I have not the slightest doubt that it’ll be a money making machine for BA. :D

The new First suite is some way off being ready; I suspect we won't see it until the first 77W is refurbished in July next year (or the next new 77W is delivered, whichever comes first).

I highly doubt the 772s will be refurbished again, and instead will be retired with the refreshed current generation First seat. I'm surprised that the 772s are retaining an F cabin at all (although admittedly F is being removed from the G-YMM* series).

Indeed, except amusingly Swiss is going the other direction by adding a second loo to the A340 in F as they refurbish them whilst BA is removing one.

Oh yes they’ll want to keep you loyal, but don’t need to offer F redemptions to do that. This re-size is purely based on making F more profitable.

its a stepping stone too, once the number flying F reduces and the cabin is more profitable, expect more of the other improvements we often talk about which will suddenly become more feasible such as improved ground experiences.

or even until the 77X arrives!

Perhaps, but it's also about making the Club Suite commercially viable by increasing seat count by 1 on the 772 versus the current configuration on 4-class 772s. To increase J seat count the F cabin had to be reduced in size due to the less dense configuration of the Club Suite compared to the current Club World seat.

Why would they? There is a very limited amount of actual competition in the F market - if luxury and convenience is important enough for someone to spend £10k then they're not going to change planes in Frankfurt or the Arabian desert. That limits competition to other flag carriers - so either BA compete against the likes of SQ, or they don't. I have a feeling I know how this will end.

In terms of cabin crew numbers the reduction in the F cabin is win win in some ways. First CC / passenger ratio improves from 3/14 to 2/8 but there is now 1 more CC for CW which is where BA makes its money.

i stand corrected on the number!

yet they still have more availability than BA

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c513e0e26.jpeg
You can imagine when I saw this I was like “OMG FTers will NEED this” lol! Here you go guys! :)

That mood lighting though! I absolutely love!

Mood lighting looks great. In fairness the Thales system is pretty good. The Panasonic is likely better, but considering the 77W, A380 and 787 all have it, it’s hardly unacceptable. If/when the 787 and A380 get refitted I guess they’ll keep the Thales system too.

Does the Panasonic system offer any additional functionality?

Is there any news on it being significantly different to what they have now?

id have thought at best we’d be getting a 787 type interior, which, it seems, many think is not an upgrade anyway

Before I left there was some Q&A qith Alex at some event - a quarterly forum of some sort - and a question was asked around if and when LGW would get the new Club suite, and why wasn't the refresh done with that in already. After a brief moment of recognition where we all remembered about the existance of the West Sussex Flying Club, Alex said that they hadn't done so because of a) misalignment in timescales and b) because the LGW market is fundamentally different from LHR's, with the possible exception of a couple of routes. He also said there were no plans, back then, to retrofit.

In all honesty it made sense, at the end of the day if there's a belief that the clientele won't pay the premium to justify the extra cash (and retrofits are eye-wateringly expensive) why bother? Sure, it makes all the more mysterious why BDA isn't flying on a 789 out of LHR, but hey ho. If there's an odd one out of the LGW route that's the one.

As for First... I'd say it hasn't been refurbished because it was too much of an effort/cost at this time. I think it's a missed opportunity, for they might not want to do it on a 20-year-old 77E, but how about a 5-year-old 77W, or a 380?

It seems the club suite is operating Panasonic I believe. Like the 747s. I don’t know what’s happening at the back. But I think the Panasonic is just more responsive than Thales really and has a nicer interface