ba a380 world traveller upper deck

• British Airways >
• Planes & Seat Maps >
• Airbus A380-800 (388)

British Airways Seat Maps

• Airbus A318 (318)
• Airbus A319 (319) Domestic Layout 1
• Airbus A319 (319) Domestic Layout 2
• Airbus A319 (319) Domestic Layout 3
• Airbus A319 (319) European
• Airbus A320 (320) Domestic Layout 1
• Airbus A320 (320) Domestic Layout 2
• Airbus A320 (320) European
• Airbus A321 (321) Domestic
• Airbus A321 (321) European
• Airbus A321 (321) International
• Airbus A321neo (321) Layout 1
• Airbus A321neo (321) Layout 2
• Airbus A350-1000 (351)
• Boeing 747-400 (744) Layout 1
• Boeing 747-400 (744) Layout 2
• Boeing 777-200 (772) Four Class
• Boeing 777-200 (772) Gatwick Three Class
• Boeing 777-200 (772) Three Class Layout 1
• Boeing 777-200 (772) Three Class Layout 2
• Boeing 777-200 (772) Three Class Layout 3
• Boeing 777-300 (773)
• Boeing 787-10 (781)
• Boeing 787-8 (788)
• Boeing 787-9 (789)
• Embraer E-170 European
• Embraer E-170 UK Domestic
• Embraer E-190 European
• Embraer E-190 UK Domestic

Seating details Seat map key

Traveler photos (95).

In-flight amenities

This aircraft features AVOD (Audio Video on Demand) at every seat with 120 CD's and several radio programs, including the BBC. A USB and RCA interface is provided in each class, allowing passengers to play music or watch videos from their own entertainment device on their inflight television. Enhanced earphones are provided in First, Club World and World Traveller Plus. Headphones are also complimentary in World Traveller.

This aircraft features AVOD (Audio Video on Demand) at every seat with a wide variety of movies, television and short entertainment programs. A USB and RCA interface is provided in each class, allowing passengers to play music or watch videos from their own entertainment device on their inflight television. Enhanced earphones are provided in First, Club World and World Traveller Plus. Headphones are also complimentary in World Traveller. 

All seats have a 110V AC power port socket, which accept UK or US plugs. USB ports are also available at each seat. Read our  guide to in-seat laptop power  for more information.

British Airways offers a variety of complimentary food and beverages, based on the time of day and departure location. An enhanced meal service is offered to Club Europe passengers. Click here for more information about food offered onboard.

British Airways has twelve Airbus A380s on order and with the first ones entering service in 2012.  The A380 will replace some of BA’s Boeing 747-400 planes that are being retired and fly on high demand long-haul routes such as London to Los Angeles and Hong Kong.  British Airways has configured their A380 in four classes of service:  First, Club World (Business), World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy), and World Traveller (Economy). The plane comes equipped with on-demand audio and video systems for all seats.   

All A and K seats in Economy may have slightly restricted legroom and limited underseat storage space due to the presence of an electronic equipment box. 

Featured user comments

Read user reviews for British Airways Airbus A380-800 (388)

See all featured user comments

Seat map key

• Be Aware - See comments
• Mixed Review
• Standard seat
• Blocked seat
• Premium seat
• Emergency exit

British Airways flies 1 versions of Airbus A380.

Please choose the correct version from the list:

SeatGuru was created to help travelers choose the best seats and in-flight amenities.

• Our Bloggers

Select Page

Review: British Airways A380 World Traveller Basic – LHR to SFO

Posted by Family Flys Free | Jan 30, 2020 | Flight Reviews , Reviews and Reports | 0

It’s been nearly 12 years since I’ve flown British Airways, since my first trip to Great Britain back in 2008. I was traveling with family friends, and the person leading the whole endeavor insisted that we fly nonstop on British Airways from San Francisco to London. I wasn’t in any place to argue at the time, although I might now, given how much more travel and flight booking experience I have. Nonstop flights are nice, but not if they come at a significant premium.

All I recall from the flight was that it was uneventful. At least until we were on descent and my good friend started vomiting. The flight attendants did their best to help, disposing of multiple airsickness bags. His heaves continued even as we made our way onto the tube. What a welcome to London!

With that experience in the (distant) rear-view mirror, I was excited to be flying Britain’s flag carrier again. This trip had me booked in British Airways A380 World Traveller basic rather than flying a classic 747-400 like I had on that first trip. But I’m not dismayed. A journey on the Queen is planned for later this year.

I booked the economy itinerary as an open-jaw trip. The outbound itinerary would take me home to California after spending a very enjoyable but brief 40 hours in Barcelona . I have yet to fly the “return”, which is an outbound itinerary to Copenhagen later this year.

This might not make a lot of sense, but as one-way economy tickets were going for $221 nonstop to the Bay Area (without food or seat selection), spending $381 (as 25,433 Chase Ultimate Rewards through the travel portal) wasn’t bad for a return ticket. This trick of booking a return flight from Europe is an interesting strategy I’ve written about before.

The flight booked through Chase/Expedia would earn me a mere 1,878 American AAdvantage miles. I considered crediting it to Alaska, but the itinerary is actually booked as a Finnair codeshare, which does not credit to Alaska. The basic fare meant that I did not get a free checked bag. This is really the only real difference between the two fare types.

Arrival at Heathrow

I was connecting to my British Airways A380 World Traveller basic long-haul flight from Barcelona on another British Airways flight. We arrived slightly late, which meant I had to go tearing through Heathrow, desperately trying to make my fairly tight connection. We were also without catering on that A320 basic economy experience , so I really wanted to grab a bite to eat. 

It took me until 2:00 PM to arrive at Terminal on the bus. This was a mere five minutes prior to scheduled boarding time. The problem is, you have to clear security again.

This went smoother than expected, and I had just enough time to grab a sandwich before joining the Group 3 line, which had just started boarding. I was able to put my Oneworld Ruby status to use again, boarding in an earlier group than most economy passengers. Per Trent, The Flight Detective , British Airways is likely the only carrier that offers priority boarding benefits to Oneworld Ruby members. It’s not a published perk. 

Boarding and Departure

British Airways welcomed us on board by relaxing classical music and dim lighting. The lighting was poor enough to make it difficult to get decent photos with my phone. But I snapped a couple of the cabin late in the boarding process.

It was nice to get settled before the onslaught of people making their way to the back economy cabin of the A380. I’m always in awe of this gigantic aircraft. The cabin is so spacious, and it’s incredible that there are two complete floors.

I’ve flown both upper and lower cabin on the A380 on other occasions, but this was my first time with British Airways. Some carrier put their entire business class cabin on the upper deck, with the main deck reserved for primarily economy. British Airways has an interesting mix on each deck, with First, Club World, and World Traveller on the main deck, and Club World, World Traveller Plus, and World Traveller on the upper deck. 

I’d hoped that I’d end up with a seat or two next to me, but the back of the cabin filled up until all but two seats were occupied. The gentleman in front of me was re-seated in a bulkhead seat, which was a major plus for him, as he was roughly 6-foot-four. 

The captain provided a full rundown on the route we’d be taking, noting each country and/or landmark we’d be passing. The flight time from London to San Francisco was estimated at 10 hours and 20 minutes. We’d take a very northerly route.

Our A380 didn’t push back until 3:35, over a half hour late. The delay was due to a luggage conveyor malfunction from what I understood, plus the difficulty of loading the bags in the rain. This made me even more glad I hadn’t checked my bag. Plus, checking a bag on a British Airways World Traveller basic fare comes with a steep fee. 

The safety video was a highlight. It’s rare that I can say that about any carrier, but British Airways manages to make it both humorous and chock full of famous British celebrities. It features Michael Cain and Ian McKellan, among others. It’s perfect. Definitely the best safety video I’ve ever seen.

British Airways A380 Economy Seat

British Airways A380 economy offers a fairly typical long haul seat with reasonable padding and 31 inches of pitch. Although flying on the upper deck may sound appealing, I’m fairly sure that the upstairs seats aren’t as wide as the economy seats on the lower deck. At over 18 inches wide, they offer a reasonable amount of room.

I was seated in 38H, an aisle seat in the rear section on the lower deck. I had not opted to select my seat ahead of time, as British Airways charges a fee. The aisle seat assignment was welcome. While I generally prefer a window for the view, being able to get up without disturbing anyone on a long-haul flight is my preference these days.

For the first time I can recall, I accidentally sat in the wrong seat. It was embarrassing to realize most of the way through boarding that I had parked my rear in 38G, right across the aisle from where I was supposed to be.

After moving across the aisle, I really hoped that the aircraft would be fairly empty and the window and middle seat would remain unoccupied. No such luck.

The seat pitch is standard for long-haul, and I had plenty of knee room. The area for your feet at the aisle seat is fairly narrow, but the upside is that you can stretch your legs into the aisle. British Airways A380 World Traveller seats do not offer footrests. This was my favorite feature of Air France A380 economy, which helped it stand out a bit.

I was glad that I didn’t select a window seat for this flight. The IFE box takes up a significant amount of the foot space. Your feet are pushed toward those of the person in the middle seat.

Each World Traveller economy seat has an headrest that adjust up and down. They are designed to cradle your head, but the “wings” do not adjust horizontally. I prefer the type that fold in and cradle your head more closely.

At each seat were the typical pillow, blanket and headphones for a long-haul flight. I used the pillow more for lumbar support than anything, as I couldn’t ever get comfortable trying to use it with the headrest.

The in-flight entertainment system is touch screen, but British Airways also offers an IFE controller. Next to this is a USB outlet for charging your small devices. There are universal power outlets under the seats for your laptop. Flying long-haul without power in this day and age would be rough. 

The tray table is a fold out design that lets you use it in either half or full configuration.

You might think that all long-haul economy seats are the same. This is true on the surface, as most offer roughly the same amount of space. However, there are subtle differences between products, such as as the overly firm cushion noted in Xiamen Air 787-9 economy , or the presence of a footrest in Air France A380 economy .

I find the British Airways A380 economy seat to be reasonably comfortable, with decent recline for a long-haul product and sufficient padding. It isn’t the best economy seat I’ve enjoyed, but I consider it on the better end of the spectrum. I’d certainly opt for an aisle seat on the lower deck like I did, as these offer greater width and you avoid the awkwardly placed under-seat IFE server.

British Airways Economy Meal Service

There were no menus at the seat nor passed out early on in the flight. I find it nice that some carriers offer you a menu even in economy, giving you a heads up as to what is offered. The economy meal service started about 45 minutes after takeoff with pretzels and drinks. Sparkling wine is my go-to these days, and I thought the one offered by British Airways was delicious.

Dinner wasn’t served until about 45 minutes later. There were two options: tandoori chicken with basmati rice or pasta. As Indian food is about as British as you can get, this seemed the better choice. 

The sides were a couscous salad, bread, “crunch nuts”, and a chocolate and seaside salt pudding along with cheese and crackers. Overall, I was fairly impressed by the economy class meal. Everything tasted quite good. 

The one annoyance was that the tray kept trying to slide off the tray table. There was a very light amount of turbulence at this point. I hate to think what things would be like if it was even more choppy. British Airways needs to rethink their tray material. 

Flight attendants returned offering coffee and tea service after dinner. I opted for tea, although there are reasons why you may want to pass on both. Trays picked up around 18:30 London time, about 2.5 hours after we’d departed Heathrow. 

In-Flight Entertainment

British Airways A380 economy seats feature 9-inch IFE screens. They are not the newest nor largest for an economy product, but they certainly beat the screens you can still find on old aircraft like Delta’s 767s or Alitalia’s long haul fleet. The British Airways IFE can be used either as a touch screen or with the controller provided.

The in-flight entertainment options are reasonably extensive, with over 160 movie titles offered. There is a mix of blockbuster Hollywood films, some eastern cinema, and of course some classic British films, such as Sense and Sensibility and Shakespeare in Love. Some notable surprises (in my opinion) among the older films included Little Shop of Horrors and The Quiet Man.

There are a decent number of family films. The IFE has a Disney section, and there are a dozen options including several Pixar movies. Beyond the family titles, there are plenty of games for the kids. You can of course also turn on the flight tracker. 

Even though the headphones provided are cheap, both left and right headphone channels worked. Half the time the cheap headphones airlines give you seem to only provide low-quality sound to one ear. On a noisy aircraft, this is less than ideal. These days, I’ve taken to bringing my wired Bose noise-canceling headphones. 

One final note on the screens: they don’t allow you to easily see what the person next to you is watching, which is nice.

This British Airways did not offer WiFi. My understanding is that they have added WiFi to their long-haul fleet, including their Airbus A380s, but there was no signal. Either this Airbus hasn’t been configured yet, or it was disabled. 

Mid-Flight Experience

Since I was returning from Europe, I opted to try to power through and stay awake the entire flight. Only being gone couple days meant that I wouldn’t really be adjusted to Europe time anyway. I wasn’t quite successful, as I finally decided to nap for an hour. 

