Lobengula

I have booked many World Traveller Plus trips over the years but never actually travelled in the cabin. I have always managed to upgrade to Club World either at the time of booking or later when availability opens up. April 13th was my debute in WT+ :-)

This was BA182 from JFK terminal 7 to London Heathrow, a night flight with a scheduled 10.55pm departure but delayed to 11.56pm. This is something to be aware of, at terminal 7 everything closes 10pm. Bars typically have a last order 9.30pm. After that your only shopping is from a few vending machines. Now, I have a shiny card so I could escape into the lounge, but even there staff prepared the lounge for the night. It wasn't a relaxed feeling knowing that staff just wanted to close and go home.

As I knew that the flight was very busy I hoped for a magical "upgrade beep" when presenting my boarding card to the lounge agent, but nothing :-(

Ah well, at 11.15pm something the flight was ready for boarding. Priority boarding worked like a charm and I handed my boarding card to the gate agent, again hoping for a magic beep, nothing. A rush of cold sweat began pouring down my forehead, BA was indeed going to force me to travel in the cabin I paid for. How dare they? Don't they know who I am?

The cabin was almost empty as I was one of the first to board, plenty of space to store my carry-on.









I sat down still trembling but at least the elbow space was ok and while not a flat bed, leg space also acceptable. I'm 183 cm. No pre-flight champagne but I got a fresh Daily Mail and also a menu.






I examined the amenity kit and I must say it's not bad a economy class: socks, eyeshades, earplugs, toothbrush and a pen without the BA logo. Now, why hand out a pen without the company logo? It's maybe the only item pax will take with them. Spend 20p more on the pen and brand it with a BA logo!



After takeoff drinks were offered and I got me a London Pride. The popcorn you can see in the picture was stolen from the lounge, yes I'm a bad person. I was asked if I wanted a wine glass for the dinner and I of course accepted.



Dinner served, the main course at the right of the picture is: Papardelle bound in a rich Parmesan sauce with grilled artichokes and semi-dried tomatoes. Awful presentation but it actually tasted very good. A fresh salad and the carrot cake was excellent. Not a bad food offering for economy. My only complaint is that wine were never offered and I was too tired and still in shock of being in the wrong cabin to complain.



After dinner people started to relax and I had a few beers in hope to sleep and snore. This didn't happen. The cabin was very hot, maybe 30C/86F. After a few hours I felt very uncomfortable indeed. I had an aisle seat so I could get up and stretch now and then but no, this trip wasn't pleasant.



An hour before arrival, "breakfast" was served:



I could almost feel the pain and embarrassment of the crew when they delivered this breakfast. I skipped this breakfast as I knew that I could get better food in Galleries First after arrival (connecting flight to Sweden). The entertainment system must have been new as I can't recall the ability to chat between seats, or is this only available in WT/WT+ ??






The verdict:

Yes, WT+ is a somewhat more pleasant product compared with WT, greater elbow space. Better food and a quiet cabin. But it isn't much different from WT. The only reason (for me) to book WT+ is the option to upgrade to CW, either with Avios or cash.

JALlover

thanks for the report!
such horror when I see what they offer for so-called 'breakfast' a muffin and a cup of tea/coffee!

and where was the juice, as stated in the menu?

0hnoes

I've just come back from a trip where I was lucky enough to have the new WTP product both ways (LHR-DXB and BAH-LHR). As you say it is better than WT (not hard to beat tbh), but I thought I'd add a few extra observations here from my trip.

1) USB charging and 'real' power socket vs the old WTP product which for me is a welcome addition as I tend to use my phone for listening to music during the flight and prefer not to have an almost dead battery upon arrival.

2) Annoying IFE boxes under the seat which somewhat made it uncomfortable to stretch out during my nighttime flight, and the frankly useless foot rest (maybe it works for some people)

3) There is a gap between the window seat and the bulkhead which is quite useful for dumping random items and free up a bit of space around you as long as you remember to collect them before you leave.

4) The middle armrest is immovable, but the window/aisle armrest can be lifted.

5) If in a window seat, you may need to use some acrobatics to get out of your seat if the persons infront are reclined- and I didn't find a way of doing this without disturbing my seat mate.

KARFA

Great trip report Lobengula ^ I have flown WT+ a few times now but never done a report on it myself yet, so good to see one. The new WT+ does look pretty good, and is better than the old WT+. IFE is a real improvement over the one in old WT+ as you noted. I find WT+ is as good as a need for a daytime flight.

Do you think you would have managed to sleep if the cabin temperature hadn't been too high? I have never to do so in WT+ even overnight, although others around me did. Can only sleep on a flat bed unfortunately. I think my strategy is the same as yours, book WT+ and upgrade with avios to CW.

nh1980

Thanks for the report. I've done WT+ twice and for long treks to and from South America I believe it is worth paying for as a class in its own right (where CW fares can be £3-4k). The separate cabin and space were infinitely more comforting than the scenes of pain and discomfort (firstworldproblems) I saw when walking through the WT battery cage to the loos...passengers stacked nine abreast, limited legroom and 10+ rows.

On a JFK overnight however and if paying out of my own pocket, I probably wouldn't bother paying for WT+ over WT and would just make sure I fully used the lounges at both ends.

terpfan101

The new WT+ looks nice. I too have paid for WT+ 8 times and all but one of them was in CW. I'm going to be on the same flight you took but in F in July, so hoping its the 77W. Thanks for the TR.

PETER01

Nice TR Lobengula ^

Refreshing to read about the new WT+ cabin and a change from the many J/F reports on the forum. (Which are still great though!)

WT+ is what I would actually class as a treat for me as I am usually in Y unless it's a redemption and likewise I only book W as there is a chance of UuA. It's OK on a day flight imo but not over 6/7 hours. Never had any 'magic beep' yet .ever !!!!!! (iirc)

Not so good re the hot cabin and I would have politely mentioned this to the crew who may have turned it down a bit.

I agree that the breakfast muffin really needs to be sorted. Even a sale WT+ ticket is about nearly £800 (£2k + on a flexible ticket!) and a hot breakfast SHOULD be included. Not at all the crew's fault though.

Thanks for taking the time to put this together

BahrainLad

I've done new WTP on the way back from HKG in a 77W. I had the exit row which has unlimited legroom. Watched a movie, slept for 6-7 hours (much more comfortable than the old version), didn't touch the food but managed a whole day awake in London afterwards. So for me, that's a great product!

clarkeysntfc

The seat looks quite nice, but that breakfast is abysmal. Virgin offered us a full English or veggie omlet on EWR-LHR.

Looks like Virgin still has the best Premium Economy product across the pond (except perhaps NZ on the LA run).

Andriyko

Thanks for sharing!

Lobengula

Thank you for all kind comments, they are indeed appreciated

I don't have a clue if this was new WT+ as it was my first time in the cabin. I guess it was considering it looked very new

Moomba

I didn't know there was a chat feature of the new IFE - that could be interesting

Nice report.

sdemw

Looks a lot nicer than the WT+ i was on last week on a 744 from Boston.

nwmgc

A very useful report. The breakfast offering really is a disgrace.

malkie

Great report I have taken a walk through the new WTP and WT cabins on recent trips (where I was happily in CW). It does look nice!

I've never quite got my head round this, and neither the CW or F bags have pens in them. I always travel with a pen though, as I like to be prepared.

Dinner looked ok - I appreciate you saying it tasted better than it looked. I personally prefer it that way to it looking better than it tastes. As it widely agreed the breakfast is an embarrassment to the airline - however on a short JFK flight I'm not sure there is a need for something more substantial. I advocate having a nicer option, but only offer to passengers who want them.