I had the opportunity to fly British Airways Club World (business class) on my recent trip to Europe. It had been about 5 years since I had flown on British and was looking forward to experiencing their new Club World seat as well as the inflight service – neither one disappointed.
Check in was breeze in Seattle as I had printed my boarding pass the night before and had only carryon for this trip. There was no one in the business class line so with a quick swipe of my passport I was off to the lounge. The Terrace Lounge in the South Satellite at Sea-Tac is small but well appointed with plenty of seating, drinks and snacks. Free Wi-fi is provided throughout the lounge and shower facilities are available. There is a separate quiet lounge for first class passengers.
My outbound flight was on a Boeing 777 with 48 seats in Club World. The configuration may seem a bit odd to those who have never flown on British. The basic layout is 2 – 4 – 2. The window/aisle seats on each side face each other. The person in the window seat is facing the rear of the plane and the person on the aisle is facing the front which means you are looking at each other when seated. This is a great setup when traveling with someone you know but can be awkward to be staring down a complete stranger. But with a push of a button, a privacy screen raises and creates a very private space. The flight attendants will lower/raise the screen during meal service but otherwise it can remain up the entire flight. The seats in the center section of the plane are configured as follows: the aisle seats all are forward facing and the two center seats are rear facing. Those center seats are good for people traveling together but again, a bit awkward if you don’t know the person next to you. The privacy screen doesn’t offer much privacy in those center seats. My favorite seats on the plane are the window seats in the last row of Club World (15A and 15K). In these seats no one has to crawl over you when you lay flat and you don’t have to crawl over anyone. It’s a very quiet space, far from the toilets and galley.
Next up: review of the seats and inflight service
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