The economy seats have a reasonable amount of recline, but as I mentioned before, I’m not fond of the headrest design. It was hard to find a position where my neck wouldn’t become uncomfortable after just 10 minutes. Head and neck comfort is always the biggest issue trying to sleep in economy, at least for me. My neck gets stiff in no time at all. I unfortunately forgot my Trtl Travel Pillow.

About four hours into the flight, we hit moderate turbulence. The cabin was kept dark so folks could sleep, and the FAs made their checks with flashlights. Half an hour later they served ice cream to everyone in the dark. 

I did have a chat with the lady behind me. She had constant “restless leg syndrome” and kept vibrating my seat, as her knee was pushed up against it. She finally found a position that was comfortable that didn’t constantly jostle me but didn’t seem happy that when I asked her to stop shaking the seat. 

Late in the flight I got up and walked for a while. I wanted to head up to the upper deck via the back staircase, but there was a gate in place to prevent traffic up the stairs. I checked an hour later, and it was still there. My guess is British Airways keeps this in place, which is a bummer.

The crew were attentive to the lavatories, keeping them clean through the trip. Airplane bathrooms are already fairly gross due to the cramped quarters, and if not kept clean, they are really gross.

Second Service and Arrival into SFO

The second meal service was served with a little less than two hours left in our flight. It was a substantial step down from the first meal service, with a pizza stick as the main offering. The first meal gets good marks. I wish I could have passed on this one, but I was quite hungry at this point.

The crew were friendly and pleasant during the whole flight, cheerfully serving meals and drinks.

As expected, we made up some time along the way, landing at 6:20 PM. It was very nice to have Global Entry, as most of a full A380 had already entered the immigration queue. Even so, there was a line for the GE kiosks, but I still managed to make it all the way through in 15 minutes. 

Transatlantic World Traveller Basic: The Verdict

British Airways A380 World Traveller basic is a fine way to cross the Atlantic, and one that I would happily repeat. If you do not need a checked bag, the savings on the ticket are worth it. The seats are reasonably comfortable, the IFE options sufficient, and the crew pleasant. The food service was a mixed bag, roughly average for long-haul economy travel. I’ve had both better and worse.

The return segment of this itinerary is coming up this spring, this time on one of British Airways’ iconic Boeing 747-400 aircraft. Hopefully the experience is at least as good!

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.

You have successfully subscribed, review: british airways a380 world traveller (economy class).

Summary British Airways A380 economy is a fine long-haul option, offering reasonably comfortable seats, good IFE options, average food, and pleasant crew.

Check-In, Boarding and Airport Experience

Seat comfort, meal catering and service, in flight entertainment and wifi, crew professionalism and friendliness, overall value, family flys free.

After igniting his passion for award travel while planning his honeymoon, Ian now enjoys using points and miles to see the world with his wife and three internationally adopted kiddos. He loves dissecting loyalty programs to find maximum value. His goal is to demonstrate that extraordinary travel is possible for the ordinary family. When he's not chronicling his latest adventures with his kids, you might catch him musing over the ever-changing travel industry or complaining about the woes of regional flights.

More Posts from Family Flys Free

From Two to Five: Taking Travel to New Heights With Family

June 27, 2019

Uh-Oh: Second Deadly Flaw Found on the 737MAX

Get Free Southwest WiFi With This One Credit Card

June 30, 2019

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Most Popular Posts

Our Authors

The Unaccompanied Flyer

Travel Gadget Reviews

The Flight Detective

Takeoff To Travel

The Hotelion

Bucket List Traveler

MJ on Travel

The Points Pundit

Maple Miles

Recent reviews.

• Six Passengers in Two Business Class Seats in Gulf Air Score: 90%
• Review: Hyatt Place Waikiki Score: 83%
• Review: Hyatt Centric Waikiki Score: 81%
• Gulf Air Business Class from Mumbai to Bahrain Score: 65%
• Hyatt Place Harrisonburg Review: It Has a Rooftop Restaurant?! Score: 89%

• [ May 17, 2024 ] How to book The Residence, Etihad’s A380 three-room suite? Uncategorized
• [ May 15, 2024 ] Review: The St Regis Kanai Resort (Riviera Maya, Mexico) Hotels reviews
• [ May 13, 2024 ] Top 10 best St Regis Hotels & Resorts in the world Top 10 lists
• [ May 10, 2024 ] Tips for booking & saving money at Belmond Hotels Travel tips
• [ May 8, 2024 ] Review: Maroma, a Belmond Hotel, Riviera Maya (Mexico) Uncategorized

Review: British Airways A380 Business Class from London to Miami

Wednesday  newsletters  always feature a  hotel  or  flight  review.

Today (February 17, 2021): British Airways A380 Business Class from London to Miami

Early 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic forced international travel to shut down. While in lockdown, I ‘discovered’ some unpublished material of flight clips and photos on my computer, recorded over the past years. Since most of us miss flying longhaul, I decided to upload some of it on my YouTube channel and my travel blog (despite the so-so quality of the footage) to boost our morale in times of never-ending travel restrictions (it almost feels like 2021 is worse than 2020 for travelers).

In spring 2019, I flew with British Airways in Business Class (dubbed ‘Club World’ by the carrier) onboard an Airbus A380 from London to Miami. The A380 is British Airways’ largest wide-body plane and flagship aircraft. The airline has 12 A380s in its fleet, which have remained grounded for the duration of the pandemic. Contrary to other airlines, British Airways still considers the A380 to be a valued part of its fleet and has currently no plans to retire the jumbojets. In fact, the airline is currently finalizing details for their A380 cabins to be retrofitted with the new terrific Business Class seats that you find on the carrier’s A350 and retrofitted Boeing 777s (meaning an excellent 1-2-1 layout in Club World, with direct aisle access and sliding doors for all passengers).

While I am still impressed by the A380 (and feel honored every time I can fly in one), I was not impressed by the Business Class service provided by British AIrways on this flight (e.g. mediocre food and broken seat features). That said, since I took this flight, British Airways has dramatically stepped up its game with the introduction of new and impressive service concepts (e.g. catering, bedding, etc …), which I wrote about in this trip report featuring a British Airways flight from the Seychelles to London.

Have you ever flown with British Airways? If so, what was your experience? Leave a comment .

• Trip : London (LHR) to Miami (MIA)
• Airline : British Airways
• Aircraft type : Airbus A380
• Aircraft registration number : G-XLEI
• On time departure : Yes (1.30 pm)
• On time arrival : Yes (6 pm)
• Miles : 4410 miles
• Flight time : 9 hours and 30 minutes
• Class : Business Class (Club World)

In this review (more information & photos below my YouTube video):

• Cost of my ticket
• Business Class cabin
• Business Class seat (+ best & worst seats)
• Amenities & bedding
• Entertainment
• Onboard internet
• Other inflight experiences
• My verdict (score)

1. COST OF MY TICKET

I paid this one-way ticket with miles. Total price: 57,500 AAdvantage miles (= American Airlines miles) + $150 USD. Read my review of AAdvantage here .

I have previously reviewed the British Airways Lounge at London Heathrow Airport here .

3. BUSINESS CLASS CABIN

British Airways’ Airbus A380 has a total of 469 seats: 14 seats in First (which I reviewed here ), 97 in Club World (Business Class), 55 in World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy), and 303 in World Traveller (Economy). The 97 Business Class seats are spread over 3 cabins: one on the lower deck (between First and Economy Class) and two on the upper deck in the plane’s front section (with a galley in between them). The lower cabin contains 44 seats, while the two, more intimate upper deck cabins contain 25 and 28 seats respectively. All 3 Business Class cabins offer a sophisticated and contemporary atmosphere, giving a reassuring sense of wellbeing and comfort.

On the lower deck of the A380, the cabin has a 2-4-2 layout (similar to what is found on British Airways’ B777s). On the smaller upper deck, the cabin has a 2-3-2 layout, so there is more space for fewer passengers. All Business Class seats are arranged in an innovative “Ying/Yang” layout which   is unique to British Airways: window and middle seats face backwards, while aisle seats face forwards. Because of this unique concept, passengers seated in seated in a backward facing seat may have to jump over another passenger’s legs to reach the aisle.

For a seating plan of British Aiways’ A380, click  here .

4. BUSINESS CLASS SEAT (+ BEST & WORST SEATS)

The British Airways A380 Business Class (‘Club World’) seat is located within its own cocoon or suite. It has a pitch of 72 inches (182 cm) and a seat cushion width of 20 inches (50 cm). In front of the seat is a foot rest, which needs to be manually tilted in order to use it for comfort or as an extension of the flatbed. The angle of maximum seat recline is 180 degrees, and the overall length of seat when fully reclined into a flat-bed is a 6 ft (183 cm). The seat also has a reclined Z-position for relaxing and watching films in a near-recumbent position.

Each seat has its own private entertainment screen, which swings out from the suite’s side wall. With 12 inches or 20 cm, the screen is considerably larger compared to the TVs you find on British Airways’ older wide body planes. The screen tilts up and down, so watching the entertainment selection from the near or fully flat-bed position is perfectly possible. A decently sized tray table (18×14 inches or 45×35 cm) with bi-fold design is located below the screen. This side of the suite wall also features a power port, the seat controls, a handset for the inflight entertainment, and – at floor level – a storage compartment that can be used to stow away your shoes during the flight.

One of the most talked about (and unpopular) features of British Airways’ Business Class is the retractable privacy divider between adjoining seats. This screen can be lowered or raised, depending on the fact whether you are traveling solo or with a companion. The divider needs to be lowered during the safety briefing, and in addition, the crew will also lower it when they serve you meals & drinks; this can feel very awkward when you are seated next to a stranger because you are directly looking at him/her.

The main question is how to choose the best Business Class seat onboard the British Airways A380? Using this seat plan helps to understand the information outlined below:

• The two upper deck cabins feel more intimate as compared to the larger cabin on lower deck (because they contain less seats), so choose an upper deck seat. In addition, the upper deck is higher above the massive Rolls Royce engines and thus quieter.
• For solo travelers: the rear facing, window seats are more private and the ones you want to be seated in. In addition, the seats on the upper deck have a couple of side lockers, which are very useful for storing personal items.
• For solo travelers: if you cannot secure a window seat, your next best choice is the middle seat in the 2-3-2 upper deck configuration as it has an extra storage compartment. Note that you will have to step over the feet of the passengers either side unless you are in the rearmost row (in each cabin).
• For couples: the “honeymoon” center seats on the lower deck, where you’re basically seated as close to the person next to you as you would be in economy, are great if you’re traveling with someone you want to be that close to, though it would be downright awkward when you end up next to a stranger in that configuration.

What are the  best Business Class seats on British Airways’ A380?

• Row 53 (upper deck, front cabin): the window seats A & K are the single best seats on the plane since they offer direct aisle access without having to jump over the feet of other passengers. While the window seats on row 15 (lower deck) and row 59 (upper deck) also offer a clear exit route, they are less than desirable (cf below).
• The middle seat in the 2-3-2 upper deck configuration on rows 53 and 59 not only has an extra storage compartment, but also offers direct aisle access.

What are the  worst Business Class seats on British Airways’ A380?

• Row 50 (upper deck, front cabin): the windows seats A & K are missing a window.
• Row 50 (upper deck, front cabin): aisle seats B & J are to be avoided at all costs since other flyers tend to bump into these seats when they return from the lavatory.
• Row 59 (upper deck, second cabin): the Club World seats A, B, J & K are aligned with the middle seats of the first row in World Traveller Plus, which means that you are an aisle width and just a cloth curtain away from the baby bassinets against the cabin divider on the other side.
• Row 56 (upper deck, second cabin: the Club World seats F, J & K are located close to the lavatory, which may be bothersome to some flyers.
• Row 15 (lower deck): the Club World seats A, B, J & K are located close to the lavatory, which may be bothersome to some flyers.

BUSINESS CLASS SEAT: FLAT BED POSITION

5. AMENITIES & BEDDING

I received the following amenities on this British Airways A380 longhaul flight:

• An amenity kit, which was presented a drawstring bag (one for men and one for women) designed to double up as a shoe or lingerie and underwear bag. Both the men and women’s versions included Elemis spa products (moisturizer and lip balm), as well as an eyeshade, earplugs, socks, toothbrush, toothpaste and a pen for filling out arrivals forms.
• Sleeping amenities, which included a thin blanket and a decently sized pillow
• Noise-cancelling headphones

Upon boarding, I was offered a welcome drink (choice between a glass of Champagne, water, or orange juice). Shortly after take-off, I received a hot towel (with a disappointing texture). I was also served a soft drink (with ice & lemon) and a small bag with an assortment of cold salted & roasted nuts. Soon thereafter, lunch was offered (served on a single tray). I choose the following selection from the menu:

• Starter: Rosary Ash goat’s cheese mousse with pickled vegetable salad and samphire
• Main course: Chettinad chicken with coriander rice and tadka dal
• Duo of desserts: Mango & chocolate tower + berry cheesecake with raspberry compote

90 minutes prior to landing, I was served afternoon tea. I am not a big fan of British Airways’ afternoon tea & snacks concept (especially not of the sandwiches served in a plastic container), and it was not different this time. The afternoon tea service comprised the following items:

• Sandwiches featuring sliced British pastrami with Emmental cheese, gherkin and mayonnaise dressing; oak and apple smoked salmon with lemon and crème fraîche dressing; and sliced French brie with caralamized onion chutney, apollo lettuce, and mayonnaise.
• Sweets featuring buttermilk and fruit scones served warm with clotted cream and strawberry preserves, Victioria cone, and chocolate and salted caramel fondant.

