What was flying Club Europe on a British Airways Boeing 767 like in 2015?

Originally titled “Speedbird From Sweden” when published in 2015, this report details one of my rare trips for work. I decided to upgrade my ticket at check-in, since I hadn’t paid for the ticket. It was worth it, as the Boeing 767 Club Europe cabin was lovely! Enjoy this trip down memory lane.

Welcome to another of my trip reports! I was not flying for pleasure this time, having been in Stockholm on a business trip. All European trips for work at our company are booked in Economy Class and my flights were booked in that cabin.

After two days at our offices in Solna, it was time to head back to Dublin via London Heathrow. I was quite looking forward to flying on a Boeing 767 as it had been quite some time since I had been on one. All my flights within Europe are usually on an Airbus of some kind, so this was going to be a nice little treat.

Let’s Ask About An Upgrade

When I arrived at the airport, I enquired on a whim at check-in as to whether there were any paid upgrades available on my flight. The reason behind this is the Boeing 767 has the old Club Europe cabin so I figured this could be my last chance to fly on it. In addition, Arlanda to Heathrow is a Band 3 flight for catering which features a hot dinner and I was hungry. After a positive response, I decided to pay the 1,500 SEK upgrade fee which is just over €150. I was assigned a window seat and I was lucky enough have no-one sitting beside me.

The lounge at Arlanda was quite busy and has a very decent food selection. I helped myself to some different varieties of herring and some water while I waited for our flight to start boarding. When I left the lounge, I got lost going to my gate by going down the stairs to where I assumed all the gates were. Back upstairs I found the gate and soon it was time to board the aircraft through the forward door. Our aircraft today was G-BZHA which was delivered to British Airways on 22 May 1998.

BA781 – Stockholm Arlanda to London Heathrow (ARN-LHR)
1 December 2015
Boeing 767-336ER – G-BZHA
Seat: Club Europe 9A
Departure: 18:05 Arrival: 19:05

My seat was in the last row of the Club Europe cabin on this flight, row 9. There can be 6 more rows behind doors 2 (rows 12-17) but these were Euro Traveller (Economy Class) on today’s flight.

The Boeing 767 Club Europe Seats

This is what the cabin looked like to me.

Virtually everyone had the seat beside them free, which makes for a nice flight. The middle pair of Club Europe seats are the converter seats. The middle seat is not used in Club Europe configuration, while in Euro Traveller it is. The Safety Demonstration played on the overhead screens, and soon enough we were in the air. Once the seat belt sign was turned off, I retrieved my iPad from the overhead locker as I planned to watch Gravity on the flight.

An Interesting Dinner Service

Champagne and nuts were delivered shortly after. Gravity probably wasn’t the best choice as the movie is very quiet and an aircraft without noise cancelling headphones is quite loud but I had no other choice so Gravity it was!

Dinner service commenced and I was the last to be served. The service was a single cart that went from my row on the other side of the aircraft, up to the front, and back down my side. It took a fair amount of time and my meal was not as hot as it could have been when it arrived. For some reason, my meal seemed to be a mixture of a couple of different things which suited me perfectly. From memory – Tandoori Chicken on pilau rice and there were also Prawns in some kind of delicious sauce as well. See if you can do any better with this close up. There was also bread from the bread basket, cheese and biscuits and a little dessert as well. I was given more Champagne with the meal. As I said before it was all very delicious and I have proof! The Club Europe mugs are always quite nice looking, I think. I rarely have tea or coffee on a flight, but they look nice.

Cabin Views And Toilet Time

Now for some cabin pictures, starting with my window.

Looking straight across from my seat – note the old style overhead bins. Another cabin shot from my seat. The Champagne was making its presence felt, so it was time to visit the toilet. Happily everything was pleasantly clean, which I always like to see.

A Detailed Tour Of The Boeing 767 Club Europe Cabin

Back into the cabin again and I got another shot from the empty middle seats at the rear of Club Europe.

I must say I do miss the little personal cocktail table in the new Club Europe cabin. I know you get a large table in the middle seat instead, but I liked the small individual one. The Flight Deck advised us that we were cruising at 34,000 feet and we were soon to start our descent. We would be hitting the top of the cloud layer at 5,000 feet, which I thought was a nice detail to add.

An Interesting Descent Into London

The Champagne I had never ran out on this flight which I find is something British Airways do well. You’re never really looking to try to find a crew member to get something for you, it’s usually noted and offered. Happily, Gravity had a satisfactory ending.

I put my iPad back in the overhead locker and as the cabin lights had been dimmed for landing, I could see outside properly. As mentioned by the pilots, we hit the cloud layer at 5,000 feet and this changed the view somewhat. The colour changed depending on which strobe light was hitting the window. It was all rather interesting and of course I was pleasantly tipsy so I thought it would be a great idea to take pictures for you, dear reader! Two more for good measure so you can get more of an idea as they are moving. By now we were through the clouds and had a view of London below. We landed without incident and at Heathrow we used door 2 to exit the aircraft meaning I was the first person off. It was quite handy as I had Duty Free to purchase and I wanted to get to the lounge before my connection to Dublin.

A Quick Lounge Visit

After my shopping I had about 10 minutes to kill in the lounge which was rather empty at that time of night. While that was wonderful as it’s usually a zoo, it did allow me to see how shabby the furniture in the lounge is. It’s actually a disgrace for the home city of an airline. Look at the cushions…

I headed off to my gate for my flight to Dublin, and there was a large delay as everyone had to be screened again. Half the aircraft who had boarded came back and were re-screened before I could board. It didn’t delay us too much and I was home on time.

Overall Thoughts

Overall I had an excellent flight! It was great to be on a Boeing 767 for the first time in ages. The Band 3 catering was delicious really and a decent amount of food. The cabin crew were efficient and friendly with a dash of fun which I always like. Interestingly, I had expected the old seats to be more comfortable than the new Club Europe seats, but I actually found them to be pretty uncomfortable to sit in.

I suppose you get used to a certain thing, and also I suppose that as the newer seats are 20 plus years newer in design that they have taken advantage of that time to make a better seat! I hope you have enjoyed the report and feel free to comment below.

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And that is how I reported on the flight back in 2015. While the Boeing 767s have now been retired and Club Europe now has a completely different seat, it is good to see how things were once done.

Though this could have been my last flight on the BA 767, that actually took place in May 2018 on a flight from London to Stockholm. You can read about that here, and it is also pretty detailed picture wise.

Have you ever flown British Airways Boeing 767 Club Europe before? What do you remember about it? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Lord of the Wings, Toronto, Canada via Wikimedia Commons.