For an explanation of our Advertising Policy, visit this page. BA has a huge task ahead to install this seat in more than existing wide-body aircraft, a process that will take years.
I got to try Club Suite on this aircraft , so I also wanted to try out the World Traveller Plus premium economy service.
I arrived at Heathrow Terminal 5, the home of British Airways, around two hours before departure. These were efficient, and I had my boarding pass in no time. I headed through Terminal 5 security, which despite the terminal being busy, was quick and efficient. I have never waited more than five minutes at any London airport security in my several years of living there. From there, it was downstairs to find my gate. No lounge access is included with a World Traveller Plus ticket without any airline status, so I wandered around the terminal itself.
The gate areas in the A Pier were heaving on a Thursday morning. Shortly after I arrived at the gate, around 60 minutes before scheduled departure, an announcement was made that boarding would be delayed around one hour due to an engineering issue.
Passengers in Club and First cabins were invited to return to the BA lounge in Terminal 5, but with no lounge for me, I decided to just stay at the gate and get some work done. Boarding was strictly maintained by group numbers. Groups 1 and 2 were boarded before me, and I was one of the first Group 3 members to board. Other than the slight boarding delay, it was a civilized and organized ground experience and boarding process.
I walked through the huge Club Suite cabins, which took up around half the aircraft, and then made it to the World Traveller Plus cabin behind it. This was laid out in a configuration. I was excited to see the seat fabrics were brand-new following the refurbishment, and the navy blue color looked smart.
The cabin was completely full on my flight, and with only a few seating options, I chose an aisle seat midway back in the cabin. On closer inspection, I was disappointed to see that the refurbishment of the seats appeared to start and finish with the seat fabric.
The casing of the seat had not been refreshed and was scuffed and dented. The IFE screens were also evidently previous-generation, as the buttons were quite faded. The problem was there was very limited foot space under the seat in front of me. I do have big feet, but there was little room to fit these under what I expected would be a spacious seat. There was a bifold tray table, which in upright position was able to accommodate my inch laptop easily.
The recline of the seat was good, and I was able to fit in a comfortable, quick nap. Note that the seats recline deeply an abruptly: Both my seat neighbor and I were startled when the people in front of us reclined their seats. The passenger in front of me was restless during the flight, and the seat shook significantly each time he tossed and turned. With the Club Suite cabin taking up so much of the aircraft, the featured a surprisingly small single World Traveller economy cabin in a tight configuration — this was the entire economy cabin.
There were no bathrooms dedicated to the WTP cabin. There was a pair of bathrooms at the back of our cabin shared between both cabins, though they were marked as out of order from boarding until several hours into the flight before a crew member noticed the stickers, checked the bathrooms and decided they were serviceable. This was the area where the flight really shone. I arrived to find several goodies waiting for me on my seat.
First was a plush, decent-sized pillow, which would not have looked out of place in business class. There was a matching blanket, which was plush and large. Both had a really cool blue-and-white striped design that was fresh and stylish. The headphones, while not noise-canceling, were of good quality and produced good sound.
There was also the standard inflight magazine, duty-free magazine and sick bag in the seatback pocket. The easiest way to explain the food is that it is standard economy food served in slightly better containers. Beverages wise, it is slightly better.
Singapore Airlines actually has Champagne during the meal service for premium economy, but with BA and Virgin, the beverages are mostly the same as in economy. You will usually have dedicated crew for your small premium economy cabin. If not, they will at least serve your cabin before making their way back to the economy cabin. In my experience, premium economy is slightly better than economy, but not by much. It is unlikely one person would have an amazing experience in premium economy and another person have a terrible experience in economy on the same plane at the same time.
For me, the slightly wider seat, more legroom and recline are the best benefits. Terms Apply. Disclaimer: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser.
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This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers. Please view our advertising policy page for more information. Skip to content. Advertiser Disclosure. Ben Smithson. Lounge access Neither British Airways nor Virgin Atlantic offers lounge access to economy or premium economy passengers unless they have the required elite status.
The seat and cabin Perhaps the most noticeable difference between economy and premium economy will be in your seat itself. Categories Travel Tips , Airline Reviews. It was a fantastic experience. Unfortunately, things with British Airways World Traveler plus did not get off to a good start.
Two days before my flight I went on to the British Airways app and was able to reserve one of the aisle British Airways Premium Economy seats — great.
I then had issues with my uber so only arrived at the airport 90 minutes before my British Airways flight. I went and used the check-in machine for my premium economy British Airways flight and my seat had changed to a window — which was, of course, good news for me.
Then I went to the desk for bag drop. When the attendant is on the phone for some time when all you are doing is dropping your bag it is not a good sign. I was quite annoyed by this and said that how could I be sneaky when the app had done this for me.
I was then told that they had overbooked business class and that seat had been meant for someone who was being downgraded to premium economy on British Airways — which meant they now wanted to move me to British Airways economy class. I was so annoyed. It really makes me furious when airlines do this. Or should I say when British Airways do this as they are the only airline that has tried to bump me from flights several times due to overbooking.
I have written about quite a few of those destinations. It is a major problem as a solo traveller as we are at the top of the list when it comes to who gets bumped first when it comes to air travel. I was once told by a British Airways staff member that the safest people were those also flying with British Airways from a connecting airport eg Manchester to London and then on to say NY, followed by groups, followed by families and then followed by couples.
Only the male solo traveller is worse off than the female solo traveller. My annoyance was greater as I had injured my ankle in nepal earlier that year and absolutely could not have sat in an economy seat for several hours without problems. Luckily I had a letter from my doctor with me I had it in case my ankle got worse and I needed medical treatment so I was able to produce this and say I had to stay in British Air premium economy.
I ended up in British Airways economy plus but not without quite a bit of undue stress and frustration. This experience alone has been enough to really put me off flying with British Airways. I do find it outrageous that you can be potentially bumped like this — and that the staff always seem to act like this is of no consequence and why are you getting upset? OK rant over! Anyway, the flight was then at Gate A10 at Terminal 5 which means a very long bus trip.
I thought we were driving to New York. BA World Traveller Plus also means no lounge access and no priority seating. It can be a real pain trying to figure out if you need a visa for a country and then all the hassle of figuring out how to apply, how long you can go without your passport, when the embassy is open etc.
The British Airways World Traveller Plus plane was a little old and compared to Qantas it felt a lot less spacious. The seat layout was 4 in the middle and 2 on each side. I was on the side thank goodness. I would have been very unhappy to have paid for premium economy and to have had one of the extreme middle seats.
Or maybe they are more tolerant than me.
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