SteveinDanville

We just got back from a vacation flying BA. My wife and I spent $3200 round trip (outbound ended in Prague and return started in Budapest...Danube River cruise). We paid for their Economy Plus, essentially for more room. We got stuck with the two (of four) seats in the last row next to the WC. Turns out their are only two WC's in the middle of the plane for all of Economy Plus and probably half of Economy. Constant activity and lines. These seats reminded me of the old First Class seats on AA's MD-80's, although not as padded. Very, very tired, as was this apparently vintage 777. The seats in front would recline and block the ability to get out to go to the WC, so I can't even imagine what the Economy experience was like. For a 10 hour flight, the only "power port" is the original, large "D"-shaped USB plug, which I haven't seen in years. No other port, so no charging of my tablet. Secondly, the TV screen is about the size of a navigation screen in my car, and was broken. My wife's was okay but the picture was muddy and just awful. The old style control wand that clicks into the side of the arm rest is in such a place that your leg will change volume, or input, or channel whenever you move, so the fix is to unclick it, pull it out, and let it dangle near the floor. Their is no underseat storage to speak of because the "entertainment unit" box is underneath each seat, right where your feet are supposed to go. Finally, of course they ran out of the food I had pre-ordered and my choice was a curry chicken and rice. Is everybody a curry fan??? Not me. If we had taken the flight 3 hours later we would have been upstairs in an A350 or A380 (can't remember which) and the Economy Plus seating that they advertise looks like the real deal. We will never, ever fly in this class on a triple 7 again. Thanks BA.

Can I help you

That's a shame, most of the B777s have the new seats and inflight entertainment.

Numb3rs

Sorry to hear about the experience you had in WTP!

Question is, how much better would the newer WTP be? Anyone a regular flyer on the class? I have flown WTP for one segment and it was the old WTP. I didn't eat any food and slept through the whole flight.

highpeaklad

Compared to economy I thought (old) WT+ was amazing for a long trip.
Depends on what you're used to I guess.

Flexible preferences

You could have paid to select your seats in advance - then you may have been able to secure a side pair further forward.

SteveinDanville

I did. Best available.

Flexible preferences

Early birds and worms and all that...

bradders81

I fly that route monthly on the A380 in Y. I normally take 70B but have had a couple of OpUp's to W. When those happen, I've had an aisle seat in W and I'd say 70B trumps it. Sure, there is an arm rest but there just isn't that much between the two classes in my opinion, in the hard product between a bulkhead Y and a general W.

The food is obviously miles better as that first service is the J meal.

Tough call but I don't think the price justifies the jump for me.

csutter

Night and day. The new WTP is a fantastic product, the old one I personally wouldn't pay for - it isn't that great to begin with, not to mention that the old cabins remaining are in a decrepit state (they've been in there for up to 16 years after all!)

flylikelinz

Lol really?

I think 28/43 777-200ER are still old I wouldn't call that most...

riku2

I've travelled on this plane and all the other long haul BA flights in premium economy and have no trouble getting out of the seat when the seat in front is reclined, it's a bit awkward but it is possible (and i'm not talking about holding the seat in front and giving the passenger there a bit of a see-saw ride like many passengers behind me often do).
What would you prefer instead? less recline of everyone's seat?
Basically you get what you pay for and i'm quite happy with premium economy - the seat is wider and there is a lot more legroom than economy. I don't see the BA version much worse than other airlines.

Can I help you

I didn't say B777-200 I said B777s.

flylikelinz

But come on that just means 31 are new 28 are old. Whilst technically that means most. Generally when used in that term you would assume a significant majority are upgraded and the OP was just unlucky to get the old Config.

As the 773s seem to have dedicated routes for the rest, your chances of old config are much more to be 50/50 than by the off chance like Old First in 2014/2015

Can I help you

Most means more than 50% which is a fact.

Purim

You have my sympathy because you are right, had you taken the later a380, you would have encountered a significantly better hard product. With reasonable sized screens, 2 x usb ports and on the windows, really handy storage containers.

Not just with BA, (And I reminded here specifically of the differences between the AF F product on the 777's and the a380 noted by SFO777 in his trip reports), but many carriers have different hard product offerings across the fleet so it really behoves any traveler, not least a FF like the OP, to really do their due diligence to be sure you are getting the product you think you are getting (subject to last minute equipment changes).