British Airways has released the long-awaited details of their new Club World seat.
The new business class seat – ‘Club Suite’ – will arrive when the first of its A350 aircraft is delivered in July 2019. And it looks like a huge step-up.
New ‘Club Suite’ features
Here’s an idea of what you can expect from the new Club Suite:
- A suite door (Yes – on British Airways!)
- Considerably more storage, including a vanity unit and mirror,
- WiFi
- 18.5-inch inflight entertainment screens,
- Gate-to-gate programming (at last!)
- PC / USB power
British Airways will also (finally) offer direct aisle-access in ‘new Club World’, utilising 1-2-1 seat configuration:
You can get a better idea of the Club Suite business class via this video:
(If you can’t view the video above, you can watch it at this link – https://youtu.be/vQ9XUNnvkvg)
Or this 360 video:
(Use this link if the video doesn’t appear above – https://youtu.be/dYJgVnHyDqA)
How to fly the ‘new British Airways Club Suite’
Now for the reality check 🙂 , it’s going to be a while until you can book BA Club World and safely assume you’re going to be getting the new Club Suite. Here’s what BA expect in terms of the rollout:
Summer 2019 – the first A350 aircraft will start some short-haul flying between London and Madrid to familiarise cabin crew with the aircraft layout.
October 2019 – the aircraft will begin long-haul flying, although this may happen earlier. It will initially debut on:
London Heathrow – Toronto from 1st October 2019 – BA93/92
London Heathrow – Dubai from 8th October 2019 – BA107/106
BA is due to receive a further three A350 aircraft featuring the new Club Suite and an additional two Boeing 777 aircraft will be retrofitted with the new cabin before the end of the year.
Club Suite will continue to be rolled out across the British Airways network in 2020 – however new seat/suite rollouts traditionally take time and I don’t expect this one to be any different.
Verdict
While we’ll need to wait to actually experience the new ‘Club Suite’ to pass proper judgement, the first impressions are excellent. If this suite is anything like as good as it looks, BA will have well and truly put Club World back on the map.