British Airways A350 Club Suite review London to Las Vegas

40 comments

1. I can tottally agree with all you above statements, we travelled to Tampa last November in ClubWorld for the fist time and loved it, however coming home it was the worst flight I have ever had with BA. We are due to travel back to Tampa on the 5th May and again are trying ClubWorld which has a price tag of just over £4000! If we experience the same again with BA then we will switch to another airline to fly to Tampa. After flying with BA on this route for fifteen plus years! It’s areal shame that I already worried about our flight experience when we should be ecstatic about the thought of our ClubWorld flight and being a silver member too.

2. The downfall in service levels in BA’s First and Business cabins has now become the norm. Pre Covid, I regularly used to travel to and from JFK in business and if I was lucky, occasionally First Class. The service was slick and polished and bizarrely I used to see the same faces amongst the crew. I certainly didn’t have the problem of an empty wine glass back then.

   I understand that a lot of BA’s experienced crew have left but they can’t all have left. I’ve read on another frequent flyer forum that the crew’s working position on the aircraft used to be decided on experience but now it’s done on alphabetical order. Why you wouldn’t have your most experienced staff dealing with your passengers at the front is very strange. You think BA would be utilising their most experienced staff.

   Hopefully things will change and BA can return to the way they were pre-covid.

   1. Yes they have ditched seniority and now get assigned to a working position for a period of time and then swap. So there is zero thought into it. You could get a completely inexperienced crew in one cabin.

      1. So all the experienced crew could be at the back of the plane and inexperienced at the front? Why is that? Bizarre commercial decision to make.

         1. Or more likely with the removal of quality and experience, you get a whole crew who are inexperience, uninterested or knackered youngsters. At best you might end up not wearing your food or drink, or won’t have a whole meal service in first completely forgotten about. BA have been a shamble for a number of years now. No amount of lip service from changing bosses will change what used to be a fantastic product. To see some of the prices they are trying to charge for a one tray service is a complete joke. Avios / 2-4-1 are the only way to go, full price (joke price) forget it

      2. How does that make business sense to almost go out of your way to destroy what used to be the selling point of BA. The premium cabins and the staff that worked in them. Some years ago First crew were specially trained and not everyone could even work in First. New manager same down hill spiral

         1. That is still technically true in F and CW but current shortages of staff sometimes impact that. You say new manager, I guess you mean Sean Doyle but it is actually Tom Stevens (director of brand and customer experience) and Amy James (head of IFCE) who oversee this.

3. Agree totally re the heaving lounge, service and quality of food. Have travelled six times in BA Club since the beginning of the year and been disappointed every time. It’s not the experience it used to be. Luckily some of our flights were booked using Avios because, flatbed aside, it’s certainly not worth the money

4. I had the same experience month ago in Las Vegas – London flight. Front toilet was blocked during the flight. Business class was 100% full as they cancelled the flight the day before. It was a nightmare. Not only queue but also dirty

5. Offering only a ruby port in business seems very mean to me. It should be reserve tawny, at least.

   1. It’s not a good port either. I had it coming back from EWR and it wasn’t a patch on the port I had in the Virgin Clubhouse there.

   2. It’s been that port for years now. I actually quite like it but I’m definitely not a port expert!

6. That lounge pic reminds me why I never use the Flounge. I’m happy to check in via the first wing, but I always head off to T5B Galleries after that.

   Sure, the food / drink selection isn’t as good, but it’s always fairly quiet. Lounges are supposed to be places to relax / get some work done, not feel like you’ve been herded into a pen.

   1. The pictures in the article are from the Club Lounge, not the F lounge.
      Quotes from the article – “So on this trip, I actually visited the Club, First and Concorde lounges. I will review the First lounge separately.”, and above the photos of the lounge – “The Club Lounge was absolutely heaving …”

      1. My bad, I saw the horse and didn’t look in any great detail.

         I can say for 100% certain that wasn’t T5B though!

7. We are due to fly into San Diego next month the ONLY reason we are flying BA is down to the fact that we have Avois to burn. There is no way that I would be paying over 5K per ticket for a service that appear to be no better than PE at best. I know that Doyle cannot improve everything over night BUT there are thing that he could do , get rid of the tray service, improve quality of the food and beverage offering , put experienced staff back into the premium cabins. Until things show a major improvement I will burn further Avois on other one world partners , BA will be a choice of last resort

   1. Where are the experienced staff, didn’t BA get rid of them all to save money or make their conditions so detrimental all the quality left. On our most recent First trip one girl was on her first ever flight working for BA it was a shambles

      1. Sadly it’s now pot luck where they end up working instead of giving choice by seniority. They should have a system that ensures that someone brand new does not work in first!

