FlyingWelshie

I am flying on board an A350-10 in a few weeks. Would the front main biz cabin, row 8 or a seat in the mini cabin be preferred? Thought the latter might feel more intimate but might have to wait longer for service: drinks and meal service.

Advice appreciated

Misco60

This might be a good place to start.

BA Airbus A350: Which are the best seats? Master discussion thread - FlyerTalk Forums

dgreen678

There is also a recent thread on toilets being blocked off in the front cabin.

Having recently travelled in the CS mini cabin, I really enjoyed it and I do not believe we got served last. Only points I would highlight are two bassinet seats and they serve WTP from the galley in in between the Club cabins.

sunshinebob

On a recent night flight travelling as a couple we had the two middle seats row 4, quiet and away from galleys and noise. The front toilet was available after the 9pm-11pm food service. Going to LAS next week and have plumped for the same seats on both journeys. Have been in the smaller mini cabin and had noise from behind in the galley as well as passengers in WTP chatting to crew behind the curtain through out the night ( again coming back from LAS ). YMMV.

Radiation Station

Not row one, they close the front galley and toilet to passengers and use the area to gossip and clatter around. The noise can be quite irritating if trying to sleep.

Geordie405

My tuppence having had a few trips on board the A350 recently:

1. Service should be from both front and back simultaneously so a "meet in the middle" approach. On a couple of trips we were in the middle row in the mini cabin and didn't suffer too badly from a service perspective. The only downside is that the crew have to run almost everything from the forward galley.
2. We found the pre-departure experience better in the main cabin as the crew were able to move around more freely as boarding is from door 2 and so they aren't hindered by passengers in WT and WT+ coming through the mini cabin. For PDBs, handing out of menus etc. we found it better to be in the main cabin.
3. Disembarking seemed better from the main cabin as well. We saw cabin crew stopping anyone from the mini cabin (and obviously WT+ and WT) from disembarking until after everyone from the main cabin had got off.
4. The mini cabin is more intimate but we did get a lot of foot traffic from WT+ coming forward to use the lavatories.
5. As long as you're not in Row 1 / Row 2 then there's no issue with luggage space as every suite has a large overhead bin above it. It's effectively a 1:1 ratio unless in the first two rows.

Hope that helps!

T8191

Revising seat allocations ... thank you, Geordie405!

Scotair

5. As long as you're not in Row 1 / Row 2 then there's no issue with luggage space as every suite has a large overhead bin above it. It's effectively a 1:1 ratio unless in the first two rows.

Geordie405 - can I ask - is there an issue with lockers above rows 1 and 2? I ask because we have LAX on A350 coming up and have been assigned 1A and 2A on the out bound and 1K and 2K on the inbound. I’ve been a bit concerned about both seat allocations after reading about galley noise and blocked off toilet, now, if there’s no locker space I may move seats.

mikeyfly

Hmmm, first trip for me on A350 later this month, just moved out of 15EF to 5 EF. Day flight to Vegas. Sensible choice?

shefgab

Having done more than 60 sectors on the BA 350, I would probably pick somewhere mid main cabin. Anywhere between row 4-10. Definitely avoid row 1/2 due to noise from the galley, and avoid row 11 due to the toilets.

Service should start in row 1 and 17 simultaneousy, and work towards the middle. The mini cabin is nice, unless there are noisy occupants (there's 2 bassinet positions in row 15), and the service for WTP goes through mini cabin, although this should be limited to a few trolley passes during the first service only.

Door 2 is used more than Door 1, so further good reason to avoid the very front of the cabin.

The forward galley is tiny, and the forward toilet is often blocked off as it's a logistical nightmare having 5 crew in there AND people trying to cross the galley and queuing for the toilet.

I would probably go for 6A-8A, despite not being served first.

Geordie405

If I remember correctly row 1 only has a small locker whereas all the other rows have a full size one. I'm not sure if this only applies to 1A / 1K or whether it's also the E / F seats. If you're in 1A / 2A outbound and then 1K / 2K on the return then you shouldn't have any issues with stowage as you'd be sharing with your travelling companion. The full-size lockers are very large so unless you're bringing the kitchen sink on board you'd probably have plenty of room. Being at the front of the cabin will result in a lot more foot traffic and galley noise. The toilet being locked out of use should only be for the first meal service. It's a minor inconvenience in my view, but being further back would mean you'd be closer to the other loos. See my comments below in terms of disembarking.

The first couple of trips my wife and I did in the A350 were in 16EF (so in the mini cabin) and the biggest frustration for us was the inability / reluctance of the cabin crew to try and do the PDB service because of the WT / WT+ passengers boarding at the same time. They simply weren't assertive enough. As was also mentioned you do have the WT+ meal carts passing through the mini cabin but I didn't find that particularly disruptive. On our most recent trips we were in 5EF and found those to be great seats. The one thing I particularly notice is that it's a struggle to see out of the window when you're coming in to land, so if you're someone who likes to see the ground and have perspective on approach then a window seat might be better. You can see out but it's not an unobstructed view.

The other service related comment I'd make is that being in E and F means you're served by two different cabin crew as you're on opposite aisles. On all our flights we have found that the meal service is never in sync between the two sides of the plane and you will probably have to either eat separately (if, say, you're having soup and don't want it to get cold) or else wait for your travelling companion to be served their meal. Personally I do like to eat with my wife. Others have expressed an opinion that, to them at least, it's not a big deal.

The other caveat to being in the main cabin is that at both LHR and LAS they only used door 2L so if you're towards the front or middle of the cabin then it will take a little longer to deplane. BA has been using E1 at LAS on my last few trips so it's the closest gate to CBP so you don't have far to go once you're off the plane. Also, bear in mind that the VS flight from LHR is scheduled to arrive at around the same time as the BA flight. When we last flew into LAS the CBP hall was quite busy with passengers from the VS flight. We were in the US Citizens line which moved fairly quickly but by the time we got to the front of the queue the immigration hall was completely full.