allturnleft

I sit here via air wifi writing this review on my 4th Finnair a350 leg LHR -HEL- PEK ; PEK-HK (Dragonair) HK-HEL-LHR

Firstly having done quite a few BA dreamliner legs I was initially a little unwhelmed by the a350 both externally and internally it doesnt imediately feel as ground breaking as the 787. I think maybe the windows dont look as large but i have grown to like it. Its quiet like the dreeamliner and you dont feel as rough coming off it

Good things about the a350 are the loos are bigger and there are 2 at the front both with windows as apposed to the pokey single one at the front of First on BA. I loved the external camera showing take iff and kanding on the screen at thr front of the cabin

Seating in club is 1:2;1 and looks less cramped than the 2:3:2 on BA
Intially the seats felt very cramped despite this configuration in the a350 it felt like a shrunk down CX. I think i took a bit of learning to get to know the set up as by the leg from HK I was able to get 7 hours good sleep and it didnt feel like the 'coffin' some describe it as

The IFE is verylimited compared to BA but the wifi is great; though didnt function at all on the HEL -PEK route. That segment was the roughest only a 7hr flight and the 2 meals seemed very close together and the lights didnt seem to go off

On the european legs obviously a wide body knocks CE into the long grass but that said the catering is worse than BA on these sectors with only one choice and the presentation and service quite basic (aside from the crystal glasses)!

On the HK to HEL route it was an all Hong Kong based crew so was like being on CX . The food and wine in the long sectors was good and comparable to BA

In summary I think the a350 compates well to the dereamliner and finnairs configuration and white colouring leads generally to a more relacing enviroment than the heavy grey/black in BA

Oh and I forgot the most important thing; you keep control of your blinds. No global window dimming

It will be interesting to see what BA do with their a350

corporate-wage-slave

I did my first longhaul A350 on Cathay a few weeks ago, HKG-LGW, and apart from the wifi - which isn't A350 specific - I was also underwhelmed. The Dreamliner certainly feels special and different to a degree, and the A350 just feels like an evolution of the boring A330s. I'm not a fan of Cathay's seats (since I'm one of the non-vocal few here that likes BA's CW window seats) but yes I didn't feel in anyway zonked coming off it despite having travelled for 24 hours continuously at the time of arrival into Gatwick.

My take on this is that BA actually configured the 787s quite well for Club and First (if one is prepared to discount the buddy seat loss), and made a big distinction with the 777 "dorm" as a result. How BA will do this in A350 can be judged by whether they partition the forward cabin up: the Cathay and Finnair A350 both suffer from the dorm factor, though in both cases there is a smaller second cabin behind the main cabin. In the case of Finnair, if the loads are low, they may lose a member of cabin crew and therefore "encourage" people from the second cabin into the main cabin, something Cathay would never do.

BA with the A350 would want a big WTP cabin, Cathay's half-hearted attempt at Premium Economy is only 28 seats, with 214 economy seats. BA would I guess be looking at WTP being about 50 strong. Hopefully BA will learn from the 787 and divide up CW on the A350 into 3 areas.

On 787s the windows are also individually controlled in certainly CW and First, they may do a blanket closedown after the main meal, but you can usually set them yourself before and after that. Speak to the CSL if your window does not change.

allturnleft

Im not totally sure why an airline would have both types
Anyone else apart from BA propose to or have both? They presumably have very similar passenger numbers

sxc

QR has both. But they seem to have every aircraft type.

Grace B

As per TG (flown them both, truly dislike the 787) and TK (forthcoming). Oh, and not to forget SQ, and probably a whole host more. So it's not really that rare.

flatlander

The A350 promises to be less unpleasant than the 787 in Economy, however. It would certainly be hard for it to be more unpleasant.

c-w-s: Do you fancy taking one for the team and doing a long haul sector on an A350 to compare with the 787 ?

corporate-wage-slave

In World Traveller? I think I've done my share of that, have I not?

Grace B

I imagine you haven't flown TG business on a 787 then. And, they are going to fly it AKL! How awful.

flatlander

I think we would all like to know if you would transport yourself, or your sheep, in such a seat.

FlyerTalker39574

Different diameter fuselages, so differing seating configurations, in CW B787 is 2-3-2, A350 is 2-4-2, which suit differing routes.

The larger B787-10 can't go very far when fully loaded, which is why BA need the A350.

Prospero

What will be interesting, other than the new Club World seat for the A350, is what BA will do with its World Traveller Plus cabin? The current WT+ seat won’t fit 2-4-2 so are we to expect 2-3-2 or a slightly narrower seat configured 2-4-2 such as CX’s PE seat. My money is on the latter

dakaix

I happened to do a connection between both aircraft earlier this year, and I found the A350 is noticeably quieter than the 787. So much so that you could easily whisper to your seat mate on the A350, something you still couldn't do on the 787. I found myself not even bothering with my Bose QC's on the 350 since there was such a marginal gain to using them, compared to it being fairly noticeable still on the 787.

ETA: Seems I'm not going crazy on this either, Airbus claims a 6dB difference between the two aircraft.
http://www.airbus.com/newsroom/news/...nd-comfor.html

HIDDY

Iberias A350 2-3-2 PE cabin configuration looks pretty decent.

Leaping_Deere

Interestingly I prefer the A350 to the 787. Whilst the windows are bigger in the Boeing, Im sure the Airbus is a decibel or two quieter. I just find the A350 more comfortable atmosphere better air quality, humidity and less tired on landing.

its' not leagues ahead but perhaps 15% better to me.

compared to CX, AY A350 seat feels a little cheaper made and a bit less space, I only found I could only sleep on one of my sides, but very comfortable when in that spot.

Interesting if Mother BA create all aisle access on these A350's??

allturnleft

'CX, AY A350 seat feels a little cheaper made and a bit less space, I only found I could only sleep on one of my sides, but very comfortable when in that spot.'

A friend of mine described Finnair as IKEA airways!
They are a bizarre mix of qualiity in some areas and a sort of classless cool in others

Reading in the finnair forum I think they have had lots if teething problems with the aircraft
My IFE had no sound today and i noticed the problem of an Occupied loo staying on green!