Since the closure of the British Airways Club World London City service, the flight numbers BA1 to BA4 have gone unused. There is a special flight operating soon that uses the BA1 flight number and it’s possible to book tickets on it.
The prestigious four flight numbers were originally used by supersonic Concorde services between London and New York. After that, they were retired until the London City to New York services began. They have now been put out of service once more.
Returning For One Flight Only
To celebrate the reopening of travel between Europe and the United States, British Airways is operating a special BA1. This will be flying from London Heathrow to New York JFK on Monday, 8 November 2021.
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- And here’s the schedule!
This will be operated by the pretty much brand new Airbus A350-1000, which is quite fitting. Tickets are available in World Traveller (economy class) and World Traveller Plus (premium economy). Nothing is available up front, suggesting there’ll be some big wigs on board.
Will They Get Used Again?
New York has always been the premier destination for British Airways out of London. It’s where they make a great deal of their money, so it’s not too surprising they are marking the occasion of travel reopening.
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- Inside the Airbus A318 with just 32 seats – this used to be the BA1 experience.
What I’m curious about is whether BA1 will only come back for one flight only, or if we will see these flight numbers resurrected in the future. Here’s hoping, as it’s a bit weird having them unused.
Overall Thoughts
Flying across the Atlantic on British Airways 1 is an experience I’ll always remember. Sure, it wasn’t Concorde (now that would have really been something), but out of London City and back it was a private jet like experience. Certainly memorable!
Have you ever been on an airline’s flight 1 before? Do you think BA will do this for one flight only or not? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Steve Lynes via Wikimedia Commons.
[…] On November 8, 2021, British Airways will operate BA1 from London to New York, to celebrate the reopening of travel between the UK and the US. I would guess there may be some celebrations on this flight, but who knows. This is a significant flight number for British Airways, as this was the flight number used first for the Concorde, and then for the Club World London City service.Do you think British Airways will bring back the BA1 flight number on any route on a permanent basis?(Tip of the hat to The Flight Detective) […]
[…] (Tip of the hat to The Flight Detective) […]
We were lucky enough to take BA1 in October 2019, 6 months before its demise ( and returned in 64K on the upper deck of a 747) a week later. On our flight, we had 19 passengers and three wonderful cabin crew. The food, by Do & Co was delicious, the seat was indeed very comfortable, the only let down was the in-flight entertainment. the noise-cancelling headphones were worn out and we gave up and read. Although in row 1, the plane was certainly louder than on a 747 but the greatest benefit, for a non-US passport holder, was arriving… Read more »
Glad you got to experience that and your flight load seems similar to what I had on my return in BA4. Certainly a unique thing all round and the crew were always really great on both my services. True, the iPads for entertainment were just okay, but so convenient at both ends really. Thanks for sharing that!
[…] (Tip of the hat to The Flight Detective) […]
Back in the 70’s I flew UA Flt 1 ORD-HNL. I only remember it because back then US carriers, if they had a flight 1 at all seemed to put them on NYC flights or whatever they deemed was their most “prestigious” routing if they didn’t serve NYC. To be fair, looking back at some old timetables the flight “may” have originated in NYC/EWR but not always and I don’t remember the exact date so who knows. It would thrill me no end if some carrier designated their Flight 1 on some obscure routing just to have some fun with… Read more »
I think I’ve done QF1 and BA1 as my only two. I’m scheduled to be on AA1 in January, so that’ll be my third flight one. Interesting that ORD-HNL was the UA flight 1. Hahaha! I agree, imagine flight one being two completely random and hard to get to pairs. That really would screw with people’s minds 🙂