Most of the travel videos I watch or news items on airline ratings inevitably seem to descend into either jokes about Ryanair or criticism of how lousy BA is “these days”. Of particular focus is often BA First with frequent comparisons to Etihad, Lufthansa, and Air France La Premiere. So finally I have the opportunity to find out for myself in 2 weeks (First from LHR to ORD - A380) but the first surprise was the price - I booked economy out and First return for $2,600 which to me is a great deal, if I looked at Lufthansa the price would be at least double that.

So is this BA’s secret - their First class product is deliberately sub-standard compared to other airlines simply because they sell those seats at such a competitive price point ?