8. The comments about the front toilet being blocked for the entire flight worry me. These things matter more as you get older!

9. That main meal menu looks very unappealing really! I don’t like fish, so would be stuck deciding between lamb which I’m kind of ambivalent about in general and going vegetarian. Definitely unlikely to be excited by the starter either.
   Such a shame that the experience is so mediocre, particularly with lounge and crew.
   If I can avoid any mishaps, supposed to fly with Virgin next week in Upper Class. Only did once before, in March 2020. Hoping it will be worth the wait!

10. Anybody doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result the next time , is the definition of insanity.
    The world has changed, eveything is different, this is the new norrmal, you pampered people with ‘ avios to burn’ are just going to have to get used to it, or actually use ypur brain and do something different.

    1. It’s not exactly “pampered” to have Avios to burn right now.

       We have several hundred thousands in the household account and that’s sat there simply coz we haven’t been able to travel to use them in the last couple years/ have had masses credited back due to continuing cancellations.

    2. A rude and unnecessary way to comment. If you disagree there are ways of putting things politely if you “actually use your brain” as you said.

       I have absolutely no idea why you bother to read this blog then?? Since it’s all about having “Avios to burn” ? I have a friend who is a cleaner who uses Avios to visit friends abroad which she saves for by putting everything she buys on an Avios credit card. I’d hardly say that’s pampered! She couldn’t afford to do things like that without the card and Avios. Is that the definition of insanity?

11. @Brian, this is a Blog for people who are looking for great ways to travel for less. I’m sure we’re all aware of everything else that’s going on in the world so please remember the context of these comments.
    Another useful review Michele. My other half and I currently have 5 Amex241’s EACH to use and we’re about to start travelling again (old voucher availability is awful by the way).
    I have to say I’m filled with dread about flying with BA. A friend of mine who works in the Travel Industry hits the nail on the head when she says that “the trouble with BA is, they don’t make you feel special”.
    They terminated experienced cabin crew- one of their unique resources and I’m horrified that they don’t have processes to ensure that those with more experience aren’t focussed on premium cabins.
    On the day that QF announced 2025 for the first non-stop SYD LHR plus a super new F cabin, I would love to ask Mr Doyle, “what happened to BA’s spirit and innovation?”. I predict he’ll be gone soon – I know it’s been a tough 2 years for him but when the going gets tough, the (highly paid) tough are SUPPOSED to get going and that doesn’t mean BACKWARDS.

12. I’m right up there with you for the first world problem of no cognac, it’s insanely frustrating and really poor show, every time I ask the crew about it, they have no idea why, perhaps someone on here could explain why BA in their infinite wisdom have categorically stopped cognac. My lovely crew members promised me they would put in their report yet another customer has complained about the food and drink service..3 gins that’s just P’s us cognac drinkers right off. I think it’s because cognac is more expensive than gin. All other airlines and lounges have it. Poor show BA

    1. Have had cognac on all of my recent trips. But this feeds directly into what I have written in response to another post where Michele commented on on board working positions. The cognac is not loaded in large bottles, there are usually 6 miniatures loaded in a JAB or FAB bar. (A for Ambient 🙂 No one thinks to look there because they’re looking for 750ml bottles.
       If BA listened carefully to those of us who KNOW product and delivery then the working position system would change even a bit. It is likely you had someone working in that cabin for the first (and probably last) time for months at a time and it is not possible to keep up with product specifics the way we work.

13. i did the same flight to Vegas on the 19th and came back on the 27th, both ways the toilets at the front were closed the whole flight, i never even got offered a drink with my meal service on the way out and only got one on the way back because i made a point of asking for a glass of wine with dinner. crew were nowhere to be seen on the return flight after the meal service untill they came around asking if you wanted breakfast about an hour before landing.

14. Living in Phoenix we and many friends fly BA’s non-stop to London often and we all absolutely hate BA but have no choice. First of all they have discontinued First Class but at least the new biz class is a quantum leap forward over their atrocious previous seating. Now to add insult to injury they have moved this ten hour flight to Terminal 3 so you have to transfer to T5 for connections. What “genius” decided on this. Their food has always been terrible and there is no excuse for this except that they are CHEAP!! On the other hand we have always found the cabin crew to be very good – none of these issues are their fault.

15. We flew to Dubai in March on board was good no problems at all including top up drinks. But the business class lounge at both Heathrow & Dubai was very poor. Both meals were warmed up & not a very good quality, most disappointed.

