Video Review: British Airways Business Class Double Beds

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    British Airways have something unique to offer their business class customers – a choice of single or double beds. I’ve made a video review to show you the BA business class experience, and explain why the double beds are great if you’re lucky enough to be travelling with a partner!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXegig76-uE&hd=1

    This was a daytime flight from London Heathrow to Washington Dulles in a British Airways 777. BA offer fully flat beds in their business class – club world – with most seats laid out so you are facing the other person.

    The middle (E/F) seats are a bit different – they both face backwards, and there’s hardly any privacy between them. You can convert them to a bed at a touch of a button, and there’s just a couple of inches gap – effectively a double bed in the sky!

    The downside of these seats is that they are not great if you’re travelling alone; there is a small privacy screen, but it doesn’t extend very far at all. It would be much better if BA got rid of the current screen (as even when put away it limits your view of your partner) and replaced it with something suitable for travelling with a stranger. This can occur, as many passengers can’t reserve seats in advance without paying large fees to BA; if the only seats left are the E/F ones then you are out of luck.

    The food was mixed – there was an excellent cold main course which was very simple (and therefore hard to screw up) but BA had bought decent quality ingredients in it; highly recommended. The menu had a delicious sounding mushroom and truffle risotto with parmesan – you can imagine how well this worked in the environment of a plane oven!

    The plane itself was in decent condition, with good-sized TVs and video on demand. The amenity kit looked good, but was missing ear plugs and eye masks as standard items – but BA had forked out for a cheap razor. The flight wasn’t even eight hours, so I don’t think many people were needing to shave on board.

    Afternoon tea was disappointing – the tea itself was great, but the food consisted of 3 small sandwiches (with over 100 ingredients listed on the pack) and a fairy cake you’d see at a child’s birthday party. I don’t think this is much different to what BA offer its economy passengers, and it certainly wasn’t showing English Afternoon Tea at its best.

    In summary:
    – The double beds are great for a couple (and those with a small child) and are recommended
    – Most seats need you to jump over a stranger’s legs to get out – try and pick the last row if you can
    – BA should be offering free seat reservations to all to stop single people being stuck in these seats with a stranger
    – The catering could easily be improved – offering both cheese and dessert is not going to bankrupt the airline, and serving sandwiches in a plastic packet full of preservatives is not a true afternoon tea

    Link to video review:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXegig76-uE&hd=1


    SimonS1
    Participant

    I think to call them double beds is a bit misleading. They aren’t, they are just two single beds close together with the divider retracted. The armrests etc mean it’s impractical to use as a double bed.

    Interesting review though. Really highlighted the less good things about BA – no privacy, coffin class density, no direct aisle access, average food.


    esselle
    Participant

    I think this video shows what a poor product BA offer in J.

    Agree with your summary SimonS1, but what about the “happiness blankets”? Do they compensate?


    SwissExPat
    Participant

    @ NTA

    Keep up the very enjoyable video reviews…. Very well produced!

    I actually prefer the amenity kit in WT+ to Club!

    @esselle – are the blankets not just for F? Not sure it would have made much difference 🙂

    @simons1 – you probably wouldn’t want to sleep diagonally in them if you’re by yourself, but they’re good as a couple especially if you shuffle down a bit so you can see and hold each other easily. You’ve no chance of that in a regular CW bed!


    SimonS1
    Participant

    I take the point but I thought the beds were only 6ft when flat. So shuffling down wouldn’t work too well for me.

    I agree though that they work OK for people travelling as a couple.

    Great point Simon – I was coming from the perspective of grabbing the last row in the cabin, which has extra space at the bottom past the footstool.

    I haven’t tried the other rows (I don’t want to step over someone) but presume these will be shorter as the footstools butt up against the next seat – and therefore not as good for people above average height.

    Getting the few seats that don’t involve stepping over someone changes the BA CW experience from poor to acceptable IMO.


    TCSH11
    Participant

    These centre beds were never designed, advertised or sold as ” double beds” the last thing we want to encourage is the ” Mile High club” they are has been mentioned just 2 single club beds facing in same direction.

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