Introduction
This review will look at the British Airways business class on its 777-200, also more commonly known as the ‘Club Suites’ (CS). This comes after a 20-year long stint for the old ‘Club World’ business class seat, which was at the time the first fully lie flat seat in business class on a commercial airline. While it may have been revolutionary at the time, it has since become outdated.
The CS refresh across the fleet was due to take place mostly by now, but the pandemic scuppered those plans. This was my first opportunity to try them on my flight from New York JFK to London Heathrow.
This was a 21:30 take off time, so I got the opportunity to see how it fares on an overnight comparison to first class, and get my take on whether it really is a top tier comparison for First when trying to maximise on sleep rather than the in-flight experience.
Overview of the lounge
As a BA silver member of the Executive Club and travelling in Business, I had access to the Greenwich Lounge at JFK, which is the rebranded AA Admirals lounge in Terminal 8.
The other lounges, the Soho and Chelsea lounges, are only available to OneWorld Emerald members or ticketed first class passengers, as well as some other admissions. The rules of it all can get quite complicated, so I won’t go into too much detail (as I don’t think I fully understand it myself!)…
I was transiting from an onward flight from LAX on American Airlines, so my main priority was to have a shower and refresh ahead of my overnight flight.
The showers were clean and stocked with all the necessary items. I find that showering just before a long-haul flight really sets me up to sleep well throughout the night.
Before I knew it, it was time to head to the gate to board. I proceeded to make my way and get onto the plane.
Pre-departure onboard
Once I made my way to my seat I quickly noticed how much of a difference the club suites have made to the cabin.
What was previously a 2-3-2 configuration has been reduced down to a 1-2-1 in a herringbone layout, with each seat having direct aisle access (no more awkwardly catching other passengers eyes or having to climb over people).
It was a full flight and it took quite a while for everyone in the cabin to get settled and seated. One thing I did not notice was any member of the flight crew come up to passengers to either simply introduce themselves or offer a pre-departure drink of some sort.
This is typically standard on long-haul business class for many carriers, and BA have done it many times on other flights I’ve been on, but this time it seemed to be overlooked.
The amenity kit was already present with a bottle of water next to a small storage area in the corner of the suite with a mirror, which brings me on to the seat itself.
Seat review
The dark colours give it a classy feel. There is ample storage compared to the older club world layout. Direct aisle access for everyone is a huge upgrade on the previous offering.
The seat controls were all fairly intuitive and there was quite a bit of customisation. The seat did feel quite restricted at the shoulders which I was surprised about, and frankly was not particularly comfortable when sitting upright.
The overarm seatbelt was also far less comfortable than the standard waist belt, and I felt that this was significantly less enjoyable overall. I thought I would save judgement for overall comfort until after takeoff and I could tinker with the seat adjustments once the seatbelt sign was turned off.
Dinner service
Despite being a late departure, I opted for full service rather the club world sleeper service. I wanted to get the full club suite experience as my first time trying it.
Unfortunately, it was slow and inefficient. The crew in the galley looked rushed and overwhelmed. The cabin was full and I was seated in the large cabin rather than the small one behind the reduced first class.
As it was late I didn’t manage to get any good quality pictures of the food, but here were my impressions of the dinner service.
To start I had a cold beef salad with horseradish cream. I found it quite disappointing and reminiscent of food you would get in economy. It wasn’t the best start to a business class dining experience, and I was hoping that the next courses would make up for it.
For the main I had the cod masala. It was OK, but nothing special. The cod was well cooked and flavourful, but the rest of the dish was rather forgetful, and the presentation was lacking.
The dessert was a bread and butter pudding the creme anglaise. This was much better and in fact the highlight of the meal service. I was impressed by the presentation here and most importantly it was delicious.
The food offering was not great overall and I was disappointed given the price point, especially given that New York to London is one of the cheaper business class fares you can buy from BA. If I were to pay significantly more for a more costly route such as LAX, Barbados or Male, I would be very disappointed.
Bed
BA provide a light duvet and a seat cover in business class. While the seat over feels like it is relatively small for the seat overall, it does add a level of comfort having it on rather than off.
The large pillow is excellent with all of the bedding provided by the White Company. Overall it is comfortable although foot cubby can be quite restrictive when moving around. I find this to be a huge upgrade when moving into the first class cabin, as well as much more space to stretch out while in bed.
The new club suite door however does win out for overall privacy. While seated upright it doesn’t do much, but when lying down it really does cocoon you in your bed, which I really appreciated.
One of my main bug bears with the old club world layout was the lighting from IFE screens out or stowed away could shine on you when sleeping and disturb you. I prefer to sleep without an eye mask and the club suites allow me to do that without feeling like I could get woken up because of it.
We were now around 2 hours into the flight and so still very full from dinner, I decided to skip breakfast and maximise on my sleep. I managed to do so and was woken up as the seatbelt sign was coming on. Luckily for me a flight attendant said they could serve me a quick cup of coffee as I was waking up, which I promptly accepted and finished before we landed.
Overall thoughts
All in all I thought the hard product was a significant upgrade from the old club world seat, with BA definitely moving in the right direction to improve its business class offering.
I got an excellent night sleep and woke up at my destination feeling refreshed, so there aren’t many complaints to be had here.
I was however slightly let down by the catering. From my experience, other carriers provide a better dining offering in their business class, and I think with a few adjustments, like some more inventive main dishes, BA could really elevate this experience.
The cabin crew did appear to be quite rushed throughout the dinner service as well, which led to longer than desired waits to get served and clean tables once food was finished. I don’t know whether this is to do with the number of seats per galley to serve in the business class cabin or if it was a one-off.
All in all, I would fly BA business class again, but in my personal opinion not if it meant forking out for a full fare ticket. If I were able to get a good deal on a discounted “I” class fare or redeem for miles, I would definitely snap up the opportunity to experience it again.
