Greenpen

Yes, I was stopped going up while strolling round the aeroplane, or rather I got up the stairs but was then collected and booted down!

Can I help you

Only customers on the upper deck have access to the stairs.

London_traveller

I'd like to christen the middle Club seat 'the coffin', if no-one's already done so .

Regarding seats on which deck on the A380, I think it's pretty obvious: BA will be able to charge a premium for upper deck seat selection (just as they do on 747s today). Given they can't do this for F as it's all free for them anyway, and, the lower deck width lends itself better to the 1:2:1 F layout, I can see why CW and WT are split across both decks. I guess it's too inefficient to have two WT+ cabins but I see it makes sense to have that cabin all upstairs for a minor air of exclusivity above WT.

Pretty canny revenue-raiser. If I'm travelling in WT (or CW for that matter), didn't have status and knew I was on an A380, I'd definitely pay a small premium to sit upstairs.

highpeaklad

Good news : larger F suite. The seats do not overlap according to the diagram and there is a large table/cupboard at each seat.

Bad news : Thomson 787 will be better in economy than BA. 3-3-3 but they have 33" pitch.

Sixth Freedom

Bet that they will put in an extra-bight lamp or two just over the middle seat though!

Like this:

edi-traveller

Is the upper deck of the A380 narrower than the 787?

It's interesting that CW and WT+ are 2x3x2 on both and yet they have crammed extra 3x3x3 seats into Y on the 787.

I was half expecting the upper deck to be 3x3x3 as well.

Shame they didn't keep consistency and have 2x4x2 on both 787 and A380.

Behindthecurtain

But that is what BA's Market is. The bulk of their money comes from Transatlantic, they are a class above the competition there. Middle of the road against everyone is still the best against UA, AA & DL on those routes. As well as this there is the matter of what people will pay. If the hard product is made best in class, someone has to pay, and that someone is us. Would everyone pay 33% more so BA can remove a row of seats? I dont think so, as companies would migrate to VS, UA & AA.

Plus to be fair to BA Club World is a good product as is New First, espcially with space and storage tweaks. Or it is to someone like me who tries to travel overnight when possible to maximise useable time, so does not give a monkeys about the table cloth, the food or wine and just needs a comfortable quiet environment to sleep on a reliable plane. The A380 and 787 both give this by being quieter, higher humidity and better air pressure and not being 1950's designed with aincient technology should be much more relable.

And before anyone says it, i am no BA apologist, and give them scathing critisism where i feel they deserve it (reliability, downgrading me etc) and only fly BA about 30% of the time.

JFX1764

So F class pax won't be allowed a wander upstairs?

Jacaranda

Yes this makes sense - the upper deck J on the EK A380 is never ending - however very poor show in F as the toilets look like the 'bog standard offering' the worst thing about flying! I was hoping for and expecting some inovation here, like EK F, not necessarily showers, but at least some decent space to change in. Couple this with no C terminal lounges, its all a bit dull - looking forward to experiencing the 469pax bun fight at the gate!

evanderm

The first coffin reference I can recall is this instance by opalfruit.

opalfruit

I might need to get a FlyerTalk TradeMark on that term if usage gets too high. I should get royalties or something!

andygeog

No surprises.

It's not a 'premium' product, it's an addition to the fleet. BA would have configured the layout in accordance with operational reasons and, most importantly, cost/revenue.

There is certainly no 'premium' feel to J on upper deck of SQ A380 (over and above other planes). It actually feels like you're on a 777.

Upper deck of 744, it ain't.

LHR-HUB

I assume that if there is any hint of boarding delay, F pax will be advised to wait in the CCR.

Is it even possible that F pax will be driven directly from the CCR to the plane once boarding is actually open?

It's not a long journey, and no real schlep, but haven't we all gone to B or C in the past only to find a 20 or 30 minute delay on boarding? With a 380 or two's pax load waiting to board, there will be no seating available, just standing room only. Starbucks vouchers will involve a queue of some stature, so pointless. Hardly the way to treat J pax, let alone F.

destere

Not that it's bad, but BA have been able to get away with their hard product for a long time. Many airlines have taken a lot of time to play catch up.

But I fear BA are being squeezed at an ever increasing rate. AA's upcoming business class offering (which has already been rolling out on CX) will put further pressure on BA. AA is right in BA's front yard, and I have avoided AA's business class because of the hard product - this may very well change when the new aircraft are in the fleet. A couple of years ago LH's hard products in F and J were IMO a borderline joke - today, not so.

I believe the only way BA will be able to keep this up is if they begin to invest in a superb soft product. The hard products can only really evolve so much anyway, I doubt we'll see anything as game changing as CW was in 2000 for quite a while.

767prisoner

Any speculation on the 787 routes? Will the new deliveries be one for one replacements for the old 767s and their routes? Presumably they will have to get progressively retired or upguaged with 772s at some point. Would be nice to get some new metal (or plastic) on the Cayman route.