They remind me of the old 747 upper deck seats, and as you say - lots of privacy - and storage at the windows. Look forward to seeing how they refurb these going forward and what the Club Suites look like on an A380!
Cheers Ian - at the moment I'm releasing videos every 3 weeks and have about 5 or 6 currently in the pipeline, so plenty to keep going, including a couple of Qatar flights (including 15 1/2 hours in their Q-Suites in about 6 weeks time), so keep an eye out!
Superb! And not just because I was in it!!! Lots of reports of dodgy seats on BA lately - they tend to be particularly generous with the compo when a seat breaks... And anyone who doesn't think a window seat is worth it should watch this video!
Cheers Matt. It was a good seat in terms of the storage and the views etc - still a lot going for it, but BA need to sort out these reliability issues. a 10+ hour flight when you've paid for a flat bed that you then can't use isn't ideal - i'm just grateful that it wasn't an overnight flight coming the other way. You also forget just how little storage these seats had at the time, so the window seats on the upper deck and the place to be for the extra storage - can't be beaten. Will be interested to see what the plans are for the Club Suite layout on these aircraft - i'm thinking they might have to go all lower deck for Club World, or do a 1-1-1 on the upper deck?
@@GLAFly Funny enough, I flew LAX to LHR on the 19th Mar and was in seat 52A and had the same issue with the seat controls.. the seat got into halfway lounge position and then it broke.. asked the cabin crew to look at it and they tried to manually push it but it simply wouldn't budge... as the aircraft was completely packed, had to resort to fly like that all the way to LHR.. even during landing, the seat couldn't be reverted to landing position.. and tbh, mine was not the only seat with this problem, others had issues too.. this product is pretty old now and they really need to refit all their aircrafts with the new club suite which is much nicer.. as to the T5 BA lounge?? The last time we flew out from LHR, the lounge was packed and we were asked to goto the B gate lounge... much quieter and nicer... I think they do need to improve on the quality and variety of food.. we can already see that BA are cost cutting as the lounges do not serve champagne and instead prosecco...
@@rexgold101 sorry to hear that you had similar issues. Did you complain to BA? Does seem to be a recurring issue with these seats - I think there are issues with spare parts. Id submitted a complaint and they responded yesterday with an evoucher as compensation, so at least they did something to rectify the situation - but its a reason to avoid these seats for the time being. Hope you enjoyed the video and thanks for watching.
@@GLAFlydid they completely comp the flight? Can you write here what you wrote to them? Im having a similar issue and trying to get compensated but havent written in yet.😊
@@caulds989 Hi. No, they didn't go quite as far as comping the entire flight. They initially offered me £300 as compensation, but I went back to them to say it really wasn't an acceptable offer, given the whole point of a flat bed on an 11 hour flight is so you can go flat and sleep on it. The then upped the offer to £450 instead - both offers were as an evoucher, which turned out could only be used for BA flights (you can't use them for BA holidays), so i went back AGAIN and asked for an alternative. I'd have preferred a straight refund to my credit card of that amount, but they instead offered an alternative of 90k Avios, which I decided to accept. Unfortunately, it was a while ago (March last year), so I've deleted the emails a while ago (since it was all resolved). All circumstances are unique, so they might be less generous with their offer, but you need to lodge the complaint, and if you're not happy ask for it to be escalated. Good luck! 🙂
@marceldevaney472 thanks Marcel. Have another A380ntrip coming up in a week and a half so should have a video out a few weeks after that - this time in First! Really excited to try it on the A380 for the first time!
Cheers Nick - glad you enjoyed it! I really was very lucky with the scenery on this trip - it was even more breathtaking in person - I don't think the video could do it justice!
My question is....who thought this seating arrangement was a good idea? 😂. Like how did this pass the planning stage? They are scrambling so hard to get club suites onto every plane now.
The layout doesn't make a lot of sense by todays standards (when most airlines have direct aisle access and BA have introduced their club suites), but you've got to remember that when BA first launched this design/layout 20+ years ago, it was a game-changer. Most airlines were still using cradle seats, rather than lie flat beds (or they were using lie flat at-an-angle seats). Steppinf over your seat mate has never been great, but I think it made sense to BA at the time to optimise the space they needed to get enough seats in. The issue has been that they didn't keep that market-leading pace as other airlines moved to 1-2-1 layouts, and now, as you note, they are playing catch up with rolling out the club suites (which is a great product). The down side now is that we'll have to wait and see of they bring that to the A380, as they have the rest of their 777s and the 787-8 and 787-9 aircraft to retrofit first. By the time those are done, I'm fairlybsure BA will be taking a long hard look at what life is left in the A380. Thanks for taking the time to comment and I hope you enjoyed the video! 🙂
It's a real shame, as i've always found the T5B Galleries lounge to be one of the nicer lounges (certainly it's usually quieter). I didn't visit the main Galleries First or Galleries Club lounges on this trip, as i'd already heard online that they were rammed that morning, so can't give a comparrison, but certainly the buffet seems fairly week on this visit, and a big step down from the table service that was in place in the past.