7. ENTERTAINMENT

The British AIrways A380 Business Class seat is equipped with a private screen, two USB sockets, a power port, and a video RCA connection for your camcorder, DVD player or camera. The private screen (12 inches or 20 cm) swings out from the side of the suite’s cabin wall, and it also tilts up and down, so watching the entertainment selection from the near or fully flat-bed position is perfectly possible. The in-flight entertainment offers dozens of movies and box sets, alongside a range of other content, including an interactive flight map and chat sessions with other passengers (so if you fancy striking up a conversation with someone six rows or even a cabin away, now is your chance).

8. ONBOARD INTERNET

Unfortunately, WiFi was not available on this flight. British Airways is currently rolling out WiFi across its fleet and it is expected that 100% of the carrier’s aircraft will be connected by the end of this year. At present, there is no way of knowing for certain if your flight will have WiFi (you will only be notified once on board a connected flight).

9. OTHER INFLIGHT EXPERIENCES

# CREW : As always, the British Airways cabin crew did a terrific job. I am a huge fan of the carrier’s crew, which ranks among the most experienced in the air. Pilots and cabin crew have an average of 15 years’ experience. That is a reassuring thought for a nervous flyer like myself .

# BAR : Contrary to other airliners, British Airways did not install a fancy bar on its A380s for premium flyers. Why would they when they can pack the plane with paying passengers? Nevertheless, the plane has a walk-up “Club Kitchen” onboard, where Business and First Class fliers can graze between meals. During this flight, the walk-up bar offered retro sweets, Cadbury chocolates, and Kettle chips.

# LAVATORY : the two A380 upper deck Business Class cabins have two lavatories in total: one between the two cabins, and two in the nose of the plane. The latter are pretty large. All lavatories were kept very clean during the flight.

10. MY VERDICT

• Seat comfort (upright): 8/10
• Seat comfort (bed position): 8/10
• Food (quality): 5/10
• Food (quantity): 6/10
• Inflight entertainment : 7/10
• WiFi: 0/10 (not available)
• Service: 9/10
• Cabin design: 8/10
• Overall experience: average 7/10

*** Follow me on  Instagram ,  YouTube ,  Twitter  or  Facebook  for a daily moment of travel inspiration ***

Share this:

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Click to print (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Related Articles

Top 10: most luxurious Airbus A380 First Class products

Monday newsletters always feature top 10 travel lists to inspire […]

Top 10 best airlines for longhaul Business Class

Monday newsletters always feature top 10 travel lists to inspire […]

Review: Edelweiss Air Airbus A340 Business Class from the Maldives to Zürich

Wednesday newsletters always feature a hotel or flight review. […]

I traveled from Johannesburg to London Heathrow in 2019 and I wasn’t impressed with business class no alcohol and for food it came in a cardboard box, a finger roll with a slice of cheese and a lettuce leaf,a bag of mini cheddars and a bottle of water, breakfast was no better.It was the last flight out of Johannesburg because of the pandemic but to be charged £3848 for 2seats in business class disgraceful.

It seems like you’re a moaner, change the airline or stay at home don’t waste the space with your comments

Thanks a ton, you helped a lot with seat selection!

Thank you Kenneth for your review. It helped a lot. Larry is an idiot

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

© The Luxury Travel Expert 2024

Discover more from the Luxury Travel Expert

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Type your email…

Continue reading

• BOOKING ENQUIRY
• Beginners guide
• Hotel reviews
• Flight reviews
• Airline Lounge Reviews
• Travel companies, luggage, travel tech & apps
• Destination Dining
• All other destinations
• Join our email list & data protection
• Youtube and Podcast
• Airport hotels
• American Airlines
• Black Friday 23
• British Airways
• British Airways Executive Club
• Business class
• competition
• Credit cards
• Destinations
• First class
• Heathrow and Gatwick
• London hotels
• Michelin star dining
• reader questions
• Reader review
• Star Alliance
• This Week in Travel
• UK country hotels
• Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

British Airways A380 Club World upper deck Review

• 15 October 2017

At the end of September Roving Reporter and I used our Lloyds Avios card upgrade vouchers to go to Las Vegas. He went direct on a B747 and I went on an A380 via San Francisco. Next week I will be comparing our journeys side by side with his B747 review.

BA ‘s A380 Club World has never been my favourite Club World cabin but it has been a couple of years since I flew in one. The last few times I have flown on the A380 it has been in First when they were still doing the tasting menu which I really enjoyed. Now that the tasting menu has been “enhanced” I thought I would try Club World again to see if I still had the same opinion.

I flew Heathrow to San Francisco which, along with all routes except New York JFK, still has the old Club World catering and bedding. If you want to read about the new Club World catering you can read my review here . The new service will be rolled out to all long-haul routes in 2018.

In this post:

I used the First Wing check-in area which is available to Gold Cardholders and First customers. If I had used the Club check-in, it has a separate area which is now fenced off and there was virtually no queue there on a mid-week morning.

At the First wing, I encountered possibly one of the most miserable individuals working for BA I have ever met. He said all the standard things with the enthusiasm of someone who had just been told they were going to be sacked! How this individual was allowed on First check-in I have no idea. After a very slow process to check-in my one bag I made my way into the lounge with zero wait at First security.

Lounge and Elemis Spa

The A380s go from the C Gates, so if you don’t have access to the First lounge, I would recommend the Galleries Club lounge at the B gates as this is usually quieter than the main lounges. You can read my review of all the T5 BA Club lounges here . I popped into the First lounge and enjoyed a glass of Bolney English Sparkling wine which BA has been serving on board in First for a while.

First order of business was the Elemis spa. I had arrived around 2.5 hours early but was still expecting there to not be a spot available. There was nothing available at the A gates but when I asked them to check the B gates spa they could do a massage providing I went straight there. I decided not to bother as I didn’t want to wait the whole time at the B Gates as I was planning on visiting Plane Food . I probed again as to whether they had chair massages available and they had several slots available. I chose one of these at 12.40pm, in about an hour’s time. If ever you can’t get an appointment, it is always worth checking the B Gates or asking if they have a chair massage available as I have never failed to get one of these.

When I returned for my massage I watched as 2 of the staff were having their photo taken with one of the customers, who turned out to be Pierce Brosnan! Unfortunately, in all their excitement they forgot about me and I was left sitting there for nearly 15 minutes until someone came to collect me. I was offered a warm wrap for my neck which I accepted and I actually really enjoyed the chair massage. When I came out the place was deserted so I was unable to get any samples to take away. The service was perfunctory at best by the therapist.

BA have been looking at the Spa as an area for improvement, so I can only hope that they have got something planned. My personal recommendation would be that they go for a similar style to the Virgin Clubhouse where you can get a free short treatment but pay for others. Hopefully, the revenue from these would allow them to invest in more therapists and better treatments.

Seat, cabin and service

The boarding area was fairly civilised when I arrived and I walked through the Priority boarding channel and then the doorway for the Upper deck, which was sign-posted by seat number. This led up a ramp to the Upper deck where I was greeted and directed to my seat. The cabin crew member looking after me was pretty good. He had a slight no-nonsense approach but he was very polite and proactive throughout the flight and I had no real complaints.

The Club World seats are set across 3 cabins on the A380, 2 upstairs and 1 downstairs. I went for 53K upstairs as it had direct aisle access and was a window seat with extra storage. The drawback with this seat is that it is by the galley and I could hear noise during the flight. As it was a day flight I had decided this wasn’t really an issue. Another good option can be row 59 A&K depending on whether the bassinet is being used in World Traveller Plus just behind them. I shall review those seats next weekend when I compare it to Roving Reporter’s B747 trip.

The seat and surrounding area were very clean and still felt new, even though BA has had the A380s for quite a while now. The main reason I didn’t like the A380 was still there – the narrow gaps between the seats. It was quite tight getting my case through the gap with the footstool, even though my case wasn’t that big.

Other than the tight gap I was pleased with my seat. There was a huge amount of room for my things and I love it when I can virtually empty my hand luggage into the side bins so I don’t have to get up for anything during the flight. I had 3 side bins and the usual drawer too. Unfortunately one of the bins decided to stick shut with my handbag and passport inside it at the start of the flight so once I had finally wrestled them free, I decided not to use that one again!

I found the seat comfortable and the footstool was definitely far more robust than some of the older aircraft ones which collapse easily. The seat covering looked smart in the stitched dark brown. I will cover the seat for sleeping in next week’s review.

The only negative I could find about being on the upper deck was the view wasn’t as good since the windows have 2 layers of glass that are far apart. They are also at an angle, as well as being slightly misaligned with the seat so you have to lean forward.

The usual pre-departure drinks were offered where I was cheeky and asked for water and Champagne, which wasn’t a problem.

After take off I was offered a washbag, menu and then a hot towel. The wash bag was still the Elemis one. The new White Company ones are due to launch shortly on JFK but it is unclear if they will roll any other routes out this year or wait until 2018 when the new service starts being delivered on other routes.

One of the things I really like about the A380 upper deck is the enormous toilet at the front. Perfect if you want to change into different clothes for a flight. You can see why some airlines have put in a shower!

Food and drink

Having sampled the new Club World food earlier in September I was expecting to be disappointed but actually, the food was better presented than previously and overall pretty good. I found the choice on the menu a bit disappointing as until they introduce the new beef cooking method with the new Club, I shall be steering clear of the shoe leather!

The service started as always with a drinks round which was delivered by hand. I would normally go for a glass of wine but since they had the same wines as my previous JFK trip, I decided to try the rosé Champagne. BA currently have 3 Champagnes available in Club which I never quite understand. Personally, I would rather have a dessert wine and less choice of Champagne. The Champagnes on offer were:

• Henriot Brut Soverain NV (served as pre-departure drink)
• Castelnau Brut Réserve NV
• Castelnau Brut Rosé NV

Since I have never got round to trying the Rosé, I thought I would give that a go. It was probably my favourite out of the BA Club Champagnes but I don’t know if I would bother with it again. I was offered a top up after about 10-15 minutes which was good .

I chose the prawn starter. The prawns were well cooked and not rubbery, although they could have perhaps done with a bit more of a kick from the cayenne and paprika for me. I thought that the seaweed somewhat overpowered the prawns and made it too salty. The plate looked good and was almost at restaurant standard presentation. I particularly enjoyed the side salad which came with deep-fried crisp fava bean slices and olives with an olive oil and Pedro Jimenez sherry vinegar dressing.

I had a glass of Chardonnay with the starter which was OK but I enjoyed the Malbec more. These were fairly typical BA wines retailing at around the £8-10 mark; reasonably enjoyable but nothing special.

Next came the chicken curry. Although not the most attractive looking dish, there is only so much you can do with a curry. The main thing was that it was very tasty and quite filling. I liked the fact that the naan bread had coriander on it and it hadn’t gone soggy or dried out during the cooking.

To finish I went for the cheese as usual so I could enjoy a glass of the new six Graham’s Six Grapes port, although the menu was still wrong. Here is the full drinks list:

The presentation didn’t look great but I enjoyed the cheeses which were a good size and both tasted very good quality. Although, I prefer the new Club cheese plate with it broader range and accompaniments.

Club Kitchen

Later in the flight, I went to have a look at the Club Kitchen since I haven’t included many photos before. As a longer flight, this had a pretty good selection of food. These included in the fridge: ice cream, yoghurts, fresh fruit, pasta salad, cakes, sandwiches and a hummus snack pack. Outside the fridge were salted caramel popcorn (my favourite), crisps, chocolate, fruit, drinks and wine.

Before landing another full meal was served. Often I don’t bother with this since I am still full from earlier. This time I decided to have it as I knew I had a fairly tight connection onto Vegas and wouldn’t get anything to eat again that day.

The menu was:

Although the starter sounded odd, it was actually very enjoyable and beautifully presented. The only thing I could criticise was having fava beans in 2 meals was a bit much. The dressing was particularly nice although I had an enormous battle to get it out of the bottle as it was very thick.

