First off, apologies for not having too many photos, I wasn't all that diligent about taking them and accordingly there are a few random snaps of random things!

There has been a lot of debate and discussion on the BA board of late about how bad the world traveller (coach/economy) is on the new 787s. In common with most of the major carriers, apart from JAL and ANA, BA has sacrificed passenger comfort for cramming as many people in as possible.

Now I'm a realistic chap and I understand that us folks us folks down the back are nothing more than ballast to make sure the aeroplane is well balanced for the folks up front. I'm not expecting miles of leg room or lobster, but enough room to breath is something I do expect for the money I (or more accurately my employer) pays. The fact is, however, that the BA 787 has the same number of seats across the fuselage as the airline's 777 which is over half a meter wider, meaning cramped quarters for us down the back. Armed with this knowledge I was a little nervous about how bearable my 10 hour journey to Austin, BA's newest route, would be.

The Cabin and Seat

As a BA gold I can pick extra legroom seats for free so when the bassinet seats at the from of the cabin opened up T-72, I snagged 21K, front row of world traveller by the window. This seat seems to get fairly descent reviews and indeed it turned out to be a good choice. You get the benefit of extra legroom but only one side of the seat has the fixed (width reducing) arm rest with the tray table in it. One thing that surprised me when I boarded was the fact that even though the aeroplane operating the flight is well under a year old, it still seems to be held together with duct tape, something of a theme of late on BA.


Dreamliner, revolutionary new aircraft made from carbon fibre and sticky tape!

The cabin and seat definitely felt tighter that on the similarly laid out 777, I got lucky on both legs and didn't have anyone sitting next to me, but I got the feeling that if I did it would have been very cozy! The benefit of the 787 is that it has the excellent Thales AVOD with a huge choice of movies and TV shows.


My seat was in the forward, smaller, world traveller cabins


The rear cabin, you can see how tight it is with the narrower seats

While the economy cabin is definitely a squeeze with too many seats within too little space, world traveller plus is more thoughtfully laid out. Instead of trying to squeeze the same seat configuration as a bigger aircraft into the 787, BA has pruned out a seat in W dropping it to a 2-3-2 config. This seems sensible and the cabin looks very nice. I was hoping to upgrade to WT+ or even club world (business) at the airport on the homeward leg, but it turned out that both cabins were full.

World traveller plus

The final cabin on the 787, upon which BA operates a thee class service, at least until their 787-9s turn up, is club world. Instead of installing a completely new CW seat on their new aircraft (787s, a380s) BA have gone for the existing seat with a bit of a colour/design refresh. There has been lots of talk of this decision on the BA board as to whether it is right to keep the existing design or move to something more modern such as the cirrus seats seen on CX/AA. I personally feel they should have gone for something new but in lieu of this happening any time soon, I do prefer the redesigned CW to the old one. The older version is all beige seats and dusty lampshades, to me it reminds me of what an elderly gent things their living room should look like and is old fashioned out out of date. This new colour scheme is much better and more modern, and the wide centre seat looks great.


The refreshed club seat


A lot better than musty old lampshades and smoking jackets!

The Windows

Another benefit of sitting in the K seats is that I got to play with fancy windows, well at least I thought I might be able to. The problem was that out of a 10 hour flight I maybe had 2 hours when I was actually in control of my own window. On the ground at Heathrow the window shading was disabled and set to fully clear, this was in spite of it being a bright sunny day (yes it happens in the UK on occasion) with the sun reflecting off the white wings, directly into my eyes. In the air once the dinner service was finished the shades were set to fully darkened, not completely opaque though still. So for most of the flight I had no control of my windows, and while I can see the benefit of the cabin crew being able to control the window shading, if I choose a window seat it is nice to be able to see out of it from time to time!


Fancy windows, but a bit of a gimmick and one that you don't get much of a chance to control!

Food
First meal service on flights of this length is lunch, generally consisting of a starter type thing, main course and desert. For full disclosure I eat low carb high fat (LCHF) and so this somewhat limits my options on board, especially in economy. The way I usually get around this, at least when flying from T5, is to the Gordon Ramsey restaurant, Plane Food, and pick up one of their picnics. The picnics themselves consist of three courses of your choosing, I usually go for the anti-pasto selection, the rare roast beef with rocket and the cheese selection. I find them good value and tasty. The onboard offering on the flight was a potato salad, which I didn't eat, chicken or risotto, and a chocolate moose, which I also didn't eat. For the main course I chose the chicken (in a tarragon sauce) and ate the chicken and the veg it came with but not he potatoes. It was fairly tasty and BAs world traveller catering is generally pretty good.


Lunch, served with a perfectly drinkable cab

The second service of TATLs has historically been very poor but on this flight it was much better. What was once a single lonely sandwich is now a sarnie with a scone, jam and clotted cream all served in a jaunty faux picnic box. I have to say clotted cream in Y was a surprise!


Afternoon tea, a definite improvement, even if I did just eat the sandwich filling and scoop out the clotted cream!

Overall
One thing I haven't mentioned is the whole, lower pressurisation, better air quality stuff. I definitely felt a lot better than I think I would have on the way home, I felt fresher and not so tired, although I did get some sleep so that might explain it as well. As for the overall experience, well it's economy class so it's never going to be all that good but it certainly wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.


Safely in Austin

Nice report, thanks.

What is the immigration and customs clearance process like at AUS?

Good question, I meant to comment on that. Small and odd would be the best two adjectives. The thing that was odd about the setup was that you picked up your bags before going through passport control, I've never seen that in the US before. You then line up and wait for a CBP officer but, as far as I could see, there was no separate line for visitors/residents.

On my flight out the load was pretty light, I managed to get off quickly and overtake a few people on the way to passport control so I ended up as something like 5th in line (I didn't check any bags), that being the case I managed to get it my rental car within 15 minutes of hitting the gate. I had a couple of colleagues on the flight, however, who were slower getting off and had checked bags, it took them an hour and a half, so not good.

Nice report - that guy at the front of Y looks really unimpressed (and squeezed!)

Nice report - it's good to have some Y report here.

Looks like the 787 Y is really tight and one to avoid... friend of mine also told he preferred the 772 J for the window shade reasons as well

Ultimately all that talk of superior cabin comfort with improved air etc counts for naught when the seating is so cramped and uncomfortable.

Great to see a TR in Y.

Ironic that people are getting bigger every year, but the seats seem to be doing the opposite!

Very nice mini-TR Joely! It does look very cramped in Y...

Thanks! I'm sure BA would suggest that seat width had been enhanced to provide an environment designed to make you feel a sense of closeness and comeradary with your fellow travellers!

Have you spotted any GE kiosks at the arrival hall in Austin airport?

There were a few.

I really need to sort myself out and apply.

So you actually saw Global Entry kiosks at Austin (can't find them listed as having GE?