British Airways A350 Update Bottom Line

British Airways A350 is on the way, and we have an update on the soft product that will be available on the aircraft. The airline has 18 A350-1000 on order. The airline has rumored to update the business class seat. Also, there is a possibility for the soft product to have a major modification.

Seat Upgrade

Old Seat

The airline has said that they will update the business class seat on their A350 by making a modification to their current product. They were one of the first to offer fully flat seats in business class back in 2006. The seats are arranged in a yin-yang formation, with one seat facing forward and the other one facing backward. Here is an example of the seat map on the 747s, per SeatGuru.

As you can see, they are arranged in a tight 8 across the business class. It’s even more surprising when you compare it to World Traveller Plus. Those have a 7 across the cabin, and they are a premium economy product. Although Club World is arranged in a way to make it more comfortable than WTP, you can imagine how it makes a difference when it’s 8 across instead of the 4 across that American Airlines offers on most of its fleet.

New Seat

The revised version of the seat is meant to offer a larger IFE screen, and more comfortable bed. By looking at the image below, per AusBT, you can see there are minor modifications. There is now a tray next to the seat that is larger. Also, the ottoman is now in a fixed position. This means that they may be changing the way the seats are arranged. It could be possible that the airline arranged them in a similar fashion to APEX Suites. APEX Suites are offered by Japan Airlines, for example.

Service Change?

The airline may be introducing a new service option in its fleet in the coming months. Per Head For Points, British Airways may introduce on-demand dining on their A350s. This can be a great option, as it is more flexible for passengers to order and eat their food if they want to rest. I can see them running into an issue if there is a passenger in a middle seat that cannot access his food if his seatmates are asleep. I can also see some problems with carts bumping into people who have aisle seats. One Mile At A Time agrees with me on this one. It would be an awesome perk, but their current seating arrangement does not make it very feasible.

Landing Thoughts

Although I am very excited about British Airways A350’s new business class product, I am very sad that they will not roll it out on the rest of the fleet. The airline seems to want to keep them on their A350s, which still do not have a fixed delivery date. I can possibly foresee a change in the layout of the airplane cabin, but there is also a strong chance this doesn’t happen. As for the service change, I am not really a fan if their configuration stays the same. I understand they are coming from a good place, but I just don’t think it will be efficient. \

What do you think? Should British Airways change their Club World seat? Is dine-on-demand a good idea? Let us know!