[VintageKrug]

This photo gives a good understanding of the ying/yang positioning in Club World:

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/09/03/cmBA_article_wideweb__470x341,0.jpg

There are also centre seats which are very private and allow you to sit side by side, in a more conventional layout:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/BA_New_Club_World_cabin.jpg

[Jan]

Emirates A380 is excellent.
Also check Etihad First class, brand new A346 Aircraft. Dedicated Premium terminals in their hub, & Etihad lounge terrific is in T4, very quiet since BA Moved out
South African are very good, but consider Virgin Atlantic (Famous & excellent Clubhouse be a great start for you both),& KLM, also fabulous lounges, & dining within.
Enrol in that Airline’s Frequent Flyer, then you will earn enough miles for a weekend break somewhere also!
With KLM, you would have this after one return business trip, to anywhere in Europe

U be gambling taking BA in Every aspect.

A Few on here clearly are biased & incapable of being independent other than BA BA BA! They clearly don’t have proper jobs for an Independent mind needed for business.
BA share value is less than their pension deficits (IATA, FT, FTSE Information, & the £25 profit, wont wipe out the year’s £600M loss. No serious City Analyst would go near BA Shares or the Company.
Strike pending, several maybe, An unhappy Company, poorly run, financially terminal.

.
All this set up pro -BA crap on here, blinkered & delusional!
Read the huge numbers ditching BA n why on the forum here, most insecure financially airline, worst staff relations record, a VERY unhappy unstable “Company”, & Walsh is waiting for the chance to close it down, then re-open it, writing of the debts.
Grave mistake to book them at this time…

The worst that could happen would be the services don’t run…and that’s on the cards for BA. They have a grey history n the first to pull flights.
Read the threads on pending Strike on BA here, the sensible are avoiding them turning their business elsewhere. Why book with an Airline in such dire financial state or with staff so unhappy they are in direct conflict with their employers?
Fundamental rot of management.

[NTarrant]

Oh for goodness sake, what a load of tosh. Clearly you don’t use BA by what you are saying so you don’t have a clue. Huge numbers ditching them, funny that flights are full. Funny the share price is increasing. What is it with people like you?

[Jan]

Increasing from what £5.50 to £1.60 a share?
£2.4bn share value (FTSE)
£3.6bn pension deficit. (BA Pension Trustees statement).
Set to lose £600M to end March. (FT analysis).

These are facts, for those informed, analysed by the best City Accountants, FTSE, IATA, FT, Wall St. J,The Times. International Herald etc…

Its own staff in conflict with its Management?
A sick company, & blinkered shareholders & Pro BT /BA lobby pathetically attempting to talk things up!
Gate a life guys n get out into the real world.

Major Companies are declining travel on BA.
Insurers will NOT cover BA strikes, so you lose totally either way, personal or business.

My colleagues in 6 merchant banks, all agreed on this one!

[NTarrant]

“My colleagues in 6 merchant banks” so you are a banker, well look what banks did to the economy and business.

By the way I suppose you will support LH even though they are also striking. I think you are the one that needs a life, so much anger in there about BA, I am begining to wonder if you are related to some of the other anti-BA posters. What do you reckon VK?

[ScottWilson]

Of the choices offered, I would select BA because:
– Club World is the only one guaranteed to be a consistent flat-bed product.
– Terminal 5 is relatively easy, the Elemis spa is a great bonus. I find those who damn Heathrow fly economy and don’t know where they are going, and swap terminals etc. You wont need to do any of that.
– If frequent flyer points matter, BA is most useful of the lot.

Of the others, I’d avoid KLM and Air France, both have angled lie flat seats, and are distinctly below the standards of the others, and both CDG and AMS are hardly outstanding compared to Terminal 5 at Heathrow.

Choose BA seats in the middle and you can set together with some privacy. I’d recommend having a look at http://www.seatexpert.com and just looking at seat maps to get an idea of where you want to sit. The key advantage with BA First at the moment is the Terminal 5 experience with the Concorde lounge etc, on board it is more width, privacy and better food, but frankly if you have never flown long haul business class before, save your money and you’ll enjoy Club World.

[VintageKrug]

Relationships are always hard to fathom.

But there is a repetitive use of the ampersand which I have only seen practiced by one other poster here…perhaps this is indeed the famous best buddy made redundant by BA…..?

[David]

VK,

I was very pleased to see the addition of the Fast Track Security to transiting Business pax during my last visit through T5 (enroute to BOM, 2 weeks ago).

OK, this is not completely new as they used to offer 1 or 2 lines at the far, far end of the terminal, some 100 metres from where transiting passengers disembarked the escalators. Basically a non-service.

As has happened many times before however (when originating at LHR) BAA security staff simply opened up all (3, I believe) lines to anyone who happened to be walking by, therefore completely discouting any value Fast Track Security would have offered.

I experienced the same situation when returning from DEL 3 days later (continuing on to ARN).

But back to MP’s question.

I still hold that BA’s Club World (from a hard product perpective, ie. the seat) is industry best. Their FIRST and Concorde lounges too can not be beat. I vote with my feet and consequently take some 20 long-haul returns (in J) with BA per annum. I have however (given the recent strike troubles over Christmas and likely action next month) recently shopped around and have flown the Business Class products of Finnair, Qatar Airways, SAS, SWISS, EL AL, Austrian, THY Turkish and Lufthansa.

Each of these (well most!) have their own advantages/plus points. For example, Finnair’s Helsinki is a very easy hub to transfer through, the wine list is excellent and the new spa lounge is very nice. Qatar Airway’s had the best meal and general presentation and a very good First and Business Class only Terminal in DOH. Lufthansa, with its size, offered an excellent selection of schedules.

Good luck on your decision and let us know what you decide.

[MadProfessor]

Thanks again folks…..all (well, mostly) helpful. I really value the advice and comments as this is a first for me and I wouldn’t want to screw it up!

Can you BA-experts please help me re the seat booking? If I pay £240 (60 x 4 sectors) I could reserve my seats when I book? If so can I reserve any seats i.e. Upper Deck seats? The BA website is a little confusing on this issue. If I decide not to book my seats in advance what is the chance of us sitting together? Lastly, if I reserve seats in advance is it possible to just do it for some sectors i.e the LHR-CPT and return sectors?

[SimonRowberry]

Nice to know things are still the same on here.

Someone asks for advice from ‘seasoned travellers’ and within a few days it’s the same predictable tosh, with the same boring people trotting out the same boring arguments, arrogance, prejudices and confrontations.

Dear, oh dear. Yawn.

I found the positive comments above very informative. I hope the Mad Professor found the advice he was looking for.

I would like to wish you good fortune and I hope that after having to stomach some of the above, your proposal is accepted.

I also take it that binabdulaziz is a wind-up. If not, he should be.

[binabdulaziz]

No, not joke, Mr Rowberry.

Sitting here in Riyadh, real person.

[NTarrant]

To save yourself some money why not just book the seats you requre on the LHR-CPTand return flights only. You will be travelling Club Europe between AMS-LHR so chances are you will be near enough together and it is just on the hour.

[SimonRowberry]

Fair play to you, then, Mr Aziz. I’m pleased to hear it and look forward to reading your future posts. Thanks for entertaining me enormously (and that’s intended as a compliment).

[binabdulaziz]

Thank you Mr Rowberry.

I now find out from British colleague Mr Tarrant meaning about red bus ticket.

He is rude.

[SimonRowberry]

I think it would be fairer to describe Nigel as being ‘ironic’, Mr Aziz!

[Author]

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