British Airways news: A350 to Toronto, new codeshare including Langkawi & new BOB with Tom Kerridge

BA A350 to Toronto launches

BA’s first A350 flight to Toronto touched down on Tuesday. The A350 features the new Club Suite. Both Paul and I have flown to Madrid on the new seats but it is always hard to really assess a seat until you have done a long haul flight on them. Today Paul will be heading to Toronto to try out the new seats, so make sure you follow along on TLFL’s Instagram or Facebook stories with him!

The Club Suite, British Airways’ latest generation business class seat, which offers direct-aisle access, doors for greater privacy and luxurious flat-bed seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. It boasts 40 per cent more storage, a vanity unit and mirror, WiFi, enviable 18.5-inch inflight entertainment screens, high definition gate-to-gate programming, and PC / USB power.

 British Airways operate the A350 on the following frequency between London and Toronto:

BA93 London to Toronto departing 1:05 PM arriving 3:55 PM
BA92 Toronto to London departing 6:30 PM arriving 6:40 AM (+1 day)

New BA codeshare flights including Langkawi

British Airways customers are set to gain more benefits when flying between London and Asia thanks to a new codeshare agreement with oneworld partner Malaysia Airlines.

The new code will be added to 14 destinations the airline serves in Malaysia, including Langkawi, Penang and Kota Kinabalu, and nine cities in Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Vietnam. Seats are available to book now directly on ba.com, for travel from 9 October 2019.

As part of the new agreement, customers will have a greater choice of routes, destinations and fares and more flexibility between the UK and Asia Pacific. Travellers will also be able to through check to their final destination and collect their boarding passes in advance. British Airways Executive Club members will gain enhanced frequent flyer benefits and Avios can be used on reward flights, upgrades, hotels, experiences and for part payment, allowing customers to cut the cost of future British Airways flights. You will earn slightly better rates of Avios at 150% of Avios in the lowest fare buckets of business class versus 125% on a normal Malaysia Airlines flight. Plus you will get your tier bonus for Avios if you have status too,

Neil Chernoff, British Airways’ Director of Networks and Alliances, said: “This codeshare with Malaysia Airlines further strengthens the destination proposition for our customers, giving them more benefits when flying to Asia and South West Pacific. Malaysia Airlines shares our commitment to excellent customer service, and we are delighted that we can introduce more of our customers to their network.”

As part of the agreement, Malaysia Airlines customers will now be able to book seats directly on malaysiaairlines.com to Aberdeen, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle via London Heathrow on British Airways flights.

Subject to regulatory approval, Malaysia Airlines will also be codesharing with BA on European points namely Barcelona, Berlin, Copenhagen, Vienna, Brussels, Geneva, Hamburg, Lyon, Toulouse, Paris and Zurich. 

The codeshare destinations are:

• Malaysia – Alor Setar, Kota Kinabalu, Johor Bahru, Kuching, Kuantan, Labuan, Langkawi, Miri, Penang, Sibu, Kuala Terengganu, Sandakan, Kota Bharu, Bintulu
• Australia – Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth
• New Zealand – Auckland
• Indonesia – Denpasar-Bali, Jakarta, Surabaya
• Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City
• Cambodia – Phnom Penh

Buy on board – autumn/winter menu with Tom Kerridge

There are some positive changes to BA’s buy onboard this month if you are bored with sandwiches. For example, there is a new hot pie from celebrity chef Tom Kerridge which sounds tasty but won’t be available until 1 November. Gone is the controversial afternoon tea which it turned out, did not actually include tea! There are now even a couple of ‘meal deals’ to save you money. If you are a beer lover there is a new Hand & Flowers ale to go with the pie. I like the sound of the new Whitney Blackberry Gin, as well as the Spiced Rum. I am actually flying economy next month so I will give a couple of things ago and report back!

Here is the full menu:

Sandwiches and hot food

Snacks

Meal deals

Drinks