I then had the sandwich which was fairly small but that wasn’t an issue for me. Again, it tasted better than it looked. The dessert was rather odd though. A rather eclectic mix of fruit including redcurrants with some sort of sauce. I gave that a miss after a quick taste of the sauce.

Entertainment and charging

The screens on the A380 were good. The definition was much better than the older aircraft and there was a good selection of new and older films, TV shows and games. The only thing I think could be improved was the selection of music which seemed a bit random. I watched the Wizard of Lies about Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, which defrauded his clients of billions starring Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer. Although the film was interesting, it was also incredibly depressing, so it’s not one to watch if you want something light-hearted.

The controls were easy to use with a fairly standard remote and there was a USB and AV sockets for connecting your own equipment or charging. There was also a universal plug socket near floor level. This was useful as it meant I could charge 2 devices at once using the socket and USB. The usual noise cancelling headphones were supplied but I still prefer my own.

Overall I found this an enjoyable flight compared to some of the older BA aircraft I have been on. As you will know if you have read previous reviews, I, like many people, have been avoiding BA for long-haul flights after all the cost cutting and the lack of any new seats. BA are obviously investing money in their business class product again and are beginning to win me round, although I am not 100% there yet.

The seat was comfortable, everything was very clean and in good condition and the service was good. The food was all tasty and well presented. Having done the new service fairly recently it didn’t compare to that but I am beginning to come around to BA on routes where I can get an aisle access upper deck seat with extra storage once the new bedding and catering area in place.

Youn can find more information about BA’s A380’s on ba.com

Related Topics

• british airways executive club
• business class

Sky Suites at Aria hotel, Las Vegas review

• 14 October 2017

News: AA new bedding & EU compensation ruling

• 16 October 2017

Hi Michelle – first time in CW (JNB-LHR) would you recommend for a couple upper deck AB or JK? Presumably that’s nicer than a DE or EF combo? Thanks!

Hi Alex. The honeymoon seats in the lower deck are nice for couples as the seats are close together and quite private with the screens up although you will be eye to eye with a stranger for take off! The upper deck is a nicer experience with a small cabin in a 2-2 layout but as a couple you would be facing each other rather than side by side so depends on your preference

I am travelling to Johannesburg BA A380 and I want to travel light, as we are touring South Africa. My question is, will there be enough room in the overhead storage to accommodate my small (AWAY) carry -on case.. I do not want to have to check it in if I don’t have to. It will also save us time as our next flight to Cape Town only allows us 1 1/2 hours to make the connection?

Many thanks in advance for your help

I would say yes. If not the crew should find space for it somewhere as long as it’s within the permitted dimensions

Comments are closed.

Input your search keywords and press Enter.

Review: British Airways A380 World Traveller Economy — Johannesburg to London

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here .

In late-January, TPG Contributor Katie Genter completed an Austin (AUS) — Johannesburg (JNB) — Houston (IAH) mileage run in her quest to earn AA Executive Platinum status by June. For the third long-haul leg, she flew on a British Airways A380 from JNB to London-Heathrow (LHR). Here's her review of British Airways' World Traveller Economy product. (All photos are by the author).

I'd looked forward to flying on the world's largest commercial passenger aircraft — the Airbus A380 — for a long time and was thrilled to be able to book a British Airways A380 for this leg of my trip.

This review is part of a series of long-haul reviews from my AUS-JNB-IAH mileage run. As such, more of my booking details — like how I got British Airways to change my initial departure city for free — are available in my first long-haul review of American's 777-300ER Los Angeles (LAX) to London (LHR) in Main Cabin Extra .

For $804, I was able to obtain a cost of just 3.42 cents per mile by stretching the mileage of my run to 23,510 miles, and ended up earning 23,820 elite-qualifying miles and 49,640 redeemable miles (including 2,000 bonus miles from flying a transatlantic round-trip ). These redeemable miles are valued at about $745 under TPG's current valuation of 1.5 cents per AAdvantage mile.

I booked my mileage run using my British Airways Visa Signature Card , so I also earned three British Airways Avios per dollar spent. Based on the April valuation of 1.5 cents per mile for Avios, the 2,412 Avios I earned on this trip are valued by TPG at about $36.

Airport and Lounge

I took the Gautrain from downtown Johannesburg's Park Station to O.R. Tambo (JNB). The trip cost R153 (~$10) and took 33 minutes. The Gautrain was clean and safe — I saw many security personnel actively checking cars and preventing non-airport passengers from boarding "airport" train cars that were running on the airport line. These "airport" cars featured luggage racks, a higher sense of security and more spacious seating in a 2-2 layout instead of the usual 3-2 style of seating.

Once at JNB, I followed signs, walking past many support offices, to a free "Aircraft Viewing Deck," which featured exhibits as well as a nice view of the airfield — but oddly enough had just one seat! If you have some time to kill at JNB, I highly recommend checking out the viewing deck.

After enjoying the viewing deck, I quickly and easily checked my bag using the Priority Bag Drop lane (available to Oneworld elites as well as first-class and business-class passengers) since I'd already obtained my return boarding pass at LHR.

The agent who helped me at the bag drop counter was extremely friendly and helpful — he even provided directions to the British Airways Galleries Lounge without me having to ask. Security and immigration were both very quick and I was in the lounge within 15 minutes of leaving the bag drop counter.

There are many lounge choices — especially for those with a Priority Pass membership — but I chose the British Airways Galleries Lounge.

Upon arrival, I requested and immediately received a shower room, which was well laid out. I particularly appreciated that a hanger and floor towel were provided and loved the mint-scented shampoo, however the room could have been cleaner — I found short hair on both the walls and the floor. Additionally, I was disappointed that the bath towels weren't very fluffy, the trash can was difficult to open and the hair dryer was broken.

There were no airfield views in the lounge so I settled for a seat overlooking the main concourse. The lounge was small and certainly filled in before the A380 left for LHR. Despite its rather small size, there was an impressive variety of soups, desserts and snacks on offer — among them were chicken and pasta, spinach and squash lasagna, deli meat and cheese platters and take-away sandwiches. There were many vegetarian and vegan options as well, which British Airways always seems to be good about providing and labeling in their lounges.

When I arrived at gates A16 and A17 — yes, the A380 required two gates — I found that the seating area had been arranged to create three separate corrals. One corral — the center one — held the first-class, business-class and Oneworld elite passengers. The other two corrals were separated by row number, where upper level rows were in one corral and lower level rows were in the other. Contract security staff checked passports and boarding passes before allowing anyone into a particular corral. Most people were sitting or standing patiently in these areas, but not forming lines.

Boarding of the priority corral began on schedule at the time the check-in agents had written on my boarding pass. The priority queue then split into upper level and lower level queues once we reached the jetways.

All the flight attendants I encountered during boarding were super-friendly and seemed excited about working on our flight. I was one of the first people in my section — and taking photos for this review — so I was gushing to my section's flight attendant about how excited I was to finally be traveling on the A380's upper deck. With this encouragement, he began excitedly talking about the plane's design, its features and how quiet it is — he seemed really excited to be on this plane too!

Cabin and Seat

I purposely reserved 74K — an upper-level World Traveller economy window seat — in order to obtain a compartment and a two-seat row. As a Oneworld Sapphire member, I was able to select this seat for free at booking — Oneworld Ruby passengers would need to wait until seven days before departure and those without Oneworld status would need to pay extra to reserve this seat before check-in.

Since the airplane's walls slope inward sharply on the upper deck, the World Traveller economy cabin on the upper deck is 2-4-2 configuration with storage compartments located along the windows. The flight attendant said these compartments were installed to somewhat make up for the small overhead storage bins against the windows, which were so shallow that even my daypack needed to be turned sideways! As the cabin was almost completely full, it took some luggage movement and effort from the flight attendants near the end of boarding in order for everyone's larger bags to fit into the much larger center overhead bins.

The storage compartment beside my 74K seat ended up being much deeper than I expected. It easily fit all the belongings I might want during the flight, including my laptop and the provided blanket and pillow. Strangely, but likely to prevent bickering between passengers, every window seat had only one bin — all of the additional bins were locked and in order to open them, you had to push down lightly on the lid. One annoyance was that the passenger behind me kept trying to sleep with his foot on my bin, which prevented me from opening it until he moved his foot.

One downside of the window seats upstairs is that an in-flight entertainment box is placed in the middle of your leg space, and it would have been difficult to put anything of size — like a daypack or duty free bag — under the window seats due to the placement of this box. With a 31-inch pitch, I expected that this entertainment box would significantly impede my legroom, however I found that despite this box, I was generally comfortable enough because I could put my feet on either side of it.

A pillow and a packaged blanket, toothbrush, toothpaste and earbuds awaited each passenger at their seat. I found these earbuds provided good enough sound quality to discourage me from retrieving my own headphones from my carry-on bag.

The seats were comfortable and felt adequately wide — which was surprising for their reported 17.5 inch width. The seat-back pockets were very tight, but they could expand significantly if needed. The seats didn't have adjustable head support wings, but they were contoured to somewhat support your head while sleeping. For those who like to sleep against the wall, I found that it was too far from the window seats to cozy up to. Additionally, the window compartment was too low to serve as a comfortable headrest — although a couple of my fellow passengers did manage to fall asleep this way. I found that the surface of the storage compartment served as an excellent "extra" table.

One of my favorite features of the A380 cabin was the lighting. All lighting changes in the cabin took place very gradually. After dinner the lighting in the cabin simulated a sunset and darkened until the cabin was completely dark. As dawn approached before breakfast, several light blue ceiling lights became illuminated. Shortly before breakfast, light pink lights illuminated near the windows to simulate a sunrise. The changing lighting was very peaceful and gradual enough to have likely gone unnoticed by most passengers.

In-flight Entertainment

I was excited to see large, crisp entertainment screens for this flight. The in-flight entertainment system included the normal features expected on newer British Airways planes — a wide variety of movies, television shows, audio books, music and games.

From trivia games and sleep mixes to the chat network and an entire kids' module, no one should get bored unless they travel a lot. There was even a selection of daily news, including an entire show with Premier League soccer highlights.

My in-flight entertainment system was very responsive and only required soft touches. The handset was stowed in the seat-back, but I never had the need to use it. I was happy with the size, height and definition of the screen as well as the fact that it could tilt to improve the angle when the passenger in front of me reclined. There were USB outlets at each seat and universal power outlets between every two seats.

Food and Beverage

The dinner options — beef tips or chicken — were announced shortly before the beverage service began, about 40 minutes after take-off. Note that no vegetarian options were available without pre-ordering — the flight attendant said this was unfortunately common for departures from places other than LHR, so vegetarians should remember to request a vegetarian meal ahead of time.

Dinner was served one hour and 40 minutes after take-off. The meal started with a salad that was fresh and tasty — outside of a few pieces of wilted lettuce at the bottom of the salad — as well as room-temperature plastic-wrapped bread and commercially packaged crackers and cheese.

The main dish — chicken for me — is where the meal really began to impress! The squash, broccoli and potatoes were all well cooked and seasoned. The white meat chicken was the highlight though, as it was tender and perfectly seasoned. The chocolate cake with lemon sauce provided the perfect combination of zest and sweetness.

Tea and coffee were served 20 minutes after dinner, but most people didn't partake.

Breakfast service started with special meals being delivered first. After the special meals were passed out — about 90 minutes before landing — the rest of us were given a choice of a vegetable omelet or a sausage omelet. Either choice came with creamy fruit yogurt, a moist chocolate muffin that was cold but not overly sweet and a small mixture of excessively sugary apple and orange juice.

The vegetable omelet main dish contained some plain but well-cooked mushrooms, overcooked yet cold unseasoned potatoes and a delicious egg, spinach and cheese mixture on top of tomato paste.

There were two flight attendants serving each side of the upper deck World Traveller economy cabin and I was impressed with both their friendliness as well as the level of service provided. When a communication issue arose with a French-speaking woman during beverage service, the flight attendant knelt down to the woman and sincerely attempted to understand what she was trying to convey.

I thought it was a very caring gesture, especially in comparison to the kind of passenger treatment I've seen on other Oneworld long-haul flights recently . Across multiple interactions, the flight attendants provided very solid customer service and certainly went above my expectations for economy.

It was so dark through the night that the flight attendants carried discrete little flashlights when they brought juice and water through the cabin. In general, the flashlight-toting flight attendants passed through quietly offering water and juices every 45 to 60 minutes throughout the night.

I visited the rear galley multiple times during the night to stretch and obtain drinks and snacks. The flight attendants had set up — and seemed to replenish throughout the night — a snack box as well as a few trays of water and juices. Each time I visited the galley two flight attendants were present. In each case, they seemed surprised to see me. Despite this, they offered to get me anything I needed — but I almost felt like I was intruding when I stood around for an extended period of time and stretched.

Overall Impression

I'd 100% fly in the upper deck World Traveller economy cabin of a British Airways A380 again. The A380 has a slick, thoughtful design — even in economy. I enjoyed sitting in an upper deck window seat because of the large compartment between my seat and the window, which was great for storage and served as an additional table.

