In mid-2019, British Airways introduced an all-new business class product, which represents a massive improvement compared to the carrier’s previous product. As is often the case when airlines introduce new business class seats, the challenge is actually getting a plane featuring those seats (Lufthansa can tell you all about it!).
While the airline had at the time outlined a rollout schedule for this new product, as you’d expect, the pandemic has delayed things a bit. So in this post I wanted to take a look at the current state of British Airways’ Club Suites rollout.
In this post:
What are British Airways Club Suites?
Club Suites is the name of British Airways’ new business class product. This cabin consists of reverse herringbone seats with doors — specifically, British Airways selected a modified version or the Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seat. This gives each passenger a fully flat bed, direct aisle access, and a privacy door.
This is an excellent product, among the best business class seats you’ll find out there. Read my review of British Airways Club Suites here.
While this is objectively a solid business class product, what makes it most exciting is how much of an improvement it is over British Airways’ old Club World business class. British Airways’ previous business class product consisted of seven to eight seats per row (depending on the plane and layout), and was among the tightest business class products out there.
You can always tell if your flight is scheduled to feature Club Suites based on the seat map. If you’re flying a wide body British Airways jet and the seat map shows four seats per row in business class, then your flight features Club Suites. Meanwhile if it shows more seats per row than that, then it doesn’t feature the new business class.
Of course keep in mind that last minute aircraft swaps can happen, especially for routes operated by planes that don’t have full product consistency.
Which planes have British Airways Club Suites?
Back in 2019, British Airways announced it planned to complete its Club Suites installation by 2025. At the time the airline shared the below graph about the rollout schedule.
As you’d expect, a lot has changed since then — British Airways retired the 747, the Boeing 777-9 is delayed until at least 2025, etc. So let’s take a look at the current state of British Airways introducing Club Suites by fleet type.
I should mention that aside from routes operated by planes that exclusively have Club Suites, British Airways doesn’t really guarantee Club Suites on other routes. The exception is London (LHR) to New York (JFK), where the airline does consistently fly aircraft with Club Suites.
All Airbus A350-1000s have Club Suites
All British Airways Airbus A350-1000s feature Club Suites. This was the first plane to feature Club Suites, and all planes have been delivered factory fresh with the new cabins. The airline has a total of 18 of these on order — 16 have been delivered so far, and we should see the remaining two join British Airways’ fleet in the next year or so.
All Boeing 787-10s have Club Suites
All British Airways Boeing 787-10s feature Club Suites, as they were all delivered with these cabins. Aside from the A350-1000, this is the only other plane to have 100% consistency when it comes to Club Suites. The airline has a total of 24 of these on order — seven have been delivered so far, and the remaining aircraft will join the fleet in the coming years.
Most Boeing 777-200ERs have Club Suites
This is where it gets a little tricky. British Airways has 43 Boeing 777-200ERs — long term, 28 of those are based at Heathrow Airport, while 15 of those are based at Gatwick Airport. British Airways doesn’t have plans to reconfigure the Gatwick jets anytime soon, since they operate leisure oriented routes.
All 28 Heathrow based 777-200ERs have Club Suites, so the process of reconfiguring 777-200ERs is complete. The catch is that there are temporarily three Gatwick based 777-200ERs flying out of Heathrow, so you may still end up on a non-reconfigured 777-200ER out of Heathrow for the time being.
Most Boeing 777-300ERs have Club Suites
British Airways has 16 Boeing 777-300ERs, and 12 of those feature Club Suites. It’s expected that the remaining planes will feature the new cabins within the next year. An additional aircraft is currently being reconfigured, so soon that number will be up to 13.
No Boeing 787-8s have Club Suites
British Airways has 12 Boeing 787-8s, and none of them feature Club Suites. It’s expected that retrofits on these planes will start in late 2023, though it could be 2025 before all planes are reconfigured.
No Boeing 787-9s have Club Suites
British Airways has 18 Boeing 787-9s, and none of them feature Club Suites. It’s expected that retrofits on these planes will start in late 2023, though it could be 2025 before all planes are reconfigured.
No Airbus A380s have Club Suites
British Airways parked its Airbus A380 fleet at the start of the pandemic, and only brought these planes back to service in late 2021. British Airways intends to keep flying these planes for years to come, and should retrofit these planes with new cabins, though the timeline remains to be seen.
What about first class on planes with Club Suites?
This is a question that frequently comes up, so in the interest of being thorough, I figured I’d address it. For planes that have been reconfigured with Club Suites, what happened to the first class seats?
- British Airways 777-200ERs have the same first class seats as before, so it’s interesting that there are doors at the seats in business class, but not in first class; the cabin has been reduced in size from 14 seats to eight seats
- British Airways 777-300ERs have new first class seats with doors, which represent a marginal improvement over the old product; the size of the cabin has also been reduced from 14 seats to eight seats
- British Airways 787-10s have the same first class seats that you’ll find on 787-9s
- Airbus A350-1000s don’t have a first class cabin
Bottom line
British Airways has made good progress with rolling out its Club Suites business class, and at this point the airline offers the product fairly consistently, at least on certain aircraft types. Currently you’re guaranteed Club Suites on the A350-1000 and 787-10. Furthermore, most Heathrow based 777-200ERs and 777-300ERs have Club Suites. Meanwhile as of now, you won’t get Club Suites on the 787-8, 787-9, and A380. In late 2023, 787-8s and 787-9s should start to get Club Suites.
If you are flying British Airways business class, it’s definitely worth seeking out the new Club Suites product.
What’s your take on British Airways’ Club Suites rollout schedule?