@@ScottishT for the most part, the meal was good - certainly a massive improvement from last year when things were all served on the tray and there was less choice - the soup was excellent; but things like the desert and the chicken pie really let it down. As for the crew - there's always a chance something was going on elsewhere or they were short staffed - I don't know how service is "usually" meant to operated on the LAX route as I usually connect from the East Coast and do a transcon - they were perfectly pleasant, but nothing at all proactive - and as I noted - largely absent during most of the flight between service. Its a shame, but usually I've had much more proactive crews doing drink top ups etc.
@@GLAFly Thanks for letting us know your experience bud. Your channel deserves so much more. Can only support your endeavours. Thanks for entertaining and informing. Take care and see you on the next one as they say.
its funny that the Emirates A380 passed by...At least they have a different concept of Business Class ----even going back 20 years ago thanks for the video... I'll go take the A350-1000 with the new seats instead..too bad as the A380 upper deck on Emirates or SGP are ahead of the rest...
I've not yet had the good fortune to try out Emirates - it's certainly on my bucket list as it looks fab. I'm hopeful that BA can get their club suites on the upper deck of any refitted A380. They are using essentially the same seat (Collins Super Diamond) on their A380 (and some of their other aircraft) as BA are using for the new club suite - albeit, BA are using a more modern and customised version with a closing door - so the layout should certainly work onboard(on the upper deck, at least).
Thanks that was an very entertaining video 👍 I once in a while fly Johannesburg London Johannesburg on the BA 380 and find the crew and meals excellent thanks GLA
@emiellius thanks - really glad you enjoyed it! I've a trip upcoming at the end of next month where I'll finally get to try First on the A380, so be sure to keep an eye out for that one.
Excellent review thank you , we had same problems on lower deck same aircraft seat broken could could not be resolved on flight staff rather not bothered . Food was as looking at menu suggesting very tasty but a completely different story when it was served dry and definitely should not have been served. Informed by crew to complain via website .
Glad you enjoyed the video but sorry to hear about your experience re the seat and the food. You should definitely complain re the seat - BA will usually offer something in the form of service recover - either avios or sometimes an evoucher - if you've had a problem with the hard product onboard.
Oooh, that seat looks really claustrophobic and a tad clumsy, especially compared to the Qatar Suites ;-) The views, though, were spectacular, especially with the late afternoon sun. Thanks for sharing!!
It's an older design, which at the time was revolutionary - but my today's standards (club suites; direct aisle access, etc), it is a but of an awkward design - but still comfortable.
Nice video! You have a new subscriber. I flew out to LA in Club World mid Feb on the A380. I will be glad to see the back of those old A380 seats! The flight back was in the Club Suites though, so it wasn't all bad.
Thanks for the comment (and the sub👍). I'm a big fan of the Club Suite, and other than (personally) finding the leg cubby a bit tight when laying on my side in them, they are streets ahead of the older style seats. I enjoyed the A380 experience, but would probably avoid these in Club going forward (until such time as BA refit with Club Suites - if they are still intending to do so) and opt for aircraft with the new CS instead (777, A350, 781, etc). They really can't compete with other carriers with these older seats, and i'll have a video coming out in a couple of months (about 6 weeks) about my first Qsuites flight with Qatar - shows just how stark a contrast there is with the old Club seat.
@@GLAFly Qatar's Business class does look pretty great! I usually tend to fly transatlantically from LHR (or Europe if I'm looking to save a few pounds) so at this time most of my travel is BA based. I agree that if you are very tall/have a large frame the Club Suites could still be a bit tight! My next transatlantic flight is next week and it looks like it is a Club Suite fitted aircraft (thankfully).💪
@@just_another_watch_nerd6604 I don't have a lot to compare it with other than BA and AA, but Qatar blew me away. The Q suites product is great, but the service and food onboard was on another level. Only downside is it's not practical for connecting to/from the US/West from the Uk, unless you want to add on significant travel time. Going to Asia would be a no-brainer for me if the costs stacked up, but I did this trip as an Avios redemption, so cost wasnt really a factor. Club Suite is really good though, and if you get a good BA crew (which I do more often than not - this flight notwithstanding) then it's a great experience.
