Dave_C

BA has four different classes of travel. They are:

FIRST
Club World and Club Europe (Business Class)
World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy)
World Traveller and Euro Traveller (Economy / Coach)

Note: From July 2006 AVOD (Audio Video On Demand) should begin rolling out across the entire fleet, in all classes of service. There is no public plan or way to predict if your particular flight will have AVOD – it is not being done as a route-specific deployment and BA rarely dedicate planes to specific routes anyway. The current plan at the time of writing is that the 767s will be fitted first, then the 38J 747s, then the 70J 747s, then the 777s.

FIRST (Picture) is on all 747 equipment, located in the nose, and on some 777 aircraft. The 747’s have 14 seats, the 777’s have 13, 14 or 17 depending on type. It is a 6’6” bed that goes totally flat. Also there is an ottoman, which, if travelling with a companion, can be used by them to sit on, allowing you to dine facing each other. The seat also features EmPower which is what most airlines use for providing in-seat power. There is a video screen, which gives access to the 12 or 18 channel entertainment system on the aircraft. Additionally there’s a Hi-8 video player allowing you to watch movies supplied by the crew. On some routes (primarily 777s which have the “small” video screens) your crew will also provide a portable DVD player and a selection of DVDs for your use. You also get a nice amenity kit, with an Anya Hindmarch designed bag, and on night flights, dark blue pyjamas (emblazoned with the FIRST logo).

BA has a flash animation that shows the product’s features in more detail:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel...c/public/en_gb

Club World (Picture) comes in two varieties, New Club World (NCW) and Old Club World (OCW). The New product is on all BA Mainline aircraft (i.e. 747, 777 and 767). NCW is a 6-foot, fully flat and horizontal bed. Like FIRST, it also features Empower and the same IFE options, though there is no tape player. The seats alternate forward and backwards facing to fit together in an almost yin/yang like shape. OCW is the more typical Cradle seat first implemented in 1996, featuring a 50” pitch (Picture). This is only now present on the BMED franchise fleet of Airbus aircraft. The Club World amenity kit features nice Molton Brown Products.

BA has a flash animation that shows the product’s features in more detail:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/cwexp/public/en_gb

World Traveller Plus (Picture) is an improved economy product, and definitely not a downgraded business class. It features eight abreast seating (6 abreast on the 767), instead of nine or ten abreast, and a 38” pitch. They are new seats, specially designed by Recaro and have foot rests and extra recline. They also have Empower. The discounted WT+ fares are typically around £400 more than the cheapest WT fares (£200 each way). WT+ passengers receive the same food as World Traveller passengers, but do benefit from being served first (oh, and getting a real glass not a plastic cup for their wine!). There is no stated benefit of dedicated check-in desks for WT+ but gradually more and more airports are offering them (e.g. LHR T4, LAX, IAD at least). In general, however, WT+ passengers check in with the rest of World Traveller.

BA has a flash animation that shows the product’s features in more detail: http://www.britishairways.com/travel...p/public/en_gb

World Traveller (Picture) is standard economy. It’s 3-4-3 on the 747, 3-3-3 on the 777 and 2-3-2 on the 767. It’s got a 31” pitch and each seat has a personal TV with either 12 or 18 channels depending on the aircraft. There is no at seat power.

Club Europe (Picture) is the European business class seat. On the narrow body planes, it’s configured with convertible five-abreast seating. This means on the left hand (ABC) side of the aircraft, the B seat squishes, leaving wider A C seats (an extra two inches or so). On the right hand (DEF) side, they expand giving around an extra couple of inches per seat. If the flight is busy, BA will sell the E (middle) seat. The front two thirds of the aircraft can be converted like this according to how many Club passengers they are expecting. The curtain also gets moved to wherever the divide is that day. Club Europe has around a 34” pitch, so not particularly generous, but adequate. Some newer Airbuses have 120V European style plug sockets, although there aren’t too many of these. The new A321’s should have them. On the 767 aircraft, Club Europe is configured 2-2-2 with the ‘collapsed’ seat being in the middle block (DF).

The diagram below (created by jamespvg) illustrates this convertible seating:

Here, rows 1-3 are Club Europe, row 4 is the first row of Euro Traveller (with the AC seats still in Club Europe format) and rows 5 and onwards are standard Euro Traveller.

BA has a flash animation that shows the product’s features in more detail:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/ceexp/public/en_gb

Euro Traveller (Picture) is the European economy class. On the narrow bodies, it’s in a normal 3-3 configuration, while on the 767, it’s 2-3-2. Again it has a 31” pitch. One side effect of the convertible seating on the narrow body aircraft is that the very first row of Euro Traveller, on the left hand side also features this A C configuration, with no B seat. They are the best in Euro Traveller.

UK Domestic (aka Shuttle) is the single economy class available on all UK routes using Airbus A319/20/21 and Boeing 757 to/from LHR; Boeing 737 to/from LGW. These types feature 3-3 configuration throughout. Regional services operated by subsidiary BA Connect feature Avro (configured 3-3) and Embraer 145 (configured 1-2) regional jets with a small number of routes operated by Dash-8 props (configured 2-2) and a ‘buy on board’ service. All mainline flights still retain ‘full service’ in all cabins (i.e. complimentary catering).