Additionally, all the British Airways staff I interacted with on this JNB to LHR route — from check-in agents to contract lounge workers to flight attendants — were wonderful and provided an experience you normally don't expect when traveling in economy. It certainly made the trip enjoyable.

Have you flown on a British Airways A380 yet? How was your experience?

[card card-name='British Airways Visa Signature® Card' card-id='22129607' type='javascript' bullet-id='1']

• CITY GUIDES
• Four Seasons Preferred Partner (FSPP)
• Belmond Bellini Club
• Rosewood Elite
• Shangri-La Luxury Circle
• Hyatt Privé
• Hilton Impresario
• LATEST OFFERS

*DEAL GONE* Outrageously cheap airfare! Amsterdam or Brussels to Tokyo in Business Class (roundtrip) for £550!

REVIEW – Conrad Singapore

Review – british airways : club world business class – london heathrow to singapore (a380).

British Airways (BA)

• Flight: BA 11
• Class: Club World (Business)
• From: London (LHR)
• To: Singapore (SIN)
• Duration: 12hr50
• Aircraft: Airbus A380
• Status during flight: OneWorld Sapphire
• Cost: £1300 for TXL-LHR-SIN-HKG-DPS round trip in Business Class
• Date: December 2015

After a mad dash we arrived at the gate only to see that “gate closing” wasn’t quite true. There was still a very large line of  Economy class passengers and a number of Business passengers were still lining up to board.

This was actually my first time flying in Business Class on an A380, after numerous A380 flights in First it felt a bit strange seeing so many people and seats in a space that holds so few on other airlines.

The BA A380, much like their B747, offers a distinctly superior proposition on the upper deck. The seating is arranged in a 2-3-2 formation as opposed to the 2-4-2 found in most BA Club World cabins. In addition to making the cabin feel far less cramped, the removal of the fourth centre seat also eliminates the awkward possibility of ending up in a weird ‘honeymoon seat’ with a total stranger.

The finishes on the A380 are noticeably newer and more stylish than on on the 777

BA A380 Upper deck Club World window seat, with standard BA ‘dog blanket’

Another cool thing about the upper deck is that the seats have a ton of storage space. One of the things that bothered me the most when I first tried BA Business class  was that there is almost no storage and the one small drawer is almost impossible to access in bed mode. Here on the A380 upper deck every window seat gets two giant storage bins which can be accessed throughout the flight.

The view through the divider of my window seat. As you can see, when the divider is down you are up close and personal with the seat mate who faces you.

Immediately upon boarding I was offered a PDB and had my jacket hung. I opted for water, in a bid to rehydrate after numerous G&Ts in the lounge 🙂

The side bins are very deep. I found that there was more than enough space for all of my belongings…

…especially since you get two massive bins per person!

As well as increasing storage and giving you a greater feeling of space (you are no longer pressed up against the windows), the side bins also serve as extra counter space.

Another upper deck advantage: when travelling with a companion, you can take two window seats and the person in front can easily turn back and talk to the other.

Unlike the 777, the privacy screen controls are clearly visible on the A380 (pro-tip: on the 777 the controls are located on top of the dividing wall)

The brand new Thales IFE system controller is very responsive and in some ways I prefer this to other, fancier looking, touch-screen controllers which often wind up lagging or glitching out.

Empower socket and USB socket.

The tiny storage drawer, all you get in a middle seat or downstairs window and very difficult to access once in bed mode. On this flight my drawer lay fallow and unused.

The touch screen IFE system is very crisp and responsive and BA has one of the better selections of entertainment of any airline (up there with AA, CX and EY)

Here’s the thing: people always tout seat consistency as one of the key benefits of BA:

‘Sure I may not get direct aisle access but I’ll always get a flat bed and never end up in a reclining chair instead.’

Fair enough, I agree in principle. Nobody wants to pay for business class and end up in a recliner (although AA will accommodate you on an alternate carrier if you get a last minute aircraft swap – as I once discovered ‘INVOL EQUIP CHG’). However, I would argue that the 777 and A380 Upper Deck products are remarkably different. The A380 cabin is subdivided into various smaller cabins and seats less people across than the 777, this gives a far more premium feel and eliminates the feeling of being in a giant dormitory. The A380 IFE system is also better, the windows are bigger, there’s more storage, the air quality is better, the lighting is better and as I would later find out, even the tableware is better!

After reading countless reviews online I never thought I would say this but my initial impressions of the BA A380 cabin actually put it ahead of my recent experience flying on JAL’s 777 business class . Sure, I didn’t have direct aisle access but I was getting just as much storage (if not more) and all of the finishes in the cabin are markedly superior on BA. The black, silver and grey colour scheme is really clean and modern, moreover the purple and blue lighting adds markedly to the effect.

After our eerily quiet take-off the cabin crew kicked into gear and came around offering drinks and bags of mixed nuts.

Pre-departure beverage: Castelnau 2004 champagne

I went with a glass of the Castelnau 2004 champagne, a lovely drop with a notable Pinot Noir dryness. The FA made a point of saying here is your ‘vintage champagne’ when handing it over. The The nuts were served cold, in the packet. In this regard BA falls behind the likes of AA and QR who serve more copious quantities of warm cashews and almonds, in ceramic bowls.

Conversely, I have always been impressed with hoe good BA are at keeping your glass topped up. Within seconds of reaching the halfway mark on my glass, the FA was leaning over the divider offering me more champagne. I’m not sure what it says about British culture in general but my home airline never lets you go thirsty 🙂

At this stage I was thinking that I had perhaps been a little mean to BA in the past, certainly a good BA crew always makes me feel at home. The conversation flows very easily and things just feel comfortable.

Looking through the menu it seemed like I wasn’t going to be disappointed here either:

[/vc_column_text]

BA185 Club World Menu

For the starter I went with the scallops. Two enormous and delectable beasts, atop a deliciously creamy cauliflower puree, garnished with Oscietra caviar! People berate certain airlines for not having caviar in F and here I was getting caviar in J 😮

Okay, not a lot of caviar but still…

The side salas was large but totally uninteresting. It would have been nice to have some more peppers or sun dried tomatoes in here.

Kamara went with the Salmon main course which she liked a lot, despite the fish being a little dry.

At this stage in the flight, things went a bit wrong. I waited for my main course for twenty minutes. I tried a bit of Kamara’s salmon in the meantime which kept me somewhat entertained. Twenty minutes later, still nothing. The cabin crew were wandering around clearing plates and bringing people deserts. I tried pressing the call button but got nowhere. It was just ignored. With the table down, I was kind of trapped, not to mention the fact that I was blocked from the aisle by another passenger’s foot rest.

Finally I was able to wave to one of the FA’s whilst her arms weren’t full of trays. I asked her if everything was ok with my main course. The cabin manager heard this and apologised profusely, saying that my main would be right out.

It was brought to me by the junior FA, with the following words: “Sorry about that, we were busy chatting”.

Just like that, all the hard work of her colleagues, the impressive cabin finishes and the great IFE selection were forgotten. This is the one thing that I remember the most from this flight. Being trapped and hungry and being told that chatting to colleagues was more important than looking after a paying customer. Unreal. Once you’ve flown the likes of Singapore , ANA and JAL , you’ve seen the apex of service, the pinnacle of what can be achieved. Those words would never have been uttered by an employee of one of those airlines. Never.

Once I saw the food I was actually a little taken aback. The presentation was fantastic. Not only did the black plate look like something you’d get in a decent London restaurant, the steak had a beautiful maillard crust on the outside and the broccoli appeared to be very well cooked.

Unfortunately, whilst the broccoli had a satisfying crunch to it, offsetting the creaminess of the truffle and artichoke risotto – the steak was a hockey puck. Totally overcooked. You could have used this thing as a shock absorber on the front of a train.

I don’t have much of a sweet tooth and always prefer cheese to dessert. However BA always tends to go for bland and milky cheeses. Where is my festering lump of blue delight? Nowhere, that’s where.

I didn’t have any coffee after the meal because BA don’t offer espresso based coffee to business class passengers. The £0.10 Nespresso capsules are reserved for people in First class. So much for Business Class being a ‘premium’ cabin.

Full from the meal, I decided to get some rest. The pillow on this flight seemed a little thicker than the one on the 777 but the blanket was the same scratchy, thin and flimsy thing that I remembered.

On the upside: my window seat was very private, giving me a peaceful cocooned felling for sleep.

After a solid 6 hours of sleep I headed over to the galley to investigate the Club Kitchen.

Not much in the way of healthy snacks, other than the fruit. It would be nice to have some cashew nuts or jerky. Still, it is nice to have a large selection of drinks available at all times.

I sat and watched a movie for an hour or so, at which point I smelled the smell of breakfast being heated up. An odour which permeates an airplane cabin and usually brings with it a slight sense of sadness, as it almost invariably marks the closing stanza of an intercontinental flight.

I went with the Traditional English. One day I’ll get black pudding on a plane… one day.

As you can see from the water glass, there was a fair bit of turbulence during the breakfast service but the staff coped very well. I loved the fruit, it was varied and tasted very fresh. The ‘coffee’ was horrendous though. Much like ordering beef on BA, when you order their insipid brown dishwater, part of you hopes that something will have changed, things will have improved… they hadn’t. For a traveller on business, coffee is a necessity not a luxury. Withholding the good stuff in order to differentiate between cabins is a shitty thing to do, especially when it is such a low cost item to provide.

The omelette and the sausage were decent but the hash browns were completely soggy. The bacon had a fatty rind on it which was as wide as my thumb.

The breakfast may have been underwhelming but how can you remain annoyed when you have these magnificent Rolls Royce engines to gaze upon?

I absolutely love seeing all the ships during the approach to Singapore. 10 miles out to sea, the energy of The Merlion City is palpable. Captivating.

The upper deck window seats on the BA A380 solve most pressing concern that I had with the 777 Club World experience: lack of storage space.

There are plenty of other advantages to the A380, irrespective of your choice of seat:

• Lack of privacy due to being one enormous, undivided cabin is avoided. Club World on the A380 is broken into a series of smaller, more intimate spaces.
• Air quality is better. You feel less eye, mouth and nose dryness and you feel less jetlagged.
• IFE is guaranteed to be the newest HD Thales system

However, the beef is still inedible; the coffee is still undrinkable; aisle seats still have no privacy at all and the crew are still capable of being extremely unprofessional.

For the price I paid for this ticket, I certainly got value for money. honestly I feel like the price is about right for what you get. The thing is that BA, until recently, used to charge double this price (or more). Having luxuriated in the sheer opulence of the Singapore Airlines cabin on this route , I would gladly pay £2k+ to fly to Singapore with them. The memory of each flight with SQ is a delight that lasts a lifetime.

Would I pay £2k to fly BA? No chance.

JarvisMarcos

Related posts.

SH Vega - Charlotte Bay

REVIEW – Swan Hellenic Antarctica Cruise

Rosewood Hong Kong - Grand Harbour View Suite second living room

REVIEW – Rosewood Hong Kong

Belmond Hiram Bingham - bar carriage

REVIEW – Belmond Hiram Bingham Train (Machu Picchu)

Joali Being- Joali luxury seaplane

REVIEW – Joali Being, Maldives

Skip to main content

By using ba.com you agree to the use of cookies .

Log in or Sign up for the Executive Club

Use this form to log in to your account or to create an account for the British Airways executive club

Your account

Book flights quicker, pay with avios and earn rewards as an executive club member..

•   Share on Facebook.
•   Share on Twitter.
•   Share on LinkedIn.

Skip to Navigation

Aircraft seat maps

Find out more about our seating configurations for our aircraft and cabin classes to help you take advantage of the best seating options.

Seat maps by cabin

Euro Traveller - flights within the UK and Europe

Premium Economy

Club Europe - flights within the UK and Europe

Advertiser Disclosure

Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which we receive financial compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). However, the credit card information that we publish has been written and evaluated by experts who know these products inside out. We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse. This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers that are on the market.  See our advertising policy here where we list advertisers that we work with, and how we make money. You can also review our  credit card rating methodology .

British Airways A380 Club Europe/Club World Review [LHR to MAD]

Daniel Ross

Senior Content Contributor

650 Published Articles 1 Edited Article

Countries Visited: 56 U.S. States Visited: 17

Editor & Content Contributor

154 Published Articles 766 Edited Articles

Countries Visited: 35 U.S. States Visited: 25

Keri Stooksbury

Editor-in-Chief

35 Published Articles 3211 Edited Articles

Countries Visited: 47 U.S. States Visited: 28

Table of Contents

Booking my flight, london heathrow terminal 5, onboard british airways’ a380 [lhr to mad], a tour of the british airways a380, final thoughts.

