What is the new densified British Airways Embraer 190 cabin like?

British Airways Cityflyer based at London City Airport have densified the cabin of their Embraer 190 fleet. Instead of the former 98 seats, this has now increased to 106.

The new seats are a slimline design, allowing more to be slotted in. In actual fact, the first 12 rows have plenty of legroom, while anything from 13 on back is much tighter. You can see that on the seat map on AeroLOPA here.

Cancellations Are Not Fun

I was originally flying on one of my favourite services, BA826, departing Heathrow at a civilised 16:10 (for afternoon tea), getting me in at 17:30. I’d selected 1A, a friend was flying out to Glasgow at the same time and a pleasant Sunday afternoon in the lounge was planned.

Thanks to Storm Darragh and London Heathrow’s inability to operate a full schedule when there is any kind of weather, these plans were all for nothing. The flight was cancelled and the next available was the 06:50 from London City the following morning. Fun! I don’t take the early AM services for a reason.

Overbooked!

Naturally it was also a weekend with no DLR service, so it was a replacement bus for me. Eventually I arrived at the Courtyard by Marriott London City Airport, where I had stayed back in July. After an early dinner, I slept and woke at 4:30am and walked the short distance to the airport.

While waiting at the gate, the staff offered priority boarding to those who checked their cabin bags (no takers) and then announced they were overbooked by four. Needless to say, nobody volunteered to travel over six hours later out of Heathrow, least of all me!

BA4460 – London City to Dublin (LCY-DUB)
9 December 2024
Embraer 190 – G-LCYP
Seat: Club Europe 3D
Departure: 06:50 Arrival: 08:15

We boarded Ryanair style, with our boarding passes scanned, followed by a wait at the bottom of the stairs. Someone eventually arrived and let us walk across to our jet.

The New Densified Cabin

First and foremost, the cabin looks good. A certain level of chic is expected on British Airways. These look a lot like the new seats being introduced on the Airbus fleet, which is a good thing. Anything is better than the ill conceived efforts of 2018.

Above are the more closely spaced seats at the rear of the cabin, while the image at top shows the more spacious forward cabin. That is where I was sitting and I found there to be oodles of knee room. There is less in the densified rear cabin, but beggars can’t be choosers! A nifty mobile phone holder is included above the tray table. This means you can watch your favourite shows without turning into the hunchback of Notre-Dame due to the angle. Quite nice!

Breakfast Time

Everyone seemed to get on board with their carry-on bags intact. After we had the safety demonstration, our aircraft about faced and took off from London City. It’s always a full power on the breaks, let go and leaping ahead on the short runway type deal there. Breakfast was soon offered and there were no surprises. Yes, an omelette… sigh.

Regular readers know that I loathe the omelette. Still, I’ve worked out the best way to eat this tasteless yellow concoction of doom. Cut a piece of sausage, add some yellow spooge, eat. Continue with all the other elements until it’s gone. Everything else, A1, top marks. The so called omelette – as tasteless, bland and awful as usual. We descended and landed in Dublin, arriving 15 minutes early.

Overall Thoughts

The new densified cabins on the Embraer 190s out of London City certainly look the part. They are comfortable and feature the mobile holder, which is sure to come in handy, particularly on longer routes.

Service from the crew could have been a lot faster considering the flight time. People at the rear of Club Europe got their breakfasts scant minutes before it was time to land. This was because they elected to do a time consuming style of service.

One crew member remained camped out in the galley. Another asked a pair of passengers their order, then went and got it from the other crew member in the galley, delivered it, headed back for those people’s drinks, delivered those and repeat. It was only for two or three people declining the meal that everyone got served at all.

Omelette and slow service aside, Club Europe is a solid offering on British Airways and is why I continue to spend money on it. What do you think of the new densified seats on the Embraers at London City? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image and rear cabin image by Swadbus on FlyerTalk.