If you’re the historian type of AvGeek, you may remember that British Airways was a pioneer of lie-flat business class seats. In the early 2000s, it rolled out the groundbreaking fully-flat Club World seat across its long-haul fleet. Club World lasted for over 20 years. But, in more recent years, other airlines pulled ahead with more competitive business class products.
I enjoyed my time in Club World “classic” back in 2017, but I was even more excited to try out its successor: Club Suites. Over the past few years, in an effort to catch up to the cutting edge, BA rolled out the new suite-style seat across much of its long-haul fleet. On paper, it checks a lot of the boxes you’d want in a new seat: universal direct aisle access, privacy doors, and fresh tech.
I got to fly Club Suite on a 777-200ER from London Heathrow to New York JFK. I can confirm, in most of the ways that matter, it delivers.
Read on for a photo and video walkthrough of the highlights, including the ground experience at LHR, the seat design, and the inflight service. And don’t forget the usual window-seat views.
On the ground at British Airways’ Heathrow hub
Heathrow is one of my top AvGeek happy places. With a truly global representation of airlines and tons of widebody aircraft, it’s a hard place to beat for planespotting. Even though BA’s Terminal 5 opened way back in 2008, I think it’s held up well for its age.
One end of the terminal’s check-in area is dedicated to premium cabin passengers.
After a quick ride on the underground peoplemover to the 5B concourse, I stopped by the Galleries Lounge there.
Frequent flyer consensus is that the 5B Galleries Lounge is usually more tranquil than the other two Galleries Lounges in 5A.
The food spread and drinks on offer were solid for an international lounge, though nothing to write home about.
There were some fun featured F&B partnerships, including a caffeination station supplied by Union Coffee.
A Whispering Angel wine counter wasn’t getting much attention.
The Pimm’s cup counter laid the Britishness on pretty thick, but I loved both the concept and the cocktail.
And the best part: this lounge has planespotting potential! While it’s not right up against the window, you still get a great view of the ramp. Unfortunately, from the lounge’s position the terminal roof blocks the views of the sky.
Meet the Suite
After a snack I headed to the gate, and my flight boarded right on time.
This flight was operated by a 777-200ER. BA operates a split fleet of the type. Notably, the subfleet based at Heathrow have the Club Suite product onboard while the Gatwick-based sub-fleet kept the older inferior Club World seat. Below is the seatmap for the aircraft I flew, courtesy of AeroLOPA. London is a premium-heavy market, but it’s still incredible to see that the front two-thirds of this plane are comprised of premium cabins (including a premium economy cabin behind business).
I loved the Club Suite cabin decor. With lots of greys, deep blues, and metallic accents, it’s equal parts luxurious and futuristic-looking.
As compared to the older Club World cabins, where certain seats were much better or worse than others, Club Suite is a more consistent reverse herringbone layout. I’d picked a window seat on the left side in the main cabin over the wing.
Seats in the middle of the cabin offer a moveable divider. So while they’re a good pick if you’re traveling with someone else, they’re not bad even if you’re traveling solo.
The space beside the seat had a large tabletop and storage locker.
The locker held a water bottle and amenity kit.
Here’s a look at the entertainment screen:
What makes a seat a suite? A door, for sure. Just like other suite-style cabins, you’re required to keep the door open for takeoff and landing.
Flight attendants came around with pre-departure drinks, including champagne.
As always, there were some incredible views as we taxied from T5 to the active runway.
The video below has some views of the busy Heathrow ramp, taxiway traffic, a takeoff roll past all the LHR terminals, and a beautiful climb out to the west.
Suite Service
As we hit cruise climb, the flight attendants got things started.
Here’s a look at the wines, cocktails, and other drinks on offer during this flight.
I started things off with a gin zing, and kept track of the flight as we crossed over Ireland.
The dining plan for the flight was a main meal after takeoff, a snack before landing, and (in classic Brit fashion) the option for teatime in between.
The meal started off with a tasty tuna tonnato. Bonus points for stuff getting served onto the table, instead of using a tray.
The cornish chicken breast entree was straightforward but I liked it.
Sticky toffee pudding felt like the most quintessentially British dessert.
All in all, it was a great meal. And the flight crew was as friendly and proactive as could be.
Inflight Entertainment
Club Suite boasts a large inflight entertainment screen. BA’s entertainment system does the job, but shows its age in a few areas. For example, the flight tracker wasn’t as sharp and didn’t include as many features as some other airlines’ maps.
There’s plenty of movies and TV to watch, either on the main screen or streamed directly to your device.
And each passenger gets noise-cancelling headphones.
Fully-flat shut-eye
Each Club Suite seat can go fully flat. The footwells are nice and large.
The White Company does BA’s business class bedding, which includes a mattress pad in addition to the usual pillow and blanket.
This was a daytime flight but the combo of the bed and bedding helped me get a couple hours of high-quality naptime.
A quick look at the lavs and amenities — nothing to write home about.
Midflight snacking
I wanted to do this flight in as ‘BA’ a way as possible. So along with some English crisps, I had to try the Speedbird OG beer that returned to the menu a couple years ago. The name, of course, is a reference to British Airways’ callsign.
The pre-landing snack was pretty small and basic: a bulgur salad, simple sandwich, and muffin.
The sun had set by the time we started our descent.
Even at night, the views on descent into New York City are hard to beat.
My eight hours onboard Club Suite flew by!
The Verdict
There’s no doubt that Club Suite was a much-needed upgrade. The old Club World seat was long in the tooth and weak in comparison to its competitors. It was outdated to the point that it was worth avoiding. The new Club Suite seat brings British Airways right back into the biz-class seat elite.
The biggest strengths:
- The new seat is way more spacious than its predecessor. It offers plenty of storage and universal unobstructed aisle access. And the reverse herringbone layout means more consistency across seats.
- The door is a big plus for privacy.
- The cabin finishes and lighting are sleek. It’s a seriously gorgeous cabin.
- BA offers a solid library of inflight entertainment content.
- It’s hard to make generalizations about service since it can vary a lot from flight to flight. But for what it’s worth, the service on this flight was fantastic.
- BA is one of the airlines that guarantees a certain number of award seats on each and every flight.
There are only a few downsides that came to mind:
- The pre-landing meal was small for such a relatively long flight.
- The IFE system interface was dated, my screen froze a few times, and the inflight map wasn’t that great.
- British charges some hefty copays for award tickets. Also I would have had to pay a big charge to reserve a specific seat in advance. I get that airlines are increasingly look to squeeze ancillary revenue out of even premium cabin travelers, but I still didn’t love that system. I did end up being able to snag a window seat for free at check-in though, since some were still available.
The ground experience was a mixed bag. I love Heathrow, and Terminal 5 in particular. The premium cabin check-in area was a nice touch. The lounge was fine, with fun food/drink partnerships but otherwise pretty middle-of-the-road features.
If you’ve flown Club Suites or have thoughts on this story, share in the comments section below!