The old club world seats occasionally do have issues with getting stuck. It's basically all the gunk in the rails and the motor isn't powerful enough the procedure to fix it is actually really simple basically manual recline slam it all the way up and down about 3 times and usually it works 🤣
The crew were able to adjust it manually, but it was essentially a choice of having it fixed in seat mode, or in bed mode, so I went with seat mode. I would have asked them to adjust it to bed and back again, but most of the passengers around me were trying to sleep (unsurprisingly), and for them to manually adjust, they were having to disturb two of the neighbouring passengers. As a result, I just made do with it in seat mode - not ideal. I'll be glad when they (hopefully) refit these with the club suites - it's night and day in terms of ease of access if you're not on the aisle. Hope you enjoyed the video!
@@GLAFly Sean Doyle has confirmed the A380s are getting the new suite, it's just not known when (expected from next year). Rumours that First and Club will be exclusive to the upper deck with economy and traveller plus on the lower deck.
@@devon896 that would be consistent with how other airlines tend to fit out the a380 - and how the club suites would best fit in. Be a great aircraft if running those new seats.
@edwardsalmon5658 welcome to the channel Edward! Come for the tech advice, and stay for the content 😁. I use the Airfly Duo and have done for the past couple of years. It's relatively inexpensive (£45 on Amazon at the moment), and will give up to 20 hours on a full charge. Instructions to pair devices are very simple and I've used it with a few different types of Bluetooth headsets without issue (my current favourites are my Galaxy buds 2 pro).
I Dont Like 2-4-2 Seating Or 2-3-2 Upper Deck The A380 Business Class I Hope Britssh Airways Will Have 1-2-1 Seating Like The A350-1000.Great Trip Report
While BA had previous (pre-pandemic) stated they would be refitting the A380s with the new Club Suite, I think that time will tell whether they actually do or not. They have the rest of the 777 fleet, and then all of their 787-800 and 787-900 aircraft to retrofit first, and I think by the time that is done, BA will probably take a long look at the lifespan / use left in their A380 fleet before committing to it. Certainly the layout as 1-2-1 works well on the upper deck (Qatar use the same Collins Super Diamond style of set on their A380 upper deck), but time will tell. I kind of hope that they do refit them, as the A380 is a tremendous aircraft to fly on (very quiet and comfortable) - we'll just have to wait and see what the future holds in a couple of years.
@@andrewmorton3177 I think you may be right, but a lot will depend on demand and available aircraft when they get to the end of refurbing their remaining 777s and 787s. Would be a real shame to see them go - especially with the larger First Class seats (haven't been lucky enough to fly those yet)
Hi Robert. This was the 25th of March this year (my videos have the date on the opening titles and in text description if you're ever looking for them). No hot towel before landing that I had noted, and I didn't really visit the galley (due to difficulties stepping over the passenger next to me) other than to report my broken seat. Will keep in mind for future videos.
I’m going with 9 of my extended family from Glasgow to LAX at the end of June in the new club suite, on the 777-300 in the 12 seat forward Club cabin. We’re travelling via Dublin (jumping on Ryanair Glasgow to Dublin & starting our BA journey there) because of the superb price & it will earn us a good amount of avios. Although I’m very much looking forward to experiencing the club suite for the first time, I do have a great affection for the old seat especially upstairs on the 747 that we’ve done the same journey on a few times in the past, it was my favourite seat on a plane, even better than BA1, a318 out of London City. The upper deck of the a380 doesn’t have the same intimacy, I’m not a big fan it’s just not as much of an event somehow. One of my biggest concerns with the club suite will be keeping an eye on my 2 young kids, something that was easy to do with the old seats. Many people/videos bang on about how private they are & have more storage (I’ve never found storage a problem on the 747 or a380) but I personally think they are bordering on antisocial & don’t cater as well for people travelling in groups as the old seats did. Hopefully my concerns are unfounded. Enjoyed the video & thanks for uploading 👍🏻
I think if you've got kids the pairs of seats in the middle of the 777 are your best bet - they have a retractable partition so you can speak to your travel partner (if you want). It would have been good if they did something like the q-suite quads, but you can't have everything I guess. Used to love the upper deck on the 747 too - was like a wee private jet! Storage is ok on the 747 or the A380 only if you have a window seat with the storage bins - otherwise i do think the old seats desperately lack storage (I travel with a lot of stuff so need somewhere to put it). Sadly never had a chance to fly the baby bus BA1 - gutted that went bye bye as that would have been fun. Anyway, glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for the comment - hope you have a brilliant trip (and yeah - ex EU flights from Dublin make a huge difference to the price!)
