Hello Everyone,
The following details were in this month's executive club newsletter.
"Introducing many pleasing new features for some of our 767s and 777s.
Over the next five years, British Airways will be investing more than £5 billion in new aircraft, smarter cabins, elegant lounges and new technologies, to make life more comfortable for you, in the air and on the ground.
As part of this investment, you can look forward to several of our 777 and 767 aircraft being refreshed over the next eighteen months.
On our shorthaul 767s, Club Europe seats will be refurbished with new foam interiors and new dark blue leather covers, while the Euro Traveller cabin will feature new seats based on the Boeing 777-300 World Traveller seat. In both cabins, the overhead entertainment screens will also be replaced with new larger 15 inch flat screens.
You’ll notice a difference on some of the longhaul 767s too. The Club World seats will be refurbished with new seat foams and covers, similar to those onboard the A318 London City – New York service. World Traveller and World Traveller Plus seats will feature redesigned covers in line with our new design on the Boeing 777-300.
Eighteen of our 46 Boeing 777-200s will be fitted with our latest cabin interiors, including the new First, refreshed Club World and new World Traveller Plus and World Traveller seats. There’ll also be new carpets and curtains, plus our new state of the art Thales inflight entertainment system, featuring the latest Audio Video On Demand entertainment on personal video touch screens."
- Does anyone know anything about this? additional information?
- what is meant by new foam covers? can we expect a new chair in Club Europe?
- Can we finally expect a decent product in Europe? How come no European carrier has in cabin product like Qantas in Australia or Virgin America in the U.S. where there are REAl business class seats and individual tv's?
Thanks
I fear that you will be disappointed.
They are going to re-stuff the existing seats, replace the old leather covers with new ones and change the CRT screens in the ceiling (which look like computer monitors from the 1980s) with 15 inch flat screens.
In other words, this new interior would have been class leading in the 1990s.
VintageKrug - 14/02/2012 07:39 GMT
I believe there will only be seven shorthaul 767s being refurbished.
Of the remaining 14, seven are currently in longhaul configuration (also being fully refurbished) and seven were scheduled to be retired, but are highly likely to remain with the fleet.
These seven potential retirees are likely to also undergo a refurb in light of the bmi acquisition and the need for aircraft to service those slots (most of the bmi fleet is leased, and on less than favourable terms). It is not clear whether this will be to longhaul or shorthaul spec; my hunch would be that longhaul configuration would be preferable.
This shorthaul refurb will be a complete cabin re-fit, including new overhead bins, wallcoverings and re-wiring as well as a complete refurbishment of the seats (stripping back to the frames and using new foam and leather seat coverings).
The introduction of the WorldTraveller economy seat on shorthaul services is a welcome development.
It's a good improvement and will extend the life of these airframes which were planned to be phased out as the 787 deliveries arrived, but delays outside BA's control have necessitated this imaginative interim response.
The new interior will be a clear improvement on what is currently in place.
But let's not get in the way of letting the haters hate, shall we ;)
SimonS1 - 14/02/2012 08:09 GMT
I thought overhead screens went out with the brown football.
"But let's not get in the way of letting the haters hate, shall we ;)"
On the other hand, why not read the original post and then answer in context.
The OP asks if the refit will be like the picture of Virgin America he links to.
What you say may all be true, but the answer is that he will be probably be disappointed by what he will receive, no matter that the aircraft interior will at least look much better than at present.
Are you seriously arguing that the new product is as good as Virgin America, 1st Class?
I stand by my comment, the new interior would have been class leading in the 1990s.
Why don't you drop the offensive personal comments and try to win your argument on logic?
I am going to email BT, to register my displeasure that you are again trying to drag the forum into a place of personal attacks, it has been much nicer in recent months.
VintageKrug - 14/02/2012 08:34 GMT
My post is all true.
I never mentioned Virgin America First Class.
The straws, should you wish to continue to grasp for them, are on the left.
Campaign of hate, as you were:
I think anyone comparing BA C shorthaul products to Virgin America F will be disappointed. The two things just do not compare, one is a domestic F product, the other is economy class with a frill or two added.
Well said DoS, this forum has been a pleasant place without the sort of posts advertising BA that was posted at 07.39 this morning. It fails to answer the OPs question and delivers the sort of mantra I can live without.
This is of course not a personal attack on the person who posted at 07.39 but an objective comment on the misguided content of their post.
AB123456 - 14/02/2012 10:27 GMT
I would suggest that BA look hard at it's European routes and services offered. Club is not worth the money and Economy well it is cheap but hey not too much of a difference.
The reality is that no European carrier offers great value for money or ervice be it in Economy or Business.
