British Airways Club Suite To Be On All of Its Boeing 777s by End of 2022

British Airways has confirmed that the majority of its long-haul aircraft will feature the Club Suite by the end of 2022.

Club Suite is the best and most modern version of its business class offerings.

Having first been introduced in 2019 onboard BA’s swanky new Airbus A350-1000s, its rollout has since been slow.

Now, with the return of international — and particularly transatlantic travel — the airline is ramping up the rollout of the Club Suite product across more of its aircraft.

What Is Club Suite?

BA’s Club Suite provides an infinitely better flying experience than its once game-changing, now extremely outdated, Club World seats.

Why is Club Suite so much better?

For starters, instead of 8 seats across in cramped a 2-4-2 layout, Club Suite only has 4 seats per row in a 1-2-1 configuration. This means each passenger has more space, and best of all, direct aisle access from each seat. The layout of the older Club World means that some passengers have to awkwardly clamber over their neighbours to use the restroom or stretch their legs.

Each Club Suite also has a sliding door which provides the kind of privacy you’d expect in first class.

“When we launched our Club Suite product, it was a huge hit with our customers who loved the privacy the new seat offers,” said Sajida Ismail, Head of Inflight Product and British Airways.

Retrofitting BA’s Boeing 777s

The Boeing 777 makes up the highest percentage of BA’s long-haul aircraft with 59 in total in its fleet — 43 Boeing 777-200ERs and 16 Boeing 777-300ERs.

Interestingly, the upgrades will only be made to 777s based at Heathrow (LHR), and not Gatwick (LGW). This favors the airline’s historically business-heavy routes as opposed to the long-haul leisure routes which are slowly making a come back from Gatwick.

“We are focussed on the roll out of this product and other cabin enhancements to ensure we deliver on our commitment to provide the very best British quality, style, and comfort for our customers,” said Ismail.

BA has also confirmed that it will be continuing to upgrade the first class cabins on all of its Boeing 777-300 aircraft. Similar to the Club Suite, the new first class seats also feature a door for added privacy as well as a 23-inch high-definition entertainment screen.

However, there is 1 small snag that will only really affect you if you’re a frequent first class flyer.

Switching out a cramped 2-4-2 layout in favour of 1-2-1 meant that BA had to find space elsewhere to fit more Club Suites on its planes. Unfortunately, its first class cabins took the hit, with retrofitted aircraft only having 8 first class seats rather than 14. At nearly 50% less capacity, this will no doubt mean a reduction in first class reward availability when looking at making Avios redemptions.

Where Can I Fly Club Suite?

Frequent flyers on BA’s New York (JFK) to London-Heathrow (LHR) route will be glad to know that as of now, all flights will feature the Club Suite.

Other than that, it can be pretty difficult to know for sure if you’ll be getting a retrofitted jet if your route is operated by a Boeing 777.

The best way to check is by looking at the seat map on ba.com when you make your booking.

If your aircraft has Club Suite, the seat map will look something like this snapshot of a flight from New York to London:

But, if your aircraft still has the old Club World, the seat map will look something like this one, taken from a flight from LA to London:

Be sure to check the seating map to make sure you’re not disappointed when you board the aircraft. If you do see the 2-4-2 configured cabin on your seat map, check to see if there is more than 1 flight per day. If so, another of the flights might just be operated by a jet fitted out with Club Suite.

It’s probably worth noting at this point that all scheduled aircraft can fall victim to last-minute swaps.

However, if you’re flight is scheduled on an Airbus A350-1000 or a Boeing 787-10, then you’re guaranteed to have a Club Suite if you’ve booked a business class ticket. BA currently only has 8 A350s and 2 787-10s in operation, though more of each are on order.

At the time of writing, the North American cities you’re most likely to find an A350-1000 flying to are Atlanta (ATL), Chicago (ORD), or Toronto (YYZ). Elsewhere in the world, they’re operating from London Heathrow (LHR) to Accra (ACC), Bengaluru (BLR), Dubai (DXB), and Mumbai (BOM).

As for the Boeing 787-10, it appears to only be operating to Dallas (DFW) and Seattle (SEA).

Final Thoughts

Your next flight with British Airways has more chance than ever of being fitted out with its swanky Club Suite.

If you’re in Atlanta, Dallas, New York, or Seattle and are booked on a flight to London, then your chances are more than most.

That’s not forgetting the upgraded first class cabins!

It’s great to see British Airways showing dedication to its passengers as more of us retake to the skies.