81romeo

Hi all,

me and my gf have been lucky enough to recently fly LHR-KUL in F on one of the brand new B789 birds. The aircraft was G-ZBKE, delivered 28/11/2015.

I have also been lucky enough so far to try BAs F product on the B744, B777 and A380 several times however this was my first time on the B789.

I was in 2K, gf was in 1K (she is a GCH).

In terms of cabin I just loved it and would prefer it to any other BA F cabin.
It has just 2 rows, only 8 seats, which makes it very cosy and welcoming.
We also got a great WW crew, 3 cc in total in the F cabin - two for the service and one in the galley (I gave out a golden ticket and a "well done" on BA.com for the entire crew).

Each seat has two full windows which can be dimmed via one button only. The seat is just great, I think slightly wider than on the A380. The personal wardrobe has a wooden hanger in it which is a nice touch (compared to the plastic one on the A380 and B747).
There is loads of storage. I really liked the cabinet close to the window, it has a mirror in it too and you can store an iPad or an 11" MacBook Air easily. The tray table can be rotated whilst open to facilitate the exit from the open suite. However I had the impression the tray table was slightly smaller than the one on the A380.
The screen is awesome in size, just the angle is a bit weird in my opinion: not too sure why they couldn't fit it to be in front of the passenger, aligned with the eyes.

Buddy dining can't be done unfortunately: technically I think it could still be done as there is space (please note both me and my gf are quite tall - 183cm and 175cm - but rather skinny) but on our flight cc advised it can't be done for safety reason, maybe it's a new policy.

In addition to the weird screen angle, I think the only other con is the lavatory: it's rather small and there is only one for the F cabin which meant that 30 minutes before landing it was 8 of us queing (F was 8/8).

Nevertheless, it was a great flight, I would prefer the 789 F cabin to any other BA F cabin. The cabin is very silent too, I guess the only problem would be if there are snoring passengers but the ear plugs should fix the issue in that case.

Finally, I think that I would always prefer 2A/K to 1A/K only because the first row is closer to the galley. There was no traffic at all between the small J cabin (two rows too between doors 1 and doors 2) and the F one. Also, the curtains which separate the J cabin from the F one are thicker than the ones which separate J from W and there is no light at all coming through.

Happy to reply to any specific questions and to understand if I'm the only one who thinks the screen is positioned at a weird angle (to be in front of the passenger in my opinion it should have been turned slightly on the right hand side). I also really enjoyed the small remote which can be permanently set on the route progress.

jaguarpig

Is there enough room to buddy up for a drink?

Ldnn1

Thanks for the review. Sounds like the seat is very nice, but having only the one toilet is a real negative in my view. That will always lead to a queue when the cabin is full, which is exactly the type of issue one expects to avoid when buying up to F.

Can I help you

Sounds good, if there were 3 crew in First one of the other cabins couldn't have been busy as the standard number of crew in First on the -9 is 2.

mikeyfly

My BA33 was full and there were two crew working F

Can I help you

That's correct.

Flexible preferences

+1

Most people want to use the loo/freshen up in the last half hour or so before landing.

BingBongBoy

I believe, the reason that you can't buy dine or drink, space aside, is that there is no lap belt built into the seat, as there is in the foot end of the First seat on other aircraft, hence the safety reason... As well as it not being designed to sit in that area due to the fixed position of the screen.

lost_in_translation

Much appreciated, thank you! Have a feeling I'll find the 787-9 to be the best BA F cabin when I try it, as whatever the gripes about the smaller cabin meaning less 'accessibility' and award availability, the extra privacy from a max of 7 other passengers is surely what F is supposed to be about.

scillyisles

+ another 1.
This is a big drawback to this setup and I can imagine will be an issue when people change etc the last hour or so or if someone is feeling unwell etc.

scillyisles

I guess you have not flown F on an A380 for some time - the hangers in the personal wardrobe were changed to wooden ones quite some time ago.

lorcancoyle

I'd just re-opened my wardrobe to double-check before I saw your post - could have sworn it was wooden then (and it still was )

bafan

Interesting review. But to me, sounds like the A380 is just as good (if not better) in many respects - number of loos, buddy seat, quietness, space, etc.

Or does the bigger screen and wardrobe compensate for all of that ?

81romeo

There is definitively enough space however I guess cc would not allow this.

81romeo

It is indeed.

Also, the F washroom was used quite often by the 4 pilots. Before landing, one of the two Captains came out and all 8 of us queuing had to go back to our seats. Not ideal.