed a late-arriving aircraft from London, but our A380 actually arrived hours earlier…I’m not sure what the real reason for the delay was.

After booking my ticket, I strategically chose seat 38H, noticing an open middle next to it. There were several open middle seats left on the flight. My hope was that by choosing a middle seat in the rear of the aircraft, I stood a better chance of it remaining empty. Sure enough, it did.

Upon boarding, I found my seat in the rear economy class cabin. A cheerful FA greeted me, probably thinking I was quite odd for taking so many pictures. Legroom was very tight. I’m only 6’1”, but my knees were up against the seat in front of me.

an airplane with rows of seats

a row of seats with monitors on the back

a row of seats in an airplane

a person's leg and leg in an airplane

Dinner was served after takeoff. I applaud BA for quickly serving dinner and for the fairly generous meal, which included a green salad, bread, pasta or chicken, crackers and cheese, and a toffee dessert. I tend to choose pasta when I fly in economy class because it hard to screw up. The meal was fine. Nothing special, nothing to complain about.

food on a tray on a table

After the meal, my seat mate behind me got angry for reclining my seat…I’ll have more on that in a separate post.

I was hoping to use wi-fi onboard, but it was not functional. BA has added Wi-Fi to most of its fleet, but only 3 of 12 A380s. However, my tail number was one of the aircraft that was supposed to have Wi-Fi. A FA was totally clueless when I mentioned it.

Happy FA

There was a Russian lady sitting at the window of my row and one of the FAs angrily snapped at her when she did not pass her meal tray back to him quickly enough. The crew was quite senior and while polite for the most part, this particular FA was not in the best of moods. He also yelled at a boy sitting in the row in front of me for not putting up his seat during the meal service.

I did end up getting some shuteye and then some work done. The A380 is such a silent aircraft. About 90 minutes prior to landing breakfast was served. I thought BA would serve a nice hearty English breakfast, but a small breakfast burrito was offered with a side of fruit and muffin. It was fine, but United offers a much better breakfast in economy class on the same route.

a tray with food and a cup of coffee on it

As we approached London Heathrow, we were placed into a holding pattern. The captain blamed a medical emergency on another flight, though I could not find any mention of it online the next day. We had not made up any time enrotue and with the delay, ended up landing at around 5:00PM, more than 90 minutes late.

CONCLUSION

I will publish a more detailed review, but that’s it in a nutshell. I survived just fine, but the legroom is very tight in economy class. There is no way I’ll be flocking back to BA in economy class anytime soon, but it was nice to give it a try.

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Next Article United Served White Wine To My Two-Year-Old Son

About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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11 Comments

  1. Lara S. Reply
    December 18, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    How did your son and wife fare on their flight?

    • Matthew Reply
      December 18, 2018 at 1:48 pm

      See here:

      https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2018/12/18/united-airlines-children-wine/

  2. Aircraft Lover Reply
    December 18, 2018 at 2:25 pm

    I love flying the A-380.
    I feel the plane is very stable and silent

    Twenty years ago, in economy class, the industry standard pitch was 34”

    Nowadays, the airline’s standard pitch has been reduced to 31”

  3. Paolo Reply
    December 18, 2018 at 6:21 pm

    Airlines still persist with the ludicrous line “ departure is delayed due to the late arrival of the inbound aircraft”…straight from the play book of utterly meaningless spin. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard it…

  4. Dex Reply
    December 18, 2018 at 7:08 pm

    I feel that it’s time for people to stop panning economy class. So what if you are affluent enough to fly business or first class? No need to talk down what the majority of the traveling public can afford or is willing to spend. People like you should fly private jets since you are so knowledgeable about flying in luxury.

    • Matthew Reply
      December 18, 2018 at 7:35 pm

      Please don’t think that I am “talking down” to anyone. If you read my blog on regular basis, and I hope you will, you’ll note that I routinely get business and first class seats for coach class prices. That’s a key reason I write this blog. Thanks for your comment!

    • 747always Reply
      December 18, 2018 at 10:35 pm

      Don’t think he is. This blog, along with TPG does actually talk about economy. OMAAT got me to boardingarea, but this blog keeps me here.

  5. Sam Reply
    December 18, 2018 at 9:14 pm

    Thanks for this! I come to these blogs mainly for the first/business reviews, but it’s nice to see someone who’s used to turning right give their views on economy.

    I’m curious – after a long haul flight, how long do you think it takes for the ‘benefit’ of flying business to wear off? While I obviously enjoy easy check-in, lounge access flat beds, better food etc. I find that perhaps an hour or so after de-planing, I feel much the same, whether it was business or economy.

    After a night in a bed, I then feel +exactly+ the same the next day.

    I don’t sleep well on planes, flat-bed or not, so this might be the difference, but I’m curious if others also find that as nice as it is, the gloss fades very quickly after the plane doors open and considering the difference in costs, flying business is far from a necessity.

    • GREG CARLSON Reply
      December 19, 2018 at 11:08 am

      The other utilitarian benefit of biz these days is easy to open up the laptop and work with wifi.

      Not a given in economy even if the wifi works.

  6. Rhonda Reply
    December 19, 2018 at 4:03 am

    This a why I always book Premium Economy. Seats are slightly wider,and there is more legroom. I also pre-book our seats to get the best options.
    We fly to America from England every year,and currently we are in Austria;so I’ve learned all the tricks. I wouldn’t fly regular economy again,though for the most part, I do think they provide a great service.

  7. Vahid Etemadmoghadam Reply
    January 31, 2020 at 11:13 pm

    British-Airways REFUSES to Accept Responsibility!

    Was to fly to Melbourne on 21JULY19 from
    Manchester VIA Heathrow AND Singapore.

    Arriving late to board my Heathrow Flight, the Check-In-Staff was KIND ENOUGH to discuss my dilemma with her supervisor. Only option being to find my way to Heathrow.

    TAKING THE BRISTISH AIRWAYS ADVICE, in the heat of summer, somehow managed
    to get to Heathrow in good time where ONLY Singapore-Melbourne Boarding-Pass was issued.

    IN TOTAL DISBELIF was told by British Airways Ticketing Staff, because Manchester-Heathrow flight was missed, my Heathrow-Singapore was cancelled and subsequently my seat was SOLD to another passenger and that MANCHESTER GROUND STAFF BEING ONLY CONTRACTORS advised me wrongly.

    SURELY NOT PASSENGER’s FAULT!

    Numerous approaches to BA Customer’s-Relations as well as the CEO Mr Alex Cruz were in total vain!

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