BA107
Dep: LHR London Heathrow Terminal 5 12:50 11th October 2022 (local time)
Arr: DXB Dubai Terminal 1 23:05 11th October 2022 (local time)
Flight duration: 7 hours 15 minutes
Seat: 15A Cabin: Club World (Business)
Operated by: British Airways (G-XLEF Airbus A380-841)

The holy grail of non-rev travel at BA is the ABC – the annual bookable concession. This takes the already attractive premium standby offer, strips out the fare component entirely, bumps the onload and cabin priority, and can even be confirmed in advance of travel. Sure enough, mine had cleared weeks ago, so I strode in to Terminal 5 confident that I would be flying to Dubai today.

However, whilst I knew I would be on the plane (barring a major upset such as the aircraft going tech), I didn’t know which cabin…. Manage by Booking showed World Traveller (economy), my electronic boarding pass reckoned Club World (business), and my seat assignment was for a spot in World Traveller Plus (premium economy).

None of this mattered prior to boarding, as I was entitled to use business bag drop and fast track security regardless of which cabin I would be in, and conversely wouldn’t be allowed in the lounges with such a ticket.

At the gate I was treated to the magic beep that announced a new seat assignment in Club. The A380s don’t yet have Club Suite, but my new boarding pass entitled me to my favourite location in Club World cabins – a rear facing window seat on the final row, which grants both direct aisle access and a great sense of privacy.

I was surprised this was still available, but on board I discovered why – power to the seat mechanisms (although not the IFE) had failed, so it was locked to the take-off/landing position. So, no flat bed for me – but for a relatively short day flight, I didn’t particularly mind. Besides, I’d only paid £150!


First item of business was lunch – menus were distributed and orders taken before we’d even completed boarding. Although the other cabins were back to pre-pandemic service levels, Club would still be on the single tray setup for a few more weeks. A risk of the last row is that some menu options may no longer be available, but on this occasion I was able to get my preferred main. When it arrived, about an hour in to the flight, I certainly couldn’t complain about the portion size!



Three hours in to the flight it was already dark outside and the cabin had been dimmed to just the blue mood lighting. Following our curious route – apparently avoiding Iran – on the moving map, I spotted my eventual destination, Yerevan, amongst the names of many unfamiliar places. Dubai would simultaneously be the furthest south and east I’d ever ventured, and this trip was my first foray into Asia.

WiFi was available at a variety of price points: basic messaging at £3 for an hour / £5 for the whole flight; or more capable ‘browse and stream’ packages at £5 / £12 / £15 for one hour / four hours / the flight. But I settled for remaining unplugged, relying on the IFE and some pre-loaded podcasts on my phone. Unfortunately my run of disappointing films on planes continues – I could not see why there was so much hype about Everything Everywhere All at Once.

A second, lighter, meal was delivered – in the dark! – about an hour before arrival. I had picked the vegetarian option, which was nothing fancy, but plenty tasty.



We landed a little ahead of schedule, at pretty much 11pm local. Unfortunately it took 25 minutes before we were released to the terminal, and it was only during a similarly lengthy wait in the visa-on-arrival queue that I discovered the consequences of these delays. I thought the metro would be an option until 1am, and had planned – or not – my onward travel accordingly. But whilst parts of the system might operate that late, the last train departing from here would be at a minute to midnight. Maddeningly, I cleared immigration and retrieved my luggage at a minute past…