We may be compensated when you click on product links, such as credit cards, from one or more of our advertising partners. Terms apply to the offers below. See our  Advertising Policy for more about our partners, how we make money, and our rating methodology. Opinions and recommendations are ours alone.

Airline:  British Airways Aircraft: Airbus A380 Flight #:  BA462 Route: London Heathrow (LHR) > Madrid Barajas International Airport (MAD) Date:  November 22, 2021 Duration: 1hr 41mins Cabin and Layout: British Airways Club World Business Class (sold as British Airways Club Europe) on the lower deck; 44-seat capacity across 6 rows in a 2-4-2 configuration Seat:  13K Miles used:  15,000 Avios + £17.50 ($24)

I’ll take any chance I get to fly an Airbus A380.

When I discovered British Airways would be bringing the aircraft back into service on flights between London Heathrow (LHR) and Frankfurt (FRA) and Madrid (MAD), I just had to find a way to fly it.

My chance would come when planning a trip to Lisbon, Portugal. Instead of a direct flight from London to Lisbon, I used Avios to snag a cheap ticket for a Club Europe (short-haul business class) seat to Madrid, Spain. From there, I’d connect onto an Iberia flight to Lisbon.

What was especially interesting about my flight is that I received all the benefits of a Club World seat (read: a lie-flat instead of a normal recliner seat), but with downgraded catering compared to what you’d find on typical long-haul routes served by this aircraft.

Speaking of long-haul routes, BA’s A380s are once again flying to North America, serving Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), Miami (MIA), and Washington, D.C. So if you’re based in any of those areas and have an upcoming flight with British Airways, your experience will be similar to the one I had on this flight, but with upgraded catering worthy of a long-haul business class flight.

Read on to learn how my flight went!

I booked my ticket just 20 days before the departure date, so cash prices were a little higher than I was prepared to pay.

Instead, I used British Airways Avios . Thanks to BA’s Reward Flight Saver redemptions, I was able to choose from 6 different Avios and cash combinations.

I always opt for the combination that has the £17.50 (~$24) cash co-pay, as this usually represents the best value. That held true in this case as well.

I paid a total of 15,000 Avios and £17.50 (~$24) for the one-way flight. We value British Airways Avios at 1.25 cents apiece, meaning the total value of the ticket is about $187.50.

Using the same valuation, the 20,000 Avios + £0.50 (~$0.67) option (which at first might seem like the “cheapest”) equates to a total value of about $250 — a whole $62.50 more than what I paid.

The total I paid for this Club Europe/Club World hybrid experience was 15,000 Avios and £17.50. I was very happy with the amount I paid and consider it to be an excellent value.

I arrived at Heathrow Terminal 5 at 1:40 p.m., just 90 minutes before my scheduled departure time, which is cutting it close for me.

I even got an Uber to Heathrow — even more rare for me — but it was showing as the fastest route from where I was in Central London.

BA’s business class check-in area had no line — just how I like it. However, I did not appreciate being asked in a condescending manner if I was indeed flying business class after being looked up and down.

After firmly confirming that I did have a business class ticket, I received my boarding pass and my bag was checked within just a few minutes.

I held things up a little as I checked to see if I could have my bag checked all the way through to Lisbon. This has worked before when I’ve flown Lufthansa and TAP (both Star Alliance members) on separate tickets, but I had no such luck doing the same for 2 separate tickets with British Airways and Iberia.

The no-line theme continued at Fast Track South security, which I cleared in a matter of minutes. This is not just a pandemic-era phenomenon — I’ve rarely had to wait long here during my pre-pandemic travels. It’s definitely a perk of having British Airways Silver elite status.

Hot Tip: Here’s everything you need to know about the British Airways Executive Club program , including the benefits you get at each elite status level. 

Once through to the other side, I headed left along the upper level that looks down onto the main departures concourse.

The activity at Heathrow is noticeably and consistently picking up. In fact, this was the closest it felt to what it was like departing from  Terminal 5 before the pandemic.

The first set of escalators gives you the option to head down towards the gates, the main duty-free area, and the Galleries South Lounge.

Alternatively, you can continue (like I did) along the upper mezzanine level where you’ll pass a few more shops before arriving at the Galleries North Lounge.

British Airways Galleries North Lounge — Heathrow Terminal 5

I recently reviewed the Galleries South Lounge , so thought I’d check out the North Lounge this time since it had reopened.

Like everything else on this day, there was no line of people waiting to get in.

However, it was rather busy inside.

There were a couple of dozen seats free on the so-called “terrace” area that is separated from the main lounge by a glass partition.

Food was still being served from behind a screen and had to be ordered to your seat by scanning a QR code.

This was the first time I’d noticed the Mr Lyan cocktail station. To mark the reopening of BA’s Concorde Room lounges at Heathrow and New York (JFK) , 7 signature cocktails were launched. You can also order 2 of these — the Barton and the Lawford — in BA’s Galleries Club and First lounges.

I didn’t sample either on this occasion, but they’re on my list for my next visit.

It was very busy in the main part of the lounge, with most 2-person seating spaces taken up by at least 1 person. As social distancing is very much still front and center in the minds of many, this meant people leaving lots of empty seats and space between each other.

I definitely prefer the runway views from here over the South Lounge. If the aircraft are landing on the northern runway (9L), you’ll be treated to excellent views of airlines from all over the world touching down.

Some of the chairs appeared to have been replaced since my last visit. Either that or they’re just in a lot better condition than those in the South Lounge.

Screens had also been strategically placed between seats in some areas.

I was happy to see that Union coffee is still being served in BA’s Galleries lounges. It’s consistently my favorite coffee from an airport lounge.

The showers were also open and didn’t require a booking as they weren’t busy.

Drinks were back to self-service . Passengers could choose from all the usual suspects: soft drinks, beers, wine, and spirits.

Plenty of bottled still and sparkling water was available for the taking.

I’m happy to report that the bathroom cleanliness was up to standard.

Boarding London to Madrid

I left the lounge with enough time to take the underground transit to the C-Gate satellite terminal. The journey to the gate took around 10 to 15 minutes.

About 45 minutes before the scheduled departure time, I arrived at Gate C57. Despite the screen announcing “pre-boarding,” nobody had boarded the aircraft yet.

And there she was, the BA A380 — registration G-XLEG — that would take me to Madrid. It had been quite a while since I’d seen one up close, and I was instantly reminded just how large these aircraft are.

The gate area was quiet when I arrived.

As there was no sign of boarding anytime soon, I spent some time watching aircraft landing on runway 9L.

With no sign of boarding 20 minutes later, the departures area was nearing capacity with some passengers opting to stand to maintain some distance.

Boarding finally began around 2:50 p.m. — just 25 minutes before our scheduled departure.

We spent a while on the ground before we finally pushed back from the gate. At 3:35 p.m., the captain made an announcement apologizing for the delay and thanking us for our patience. About 10 minutes later — and 30 minutes behind schedule — we climbed out of Heathrow.

Business Seat

My seat was 13K — located approximately in the middle of the Club World cabin on the lower deck.

The business class seats on BA’s A380s are the old Club World seats that were first introduced in 2006, rather than the new Club Suite that is slowly being rolled out across its wide-body fleet.

The tight design features 8 seats per row in a 2-4-2 configuration. The old-school setup means that passengers seated in seat pairs A and B, D and E, F and G, and J and K face each other.

There thankfully is a partition that can be raised and lowered between seats, helping you avoid any awkward eye contact.

However, the partition must be lowered during take-off and landing.

Cabin crew will also lower the partition while serving those seated furthest away from the aisle, awkwardly passing food and drink over another passenger through the gap between the seats.

Bottom Line: British Airways is ramping up the rollout of its Club Suite, the airline’s new and highly competitive business class product. It plans to have all of its Boeing 777s retrofitted by the end of 2022 , though unfortunately, the Airbus A380 won’t be receiving the update.

The second awkward thing about this seat is that passengers in seats that don’t have direct aisle access must climb over the footrest of the person sitting diagonally across.

For example, the first time I got up to leave my seat, I said to the woman with the white shoes that she didn’t need to worry about moving her feet for me.

Storage is limited to a small drawer. For a short flight to Madrid, I didn’t need much more.

There was plenty of legroom, though!

The tray table folds down from the right.

It unfolds to be double its size.

The seat itself can be reclined into the all-important fully-flat position. This is not the case onboard the narrow-body aircraft that BA typically operates on European routes .

Controls for the seat are just underneath the partition.

There are fixed settings for take-off, landing, and the fully-flat position, as well as the ability to customize the seating position.

Club World (Business) Cabin

As I mentioned before, I was sitting in the Club World cabin on the lower deck that is arranged in a 2-4-2 configuration with 44 seats . This is pretty cramped as the standard nowadays is more often than not a 1-2-1 configuration.

The middle 2 seats — E and F — are best if you’re traveling with a friend or partner. If you’re traveling alone and appreciate your privacy, I’d advise making sure to choose your seat before the flight to make sure you’re not sitting shoulder to shoulder next to a stranger.

I should also mention at this point that E and F face backward.

Overhead bin space is usually plentiful given that there are fewer passengers in the Club World cabin.

Food and Beverage

This is where the Club World experience came to an end and was swapped out for Club Europe.

Even though I was flying a long-haul, wide-body jet in a Club World cabin, it was operating on a short-haul, intra-European route, so inflight service reflected that.

An aspect of BA’s European business class food service that I don’t like is that the plastic and foil covers are sometimes left on for the passenger to remove themselves. That might sound a bit picky, but that’s exactly how food is served in economy on long-haul flights — not to mention the fact that the packaging takes up valuable space on the tray table.

To my delight, service started pretty much as soon as we got into the air. I was hungry as I didn’t have time to eat anything in the lounge.

True to form, I went for the classic English dish of bangers and mash with a bottle of bubbles to wash it down (and keep it classy). Despite it being the third or fourth time I’ve had it, I really enjoyed it.

The 2 other options available were rigatoni with aubergine (eggplant) or a quinoa salad.

You can always rely on Do&Co for a delicious dessert. I’d describe it is as a sort of white chocolate cheesecake.

As per usual, Nicholas Feuillate was the Champagne BA had on offer. I know it’s not often to the liking of Champagne connoisseurs, but I had no complaints.

Normally when flying BA Club, especially Club Europe, my next drink would be waiting before I’d even finished the current one. This flight was different, however, as I wasn’t even offered a second drink!

For landing, BA required passengers to pour their unfinished drinks into plastic cups.

Entertainment

It’s not just the seat and the cabin layout that were old school.

The antiquated IFE screens must be stowed for take-off and landing. I was asked to return the screen to the stowed position a whole 20 minutes before landing.

If you’re absolutely glued to what you’re watching, you can still just about see the screen properly if you lean against the cabin wall and crane your neck.

In terms of entertainment options, there were more than enough movies, shows, and documentaries to keep me entertained on this short flight to Madrid.

Cleanliness

The cleanliness of both my seat area and the rest of the cabin was up to the standard I’d expect during a global pandemic.

As there was no sign of headphones at my seat, I asked a member of the crew for a set.

I was informed that there weren’t enough for every business class passenger, despite each passenger in business class having an IFE screen in front of them. I get that having IFE on a BA business class flight in Europe isn’t the norm, but it’s a bit of a tease being given an IFE screen and not being able to watch it.

I was lucky and managed to snag a set of average-quality headphones. They’re the exact same as you’d be given on a long-haul flight in Club World.

I was pleasantly surprised to be handed a World Traveller Plus (premium economy) amenity kit.

It includes slightly fewer goodies than a Club World amenity kit, but still includes niceties like a mini toothbrush and toothpaste, hand balm and moisturizer, and an eye mask.

There are 4 lavatories at the rear of the Club World cabin and the front of the economy cabin.

I didn’t actually visit those bathrooms, but I did pay a visit to the spacious bathroom at the front of the aircraft that would usually be reserved for first class passengers.

The interactions I had with the crew during the flight and meal service were limited in comparison to what I’d normally expect on a business class flight with BA.

I’d assume this was because the Club World cabin was pretty full and meant that the crew would have up to a maximum of 44 passengers to serve. This is significantly more than the average maximum of about 32 passengers they’d have to serve on a narrow-body jet that would usually operate short flights like this.

I did, however, manage to build a rapport with a crew member named Kimberly. She saw me rushing around excitedly taking pictures before we took off and said that once we were airborne she’d take me on a tour.

Kimberly was more than happy to spend some time showing me around the upper deck that was closed to passengers. I loved her enthusiasm for the A380, too.

COVID-19 Protocols

Mask wearing at all times, with the exception of eating or drinking, was enforced. This was expected for pandemic-era flying.

To avoid crowding in the aisle while disembarking the aircraft, passengers were asked to stand up and file into the aisle 1 row at a time. This is a policy I’ve noticed that BA has maintained even as other restrictions have been lifted. I think this should be a permanent thing — it makes disembarking the aircraft a lot more organized than the typical free-for-all deplaning usually is.

