British Airways has re-invited their business class product into a newly designed British Airways Club Suite. The British Airways Club Suite product is currently featured on their new Airbus 350-1000 series and Boeing 787-10 aircraft, in addition to select other aircraft that are under refurbishment. These include the Boeing 777-200 ER’s and the Boeing 777-300 ER’s. Each Club Suite offers what had been missing from the old Club World Product; direct aisle access and a privacy door. The new product offers enhanced food and beverage. Let’s test out the new product to see how it measures up.

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This post is one chapter on a trip to the South of France and Cinque Terre, Italy. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For information on how this trip was booked, please see our introduction. For parts of the trip, please see this index.

If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.

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Review: British Airways Club World Suite Business Class, Airbus 350-1000, Vancouver International Airport – London Heathrow Terminal 5

“British Airways Club Suites brings their business class cabin into the twenty first century, with a modern seating arrangement that offers direct aisle access, a fully flat bed and a privacy door, befitting of an world class international business class offering”

I was really looking forward to this flight. Having flown this route many times before on British Airways Business Class and British Airways First Class, I was looking forward to testing out the British Airways Club Suites.

About the British Airways Club Suites:

The British Airways Club Suites is British Airways’ newest business class offering, which offers a more spacious and functional business class seat when compared to their old higher density Club World Business Class offering. Instead of being packed into a seating arrangement with eight seats across the cabin, we’d enjoy a more comfortable four across configuration in a reverse herringbone business class seat. Each seat offers a fully flat bed, direct to aisle access and a privacy door.

The British Airways Club Suites are appearing on many British Airways’ newer aircraft. British Airways has them installed on all their Boeing 787-1000 series aircraft, all their Airbus 350-1000 series aircraft, and most of their Boeing 777-200 ER and Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft. If you are flying these aircraft, check your seat mant

Currently, there are no Club Suites installed on Boeing 787-800, Boeing 787-900 series or Airbus 380-8 series aircraft. British Airways is planning to retrofit these aircraft, although the time line remain to be seen when this will be fully completed.

Boarding British Airways Club Suites:

Having checked in and spending some time at the decidedly average Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver International “Pop Up”, we headed down towards the gate. Today’s flight was departing from Gate 64, which was at the far most end of the Vancouver International Airport.

Although we were scheduled to board at 8:05 PM, our scheduled departure time of 9:00 PM came and went. Eventually, we had a gate announcement that the flight was delayed due to the late arrival of the crew bus. We eventually boarded the aircraft with Group 1 at around 8:40 PM.

British Airways
BA 84 – Business Class (D)
YVR – LHR (Vancouver International – London Heathrow Terminal 5)
Sept 30, 2023
8:55 PM – 2:05 PM + 1
Booked: Airbus 350-1000
Flown: Airbus 350-1000

We had a single jet bridge for boarding today, although two jet bridges were connected. Once we stepped on board, we turned left towards our seats.

On Board British Airways Club Suites:

British Airways has modernized it’s business class services. British Airways used to offer an exceptionally high density Club World business class product on its Airbus 380-8 and Boeing 747-4 series aircraft. The old version featured Business Class seating as dense as eight persons across.

British Airways took this feedback to heart and has recently unveiled its new business class offering in the form of British Airways Club Suites. The British Airways Club Suite offers a Collins Aerospace Business Class seat that you’ll find on other international carriers such as Air Canada, in their long range aircraft.

The British Airways Club Suites Business Class on the A350-1000 is located in the forward part of the aircraft in a 1 – 2 – 1 configuration. The Club Suite cabin is split across two cabins. The first cabin is between rows 1 – 11, whereas the second mini cabin is located between rows 15 – 17. A galley separates the two cabins between rows normally that would normally be occupied by rows 12 – 14.

The newer seats are substantially more comfortable and spacious than the last version. The new suites offer a fully flat seat, with substantial storage and space to work around the suite itself.

When choosing a seat, the centre seats offer less privacy than the aisle suites. The centre suites offer a partition divider that allows you to wall yourself off from the other centre facing traveler. Despite the ability to open the divider, it’s not an ideal configuration to have conversations with your seat mate.

Instead, with two of us traveling together, we opted for seating on the outer window seats one behind another. While we didn’t get the opportunity to have discussions during the flight, we both appreciated having access to the window.

I located my assigned Club Suite in 2A. Each Club Suite offers a private door, which comes up to just above head hight when seated in the seat, or chest height if you are standing in the aisles. It’s not as tall as the doors that you might find in a Qatar Airways Q Suite. However, it does offer an element of privacy if you chose to sleep.