@@GLAFly That’s exactly what we intend to do, kids in the middle & my wife & I will take an opposite window seat being “assigned” a child each 😂 The baby bus we only did once before the kids came (we flew home out of Washington Dulles on an a380 that trip) it was something different the immigration clearance in Shannon was great, we were out the door of JFK 15mins after landing 😳 & there was only 13 other people on our flight. It’s a shame it’s gone but I’m more sorry that the 747’s have all been retired.
@@andrewmorton3177 that sounds like a good plan (and you still get the window!!!). Thankfully my kids got a shot on a 747 just before most airlines scrapped them - we managed a trip to Orlando from Glasgow on the upper deck of the Virgin 747 just before lockdown - i definitely miss seeing them (my favourite airline). Have never used the pre clearance in Ireland but have heard lots of positives, but just managed to get myself global entry last month so I'm hoping to try that out on my next trip.
@@GLAFly I’m glad your kids got to experience a 747, it’s something mine probably won’t do but I have toyed with the idea of flying Lufthansa 😂 When the lockdown started in 2020 my brother was in Dallas & had to come home early. He came home on a 747 (can’t remember the number but he knows it) in seat 1A & was the very last revenue passenger to do so on that plane because it was scrapped a few months later. So sad 🥲
@@GLAFlyit was good…love the A380, and the upper deck/business class combo…I’m at the stage in life where flying economy or even premium economy is not an option for long distance flights…would prefer to fly out of PHX (home location) but the price difference by choosing LAX is significant…will fly the A350 next trip if the pricing is more competitive
@horatiolust5693 I'm very much the same - I just can't do long haul in a cramped seat at this age! The A380 is such a quiet and comfortable aircraft and the upper deck window seats remind me of the old days of the 747 u/d. Haven't tried the A350 yet - something I very much look forward to trying at some point.
@@GLAFly The 1-2-1 seating in Business Class on the A350 is better, especially given the I’m on these long distance trips with my wife, the 2 seats together in the center is more appealing. Haven’t flown on it yet, but soon…Taking Singapore Air Business Class from LAX is on the bucket list…
@horatiolust5693 the new Club Suites are a big improvement in terms of layout - will be interesting to see how they work on the A380 when they are refitted (but that's likely a couple of years away)
Yes - UK passport holders need to apply for an ESTA, providing its not for work and you dont have any other restrictions to travel to the US. They are usually valid for 2 years and it costs $21.
Great plane. Old and tried interior. The seat was the 1st lie flat seats in the sky sadly that was many many years ago and BA haven't bothered to undated the layout, the seat covers even the TV is old. And you wonder why BA is being left behind by all the other airlines. TOO OLD AND TOO EXPENSIVE
I think the main challenge for BA with the A380 is that they didn't have their new seat (Club Suite) ready when they got their first A380s at the end of 2012, so they went with what they had - the yin-yang layout that had worked well for them on the 747 and the rest of their fleet. Now, it's going to be a case of whether it makes financial sense for BA to replace the seats on these, or simply retire the aircraft. It's likely to be a couple of years before the finish the refit of Club Suite remaining 777 fleet (nearly done) and then the rest of the 787-800 (underway) and 787-900 aircraft. Once they get to that, I'm sure they are going to look at what makes sense for the A380 in the long-term. Given they have retired their other 4-engine aircraft, and in the context of newer aircraft in their fleet (78X; A351) and the new 777-900 on horizon, all with more efficient engines, they may decide that it's not commercially worth it to refit these massive aircraft with Club Suites, but instead simply retire them, like a number of other airlines have. It would be a shame, as personally I hope to see them refit them (there are other operators who have variations of the same seat that the Club Suite is based on installed on A380s), but we're likely a couple of years away from seeing if that will happen or not. What they certainly CAN focus on in the interim, is to further improve the catering, and fix the seat reliability issues on these.
It was good at the time (revolutionary, in fact), but that was more than 20 years ago. It's certainly not up to scratch with the current offerings from other airlines (or BA's own Club Suite, which is very nice).
Excellent review. BA A380s have horrible seats in a 2-3-2 configuration and the food served is mediocre at best. Seems like BA is competing for world’s worst airline.
Thanks Andre. In fairness to BA, they are usually better than this (in my experience), and the crews are excellent most of the time. Unfortunately the food still has a way to go (despite recent "improvements") and they need to sort out the older seat's reliability. The new club suites are excellent, but I'm not sure the A380 will ever get a refit - i think BA are more likely to retire them by the time they have finished the refit of their 777s and 787s with Club Suite. I hope they don't, but it will come down to whether it makes sense to BA at that point.
