What is A380 Upper Deck like in World Traveller on British Airways?

The Flight Detective
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A friend of mine travelled from Vancouver to London Heathrow on the British Airways A380 in World Traveller on the Upper Deck. It was his first time flying long haul on BA. Not all airlines have economy class on the Upper Deck, so check out his review below.

Guest post by Vincent Bijman

British Airways fly from Vancouver to London Heathrow using an Airbus A380. The goal for this flight was to fly on the upper deck, which is a bit more special than the main deck.

Online Check In

Check in with British Airways opens 24 hours before the flight. My booking was made with American Airlines, and in order to select seats on a British Airways flight a second booking reference is automatically created for British Airways.

Get this booking reference before you fly via the app if you really want to move your seat to the upper deck as it tends to fill up quickly. On this flight, the 30 seats available filled up in about ten minutes.

Time To Board

We arrived at Vancouver International Airport, checked in our luggage (no lines, yay!), and headed through security. Vancouver International Airport is a calm and rather quiet airport, and certainly special with the massive aquarium!

BA84 – Vancouver to London Heathrow (YVR-LHR)
28 May 2018
Airbus A380-841 – G-XLEJ
Seat: World Traveller 76K
Departure: 22:40 Arrival: 14:58+1
Delay: 43 minutes

Entering the aircraft, we turned right in the second aisle. Row 76 is located between the last two emergency doors on the upper deck. Seat 76K has, unfortunately, an in-flight entertainment box beneath the seat in front, restricting the leg space.

While there was some restriction to the leg space, it was not too big a deal. The nice thing about the upper deck are the boxes the seats have next to the window for extra storage. It’s quite spacious, and it also gives a more spacious feel to the seats as you’re not next to the window directly. The bins do deserve a thorough clean though. I think the bin next to my seat was broken as I had great difficulties opening it. The press-to-release mechanism didn’t seem to function properly. I had to use a lot of force to get it open, which made me afraid I’d break it.

Ready for Take-Off

British Airways provide World Traveller passengers with earbuds, a blanket, a pillow, and an envelope to make a voluntary donation to charity.

Airbus have cleverly designed the windows – they appear to be really large but in reality are rather small. The in-flight entertainment system is rather basic but provides you with a fine variety of movies and series. Nothing in particular stands out when it comes to the entertainment, but it doesn’t fall short either. BA’s new safety video is fun and creative, it’s really a joy to watch! During take-off from Vancouver, having a view over the wing is amazing! It is massive!

Dinner Time on the Upper Deck

After take-off drinks are offered by the cabin crew. A gin and tonic comes with Gordon’s gin, which is okay, and Fever-Tree tonic, which is nice. Furthermore, they ask you straight away if you want wine to go with your dinner, which fills up your tray table.

You shouldn’t fly with British Airways for the food. Dinner was a Chicken Tikka Masala, a poor salad consisting of a ton of lettuce, a slice of cucumber and a slice of tomato, and the tiramisu for dessert was dry and seemed old. It’s been a while since I haven’t finished my plate on a flight. This is actually the first time, I think. I was really happy I ate at the airport before departing!

Breakfast Before Arrival

After dinner we were done for the night; no more drinks, snacks or anything else. The crew disappeared and we didn’t see them until morning when it was time for breakfast.

Breakfast doesn’t deserve any awards either; a bun with Philadelphia, and a cereal bar. Considering the length of the flight, it’s surprising not more is offered. We eventually landed at London Heathrow and I went off to connect to my flight to Amsterdam.

Overall Thoughts

I was excited to fly the A380 upper deck, and in general the aircraft does not disappoint. It’s spacious, feels stable, and not too noisy. BA’s service on the other hand was a bit of a disappointment.

The food was simply inedible and the flight attendants did not seem to enjoy their job. I liked getting the two drinks at first, but I would have really appreciated something like a small bottle of water like American Airlines hand out. On a long overnight flight, this would have been nice.

A380? Yes!
British Airways? Not too sure!

What do you think of World Traveller on British Airways? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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2 comments
  1. 4 years ago I had managed to snag 4 seats VS Upper Class SFO-LHR for my family using my Delta points. We found SFO Virgin Club experience great, and it was novel being given champagne on boarding and fiddling with the seats and sleeping flat, I think we slept about 6 hours. I took some pictures of us sipping champagne, and the kids snuggled into the lie-flat configuration asleep. On return, The Virgin Club in Heathrow an amazing thing I’m glad I got to do. Especially when there was a 4 hour delay, and was able to spend even MORE time in the Club. The flight itself in Upper Class home, I napped a bit, but it just didn’t thrill me as much the 2nd time.

    Last year we flew BA A380 upper deck SFO->LHR and we liked it. There is something special about being on the Upper Deck! I can’t say I found the bins so useful. And there was the nagging worry one of us would put something in there, and forget it when we left.

    We were in the last 2 rows near the back, which we had worried would be noisy with the lav. I never nap on planes. But in this case I got probably 6 hours, my family more. Flight attendants were good to us. Like Anthony Bourdain, when possible I prefer to dine well BEFORE getting on the plane and skip airline dinner plates. We did nibble at the breakfast and it was OK.

    I would fly BA again, definitely.

    I recently flew home again LHR-SFO on a United 777-200 in Economy. My Apple Watch reminded me to get up and stretch and I did so. And you know what I arrived feeling none the worse for wear.

    The 10-11 hours in a plane seem of waning importance to me these days as a “luxury” experience, than the hotel end of things. We remember the time spent in Park Hyatt Vendome executive suite, much more fondly than VS Uppper Class.

    1. Virtually everyone I know raves about Virgin’s Clubhouse at London Heathrow. I’ve yet to fly Virgin or try that lounge but it is something I really should do one day. A friend of mine is a Virgin devotee and loves the airline. I also hear their Upper Class is very good as well, so it matches what you were saying.

      Good point on the bins – I tend to throw my stuff in and check them at the end and I’ve been fine. I like your point about the hotel end of things. For one of my big birthdays I stayed at the InterContinental Hong Kong for three nights and it blew my mind. Things like Tai Chi at 6:30am by the pool, the fantastic restaurants such as Nobu, a superb room with a huge deep tub… I remember that stay very fondly and I plan to go back and stay there again. So you’re definitely on to something there. Thanks for the comment, it was a great read!

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