In this post:
BA’s new First class
There has been a lot of speculation about the refurbished B777-200s first class, as Alex Cruz had previously confirmed that BA were planning to install some new BA First seats based on an upgraded version of the B787 seats.
We had been expecting them to install them on the B777-200s that they are refurbishing, since if you have to reduce the cabin size down and add the new Club Suites it would make sense to put in better first seat, right? Sadly this is not the case and as far as we can tell all that has been done is the cushions and carpet. They do look better though, even though this is something of a wasted opportunity.
What we can reveal from a BA insider, is that there are new First seats on the way for the B777-300s that will be refurbished. We don’t have exact times scales yet but these are expected to be arriving in the first half of 2020.
Thanks to Rob for the photos.
Here is what the B787 First class looks like now:
So would you book First on the refurbished B777-200 when there are Club Suites available? What tweaks would you like to see on the new B787 style First seats? Let us know in the comments below or on social media.
BA’s answer to flight shaming
I normally shy away from politics on the blog, but since this is an important issue to flyers I will give my view. Ever since the Greta Thunberg speech and the focus on climate change currently, a new trend of flight shaming has started. OK, so I am biased but I don’t think to focus on just one aspect of people’s lives that only contributes 2% to global warming is the way forward. We need to look at the total picture, not start making people feel like we are attacking them over one aspect in their lives – this is more likely to turn people off. After all, we don’t have burger shaming and people eat far more meat and dairy than take flights! (in case you weren’t aware the methane produced by cows is a factor in climate change). So BA has launched an initiative to make all their domestic flights carbon neutral and help end flight shaming.
From January 2020, British Airways will become the first UK airline to offset carbon emissions on all its flights within the UK. All customers flying within the UK next year on flights operated by British Airways will have the carbon emissions from their flights offset by the airline and invested in carbon reduction projects around the world. These quality-assured projects will include renewable energy, protection of rainforests and reforestation programmes.
The airline operates up to 75 flights a day between London and 10 UK cities, including Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Isle of Man, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Belfast City, Inverness and Jersey. British Airways’ domestic emissions total around 400,000 tonnes of C02 a year.
Today’s announcement comes as British Airways’ parent company, International Airlines Group (IAG), became the first airline group worldwide to commit to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, contributing to both the UK Government’s commitment to a net zero carbon economy by 2050 and the United Nations’ objective to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. IAG’s emissions’ goal will be achieved through numerous environmental initiatives, including investing more than US$400m in the development of sustainable aviation fuels over the next 20 years.
Alex Cruz, British Airways’ Chairman and Chief Executive, said: “British Airways is determined to play its part in reducing aviation’s CO2 emissions. To solve such a multi-faceted issue requires a multi-faceted response and this initiative further demonstrates our commitment to a sustainable future. It also follows our announcement to partner with renewable fuels company, Velocys, to build a facility which converts household and commercial waste into renewable sustainable jet fuel to power our fleet.”
If you are travelling outside the UK, you can, of course, offset your emissions by paying a small fee. The amounts are actually so small, I can’t see why on earth BA would not just add it to the ticket cost, so they can claim to be totally carbon neutral. There is a carbon tool which allows you to calculate the emissions and then invest in carbon reduction projects including high-quality forestry and renewable energy projects in Peru, Sudan and Cambodia. BA have also invested in facilities for biofuel which will turn waste into jet fuel. Obviously investing in new aircraft such as the A350 helps in terms of fuel efficiency too.
Using the tool, which can be accessed on https://www.pureleapfrog.org/ba/carbon_zero, a customer will pay around £1 to offset a return flight from London to Madrid, travelling in economy, while from London to New York in business class will cost around £15. If you are a frequent flyer there is also an easier alternative to save doing it every time – https://offset.earth/. This allows you to pay a monthly fee to offset your emissions based on your personal level of flying/car use.
| Journey | Cost to offset |
| London to Madrid (economy) | £ 1 |
| London to New York (economy) | £ 5 |
| London to New York (business) | £ 15 |
| London to Los Angeles (economy) | £ 8 |
| London to Los Angeles (business) | £ 24 |
| London to Hong Kong (business) | £ 26 |
21 comments
It looks claustrophobic – and the dark brown is dreary. I wouldn’t be in a hurry to book!