The reverse herringbone seat itself is exceptionally comfortable. The seat offers a slight line view out of the windows, with a small counter space next to the seat itself. The seat The Collins Aerospace seat is the current “best in class” business class seat, in my humble opinion.

On our arrival, waiting on the seat was a pillow, sleep set and headphones.

The seat offered counter space which was handy for resting a laptop, passport or other items in flight or while you got settled. There was also a small compartment that allowed for in flight charging for cellphones and accessories. The Empower power port offered both plug in charging and USB A standard charging.

A wired remote also existed inside this space, that could be used to control the in flight entertainment system. The controller was high resolution, and could be controlled through buttons or touch screen. The Empower charging port was also located in this space featuring both plug in power charging and USB A Charging.

Immediately next to the primary charging space, there was a secondary smaller space that could be used to place a wallet or other smaller items. Both spaces offered a functionality to the seat, that was missing from the previous British Airways Club World product.

Rounding out the space of the Club Suite, there was a small cupboard that held a bottle of water. There was also an Elemis in flight amenity kit that was hidden away in the cupboard.

The sightline out of the seat itself offers a reasonable amount of privacy. Seated in the cavity of the seat, the walls of the British Airways Club Suite are pretty high without feeling confining.

The British Airways Airbus 350-1000 has individual reading lights. British Airways did not install individual air nozzles in this particular aircraft. While this can make for a warmer journey, I didn’t miss them on this particular trip.

Pre – Departure Services:

A pre – departure beverage was offered, which is always a great way to start any international flight. Today’s pre-departure beverage choice consisted of orange juice or champagne. I went with the champagne, which was unfortunately served at room temperature. Despite this, service was prompt although re-fills were not offered given that the flight was already about thirty minutes late.

While we were waiting for flights to depart, we had an announcement by our First Officer Rebecca Pathrow, accompanied by Justin Merger as capitan. We had an announcement of a sched-jeweled flight time of eight hours and twenty five minutes. The First Officer announced that there would be a second announcement about forty minutes prior to landing at London Heathrow. There was also a brief weather update for conditions at London Heathrow.

Food and Beverage:

After the pre – flight announcement, the menus were presented while on the ground. The menus consisted of a long thin design, starting with the bar and flight cocktails list.

For the first course, a lunch and dinner was offered. With a flight time departure of nine PM, it was nice to have a combination of lighter and heavier options.

British Airways also offered a second service prior to landing at London Heathrow. British Airways has been known for a lighter second service. However, I was happier to see that there was something more substantial that just a continental breakfast offered for the second service.

British Airways also offered a dedicated wine list. The wine list focused on both old world and new world wines. Being a European carrier, I appreciate that they offered old world wine options from France. My travels lately have taken me on many carriesr that typically offer the most economical new world options as perhaps a cost cutting incentive.

There was always something interesting on the wine list. Most of the wine list was interesting as it featured bottles that we wouldn’t typically get in Canada.

The Amenity Kits: “The White Company”

While I waited for the flight to get underway, I explored the amenity kits. The British Airways amenty kits have substantially changed much over the years. The British Airways kits are still branded with The White Company.

The British Airways “The White Company” amenity kits offered Spa Resort Lip Balm, Moisturizer and Power Point, a sleep mask, a toothbrush and toothpaste and eye mask.

It’s not essentially to have a robust amenity kit. But it’s surely something that you miss when it’s gone.

The Entertainment System:

The British Airways Club Suite offers an entertainment system that is controlled through the hand controller or via the touch screen. The system offered a number of movies and had enough entertainment on it to keep a traveler entertained.

The system also featured a moving map, which allowed you to follow along on the journey.

The British Airways Airbus 350-1000 is equipped with BA .air in flight wifi. The wifi system is set on a pay per use format. While British Airways offers free wifi in First Class, the aircraft didn’t offer that cabin in its configuration. Instead, wifi was available for purchase for between 2.99 and 11.99 GBP.

Since I was headed off on holiday, I didn’t need to partake in the wifi.

The First Service: “Dinner”

The meal service started almost immediately after we had reached cruising altitude and were comfortably on our way towards London. We were presented with a towel service; a nice way to start any inflight service.

I was offered a drink to start, and selected the Aviation Gin and Tonic in true British style (despite being an American Gin). The flight attendant came back with apologies that they hadn’t loaded any and offered Tangueray Gin instead. This was presented at about sixty five minutes into the flight with Penn State Sour Cream and Chive Pretzels.