Gulf airlilnes and Asian Airlines (apart from Gulf and Oman Air) offer IFE in every seat. Surely even in Economy this would be a good money earner if you had to pay for it! Business could be free. I think I would pay for it.
Though with iPads and other tablet devices I can see their rationale for not bothering but not everyone has one yet or leaves it at home. If it were a two hour flight to Italy or 3 to Morocco, I would tuck into the IFE.
Even low cost carriers are getting in on the act, Fly Dubai now offers IFE even for short routes such as DXB-MCT.
As for business class, lets be honest a 2 x 2 configuration doesn't really cut the mustard in this day and age and perhaps they should look at reclining seats and a vastly improved dinner service to get passengers back.
Oh well, I wonder if anyone will notice the improved foam seats?
RichHI1 - 14/02/2012 11:16 GMT
Without the spleen and hatred of either side, I look forward to the 767 being replaced by the 787 as this should really increase the quaity of the experience. This is 2013 right?
Rich
No spleen/hatred from me, I assure you.
The OP asked a reasonable question and I gave him a factual answer, which I stand by.
RichHI1 - 14/02/2012 11:57 GMT
AS ever DoS I admire your reasoned approach lacking hyperbole. There are however many in this community of ours who find avoiding recourse to emotions in place of facts more challenging.
Thanks Rich, appreciate you r kidn comment.
sparkyflyer - 14/02/2012 13:24 GMT
Good news that there will be a refurbishment on the way. Would be nice if BA actually clean the planes inside every now and then. I like the Club Europe product but sometimes there are some serious dust levels on the seats, and bits and pieces of food debris in the seat pockets etc.
But I suppose when measuring the service you are paying for in either short haul business or economy, one must look at the entire product offering, and when one includes the generally very good and pleasant lounges, fast track, on board product (which does vary) etc one can save time, be productive and arrive in good shape to do business/start a weekend break.
However, I was hoping that BA might look at improving the seating on the longer haul European routes, like ATH, IST, St Petersberg, Larnaca and maybe even Lisbon, and look at the BMI mid haul product as a solution, and maybe re-brand their planes to service these routesor use these style of seats to service these routes.
About catering/food offering, what do you think BA should have as a policy inj economy, stay as they are, or introduce buy on board food, but with maybe free drinks?
767prisoner - 14/02/2012 13:47 GMT
Useful update, thanks. Is the long haul fleet getting the same level of refurb? new walls, bins, dividers etc? doesnt sound like they will get new WT and WT+ product, just new covers and that's it. A real shame and leaves them trailing AA and Virgin badly out of the Cayman/Miami routes.
I just find it all so odd. A decent 21st century european cabin could be such a differentiator for BA to other european carriers competing on the same routes. I really don't understand why they don't do it, as a cabin the cost of a cabin retro-fit isn't that much compared to the year costs - i think! Yet it's now seems that the first airline to introduce flat-bed business class seats in long-haul (which at the time was a seen like a grand revelation!) is now being out-done by low-cost carriers like JetBlue - even they all get individual TV screens...
It shocks me how any one who paid to sit in business class on a European route - the chair is exactly the same as economy...
RichHI1 - 14/02/2012 14:54 GMT
But on BA you get the vital extra legroom. I tried to fly coach on BA Europe and was offloaded each time as I could not fit without sitting sideways and feet in the aisle is not allowed for security reasons.
VintageKrug - 14/02/2012 14:57 GMT
Yes - if it's a convertor seat it is wider than the economy setting, and there is increased legroom in the forward rows, too.
As *most* European routes are relatively short (1-2 hrs) seat comfort is less of an issue. Not ideal on longer routes, though.
The use of WorldTraveller seats in shorthaul 767s should help this.
RichHI1 - 14/02/2012 15:04 GMT
Whereas US domestic first sucks compared to international it is often a substantially different product to coach. In Europe by contrast I think it would be more appropriate to call it Coach Plus or WT+ to Use BA lingo. I can see using the adjustabel load seating means that in seat power, ife and other differentiators cannot be used. Nor can different seats. There is a limit that hanging up your coat, providing a basic snack or meal service can do to differentiate in comparison with long haul offering. Lufthansa used to offer mini amenities but now I think it is just towelettes.
One major advantage for BA would be that companies which have no Business Class or above travel policies would be able to book pax in Euro WT+. On some routes they might have trouble justifiying the price difference though this could be handled with revenue management (as per the current different pricing dependednt on how much is sold.)
LeTigre - 14/02/2012 15:39 GMT
I still can't bring myself to justify spending 500% more on CE flights for no-one seating next to me (I don't care), an extra scone (I'll buy one beforehand), a few extra miles (can be bought), a smile from a stressed attendant (can be bought, lol) and lounge access (the only bit I want!). If it were the Cathay or SIA regional product I would be more willing.