Breeding is a natural animal instinct. If you dont eat the meat produced, then there will be more wind passed. What are these loonies suggesting farmers do? Vasectomies on all bulls?? These cloned 60’s hippies and their poor children are probably so stoned some Thursdays that they forget to go to the dole office and sign on, to collect their benefits!! Oh, and how does a person with “”visual impairment”” see well enough to climb onto the roof of a plane??? Is this fraud within the UK para-olympian team?
Nigel, why did you write this? Do you actually think this way, or are you just doing it for the fun of writing stupid comments from the safe space of internet anonymity?
BA have 100% missed something here. Firstly they should put in some for of foam mattress in F. Plus they should have included a door in the side wall of your seat. Not difficult at all. Beyond this it seems F on BA is rather lacklustre!
Ps
Why do they not offered free WiFi for F?
“ So would you book First on the refurbished B777-200 when there are Club Suites available?”
In short, NO.
Don’t get me wrong,i love F as much as the next person and actively seek it out in deals and redemptions, but the term “wasted opportunity” has never been more appropriate. That said, Alex has from here. You only have to look at the front, upper deck of an A380 to see that
By stopping flying /eating meat /driving a car you will save 1/20th of the amount of the CO2 from having a child – people’s carbon foot print needs to be taken in the entirety.
Also isn’t a very overweight person likely to burn the same CO2 in economy as in Business ?
It’s all relative.
Exactly- it’s all relative!
And Staynley Johnson has 6 kids, yet considers himself a XR hero…
*Stanley Johson
It seems from this article in the Guardian that there will be another stealth tax attack on frequent flyers, Mark my word.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/14/air-miles-should-be-taxed-to-deter-frequent-fliers-advises-report?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
As you rightly say Michele, it is a wasted opportunity. However if the price difference between F and J is not too much, I would choose F for the service.
My last round trip in BA F over the last ten days was an absolute revelation and a better experience than the BA F trips I had in July and August this year. In fact I would say that it was outstanding and very close to my trip on EK F in September.
Great. Let’s all stop polluting the planet by stopping having children then. then we’d know you really meant it, instead of just saying trendy things.
As Michele kind of points out, where does it all stop?
Michelle, you are entitled to your opinion but, as someone who makes a living by taking senseless flights around the world I am afraid your thoughts on climate change are shall we say, a tad ludicrous. But, nice try anyway…
Can’t be that senseless if you are here reading them? 🙂
Sorry for carrying on the politics theme that you started Michelle. I normally keep my (occasional) comments to our shared hobby of premium flying. These are two articles that everybody interested in climate change should read; you won’t find this info anywhere on the news media that you normally read and watch, because the powers-that-be don’t want you to have this info:
https://off-guardian.org/2019/10/03/climate-and-the-money-trail/
https://www.thepostil.com/greta-thunberg-and-eco-eugenics/
Thanks Tony
Thanks Michele for raising the issue of climate change, including the options, and opening yourself up to the possibility of criticism.
I fly a lot – not as much as some we know but much more than the average person.
I do not have children, recycle everything, offset my utilities and have now committed to a large monthly payment to offset.earth.
Am I perfect? far far from it. Am i better than many? I think I probably am.
Going back to First on BA we are flying F to Mexico City on 8/1/20. It was a super price of £1900 per seat. I think it’s a Dreamliner but cannot check as currently in Yangon! Will it be the seat you show above in your blog. If so it looks no better than Club! Have we been done?!
(The Qatar 777 London-Doha was superb, though not the A319 onward to Yangon sadly. But Qatar has its mojo back on comfort, service and food offering).
The seats on the B777 are as shown. The B787 seats are much nicer although no buddy seat. They may look like Club but they are bigger and more private. Definitely a step up plus all the extras such as food and drink are far superior.
We flew on a refurbished 777-200 to Cancun yesterday. I had no idea these holiday routes we regularly use had been refurbed. I presumed holidaymakers were regarded as ‘,not worth it’.
We did economy out (cheap at £275) and will do an incredibly cheap club seat back next week ( £750 !!)
But the experience on a refurbished plane is incredibly superior to before. I thought the seats were comfortable and leg room was fine plus you could actually use the entertainment screen.
The premium economy seats looked quite big as we walked past.
We’ll find out on 5/12 if theres much difference in the
Club experience, but I suspect not from your previous reports.
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