BA Is Back In The Game?
 

VERY long time lurker braving it for my first post (please be nice!)

As you may be able to tell from my username I live in Dubai so was thrilled to hear that is was the first route for the new A350 which BA promised to be a 'game-changer' for modernising the airline.

I took the A350 for the first time last week (in economy class) and then the return this week, and I have to say across the board I found the entire experience to be far more pleasant than previous BA economy flights (admittedly not for a while) - not just the seat but the whole service package as well. I know BA comes under heavy fire on FT for 'enhancements' galore but IMHO BA has really stepped up its game of late - and with the A350 could begin to be a viable contender against the 'premium' long haul airlines (Emirates, Etihad etc..).

This seems to be what a lot of the flight reviewers on YouTube are saying as well. I really enjoyed the video below - I found him quite funny - but a few others have posted as well saying similar things.

What do you all think of this? I'd love the opinion of the more frequent travellers and staffers as well - see if it's just the excitement of the new plane clouding my view!

Welcome to FT and finally posting. I’m sure you’ll get the official welcome.

The new Y experience is definitely up there on the new and refurb aircraft. It’s a shame there’s still a few below par aircraft but hopefully they are disappearing over the next few years.

The 350 is of course a big improvement but the idea that BA will start competing the ‘premium’ airlines as you said it’s a very long shot. Don’t forget that BA pretty much reached rock bottom and now is improving both the hard and soft product. Still a long way to go. BA management came, demolished the house and now they are back with a camp tend. Of course is much better than not having a house at all but still...

Another welcome to the board!

The A350 was designed with 3-3-3 economy in mind, and then can fit 9 seats at 18" width. This is a definite add to the comfort, particularly in the shoulders.

The same cannot be said for the 787 (designed for 18.4"+ 2-4-2 but implemented as ~17.2" 3-3-3 at all but the Japanese carriers) and the venerable 777 (designed for 18"+ 3-3-3 but now increasingly a 17.4" 3-4-3)

The soft-product improvements are welcome, although they are mostly reversals of earlier "enhancements".

Welcome to FT!

Thanks for the review. Once of the criticisms of the forum is that there is a focus on J and F. When it comes to the A350 that has been true and a lot has been written about the new J seats. It's therefore nice to see something on Y which I am sure many will be interested in.

How long before airlines start ripping out the 3-3-3 and replacing with 3-4-3?

One of the French locos already has...

Thanks all - it’s not my video but I’ll happily take credit for it!

No way! Which one?

Having flown Y longhaul on SQ, KL, LH, DL, AF, NZ and also BA this year, BA will need to put more efforts to be on par with the others. BA indeed reached rock bottom before starting to reverse the cuts it has made to its soft product in longhaul Y. Things that other airlines do and not BA are:
- Hot or cold refreshing towels before each meal (SQ, KL, AF, LH, NZ)
- Printed menus (AF, SQ)
- Champagne (AF)
- Cocktails (SQ)
- Better headsets (DL, AF, SQ, LH)
- Eyeshades (AF, SQ, DL)
- Free Internet (AF for texting)

As for Y shorthaul, BA seems to be the worst of all of them as you get nothing for free not even a glass of water (except water from the tank)...
So there is a lot to be done still. Don't know if the bean counters at waterside are thinking of continuing the improvements or not. I remember BA said there will be improvements to shorthaul catering but we've seen nothing until now.

Also I have realised that even the PE meals has been improved they still lacking of variety and quantity. The light refreshment in flights to ME tends to be only a margarita pizza with no other option. Quite poor compare to LH that they offer usually 2 options. On my last trip with LH to BAH the light meal was either a wrap with chicken and cheese or a wrap with salmon. I had the salmon and it was very tasty. FA asked me if I want to try the other wrap as well. In the meantime I still read reviews when people refused a second slice of pizza with BA as they are don’t seem to have any spares... A bit poor but still massive improvement compare to the Kit Kat!

I find it annoying when they issue printed menus, I have a perfectly serviceable screen in front of me and would much prefer they were displayed on that.

One thing is that it reduces the clutter, and obviously keeps the tree huggers happy.

And I will add my welcome to you britindubai too, we don't tend to get many reviews from World Traveller in this forum for some reason, we do have a thread on A350 reviews:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...iews-more.html

but mostly that covers experiences from Club World. So thanks for the contribution, which is most useful.

If I get round to it I should do a review for my very recent Y on a 747 and WT+ on a midJ...in a nutshell, very pleasantly surprised by the comfort and service, particularly in Y!

French Bee, I believe. There's a trip report on TPG.