dbthebolt

Hi all. Would anyone be able to comment about the experience on a BA A321neo in Club. We are considering a trip to Egypt, but a 5hr+ flight in a 321neo does not sound too appetizing as I have heard that the seats are little bit minimalist in terms of comfort. We are not time constrained, so QR via Doha is our alternative. Any comments most welcome. Thanks

wb1969

If you’re in no hurry, QR wins hands down. I wouldn’t wish 5 hours on a BA short haul plane on my worst enemy. Remember, Club Europe is the same as Euro Traveller, with the middle seat blocked. Non existent leg room. No IFE. No thank you.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi.

It is survivable and the food and drink have improved recently. (no ife). If you are not time constrained and willing to pay the extra ( probably) with the added time going via Doha, go for it. With the demise of the midhaul fleet , there are a number of complaints that the BA Club Europe product is not good enough for Egypt ( but prices have apparently fallen)

Regards

TBS

hydro001

Cairo is classed as Club Europe so standard Club Europe offering with the middle seat blocked and no IFE. Flight time usually in region of 4 hours LHR-CAI, not much longer than a LCA which is on the 320/321 fleet too. Pricing wise, CAI is priced as short haul so usually cheaper than direct competitors e.g. MS.

If time is of no issue than QR is a comfortable experience but you are potentially tripling the journey time.

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dbthebolt

Many thanks for the sound advice.

dnajockey

Have done this on 4hr+ flight to Greece, very uncomfortable. Avoid if you can.

orbitmic

Quite frankly, the comfort of the NEO planes is poor if you are in the rear half of the plane, but the front part is decent for short haul. Even in Y and in the non-reclining rubbish seats, I can't for the life of me picture under what scenario 2 flights, transfers, re-clearing security, the risk of delays, and a total travel time of 12+ hours, quite possibly with dodgy times, would ever be considered a greater comfort than a 5 hour nonstop even if the former was in some great F product and the latter on Ryanair.

If you are flying from elsewhere then yes, I'd definitely look into alternatives, but if your trip is in fact London-Cairo, I'd just go nonstop despite the dodgy plane comfort, as the shorter and nonstop journey is simply vastly more comfortable per se.

mikeyfly

Hear, hear, I’m flying TPA-LAS in a couple of weeks, whilst there were far more comfortable routes through MIA / LAX I’m going direct on Spirit. Five hours start to end rather than several hours more and a change with AA

ao40

We did this journey on the neo in December. I was also not looking forward to it, but we got avios seats at a peak time by taking a gamble when Egypt was still on the red list, and with the omicron surge we were just glad we could go. Was especially not looking forward to it as only got row 2, and usually go for 1C for the leg/knee space.

I was really pleasantly surprised - the leg space was actually decent enough, and the seat was comfortable for the length of flight. In-seat power was handy too.

As others have posted on similar threads about CE, row 2 does also have the advantage of being a bit more tucked away from the comings and goings at the front but still close enough for quick service.

I would almost go as far as saying it was as pleasant as a similar length flight to Cyprus we did in August that was upgraded to a long haul 787, though that was more to do with the terrible service and cabin packed full of kids which detracted a bit from having a CW seat and IFE.

SxMan

… just be prepared for British Airways to plonk somebody in that supposedly empty middle seat though. They seem prone to doing this at the moment when things get busy or there are irrops.

Tobias-UK

Triple the journey time and quadruple the cost!

BA is typically about £800, QR in the region of £4000. A more affordable option is Royal Jordanian (very nice seats on their short haul fleet) at about £1200. Would I choose these alternative options? Definitely not, no way I’d unnecessarily add 10 hours+ to such a short journey.

Agent69

I've just been to TFS with 4hrs on a Neo. For me 3hrs, 4hrs or 5hrs doesn't make a big difference. Not ideal but bearable.

Just picking a sample date mid year BA are £800 and QR are about 5 times the price. Angle flat on Egyptair B777 is about the same price as BA

Fatdickie

Travelled a few times on the 321 neo, longer BA europe

Travelled in Y
Being Silver have lounge access etc

Aimed for seats in row 27 I think it was.
Exit row, window seat and no seat in front
So much leg room

davidcamp6

Go to Israel instead.

lcylocal

On the NEO versus the older CEO, in Club Europe there is little difference except there is no drinks table in the B and E seats. They are still left vacancy and you can still use the tray table there as extra drinks space.

In Euro Traveller (unless you are seated at the front emergency exit rows or further forwards) there are slimline, non-reclining seats with reduced seat pitch.

All of the bathrooms are smaller. In Club at least I’m not sure it makes a great deal of difference for the vast majority of passengers.