I managed to get a flight ticket from Heathrow Terminal 5 to Seoul, S. Korea (ICN) using Avios. It cost me 75000 Avios one way in Club World (+£342 in taxes). Not a bad value I thought but I would rather fly from Amsterdam or Paris just to avoid the airport taxes in London. I have flown BA First before and I just wanted to compare the products and see BA offerings on Business class. It is also nice to compared how BA is on par (or isn’t!) with other OneWorld airlines.
I always wanted to try BA Boeing 787 Dreamliner. This flight to ICN has 35 Club World (Business Class) seats, 25 in World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy) and 154 standard economy seats. No First class. I arrived at Terminal 5 3 hours early and went straight through to British Airways First Class Check-In Desks (I have a BA Gold so it is so much easier to use this facility with virtually no queue). I asked the lady to check in my bags straight to HKG via Seoul (since my final destination on this journey is Hong Kong). My flight from ICN to HKG was with Cathay Pacific, another OneWorld airline, so no problem checking in straight through.
My flight departed from Gate C64 and it left Heathrow right on time (1300hr departure).
The Seat
The Club World seating is in two cabins of 2-3-2 configuration. The front cabin is rows 1-3 in AB-DEF-JK. There is then a galley and then a small cabin of two rows, rows 6 and 7. I was seated in 7A. The flight was not full at all. only 3 passengers in my cabin. Seat Plan
As you can see from the seat plan, the 2-3-2 configuration is a bit tight for my liking. Compare this to the 1-2-1 configuration on Qatar Airways and Cathay Pacific reversed-herringbone business class seats.
The cabin looked fresh but the seats were a bit dirty with crumbs underneath my seat from previous flight. There were privacy dividers that come up between each seat pair, handy drawers for shoes, a pull-out video screen with a remote in the side panel, and a bi-fold table that can slide closer to you when opened up. Buttons adjust the seat recline and there were power sockets and USB ports.
Meals
There were 2 meal services, dinner and breakfast. Dinner was served approximately 1 hour after take-off and breakfast was served 2 hours before landing.
We landed at ICN at 0850 local time, taxiing to the stand in just a few minutes. Disembarkation was quick and efficient via an airbridge, and I was soon walking through the terminal to security. My Cathay Pacific flight to HKG was from gate 123, not far from where we got off.
Summary
BA Club World seats are not my favourite in the world. The seats were a bit narrow, the service was a bit patchy and the meals were mediocre. Having said that the purser did recognised me as a Gold member and try to explain to me the services they’re offering and asked me if I have any questions etc. Although during the flight, I wanted to use the toilet at the front. The steward stopped me and asked me to use the economy toilet at the back and the toilet at the front are for business class passengers only. I explained to him politely that I AM on business class seat. He asked me for my seat number to check. LOL. I found this very funny as they were not a full flight and people can make mistake for not recognising you. But some people might find this very upsetting. lol
Dr Travel 