We touched down just after 6:30 p.m. and pulled up at the gate at 6:40 p.m. We were 5 minutes ahead of schedule despite taking off around 30 minutes late.

We had to wait for what seemed like a very long time for the rail transit to arrive and take us to Madrid Barajas’ main terminal.

Once there, we were greeted by a crew of staff all dressed in white suits similar to hazmats. It was their job to check that all passengers had filled out the required passenger locator form for entry into Spain before being allowed to proceed to collect baggage.

To finish off I thought I’d show you the rest of the Airbus A380 — let’s check it out!

This set of stairs is located at the front of the aircraft and led up to a second and smaller Club World cabin.

First Class

The first class cabin has just 14 seats and, as you’d expect, feels significantly more premium than Club World.

Seats are configured in a spacious 1-2-1 layout with E and F being the best seats for those traveling with someone.

Similar to Club World, the TV screens pop out for optimal viewing and have to be stowed for take-off and landing. Due to the angle of the seats, you don’t have to strain as much as you would in Club World to continue watching during these times.

The detailing is a level or 2 up on the luxury scale. The seats feature proper reading lamps and the fabric is a darker, sophisticated navy.

The space available at each seat is considerably more ample than in Club World and each seat has direct aisle access, meaning no awkward climbing over your neighbor in the middle of a flight.

The engine views from the first class cabin are also some of the best on the plane.

Club World on the upper deck also features a reduced number of seats per row compared to downstairs

You’ll find 55 seats in a 2-3-2 configuration.

Hot Tip: Of all of the 99 Club World seats on a British Airways A380, only 22 of them provide unrestricted aisle access: 10B/D/G/J, 14E/F, 15A/K, 50B/J, 51D/F, 53A/E/K, 56B/D/F/J, and 59A/E/K. SeatGuru is a fantastic resource to learn about how to view and select the best seats for your next flight!

World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy)

On my whistle-stop tour of the upper deck, I somehow skipped past the World Traveller Plus cabin and didn’t snap any photos (sorry!).

It’s located pretty much in the center of the cabin and seats are configured in a 2-3-2 layout.

In general, I’m a fan of BA’s World Traveller Plus. The extra space, additional recline, and upgraded food and drink service can be great value for the right price — especially on overnight flights.

Hot Tip: Upgrading to British Airways’ business class from premium economy is usually great value for money. Whether it’s cash or Avios, you’ll often get a much better deal than booking business class directly.

World Traveller (Economy)

Behind the Club World cabin on the lower deck is the largest of the World Traveller (economy) cabins.

The A380’s cabins are up to a meter (~3.2 feet) wider than other long-haul jets, meaning the 199 seats in their 3-4-3 configuration feel slightly more spacious than economy seats on other jets.

Upstairs at the very back of the jet, you’ll find 104 more economy seats in a 2-4-2 configuration.

Hot Tip: The A380 has a greater cabin width than the newer and more modern Boeing 787 Dreamliner that is usually configured with 9 seats across in a 3-3-3 configuration. So, in theory, economy seating on the upper deck of the A380 should feel more spacious than economy on the Dreamliner. 

It had been over 2 years since I’d flown an A380, and this short flight to Madrid with British Airways definitely helped make up for lost time.

Having a Club World seat on a Club Europe flight was a special treat given that short-haul routes in Europe are rarely operated by wide-body jets with lie-flat seats.

The A380’s time on the London to Madrid route has now come to an end and is once again flying the long-haul routes it was designed for.

My experience flying this superjumbo from London to Madrid is unique, but it’s confirmed my preference for this aircraft over other long-haul jets. If I were given the choice of flying an Airbus A380 or a Boeing 777, I’d more than likely choose the former just about every day of the week.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does british airways still fly the a380.

Yes, British Airways has reintroduced the Airbus A380 into its fleet after temporarily grounding the fleet due to the pandemic.

How many A380s does British Airways have?

British Airways has a total of 12 A380s in its fleet.

Where does British Airways fly its A380s?

You can currently book flights on the A380 from London (LHR) to Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), Dubai (DXB), Johannesburg (JNB), Miami (MIA), San Francisco (SFO), Singapore (SIN), Vancouver (YVR), and Washington, D.C. (IAD).

Is there a bar on a BA A380?

No, British Airways does not have a bar on any of its aircraft.

Was this page helpful?

About Daniel Ross

Daniel has loved aviation and travel his entire life. He earned a Master of Science in Air Transport Management and has written about travel and aviation in publications like Simple Flying, The Points Guy, and more.

INSIDERS ONLY: UP PULSE ™

Get the  latest travel tips, crucial news, flight & hotel deal alerts...

Plus — expert strategies to maximize your points & miles by joining our (free) newsletter.

We respect your privacy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA. Google's  privacy policy   and  terms of service   apply.

Related Posts

UP's Bonus Valuation

This bonus value is an estimated valuation  calculated by UP after analyzing redemption options, transfer partners, award availability and how much UP would pay to buy these points.

British Airways Fleet

British airways club world (business class), british airways world traveller plus (premium economy), british airways world traveller (longhaul economy), british airways club europe (shorthaul business) & euro traveller(shorthaul economy).

• Airline Reviews
• British Airways

Remember me?

Airline Profile: British Airways

6 Things You Need To Know About British Airways

• Fleet: British Airways’ mainline short-haul fleet consists solely of the Airbus A320 series, including the A319, A320, A321, and the A321neo in its fleet. While their short-haul fleet consists solely of Airbus aircraft, their long-haul fleet is composed mostly of Boeing jets, including the 777-200, 777-300ER, 747-400, 787-8, 787-9, 787-10, along with the Airbus A380 and the recent addition of the Airbus A350-1000. Additionally, British Airways also operates a sole Airbus A318, which it uses on its flight from London City Airport to New York JFK, which operates via Shannon, Ireland westbound and is nonstop eastbound.
• Subsidiaries: British Airways is owned by the International Airlines Group, Europe’s third largest airline group (behind Ryanair and the Lufthansa Group), which also owns airlines such as Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Vueling. British Airways itself has only one subsidiary per-say, BA City Flyer, which operates flights out of London City Airport to a variety of destinations around the UK and Europe using its fleet of Embraer E190s, along with occasionally leasing aircraft from Flybe or Loganair. British Airways also weirdly enough does have two franchises. Firstly, SUN Air of Scandinavia operates under the British Airways name, mostly out of Billund in Denmark, using its fleet of rare Dornier 328JETs. Secondly, South Africa’s Comair, partially owned by British Airways, also operates directly under the British Airways brand using its fleet of 737s to fly a variety of domestic and short-haul routes out of Johannesburg, among other South African cities.

• Hubs: British Airways’ main hub is without a doubt, whether you love hate it or hate it, is London Heathrow Airport. BA operates the vast majority of its flights, domestic, short-haul, and intercontinental, out of Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 (and some also out of Terminal 3), which it has exclusive access to, besides its partner airline Iberia, which also operates out of T5. While Heathrow Airport is British Airways’ main hub for business and connecting passengers, Gatwick Airport is British Airways’ main hub for leisure destinations, although Heathrow does also have a significant presence in the leisure market. Most of British Airways’ flights to the Caribbean, along with many to other European leisure destinations such as Tenerife, Malaga, Madeira, among many others do operate, at least partially, out of Gatwick. As previously mentioned, London City Airport is British Airways’ main hub for its subsidiary, BA City Flyer, which operates from there to mostly point-to-point destinations for business travelers within Europe, along with its one flight to JFK.

• Intercontinental Routes: British Airways operates a massive intercontinental network of flights, with over 135 wide body jets (AA only has slightly more at about 150), out of both Heathrow and Gatwick. British Airways is by far the European airline with the largest presence in North America and the United States, operating to 26 destinations in the US alone (with a 27th, Portland, coming this year!), from the obvious places (New York JFK, with up to 9x flights a day, LAX, ORD, IAD, BOS), to leisure destinations (Las Vegas, Orlando, Tampa), to places where not many (if any) other airlines operate transatlantic flights (Charleston, Nashville, Phoenix, San Jose, New Orleans, Pittsburgh). Additionally, British Airways’ intercontinental network is also extremely large outside of the US, with flights to all six inhabited continents, including to perhaps unlikely destinations such as Abuja, Dammam, Bangalore, or Islamabad. British Airways also operates one flight to Sydney from London-Heathrow, although it does make a fuel stop at Singapore Changi Airport.
• Lounges : British Airways operates four types of airline lounges. Firstly, they operate quite a few Galleries Business Class lounges around the world, which are fairly standard as far as business class lounges go, with free snacks and (although not a-la-carte) small meals available. Galleries Business Class lounges can be accessed through having a same-day OneWorld business or first class ticket or through having British Airways Silver (or higher) status or OneWorld Sapphire (or higher) status. British Airways additionally operates an Arrivals Lounge at London Heathrow Airport in the landslide portion of the terminal, intended for passengers arriving off of British Airways transatlantic flights, and has the same eligibility rules as the Galleries Business lounge. Also, British Airways operates a variety of Galleries First Class lounges around the world, with enhanced amenities and (usually) a-la-carte dining, and is available for all OneWorld and British Airways first class passengers, along with OneWorld Emerald passengers. Lastly, British Airways does operate two lounges (at Heathrow T5 and JFK T7) which are more exclusive than their Galleries First Class Lounges and is called “The Concorde Room.” These lounges are exclusively available for British Airways First Class passengers and have slightly better amenities than Galleries First Class lounges.

• Award Program: British Airways’ award program is called British Airways Executive Club, in which its points currency is called Avios, which are also transferrable to Iberia’s and Aer Lingus’s award programs. British Airways Avios are pretty valuable for short-haul economy class awards on partner airlines such as American Airlines, and while long-haul business and first class awards on British Airways aren’t too outrageously priced, there are some pretty high surcharges on flights to and from the UK in all cabins, making it sometimes cheaper to pay outright with cash. Executive Club also has three main elite tiers: Bronze status, translating to OneWorld Ruby, Silver status, translating to OneWorld Sapphire, and Gold status, translating to OneWorld Emerald. Lastly, British Airways does have one co-branded credit card for US residents, the Chase British Airways Visa Signature Card, which comes with fantastic benefits such as 100,000 bonus miles, 10% off on British Airways flights, and 3 points per dollar on British Airways, Iberia, Level, and Aer Lingus flights.

Travel Classes:

Euro traveller:.

Short haul economy on British Airways features slimline seats throughout its entire short-haul fleet and is branded as Euro Traveler on intra-European flights. It is in a 3-3 configuration on all Airbus A320 series aircraft and is in a 2-2 configuration on all Embraer E190s. On all narrow-body aircraft, there is no in-flight entertainment (although many aircraft are being retrofitted with WiFi). Snacks are available for purchase on most short haul flights. The seats are identical to the ones found in business class. British Airways is currently in the process of installing USB Ports and power outlets on some Airbus A320 series aircraft, while most A320neo series aircraft are already installed with them.

Club Europe: 

Short-haul business class on pretty much all European airlines is not worth it and should be avoided, if possible. The seats are the same as the seats in economy class, and the seats have not an inch more legroom or recline than the economy. The only difference is that the middle seat is always blocked for passengers. Unlike most other European airlines, British Airways offers tables in between seats in Club Europe, although they are in the process of getting rid of them. British Airways can increase or decrease the number of seats in Business Class with no effort at all, only depending on demand.

There is not much difference between business and economy other than that in business, and you get a relatively small meal and lounge access. I wouldn’t recommend paying with miles or money for intra-European business class outright (unless attached to a longer segment) on British Airways, especially since business Class can cost more than twice as much as Economy Class, and is not even close to being twice as good as economy. British Airways isn’t the only airline to just have standard economy seats in business class as nearly all other European airlines also offer it, including Lufthansa, Air France, and KLM.

World Traveller (Long Haul Economy): 

Long-haul Economy Class on British Airways is pretty standard compared to other airlines. Economy class is in a 3-3-3 configuration on older Boeing 777s, on all 787s, and on all A350s, and is in a 3-4-3 configuration on retrofitted 777s, and on all Boeing 747s and A380s. British Airways also operates a sub-fleet of ex-BMI Airbus A321s where it brands economy class as World Traveler and has a superior business class product; British Airways operates these aircraft to medium-haul destinations such as Moscow or Beirut. WiFi is also available for purchase on all Airbus A350s, while it is currently being installed on the rest of its long-haul fleet, including its 747s, 777s, 787s, and A380s.

Passengers also receive complimentary meals on all flights, and personal on-demand entertainment is available for free on all long-haul flights, although newer or retrofitted aircraft models such as the A350 have newer interfaces. Lastly, British Airways, in addition to lately revamping their economy class catering, recently introduced new pillows and blankets in economy class .

