British Airways First Class Enhancements

March 10, 2019

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Suite Improvements
Dining Improvements
Amenity Kit Improvements
Sleeping and Bedding Improvements
Landing Thoughts

British Airways is offers the most First Class seats across the Atlantic. The airline has either 8 or 14 First class seats on their aircraft. For the longest time, their First class product has been subpar. If you want to know why, read my review on their Miami flight, or their Johannesburg to London flights. However, the airline has since improved some aspects of their First class experience. They added improved bedding and some better amenities. However, they have not revamped their First class product as much as they had done to their business class Club World. I have long considered BA First to be one of the best business class products out there. However, they recently announced some improvements to their First Class cabins.

Suite Improvements

Some of the first things people will notice on their 787-9s, not the rest of their aircraft, is that the seat is a tad bit different. This has been so since they launched their 787-9 flights. The cabin is more intimate, with 8 seats instead of 14. They will also be rolling out wifi on their long haul fleet over the next few years, a program which has also started. I suspect their newer 777Xs will have a new First Class product all together, but these aircraft will not fly until around 2022, if there are no delays.

Dining Improvements

BA First offers the highest dining experience on their fleet. On some routes, you can have a 5 course tasting menu, and food is surprisingly good, but still not at par with other first class airlines. This is about to take a turn for the better, with an improvement on their onboard dining service. Dinnerware will be improved with plates and silverware provided by Studio Williams and Dartington. Their meal options will also improve, beginning to show the enhancements that were rolled out to their Club World and First products on their highest yield flights.

Amenity Kit Improvements

The airline offered older amenity kits, which I have reviewed before, but the newer kits seems to be more British in flair. They will be stocked with Elemis products, which are different from the ones provided before that were by Aromatherapy. The new kits will be rolled out starting in March 31st, with the coming of spring. There will also be improvements in the IFE front. The airline will finally provide quality headphones to First class passengers. The new Meridian high performance headphones will be a solid improvement over their current, unbranded pair that they hand out to First class passengers.

Sleeping and Bedding Improvements

The airline is also spearheading a new program to improve their bedding offerings. British Airways will add a new mattress topper, as well as a new 400-count threaded duvet. There will also be a new male and female sleepwear made by Temperley, a London based design firm. These will be a much needed enhancement, because their older sleepwear was quite poor, but their newer ones with the White Company providing them were great. I look forward to comparing all three of the BA PJ sets.

Landing Thoughts

BA still needs to improve their hard product to compete with other airlines. Qatar Airways’ QSuites are an improvement to the BA First class open suite. Their push to get newer amenities in first, to further differentiate it from Club World, will be a welcomed addition to the BA experience. They also offer a You First concierge, which is something that very few other airlines offer (I only knew of American offering it on flights to Australia). If British Airways changes their hard product on their 777Xs, I can expect the airline to become a much stronger contender to the best First Class product across the Atlantic, a title Air France, in my opinion, holds.