16. It will be interestng to watch this for the next few months as I am booked LHR-AUS in Club World in September.

    Interestingly enough, on a recent LHR-ANU trip on Virgin – we also experienced a lack of drink top-ups. Outbound was PE, inbound was Upper – so at least it isnt *just* BA going through this.

    1. Interesting about Virgin. Both trips I did with them in the last couple of years were perfect. But I do know cabin crew morale is not great at the moment due to the rather pathetic pay offers!

       1. Crew were polite and professional both Virgin flights. We just noticed the lack of top-ups, no second coffees after a meal, etc. We were somewhat disappointed as our original booking got changed by the airline. Outbound flight was a day later than planned, and equipment changed from an A350 to A330. We were really looking forward to the A350. While I can say there was nothing particularly wrong with the A330, it was a little worn. No reason was given for the change in flights apart from a vague reference to COVID precautions.

17. Some things I’d like to comment on, I am crew at BA.

    1. One Tray Service
    I would agree that the starter/salad is a pathetic offering. It would not be difficult to offer something more substantial and that could offer more to a variety of tastes. However, those who complain about one tray in general either haven’t experienced the full service or have forgotten that the dessert portion even when served separately was always a tiny portion and of no quality difference to the (tiramisu, in the current case) served on the tray.
    The main course is exactly the same as it has been since Do&Co took over changing only with menu changes.
    The presentation is always going to be something of a pigsty because as I learned the china ware is from a Do&Co stock and BA has obviously elected to use stuff from the “seconds” pile. That means that hideous little wire basket for the bread roll doesn’t match with anything else and the size and shapes of the other items were driven by cost and probably too many people at Waterside who each had a “good idea” resulting in a tray that wouldn’t support anything other than what it is. A more substantial (portion) starter wouldn’t fit on a one tray arrangement.
    Something the objectors also forget, is that in full service mode, BA CW service takes too long. There is not the quality or substance or frankly the facilities to provide a grand restaurant experience. This is especially true on the A350 which BA has finally agreed was badly designed.
    (No one will ever admit to being “the one” who chose the way the A350s are configured) With only two small galleys front and back and 320-odd people in between.)

    2 The forward toilet on the A350
    The placement of the toilet should have been aft of the galley to make it generally accessible. But that would have come at the cost of a club seat and even looking at the reconfigured B777-200 which has squeezed an extra seat in (49 instead of 48) we can see that revenue trumps all.
    As it is, it is not possible to have passengers in and out of the galley because of the service arrangements as well as the security arrangements for flight deck access and (pilot) rest facility adding to the mix. It has been suggested that next-to-be-delivered A350s will be differently configured but that doesn’t help the current situation on board.

    3. Where and when we work in First or Club.
    The current system of alphabetized working positions is stupid. It was invented (and it seems from what social media says, is the say so of the head of cabin safety though why he has that authority over brand and delivery I can not say, but that is typical of BA) It replaced the seniority system of the former legacy crews who merged in with another fleet that did not work on a seniority based system. Whipp (safety manager) published the rotations lists but they do not take into account in any way shape or form, how they affect the personal morale of the crew (many do like it, but they tend to be the ones who never had much choice to begin with) or how the level of service is affected. I know of a few people who have tried to bring this to BA attention but they are deaf to the words.
    There is no care or attention whatsoever to who works where in terms of service. As it stands it is more than probable that unpopular working positions such as running the club world galley are fobbed off onto someone at the end of that month’s list who might not have done the job for 6 months or more. But the same could be said of a cabin position in either F or CW. Satisfying the beloved union and making someone’s job in an office (such as Whipp) easier is the best goal of our management. An online position request system was invented for the A380 (which in normal times has 22 crew) but extending that to all long haul flights seems to be a puzzle too much for cabin crew management. That was a simple request system which the IFM could print before briefing and more or less have that admin done quickly and easily satisfying most if not all of the crew preferences. Again, there is no consideration to having the best people in the best positions. Your article focus is on premium cabins but the best people in the best positions also mean that the person in the middle seat at 55E or somewhere also stands a nice change of having a good experience. Perhaps Michele you could use your influence to get this changed by way of your blog before the one tray starters are actioned! Would you or your readers prefer a generally more wholesome and enjoyable experience or just a bigger piece of avocado?!! (I ask that flippantly but I do mean it too !!!)
    I know I have given up completely on trying to talk to them.

