British Airways should go into the sardine packing business, as it has certainly pioneered the practice on its shorthaul flights.
A couple thoughts. First, let’s always keep things in context. I’m incredibly thankful for the opportunity to fly, even on BA, so please see this post as a bit of tongue and cheek humor rather than an angry diatribe. But while I am not angry, I am serious: I will make every effort to avoid BA economy on flights within Europe going forward.
I always use Avios to buy last-minute tickets within Europe. When business class is available, I will spend the extra miles. But for last Friday’s flight, only economy class awards were available. Fine, I thought. I just wanted to get to my wife and son as quickly as possible.
My Airbus A321 from London to Basel was packed full and I wound up in row 31. Again, fine I thought. It’s a 90-minute flight. But I wound up with an aircraft in which BA cut the legroom to 29″ in order to squeeze in another row. I cannot underscore how much a few inches of legroom make.
It was so uncomfortable and I’m only 6’1″. To make matters worse, BA did not eliminate recline on these seats and my neighbor in front quickly reclined his seat. I was so jammed into the window seat that I had to pivot my body sideways and sit in a diagonal position with my knees still scraping the seatback in front of me.
Open my laptop? Please…there was no room when the seat in front was reclined.
So I just sat there for an hour, much like a sardine in a can.
And of course British Airways does not even offer complimentary water onboard these flights…
I thought about my far more comfortable flights on EasyJet and rolled my eyes at the fact that even oft-maligned Ryanair offers more legroom than BA.
> Read More: British Airways Will Have Less Seat Pitch Than Ryanair!
CONCLUSION
Obviously I’m still here. I survived. My knees survived. But my A321 experience on Wizz Air was far more pleasant a couple weeks back. This was truly an uncomfortable flight.
Will I ever fly BA shorthaul economy again? I suppose. If I must. But truly only if I must. Spending the extra 3-4.5K miles for business class on shorthaul flights makes a great deal of sense considering it guarantees you an open middle seat.
Before some idiot says you’re overexaggerating, THANK YOU for truly calling them out by comparing them to the playing field. It’s rightful of you as a paying passenger (no matter whether through miles or cash) to call BA out for having even worse of a product than cheap, oft-maligned LCCs, all (apart from Ryanair?) of which you have separate reviews of.
Thanks Alvin. I have a Ryanair review as well (though an old one):
https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2011/09/12/the-ryanair-experience-frankfurt-hahn-to-pisa/
I recently had the misfortune of flying LHR-ATH roundtrip in Econ on BA after a J TATL flight. I’m 6’4, absolutely no room, 4 hours of misery, Everything needed to be paid for (including water and coffee).
I will never fly BA in Europe again.
I think you hit on a larger theme, which ties into your post about Alex Cruz’s pride in making BA a no-service carrier in the back of the bus. I honestly see no reason to choose BA over easyJet after all of these “enhancements”…
Wait, so your plan is not to stop flying BA, but rather to pay more for BA business class? Seems like this is their strategy paying off for them.
Sadly, I’m stuck since SWISS pulled out of Basel.
British Airways still has better service, particularly for luggage, than the LCCs. Certainly between London and Italian destinations, I prefer it over easyJet or Ryanair. LCCs don’t fly out of LCY, which is most convenient for me, and I believe LCY routes on BA still have complimentary catering. I don’t see how paying extra for business class on intra-European BA flights makes sense as you only get the middle seat blocked. You still have the same pitch, and if the seat in front of you is reclined, you will encounter the same problem you claim about using your computer in economy. In any case, intra-European flights suck and you don’t want to have to fly all the way to IST to get a nice in-flight product if you want to fly from London to Basel. At least they are short. UA E+ doesn’t look so bad in comparison, does it? Plenty of pitch, free food and drinks for 1K; what’s not to love?
I certainly won’t quibble about BA’s seats – I too find EasyJet more comfortable and Ryanair on a par. Laptops are no-go on any of those airlines IME, but a book works perfectly well in all of them.
You do forget that BA offers lounge access if you are Silver or better which is an advantage over the LCCs, and LHR and LCY are cheaper to get to, and easier from most London points of origin. And it offers TPs and Avios, so you need to factor in all of those, which makes the price comparison more nuanced.
@cargocult, I would agree E+ on UA is generally more comfortable (but not on their 10-across 777s, and I do appreciate the free food for 1ks. However, I find the whole boarding process intolerable and I hate the fact that the cabin is kept in pitch darkness throughout even day flights – it appears gawping at comic movies in darkness is more preferable to a vocal section of UA’s customer base, than reading a book in daylight. Therefore, not to say they compete on any such routes, I would find UA preferable for 2+ hours and BA for 2- hours.
I’ve done BA J and Y recently to /from VCE and FCO ( x2). I thought the Y was no better or worse than any of the other carriers I use ex FCO : Air France, KLM, Iberia, Lot, Alitalia. I’m 6’ ( 183cm) and had no issue with leg room. J was a waste of money but I had no choice other than cash; points must be better value.
As for food in Y: I don’t want M&S but quite happy to buy something before boarding or eat something in the lounge.
Much has been written about how terrible American configured the 737-MAX and their refit of the of the 737-800 through the Oasis project. And yet, there is at least 30 inches of pitch (not 29), there is a tablet holder, seat power, main cabin extra with 33 inch pitch, a domestic first class cabin, streaming wifi, complimentary soft drinks for everyone, etc.
BA offers a blocked middle seat with 30 inches of pitch for business. They charge you to pick your seat even in business class. I haven’t been on one that didn’t need a good cleaning, and everything comes at an additional cost. Meals in business class seem better than what would be offered on a US carrier and you do get lounge access included. But to most frequent US travelers, they are getting that through a credit card or a purchased membership anyway.
I really don’t understand how BA, Lufthansa, etc., can survive with products that aren’t better than low cost carriers whose costs they cannot match. They can get some revenue premium because of hub economics, etc., but can that go on forever?
So please Mr. Cruz — don’t talk to Doug Parker at OneWorld meetings.
Now try doing that as a 6’3 tall 250 lbs big guy flying 13+ hour long haul on those seats…
Matthew I agree with you the seats at the back of the plane on BA short haul are appalling. It’s definitely worth noting though that as BA updates the interiors of the short haul fleet with the new slimline seats with 29” pitch they maintain at least the first 12 rows on ALL regional-configured A320/321 aircraft as the old-style seats with more padding and minimum 30” pitch. This is because in extreme cases Club Europe goes 12 rows back, although that is very unusual, leaving quite a few rows of economy up front with the (slightly) more comfortable seats.
Silver and Gold BAEC members (Sapphire/Emerald OW) get priority in selecting these rows up front even on award seats, which does make a difference (of course Gold/Emerald members can choose any seat incl exit rows/bulkheads).
Personally I fly the BA E175s out of LCY wherever possible on regional flights, as they are far more comfortable anyway… if you’re not connecting of course.
Can anyone confirm this?
https://www.headforpoints.com/2019/05/05/free-cups-of-tea-now-available-in-ba-economy-sort-of/