[Anonymous]

[vagabond108]

Hi Folks,

Have any of you come across the new WPT+ seats/ aircraft recently in during travels??

Their website states that:

“The new World Traveller Plus experience is available right now on the latest addition to our fleet, the state-of-the-art Boeing 777-300ER, operating on selected flights to and from Mumbai, Chicago, Delhi and Dubai.

Two more fully fitted brand-new 777-300ERs will enter service by the end of 2010, with further additions to the fleet scheduled throughout 2011 and 2012.”

This info hasn’t been updated since 2010 and when I emailed them, they cut and pasted the above from the web and sent me.. doesn’t help..

I travel twice return to Mumbai on different times in the last 6-8 months and I had the new seats only on one of the legs and that also around 6 months ago. When I took that same route/ timing recently, it was the old one..

I don’t want to travel on the old one as I think its a waste of money, but I though the new ones were pretty good, and hence wanted to book my next trip on one which has that..

Any info would be appreciated.. Cheers!

VB

[Potakas]

Their schedule for Summer 2011 is to JFK, ORD and NRT.

So, no Mumbai, Delhi and Dubai.

On the Winter schedule (when the time changes at winter time in UK, last weekend of October )

I think that they will put them to

BA143/142 Delhi
BA27/BA28 to Hong Kong
and to NRT (Tokyo)

Regards

[vagabond108]

Thanks Potakas!

(btw, is there some place where this info is published?)
Also, looks like they are not upgrading the existing aircraft with them, but just the new ones come fitted with these.. and they are not on an acquiring mode at the moment..

That also means majority of the WT+ users will be stuck to the old seats for the foreseeable future…

[Potakas]

I think that on November 2011 or February 2012 (I don’t currently remember) the refit will start for the new WT+ and WT cabins ( 747 excluded as well some B777-200ERs).

You can get those info from the ba source

http://www.thebasource.com

Here is an extensive topic I wrote some time ago.

http://www.businesstraveller.com/discussion/topic/BA-s-Fleet-Cabins

[BGIWorldTraveller]

I know for that certain 777-200ERs will be getting the new seats within the next couple months. My understanding is that 3 of the LHR based 777-200ERs will be sent to LGW to allow G-VIIA, G-VIIB and G-VIIF to go for the refits as well as get the new First which goes to BGI, GND, POS, UVF and BDA. This will be made possible by the arrival of additional 777-300ERs to LHR.

This should be complete by summer 2012.

[VintageKrug]

BA has about 100 777s and 747s plus about 15 longhaul 767s; unfortunately, changing that quantity of seating takes 2-3 years to cycle through.

BA is actually on a fleet renewal cycle, with six of these 777-300ERs ordered, with options on four more.

The intention was to have the 24 787s and 12 A380s BA has ordered joining the fleet from 2010, but due to delivery delays these will not start to be delivered until 2013.

Some of the existing fleet will be retrofitted with the new WT+ (which is indeed a step up from the existing product), though the priority right now is completing the new First rollout, due by Q1 2012.

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/new-world-traveller-plus/public/en_us

As a significant number of the 747s and some 777s will be leaving the fleet in the next few years as these new aircraft come into the fleet, it would not make sense to put the new seating on these aircraft prior to them being withdrawn from the fleet.

Though it sounds simple to change seating, it’s considerably more complex than swapping your sofa in your Drawing Room (or Sweiqi’s settee in his lounge). There’s quite a bit of IFE (in Flight Entertainment) gubbins which needs re-wiring and removing the cabin seating is an opportunity for more thorough engineering checks, which is why it can take weeks rather than a day to switch a cabin interior.

[HonestCrew]

Questions were asked as to why the brand new 777’s BA received were plonked onto the Delhi and Mumbai routes straight after delivery?
Why subject the new interiors to the destruction that is a flight to India?
Unbelievable amounts rubbish, spillages, used sick bags, food trodden into the carpets, things pushed into seat pockets that otherwise would have been placed into rubbish bins, you name it. (And don’t even think about the toilets!)

