[VintageKrug]

Where do you get three years from?

It was first delivered to BA aboard a brand new 777-300ER in July 2010.

It was then necessary for the CAA to conduct proving flights, and to bed in the design aboard both the 747 and 777 for a few months.

Installation began in earnest in Q4 2010 – about 24 month ago.

BA has around 80 aircraft with an F cabin,

The only aircraft without NF in them by the end of this year were scheduled to have been retired by then.

They have been pushing out aircraft with NF ata rate of 2-3 month, which is pretty good if you understand what’s required; it’s not like changing a sofa – there’s a whole load of deep cleaning, wiring and other repairs (including engineering work) which is needed, and all this needs to tie in with a fleet being used absolutely at capacity, against a broader and unprecedented economic downturn (so you can’t just throw money to increase throughput), and all the while taking on the 767 refresh programme as well.

[superchris]

sorry my mistake, 2 years 2 months. i humbly apologise at such an unforgivable error. Although I believe the announcement of NF coming was in Feb 2009 ( 3 years 7 months)

I complete understand what is required to launch a new seat ( I was part of a stakeholder group on the new CW many years ago). FYI, ‘proving’ flights are normally done long before you announce the launch to your customers. You quietly put the aircraft in your fleet and get intense feedback from a lucky few travellers. Thats what most carriers do!

[Deleted_User]

‘We’re currently rolling out the new First cabin across our fleet and have already completed more than 75% of the planned longhaul aircraft’, according to the free upgrade to First offer on BT’s homepage.

[IanFromHKG]

I would be curious to know when they will finish installing NCW, frankly. I just flew LHR-BOM on a 777 in CW and didn’t even have AVOD!!

[Senator]

Slightly off topic, but relevant to discussion about BA First.

Was lucky enough to be upgraded from CW to F on BA6 yesterday from Narita. This service is on the B777-300ER, and I had seat 4K, full cabin.

I find the seat very comfortable, and the new IFE a vast improvement. As BA6 is a long day flight, and I had little work to do offline, it was a rare occasion for me to be able to enjoy three recent releases and have a nice, long nap after lunch.

My experience in F is limited to old LH F, LX new and old F, and AF F. I actually enjoy the ambiance of BA NF, I found it very relaxing when all window-shades were down.

My gripe with BA continues to be the substandard food offering in F and the somewhat cramped cabins, specially on the B747-400. The B777 is much better. Legacy crew was very nice, and I appreciated as they understood that I am a Norwegian national, to point out our route as we came down from Siberia and entered Norwegian airspace right around North Cape. The views as we followed the coastline, specially over Lofoten were absolutely stunning, and it shows a very nice, personal touch in customer care.

So my verdict; functional with good staff, but no Michelin food like I see on other carriers.

[EU_Flyer]

So back to the lounge issue…..

I hope BA invest in an F Lounge in SIN for their sake. I could never see QF justifying the capex for a lounge purely to keep their Platimum FF happy. Singapore will soon become a Jetstar hub for QF with QF almost disappearing, given they have now scrapped plans to start a full service carrier out of Singapore.

[JohnSmith17]

Re the amicable lounge split between BA & QF is hat BA owns the First class space lease whilst QF owns the Business class space lease. There were always battles between the two with respect to lounge design and cost, so now each airline can do what they want in their own spaces without having to compromise. It’s expensive real estate, particular for BA as their flight schedules result in their lounge being used at peak capacity around their departures, whilst the rest of the time they will sit idle unless they are able to rent out to their other partners.

[SwissExPat]

M last experiene in F departing SIN with BA, I had to endure a terrible joint BA/Quantas lounge which had no section for BA F PAX. It was huge and had a prro food option.

If BA did develop their own lounge in SIN (and had separate facilities for F and J) then I might consider using BA on routes departing SIN.

Until then. I will avoid using BA departing SIN.

[BeckyBoop]

I cant really see a need for separate F & J lounges. BA only run one flight from SIN to SYD all the others (2) are code shares on QF.

[JohnSmith17]

I agree, one lounge should suffice as long as its to the first class standard, but there are three flights, one to SYDNEY and two to London.

[JohnPhelanAustralia]

I suspect what will happen is BA will operate the First lounge (for BA, QF and oneworld pax) and QF will operate the Business lounge (for BA, QF and oneworld pax).

Of course, CX also operates a lounge. So does Malaysian, which is joining oneworld in early 2013 – but it operates from Terminal 2. The others are all in T1.

[TominScotland]

BB, BA also run two flights a night SIN – LHR so a total of three BA metal departures a day

[BeckyBoop]

Tom thanks, but what are the departure times of these flights are they within minutes of each other?

[TominScotland]

Yes, the LHR flights leave within 20 minutes of eachother while the SYD departure is 2.5-3 hours earlier – not great timing for a lounge facility, I grant you. Maybe timings will change once QF exit the LHR route from SIN.

[EU_Flyer]

I thought there had been some murmurings that QF was going to time their arrivals into SIN earlier now that the SIN-LHR sector is soon to be abolished.

This will, however, make the lounges even more important as many will still have tickets using QF from Aus-SIN and BA from SIN-LHR.

If those pax are arriving in SIN at 5.30pm rather the existing 10pm arrival, they will want lounge access to work/relax until they connect with the BA service at 11.30ish.

I for one would be very happy to have 5+ hours at Changi to shower (unrushed), eat, work a little or even do the complimentary 2 hour Singapore Tour Changi offer for transits over 5 hours.

The departures from SIN to AUS will have to remain at 8pm(ish) in order to make the 6am curfew at SYD. Any earlier and they would be able to land in Sydney.

The question is whether BA will open the lounge for it’s own evening flights or whether it will open it earlier for the QF. I doubt they will though.

[Author]

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