British Airways has announced that the old first class cabin still in operation on its ageing Boeing 747-400 jumbos will be sold as Club World.
From late October, when the winter schedule is implemented, four B747 routes will use old First as an overspill for the Club World business cabin.
So, on each aircraft, 66 seats will be available for business bookings, compared to the current 52, with the extra 14 in the old First cabin.
BA said in a statement to Business Traveller: "As part of our investment in new fleet, we are retiring a number of our 747-400s. Currently, a very small number in operation carry the old First cabin, which will be withdrawn next year.
"We understand that this may not be the experience our customers expect and have taken the decision to offer these First seats at Club World prices on selected routes. "
The routes affected will be:
- BA85/84 Vancouver
- BA275/274 Las Vegas
- BA289/288 Phoenix (during winter 2014 and summer 2015)
- BA43/42 Cape Town (during winter 2014)
- BA59/58 Cape Town (during summer 2015)
BA has received compliments for its new First cabin, but some of our forum readers have become increasingly disgruntled by the airline's Avios compensation policy when travelling in the old First cabin. Discuss today's announcement on our forum here.
Graham Smith