World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy):

World Traveller Plus is also pretty standard regarding premium economy classes in the market. It features seatback entertainment, wifi for purchase, leg rests, more legroom, seat width, and recline than economy, and meals better than the ones which can be found in regular Economy Class. Current premium economy classes can be compared to what you could see in business class in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as they both feature recliner seats. Unlike some Asian airlines, passengers in premium economy do not have access to lounges. World Traveler Plus is in a 2-3-2 configuration on 787s and A380s and is in a 2-4-2 configuration on all 777s, 747s, and A350s.

Additionally, British Airways recently introduced a new premium economy seat, which features leg rests (not available on most 777s, 787s, and A380s) and larger entertainment screens, which are available on British Airways’ high density Gatwick configured 777s, 787-10s, and A350-1000s. British Airways also recently introduced new amenities in World Traveller Plus, including improved meals (while Lufthansa recently downgraded premium economy catering), along with new amenity kits, pillows, and blankets, which generally was a very positive development.

Club World (Business Class):

British Airways’ long-haul business class product is branded as Club World. All Club World passengers have access to Galleries Business lounges, along with partner or OneWorld business class lounges. British Airways comparatively actually has a pretty good soft product now a days, with great in-flight bedding (including two blankets, a large pillow, and a mattress pad) from the White Company, good amenity kits, and British Airways fairly recently refreshed their catering. Of course, personal on-demand entertainment is available on all aircraft in Club World. British Airways Club World has a very varied business class hard product, with different a few different business class products, listed below.

British Airways’ Legacy Business Class Product

A bit after the year 2000, British Airways was the first airline to introduce flat beds in Business Class. They have barely improved the product since, besides adding more technology to the seat such as new in-flight entertainment screens. Club World (long-haul business class) features a kind of unique configuration, with forwards and backward facing seats in a 2-3-2 (787, A380 upper deck) or 2-4-2 (777, 747, A380 lower deck) configurations.

After doing quite some digging, I found out that British Airways actually uses a highly modified of the highly popular B/E Aerospace Minipod seat, which was actually called the “Stretch Minipod.” Seats are alternating between forwards and backward facing seats within the same row. Each seat has an ottoman which can flip down to become part of the bed when you turn the seat into the lay–flat mode. The seats also have rather small entertainment screens which flip out from the divider between your seat and the seat next to you.

The seats themselves are pretty narrow, have almost zero storage, and lack a lot of privacy, especially if you have an aisle seat. However, the window seats, because of a privacy partition in between the window seat and the aisle seat, do have a significant amount of privacy, although you will will have to climb over your neighbor to get to the aisle.

The seats are most definitely sub-par when you compare them to most of the newer business class seats on the market, although at least they still are fully flat. British Airways’ legacy business class product is still featured on the vast majority of their aircraft, including on all of their A380s, 747s, 787-8s, 787-9s, along with on most of their 777-200s and 777-300s. Fortunately, British Airways will have their new business class installed on all of their long-haul aircraft by 2024, meaning that their legacy product will be completely phased out a quarter of a decade after it was introduced.

British Airways Club Suite

British Airways last year introduced a completely new business class product, which named the Club Suite. They opted for the popular Rockwell Collins Super Diamond seat, although they decided to innovate it and add a door to the seats, making them one of the first airlines to have doors in business class, like Qatar Airways and Delta Air Lines. The seats are themselves reverse herringbone seats and have a lot of privacy and storage, and overall are really solid business class seats; they are leagues better than their old legacy business class seats.

British Airways’ Club Suites are in a 1-2-1 configuration on all aircraft which they are installed on and are available on all Airbus A350-100s and 787-10s, along with some retrofitted Boeing 777-200s and 777-300ERs. As stated earlier in the article, British Airways intends to retrofit all aircraft with the Club Suites by 2024 along with retiring some of their 747s, which, along with some 777s, are the only aircraft which it doesn’t plan on installing the new seats on. For more information on how to fly on the British Airways Club Suites, visit the post on it which I wrote last year (link attached ).

Medium Haul A321s (Thompson Vantage Seat)

British Airways operates a very small sub-fleet of Airbus A321s which used to fly for BMI which are in a medium-haul configuration, equipped with personal on-demand entertainment at all seats and a lie-flat business class cabin. Business Class features flat-bed seats in an alternating 1-1 and 2-2 configuration and uses an early version of the Thompson Vantage seat, which is also used on JetBlue’s, Aer Lingus’, and TAP’s Airbus A321s. British Airways uses these A321s to fly on certain medium-haul routes to destinations such as Moscow, Tel Aviv, Amman, Beirut, among others.

Club World London City: 

British Airways offers a unique service: flying in an all-business-class configured Airbus A318 from New York (JFK) to London City (LCY). The flight is operated directly from JFK to LCY but has a stop in Shannon (where customers have US Pre-Clearance). The stop is held because the London City runway is not long enough to have an A318 with full fuel take off, and the flight requires full fuel tanks.

The interior features only 32 flatbed seats in a 2-2 configuration, equipped with wifi, tablets handed out as entertainment, and power plugs at every seat. The flight is incredibly convenient because every airport besides London City is far out from London (so you can get to LCY quickly), there is US Pre-Clearance in Shannon, so you do not have to wait in long lines in immigration in New York, and because it is a small all-business-class airplane, so it can feel almost like a private jet. 

Note : Due to reduced demand because of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, British Airways has cancelled their Club World London City service as of late March, 2020. It remains to be seen whether they will resume this unique service in the future, hopefully once demand picks up again.

First Class:  

Along with being the first airline to have the first flatbed business class seat, earlier, British Airways was also a pioneer in bringing in flatbed seats into first class in the 1990s. British Airways unfortunately doesn’t have great seats in first class, as they only offer open suites, which are actually quite non-spacious onboard some of their aircraft, such as their 747, making their product simply not competitive, in comparison to other airlines, such as Air France. British Airways has different seats onboard its 747s, 777s, and 787-9s, the three aircraft in which first class is equipped on; while none of them are fully enclosed, the first class product on British Airways’ 787s is generally the best, with larger entertainment screens, more privacy, and generally just a larger suite. 

What’s ironic is that some of British Airways’ 777 have closed doors in business class, while British Airways didn’t choose to majorly update the first class on those same routes, meaning that some of British Airways’ 777s debatably have a better business class than first class seat. Passengers additionally have access to the Concord Room and to British Airways Galleries First Class Lounges, which are located at London Heathrow Airport and at numerous other locations around the world. Also, British Aiways refreshed their first class soft product last year, as they introduced new and improved bedding, pajamas, along with improved catering.

Have you ever flown on British Airways? Share about your experience below!

Share this:

• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

You also might be interested in

Airline Profile: SWISS International Airlines

Featured Image: A SWISS International Airlines Airbus A220 at Munich[...]

Airline Profile: JetBlue

The Facts: Founded1999AllianceN/AFocus CitiesBoston Logan Fort Lauderdale New York-JFK (largest)[...]

Airline Profile: Aeromexico

Featured Image: An Aeromexico Embraer Boeing 737-700 at Washington Dulles[...]

Featured Posts

• How and Why Do Airlines Charge Different Prices For The Same Experience? An Introduction To Airline Pricing & Revenue Management
• How Will Airline Business and First Class Evolve Over The Next Decade?
• A Guide To The United States’ Lesser Known Commuter Airlines
• Is Buying Airline Miles Worth It, And On Which Airlines?
• How You Can Get Airport Lounge Access – Without Flying Business or Having Elite Status
• Airline Profiles
• Airline Routes
• Format and Aviation Vocabulary
• Flight Review Scoring

Recent Activity

• The General and Market-Specific Impacts of Airport De-Hubbing on Airfares: A Research Paper
• An In-Depth Examination of the Airlines and Airplanes That Have Flown To Washington Dulles Airport Since 1990
• The 15 Most Exciting New Routes Coming To The United States in 2022
• A Review Of Lufthansa’s (Surprisingly Good) Domestic CRJ-900 Business Class
• New Concourse Likely Arriving In 2025: What Is Next In Store For Washington Dulles Airport?

© 2024 — Air Travel Analysis

Free Travel Consultation

What you have to do: Fill out the form below by answering a few simple questions. Enter your name (can be a nickname), your e-mail address, your origin and destination, whether you are traveling one way or round trip, your preferred airline (if you have one), what the price range is, low cost or full service, and how many miles for what airlines you have.

What I will do: I will search multiple online booking platforms. I will then compare multiple airlines and find the cheapest flights for you which get the most out of your money. I will then send an e-mail to you detailing my findings. The best part: it’s free of charge!

• Other (Specify Below)
• Cheapest Option Possible
• Regular Economy
• Economy (Upgrade Options)
• Premium Economy
• Business Class
• Most Luxurious Option Possible
• Economy Only Using Miles
• In-Flight Entertainment
• Seat Comfort
• Convenience of the Flight
• Flight Service

Type and press Enter to search

Simple Flying

Why boeing 747s don't board on the upper deck.

Those sitting on the upper deck have to reach their seats via the aircraft's internal stairs.

• Boarding the Boeing 747's upper deck requires stairs due to capacity constraints.
• The door used as an emergency exit blocks a jetbridge, hindering direct boarding.
• The Airbus A380 allows upper deck jetbridge boarding, with additional provisions for wheelchair users.

When Boeing rolled out the double-decker jet more than five decades ago, the aviation industry was fascinated by its sheer size. The idea of having two floors of seating at a height approaching six stories was new. According to the manufacturer:

"The historic 747, dubbed the ‘Queen of the Skies,’ revolutionized air travel as the world’s first twin-aisle airplane and enabled more people to fly farther, faster and more affordably than ever before. Marked by its distinctively recognizable hump, this iconic airplane is a symbol of great engineering, innovation and often noted as an outstanding work of architecture."

"Since production began in 1967, and the first 747-100 completed its first test flight in 1969, more than 100 customers have purchased 1,574 aircraft, logging more than 118 million flight hours and nearly 23 million flight cycles."

The Boeing 747's most notable and talked-about feature is its semi-upper deck, which provides exclusive space for select passengers. But why can't passengers board this area directly? Let's find out.

Passengers have to take the stairs

Readers lucky enough to travel on the upper deck of the Boeing 747 will know how the boarding routine pans out. Having entered the aircraft on its lower deck, such passengers can climb the stairs to that forbidden realm atop the main cabin. This is an enthralling experience, but could it be avoided with direct boarding, with a jetbridge that connects to the top floor?

There is a door on the upper deck, so wouldn't it be feasible to board passengers directly, saving them the trip upstairs? In practice, this would not work for multiple reasons. Firstly, the deck's capacity is minimal. So, the infrastructure required for another jetbridge wouldn't be worth it for just a few passengers.

Crucially, the door on the upper deck is used primarily as an emergency exit, as a slide in the door's mechanism means that this safety feature would block the jetbridge. Additionally, the door in question opens upwards, which further complicates matters.

Get the latest aviation news straight to your inbox: Sign up for our newsletters today.

9 Routes: Where Lufthansa Is Flying The Boeing 747-400 This Summer

A380 does allow upper-deck boarding.

However, the Airbus A380 contrasts with the 747 in this regard. A key difference between the A380 and the 747 is that the former has a full upper deck. As such, investing in the infrastructure to have jetbridges serving the upper deck is easier to justify, as far more passengers use this plane area. As seen below, the jetbridges offer step-free access to the upper deck.

Of course, contingencies must be in place for the rare occurrence when an upper deck jetbridge might not be available. In this instance, passengers climb the stairs, but what about wheelchair users? For this purpose, the A380 features an internal stairlift. Simple Flying took a closer look at this equipment in an article last year.

Get all the latest aviation news right here on Simple Flying.

Korean Air Sells 5 Boeing 747s To US Air Force Contractor For New $13 Billion Doomsday Plane Program

Upper deck adventures.

While the upper deck 747 can't be boarded, several nuances have been related to it throughout the decades. The spiral staircase was a phenomenon in the jumbo's early years , representing a luxury era in air travel. Moreover, Delta Air Lines promoted the sale of a 'flying penthouse' on the top deck. KLM was a pioneer with its stretched upper deck on the 747-200 , which would soon become a standard feature of the type.

An increasingly rare aircraft type

Since 1968, Boeing has produced 1,574 examples of what must be one of the most recognizable commercial aircraft ever. While the 747's Majesty is revered worldwide, demand for such large quad jets has sunk recently, and production has ended.

The final 747 to be produced was handed over in January this year. Atlas Air was the airline that took the last-ever delivery of the legend. According to data from ch-aviation.com , just over 350 active 747s, comprising all the type's variants, are left worldwide. The -400 is the most active model.

However, with the overall program complete and existing examples only increasing, this figure will likely fall. Nonetheless, the new 747-8 series will mean that the jumbo jet will remain the 'Queen of the skies' for a little while longer.

What do you think of the Boeing 747? Have you ever flown on one of its upper decks? In the comment section, please share your thoughts and experiences.