The Gin and Tonic was a nice way to start the flight. Much like the champagne, it was not super cold. As a result, I ended up switching to Heidsieck and Co Monopole Silver Top Brut NV champagne after I had finished.

The champagne was great, although the glass was a little on the small side. I enjoyed this with the familiar favorite movie “Crazy Rich Asians”.

For the starter course, I was presented with smoked salmon celery and apple saffron salad with red pepper coulis. It was actually quite a refreshing version of a dish that I wouldn’t normally expect on an airline.

I don’t typically turn down the opportunity to seat a steak on an airplane. In this case, I went with the typically British pan seared beef tenderloin, with creamed spinach, polenta cake and spiced butter sauce.

I had no complaints about this dish, although the steak was a little chewy and it was a little tricky to eat such a saucy dish on an aircraft. Truth be told, despite being careful, I did end up spilling some on my shirt which would accompany me all the way to France.

I finished the dinner service with cheesecake. It was a little on the smaller side so I might recommend getting a second desert serving if you’re really hungry.

The dinner service was done at 1:35 AM PST, making the full serving a bit of a late experience for those looking to maximize rest.

We were about 40% through the flight by the time dinner service was completed. This meant that I had about five hours of sleep time remaining.

British Airways Business Class bedding:

British Airways Business Class offers a bedding suite for its suites. The bedding is a top of a fully flat bed that offers plenty of room.

After I finished the meal service, I was asked if I should be woken up for breakfast. I did ask to be served breakfast.

I unbundled the sleep set, which is a thin mattress pad. The mattress pad is more like a thin cloth rather than a pad itself. It is a much thinner version of what you might find on Qatar Airways.

There are no British Airways Pyjamas offered in Business Class. You’ll have to spring up to First Class for that luxury.

The British Airways Club Suite offers a privacy door that allows you to close the door of your Club Suite. These are typically locked for take off and landing. Unfortunately, mine happened to be stuck in the open position and I wasn’t able to get it closed. I didn’t bother following up so I ended up just going to sleep with it open.

I ended up heading off to sleep around 2 AM Pacific Time. The British Airways Club Suites is compact in size for side sleepers like myself. I should mention that I’m also quite tall at 6ft 2 inches, and I found the space to be relatively tight.

It was heaps better than the upright lounger in my recent Icelandair Saga Business class flight to Europe. However, within the British Airways Club Suite, my knees kept bumping into the side of the walls in a very thin foot cavity well. As a result, I didn’t get a terrific sleep due to comfort reasons.

The Second Service: “Breakfast”

At about ninety minutes to landing, I ended up waking up just south of Iceland. The cabin started to get a little louder with the sounds of breakfast being served.

I ordered and enjoyed the hot breakfast option which was presented as a fried egg and tomato relish ciabatta. It was paired with an excellent freshly squeezed orange juice and Union freshly roasted coffee. 

While we typically would have had access to British Airways’ Business Class Lounge arrival facilities in London Heathrow, it was nice to be able to get off the plane with a little something in your stomach.

Landing at London Heathrow:

We had no apparent delays landing at London Heathrow and were brought straight in from the west. I enjoyed peering out the window to see the London row homes just outside of the airport.

I always find it to be a super impressive facility with British Airways’ home at London Heathrow International Airport. They have a really impressive set up with the corresponding infrastructure to go with it.

After landing, we taxied over to London Heathrow’s Terminal 5 C Concourse, which was the most outward gate concourse. We ended up parking near a British Airways Airbus 380; which always looks super impressive.

We deplaned pretty quickly and took the train to the main Terminal 5 building. We called on the British Airways Galleries Lounge South for our layover, prior to heading off to our connecting flight on British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow – Nice and our final destination.

The Bottom Line: British Airways Club Suite Business Class

The British Airways Club Suite Business Class is a welcome addition to the British Airways fleet. The Club Suite offers a vastly improved and functional business class experience when traveling with British Airways as compared to their legacy Club World product. The seating density makes for a much more comfortable flight and the Club Suite offers space that actually allows you to work.

The in flight amenities were reasonable. While the sleep set was not very comprehensive, it’s better than offering absolutely nothing. The food and beverage has seen recent improvements, making it a more substantial offering than in years past.

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If you’ve flown British Airways Club Suite, did you find the product much better than their legacy Club World Business Class product ?

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