    4. Service Levels
    We do try. There will always be someone who lets the side down, but the position system (above) is directly responsible for many of the failings. We are at an extremely low morale level right now and I think rock bottom is still some way down. Mixed flying (long haul and short haul) is not suiting everyone but there are two main obstacles in getting that ratio fixed. Again, IFCE management are not working on either in any meaningful way.
    One – the working blocks can be physically exhausting. 8 sectors on our cramped under facilitated A320Neo on days 1-3 before boarding an A350 (with the above noted handicaps) to go to Chicago for instance is too much. Similarly, a 20 sectors 5 bay block with 2 days off and the Las Vegas is also killing.
    Two – Management with every excuse in the book continually delay and stall restoring our crew swap facility. This name doesn’t really do the function good in the public eye when they hear about it because it sounds like I show up and give you a bad service to Las Vegas because I would rather have swapped and gone to Maldives. But it is so much more than that. It is automated facility that allows swaps of trips, leave, days off to afford crew a balance between the demands of the job and homelife. Currently our options and choices are almost zero.

    1. Thanks for your very comprehensive reply. I can imagine the current working conditions are pretty poor with reduced crew and unhappy passengers. I am due to meet with one of the senior managers at BA soon so I’ll make sure to include your comments. Totally agree with the best people in the best places. And yes they can’t fit a bigger starter on the tray but there are definitely some that are better like the burrata back from the US which is more substantial and akin to what it used to be. I remember when you used to get a side salad and a starter!

    2. Thank you for this. Its useful to have some insight as to what is going on “behind the scenes” that are not necessarily apparent to those who arent crew.

18. Fully concur with my colleague Monica. I am part time (75%) and haven’t ever had first choice of working position and when I look at the calendar of alphabet change versus my week off, I probably won’t see first choice. My favourite positions are First or Club World, which I have done on my seniority as I have been there 35 years. Matt Whipp would argue that it is safety related to keep rotating but I think it is juvenile to believe everything is at risk because someone hasn’t been (number 7, say on a 777) for X amount of time and has “forgotten” where the infant life jackets are. Maybe that was experience at Virgin before he came to BA. A number of us have written to him but any response on changing the system or even adapting it slightly to take the matters you (Michele and others) have raised is that it is a “trial” and that it is negotiated with BASSA and so taking the position that it is inflexible and more or less the bible going forward. This position system is Wrong For The Customer apart from morale.

    There is a workshop being set up for crew to collaborate in Club World changes that are on the horizon but the impression I got when I emailed and asked about joining was that things focus on a new meal order form, because in BA logic, anything that can be written down to “capture customer preferences” (his words) is much better than actually changing things at a most basic level to get the whole thing right. So I withdrew interest. I have seen too many upstarts making changes that end up being scrapped.

    Good luck with your management meeting Michele, it would be well appreciated if you made a post on the subject because as you can see some of us have to take our problems to outside sources to TRY and make changes that our customers want. No one is listening at BA. No one.

19. Like Monica, I am crew as well. I’ve been an Onboard Manager for over three decades.

    A few points I’d like to comment on

    One Tray service – Despite what anyone says, this is down to staff shortages, nothing else. I can understand why it’s went that way but in my opinion the full service could be reinstated. It would mean removing a proper full size starter and putting a main course in its place. Not exactly hard work.

    Working Positions – As an Onboard Manager, I have to work the same position every trip and have for years now, however when it comes to my cabin crew, I want my most experienced crew dealing with my customers who are paying a small fortune to fly in our premium cabins. I want to make clear this is not just about knowing how to set up a First Class table or presenting wine in Club World, ( although that’s another story) its about how you interact with our Premium customers and the conversations you have with them. Our previous Seniority based system allowed those very crew members who’d been flying for a long time to utilise their experience in any cabin they chose. Not all crew who’d done 20 or 30 years always worked in First or Club. Some went to work In World Traveller as that was just where they liked to work. This system allowed relatively inexperienced crew to gain confidence in dealing with customers before progressing on to the cabins nearer the front of the aircraft. The decision to get rid of this system, in my opinion, has been commercial suicide. My heart sinks when I’ve got four or five really eager, experienced crew in the briefing room ready to work in Club or First but because their surname begins with A, B or C, I can’t utilise their experience. It’s a real shame. I used to be as proud as punch working in Club and now it’s a sheer embarrassment.

    As mentioned above, no managers in IFCE ( Inflight Customer Experience) seem to be listening. It’s fed back and fed back but nothing gets done. I regularly read Flyertalk to see what our customers are liking and not liking onboard and inexperience in our premium cabins seems to be a recurring theme.