The answer I received was to do with the inflight entertainment. If the new THALES system can survive a few months of the screens and handsets being prodded and poked and covered in drinks and food then it can survive anywhere.
Economy pax on these routes care mostly about the amount and frequency of food on board. IFE is just a bonus. This is why we serve so much more on a shorter Indian flight than we do on a long slog to Mexico City.

Thankfully it seems the new 777’s are to be used on routes where the pax can fully appreciate the IFE with it’s in-seat power throughout all cabins, USB ports, etc and where BA’s competitors also offer shiny new equipment.

[Potakas]

India is one of the most important markets in BA’s network. BA does many offers for its Indian customers that do not exist for others (such as free extra luggage for students) .

Also, the capacity that the B777-300ER offers, was probably considered .

This is my understanding.

[HonestCrew]

Absolutely. India is a massive market for BA. I’m sure the ‘crash test dummy’ reason I was given was not the only one.

[vagabond108]

HonestCrew, so which are these routes that the new 777’s are meant for?? Also with priority being given to First renovation etc, looks like it will be a while (1-2-3 yrs?) before the WTP travellers will see the better product as a standard..

[HonestCrew]

I had an ask around today, no firm answers but Narita seems likely.
Certain routes, due to their flight time from London, are ideal to keep one aircraft on, for example Miami. The flight time LHR-MIA, standard turnaround time in MIA, flight time MIA-LHR and a standard turnaround in London totals up to an almost perfect 24 hours, so the Miami routes use the same aircraft to bounce back and forth. Most other individual aircraft will fly to several destinations, those which departure times are the closest to the time the turnaround process can be completed to have them up in the air again ASAP.
To ensure Narita has a 777-300 both ways every day it will need 2 aircraft to operated the route as they will cross at some point. Those aircraft will also operated at least one other shorter route to get it from and then back to LHR in time to head out to Narita again. Does that make sense? 🙂

Anyway, if I hear any firm confirmation I will post.

[VintageKrug]

Complete rubbish from HonestCrew about the MIA route; though he’s right about the sector times, he couldn’t be more wrong about the same aircraft being used continually on the route.

747s seem to do two or three days running and then are replaced with a different bird, as is evidenced here:

http://www.thebasource.com/routetracker.html

…over the past nine days (eighteen flights outbound) eleven different 747s have served that route.

The selection of Mumbai as the first route for the 777-300ER had nothing whatsoever to do with IFE, and everything to do with increased cargo capacity of the new airframe, which was needed for the booming Indian market.

[MartynSinclair]

VIntageKrug – I know personal posts are kind of taboo, but you never cease to amaze me with your research and superb nose for interesting websites.

This latest one, which I realise is in the public domain will keep my 14 year son amused for hours (and his Dad).

Excellent stuff, many thanks.

[HonestCrew]

Like you consistently say VK, you do not work for BA.

Regular posters know you have a penchant to rubbish other people’s comments if they disagree with you, particularly cabin crew.

At no point do I pretend to know more about a subject than I say, as you can see by my previous post above.

The last 5 trips I have operated to MIA have been on the same aircraft on all 10 sectors. If BA have started to use other a/c over the last couple of months it could be to FINALLY sort out the problems the MIA a/c had with it’s toilets.

When I operated on the 777-300 to India, we had a THALES engineer on board the whole time to deal with any teething problems the IFE system had. He himself said it was the best route to test the durability of the system.
As I said, I’m sure it wasn’t the only consideration, or even the main consideration but I was not talking “utter rubbish” as you believe.

You often write interesting points on this forum but you must show more respect to other posters.
Just because they disagree with you on other forum topics does not give you the right to have your own personal witch hunt.

If you wish to mention someone may be wrong, then do so, but show some respect.

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