[BackOfThePlane]

Lots of chat about BA at the moment so apologies for adding yet another topic. Apologies too if the question has been raised before….

The question is, with all the recent announcements from BA about multiple aspects of their business, including announcing a new First Class suite, the one aspect of their (long haul) fleet that seems to be passed over every time…..is the introduction of Club World Suites on flights out of Gatwick.

As things stand, it seems that BA is happy to stick with the original Club World cabins. While I fully understand the business case for so doing, both in terms of the cost of installing the new seats as well as the more leisure focused / price sensitive Gatwick flights, those 777s are no spring chickens and will need to be replaced at some stage….presumably with the new Club World Suite?

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jwhi56

[superchris]

I have every confidence that BA will install new club suites out of Gatwick. Just probably not in the next 5 years

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openfly, DannyBoy

[Thegoodolddays]

Just a idea… if BA do not upgrade the LGW 777s into the new Club Suite, do you think they will replace the old 777s in LGW with the LHR 777s when the new 779s come into service. I think that would make sense…

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JonathanCohen09, Johnnyg, AndrewinHK, ASK1945

[jah13]

I flew from Gatwick to Mauritius and back in November with BA. On both flights they had the new Club Suite. It wasn’t a late aircraft change as it was always showing in the seat selection option to be like that. Don’t know whether this was just very lucky or whether a few services are being operated with the new suite ex LGW

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Greg, C, BackOfThePlane

[ASK1945]

jah13 – on the Caribbean routes from LGW, it’s still the old Club Class suites.

[BackOfThePlane]

@Thegoodolddays – The main issue with using ex LHR 777s out of Gatwick isn’t just the type of seats, it’s their number, ie flights out of Heathrow tend to have many more business class seats than is required for flights out of Gatwick.

@jah13 – I wasn’t aware of that. Anyone else have experience of flying from Gatwick and enjoying the new Club Suites? As per my comment above to @Thegoololddays, was it a ‘large’ Club cabin or your more typical, ‘Gatwick 777’ small 4 row cabin?

[jwhi56]

Seems to me BA should have included a World Traveller Plus cabin on their new London Gatwick to Bangkok route.

[cybertravller]

As former LGW crew, I can say that LGW has always been the poor relation. Even though we were mainline BA, there were odd differences such as no tomato juice in economy, and an inferior hard product.

There was the odd occasion we would get the 777-300s from LHR on the MRU and MLE routes due to the distance involved, but that was about it. The current 777s at LGW are really in need of replacement.

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pdwtrip

[cwoodward]

Unbelievably seven of these relics are over 27 years old.

Nine are over 24 and none of the LGW fleet are less than 20 years old.

A further 12 x B777s of the TOTAL BA fleet of 59 are over fifteen and only 6 are less than ten years old.

The average age of the TOTAL British Airways B777 fleet of 59 aircraft is – 20.1 years !

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openfly, Johnnyg, pdwtrip, Bullfrog, ASK1945, LetsFlyNow, BackOfThePlane, cybertravller

[BackOfThePlane]

@jwhi56 – there is World Traveller Plus on all BA 777 aircraft, which is what they will be operating between Gatwick & Bangkok.

[andy]

Compared with most , if not all of the options available, BA offer a product that is simply less user friendly, uncomfortable and clearly designed to get as many people as possible into a given space . It’s the most intrusive option possible, having to step over the legs of other people then having all of the meals and drinks passed through your space only inches from your face is simply an unacceptable intrusion. So much so my wife and I have simply stopped travelling on BA from Gatwick. Much better option to travel from Heathrow to slightly more exotic destinations in aircraft like those configured by Singapore Airlines with a view to offer real comfort and quality,whilst making the customer feel important and cared for. Virgin offer a better product to the Caribbean, though not perfect, but I guess if most people simply go with the flow , BA will have no reason to worry about refurbishing club class .

[MartynSinclair]

With the BKK flights being moved to Gatwick, what happens to BA 9/10 ex Heathrow. Have BA lost/sold those slots. Up until 18 months or so, 9 and 10 we still running as cargo..

No interest in using a Gatwick service to BKK using a clapped out and dated 777, when the competition run a far more enjoyable service, even with a stop.

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openfly, DerekVH, cybertravller, superchris

[BackOfThePlane]

@MartynSinclair – Especially as EVA Air operate direct flights from Heathrow to Gatwick, departing at almost exactly the same time, with a superior economy, premium economy and business class cabin.

And that’s also before you take into account direct flights with THAI and numerous indirect flight options.

BA would need to be significantly cheaper to entice me to book.

[MartynSinclair]

Perhaps BA believe they have a commercial advantage, being the only one world carrier with a direct London to Bangkok offering.

[LetsFlyNow]

I highly doubt that BA will retrofit those relics as Cwoodward nicely put it.

Those over 24yr old birds will probably fly another 5 yrs and that’s it. No point in investing millions in planes that won’t be flying much longer. The question lingers why BA hasn’t placed a big order for wide bodies as most of us expect it to. I say get the new A350-900 and go 3-4-3 in economy class for the Gatwick crowd. They could even put a simple reverse herringbone seat without doors or like the Polaris seat and probably get the same amount of seats in J.

We’ve been hearing that business travel is still lagging compared to Pre-Pandemic yet premium leisure travel is stronger than ever. So one would expect that BA & co. would maximize on those premium seats. Then again, IAG, Lufthansa etc are reporting record profits (mostly due to higher fares). Which means people are still paying to fly in those mediocre seats. These airlines are in no hurry to go premium – except Air France who have surprisingly quickly upgraded their fleet and cabins.

BA knows it can still fill those cabins and can’t be bothered to upgrade them

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openfly, DerekVH

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