Very useful information, thanks. But still quite confusing and makes BA a lottery at the best of times. I usually fly in F where available as generally the BA product and service is good, even though it has been showing its age. I now understand why I have been very disappointed recently on the EWR-LHR route where the Club Suite option is much better than a tired old F seat. The idea of not retrofitting...
Very useful information, thanks. But still quite confusing and makes BA a lottery at the best of times. I usually fly in F where available as generally the BA product and service is good, even though it has been showing its age. I now understand why I have been very disappointed recently on the EWR-LHR route where the Club Suite option is much better than a tired old F seat. The idea of not retrofitting the A-380s with a new F suite seems incomprehensible to me. The only benefit of F will be a visit to the Concorde Lounge at LHR. My main gripe is that I frequently travel out of LGW to the Caribbean where it looks like we will be stuck with increasingly decrepit old J seats and aging 777s for many years to come. BA needs to understand that these are not all 'leisure' flights but UK actually does business with the Caribbean.
Just flown in Club Suite for the first time, overnight SFO-LHR. Could not sleep properly as the seat space is too narrow both at knee and shoulder level. Felt a bit like being in an open coffin and so not very pleasant. At least the earlier versions of Club World were open sided and without doors so it was possible to sleep on my side.
First class on Emirates still ticks all my boxes!
While an undoubted "levelling up" compared to the outdated ultra dense design. Until BA reliably fix their IT, start answering their phones and provisioning enough catering for the advertised menu to be available.... They remain Best Avoided. In 2023/24 as a multi-national simply harvesting cash from an inherited slot position and a brand that they make no attempt to deliver on.
Absent catering, filthy cabins, unreliable systems, short / no notice cancellations, no functioning...
While an undoubted "levelling up" compared to the outdated ultra dense design. Until BA reliably fix their IT, start answering their phones and provisioning enough catering for the advertised menu to be available.... They remain Best Avoided. In 2023/24 as a multi-national simply harvesting cash from an inherited slot position and a brand that they make no attempt to deliver on.
Absent catering, filthy cabins, unreliable systems, short / no notice cancellations, no functioning customer service channels and an aggressive approach to post booking support makes them a terrible value, poor quality and overpriced carrier. The BAEC offers some benefits in return for locking customers in to accepting an uncompetitive product on the back of points accrued for business but redeemed on social.
#FlyAbBA if you want; reliability, comfort, service or quality!
In my experience, the only downside to the latest suite, is that, as a seat, it is less comfortable than its predecessor.
Both my wife and I think this, and she is 5ft 6ins and I am 6ft 2ins, and both slim, so size of passenger is not the determinant.
Agreed. I just flew back from London a couple of days ago in this seat and the old seat was more comfortable to both sit in and sleep in. There's a nasty ridge near the middle when reclined into bed mode which made it particularly uncomfortable.
Just going to put it out there doors are over rated on any suite this style.
Sorry 3out of 4 BA business flights from August-October were switched out on day of flight for 2/4/2 configuration. Never flying BA again. No refund for add’l pre seat cost for a seat I never sat in. No customer service response either. Nothing!
BA gave up on customer service at some point around 2016... Once they have your money they simply don't care!
#BestAvoided
I don't think much of the new Club Suites. I flew it to New York (yuck) several weeks ago and the overall design of the seat felt clunky and overrated. They'll be replacing them all in 5 years!
Also, cheap plastics and put together at a price that is unlikely to last longer than 5 years anyway. However, given the state of the 747's pre retirement, no doubt BA will expect customers to continue to pay their premium even when the seats are ripped, screens don't work and the cabin kit is broken...
As far as I know, not all LHR based 777-200ERs have the new club suite. From personal experience, and a quick research (for example tomorrow's flight), the LHR-NAS/GCM/PLS route has the old seats on about half the services each week. The interesting thing here is that route is actually operated by a 4 class aircraft, however BA only sells 3 classes on the route. First is usually blocked, or filled with employee travellers, only in...
As far as I know, not all LHR based 777-200ERs have the new club suite. From personal experience, and a quick research (for example tomorrow's flight), the LHR-NAS/GCM/PLS route has the old seats on about half the services each week. The interesting thing here is that route is actually operated by a 4 class aircraft, however BA only sells 3 classes on the route. First is usually blocked, or filled with employee travellers, only in an oversell situation in business do they assign those seats to Gold card holder for example, as I have tried to grab one of these seats in the past as a Gold card holder, and have been denied.
@ PW -- Good catch, thanks! It seems that three LGW based 777-200ERs are currently flying out of LHR, so that explains that. I updated the post to reflect that.
Hey, any idea when those are heading back to LGW? I noticed G-VIIW and G-VIIY (the Gatwick 200s) recently both operated EWR and JFK routes which I understood to be ‘Club Suite Only’. I have GCM - NAS - LHR booked for 11th May. Was showing CS now old CW.
@PW or Ben -- Hey, what's up with BA employees filling most First seats on the LHR/NAS/GCM/PLS route?? Seems odd to me! Can't believe some paying passengers don't fly this route.
This frustrates me as well. At least allow gold card holders access to these seats. Especially on the older version its a huge difference comfort wise versus the old 2-4-2 business class seats. I have also never understood why BA havent been selling First on this route. Im sure the finance and wealthy luxury holiday traffic would be able to sell a few seats, or at least offer it as an enhanced seat assignment, charge...
This frustrates me as well. At least allow gold card holders access to these seats. Especially on the older version its a huge difference comfort wise versus the old 2-4-2 business class seats. I have also never understood why BA havent been selling First on this route. Im sure the finance and wealthy luxury holiday traffic would be able to sell a few seats, or at least offer it as an enhanced seat assignment, charge a few hundred £ extra, but still get business class service. This is what happens in an oversold situation anyways.