    The really sad thing is that some crew that used to be on top form are now getting so dismayed onboard that they are giving up and their performance is now being questioned. So sad.

    Michelle, I was delighted to read you could possibly have a meeting with a senior manager from BA. I am not sure if this is someone from the Board or someone from IFCE, but I would be grateful if you could let them know actually what’s going on onboard our aircraft.

    I am saddened that we now have to communicate with our IFCE management through seomeone like yourself.

    Michael.

20. There is nothing to suggest that Heathrow Cabin Crew will be any different from Mixed Fleet in that the turnover is still going to be high. When I started flying it was a career supported by salary, perks and roster types. That isn’t so any more, and a 20 year old new starter is unlikely to still be here in 5 years time. Seniority, which could be rebranded to make it more palatable for some, along with some tweaks, is what serves the customer.
    I already see a fairly diverse spread of staff numbers and if I review my last 10 ABS sheets (briefing) I would say although I come out fairly highly I came out on top 4 times, 6 times within the top 4.
    I am not a disciple of the service standards it is fair to say, because they were OK years back before Club World went so premium heavy and we had the people, space and equipment to support what desk jockeys at Waterside want now and are often impractical in delivery to the written word.
    We don’t want to put pressure on you Michele to help us out but you and your readers are in a far better position than any of us now.

21. Shock ~ Horror! Are you all telling me that I can’t drink the wonderful Otard VSOP Cognac anymore on any flight? As an ex restaurateur we used to only stock this brand, which is a wonderful small cognac house, and was always one of the best selections in BA Club [XO in First]………
    The port was always the best on BA., [for god’s sake it’s one of the most British gastronomic habits like scones & clotted cream etc.,] to be promoted by BA. I do hope their management are reading this, as they can’t let things slip any further, and as you all so accurately state, how far can you dilute the product in the cabin, which will eventually drive us all away to use other airlines who originally copied BA?!?!

22. Hi Michele.
    What to expect at your meeting depending on who you meet.

    1. Crew Swap – Amy James (Head of IFCE) will tell you about systems sitting on top of systems that must all tally up and can only do so when our flying agreement is fully in place or when everyone is converted to integrated flying but there will be nothing we haven’t heard for 18 months that doesn’t keep delaying things.
    They will tell you that we have Facebook to use as an interim system – the same people who police those pages for references to the company suddenly find it ok to have crew place their entire schedule into a not (really really) secret group domain. Thanks Amy.
    Crew Swap was a promise made when the new fleet started and is about 18 months in the works now. It allows people to do more than just trade trips. It helps people live their lives around irregular hours.

    2. Working Positions – Matt Whipp (Head of Safety) will tell you it’s a trial, that it’s negotiated with the unions (which seems to make things stick fast into concrete and never get reviewed) He (or they) will quote Naomi Butchers (Head of cabin crew development) who told us two days that “we are the best in the business”. Subtext: Everyone is equal, every one has the same skills, interests and awareness so everyone can and will work in any position. Amy will tell you how she is averse to seniority. Tom Stevens (Head of Brand and customer experience) will tell you that Amy and her team have it all under constant surveillance.
    Tom Stevens is also the man who in reference to Willie Walsh having mentioned BA and how it can be split out of IAG said that Willie had no insider information and had left the business. The man who was here for many years and was a founding figure in IAG has no inside information. OK Tom whatever gets you through the day.

    3. On board service.
    Sajida Ismail (head of inflight product) won’t say anything because she never responds to anything. The woman who came from JetAirways via Gulf Air and Etihad product delivery thinks hand running everything on our huge club world cabins is a great way to go. Ask her when last she worked to LAS or DXB and tried to juggle that mess and come out looking like… Etihad.
    That brings me back to alphabetized working positions. A few weeks ago a customer asked me (as I passed by from Door 1 back to Door 5 on the 77H) to tell my colleague to stop calling his wife Babes. (Sweet girl, really the kindest intentions but surname letter got her a spot in First Class.
    4. Service related problems resulting from poor rostering
    Brian Lewis (Operations Resource Manager) will tell you he doesn’t understand the problems we talk of because bidding is so successful. He uses the Caribbean as his bench mark for bid success. Everyone on those flights bid for it as the most popular routes so of course the request ratio is going to be high.

    Lastly if it’s Sean Doyle you meet, be kind to him because he is the only person who has actually stood up and said that things must be better and that the results of Reality Check are difficult reading. But please tell him these things we have all said here. Perhaps ask him how crew can get behind the leadership who are responsible for where we are.
    Our customers need a better deal and we are on our knees.

Comments are closed.