Sorry to hear that, Louise. I've certainly had a few less than ideal experiences with BA, but i have to say, for all their faults, I (personally) find them to be good more times than not - sorry if that's not been your experience with them.
Just doing some research before I book to fly on the A380 and found this review - really nicely done and very informative 😎👍
Thanks - really glad it was of some use to you!
Always happy to see a fellow Scot! 🏴 I’ll be flying LHR-LAX but with American next month
Hope you have a great flight. I've not flown in business with them, but the seat looks decent.
I like the upper deck seat, you have so much privacy, I prefer these than the newer ones
They remind me of the old 747 upper deck seats, and as you say - lots of privacy - and storage at the windows. Look forward to seeing how they refurb these going forward and what the Club Suites look like on an A380!
Great video! Really informative!!! I look forward to hopefully seeing more soon!!
Cheers Ian - at the moment I'm releasing videos every 3 weeks and have about 5 or 6 currently in the pipeline, so plenty to keep going, including a couple of Qatar flights (including 15 1/2 hours in their Q-Suites in about 6 weeks time), so keep an eye out!
@@GLAFly look forward to seeing it! 👍
Superb! And not just because I was in it!!! Lots of reports of dodgy seats on BA lately - they tend to be particularly generous with the compo when a seat breaks... And anyone who doesn't think a window seat is worth it should watch this video!
Cheers Matt. It was a good seat in terms of the storage and the views etc - still a lot going for it, but BA need to sort out these reliability issues. a 10+ hour flight when you've paid for a flat bed that you then can't use isn't ideal - i'm just grateful that it wasn't an overnight flight coming the other way. You also forget just how little storage these seats had at the time, so the window seats on the upper deck and the place to be for the extra storage - can't be beaten. Will be interested to see what the plans are for the Club Suite layout on these aircraft - i'm thinking they might have to go all lower deck for Club World, or do a 1-1-1 on the upper deck?
@@GLAFly Funny enough, I flew LAX to LHR on the 19th Mar and was in seat 52A and had the same issue with the seat controls.. the seat got into halfway lounge position and then it broke.. asked the cabin crew to look at it and they tried to manually push it but it simply wouldn't budge... as the aircraft was completely packed, had to resort to fly like that all the way to LHR.. even during landing, the seat couldn't be reverted to landing position.. and tbh, mine was not the only seat with this problem, others had issues too.. this product is pretty old now and they really need to refit all their aircrafts with the new club suite which is much nicer.. as to the T5 BA lounge?? The last time we flew out from LHR, the lounge was packed and we were asked to goto the B gate lounge... much quieter and nicer... I think they do need to improve on the quality and variety of food.. we can already see that BA are cost cutting as the lounges do not serve champagne and instead prosecco...
@@rexgold101 sorry to hear that you had similar issues. Did you complain to BA? Does seem to be a recurring issue with these seats - I think there are issues with spare parts. Id submitted a complaint and they responded yesterday with an evoucher as compensation, so at least they did something to rectify the situation - but its a reason to avoid these seats for the time being. Hope you enjoyed the video and thanks for watching.
@@GLAFlydid they completely comp the flight? Can you write here what you wrote to them? Im having a similar issue and trying to get compensated but havent written in yet.😊
@@caulds989 Hi. No, they didn't go quite as far as comping the entire flight. They initially offered me £300 as compensation, but I went back to them to say it really wasn't an acceptable offer, given the whole point of a flat bed on an 11 hour flight is so you can go flat and sleep on it. The then upped the offer to £450 instead - both offers were as an evoucher, which turned out could only be used for BA flights (you can't use them for BA holidays),
so i went back AGAIN and asked for an alternative. I'd have preferred a straight refund to my credit card of that amount, but they instead offered an alternative of 90k Avios, which I decided to accept. Unfortunately, it was a while ago (March last year), so I've deleted the emails a while ago (since it was all resolved). All circumstances are unique, so they might be less generous with their offer, but you need to lodge the complaint, and if you're not happy ask for it to be escalated. Good luck! 🙂
Great video as ever 👏
@marceldevaney472 thanks Marcel. Have another A380ntrip coming up in a week and a half so should have a video out a few weeks after that - this time in First! Really excited to try it on the A380 for the first time!
Another really interesting video, and stunning scenery over Iceland and Greenland. Thanks for sharing 👍
Cheers Nick - glad you enjoyed it! I really was very lucky with the scenery on this trip - it was even more breathtaking in person - I don't think the video could do it justice!
My question is....who thought this seating arrangement was a good idea? 😂. Like how did this pass the planning stage? They are scrambling so hard to get club suites onto every plane now.
The layout doesn't make a lot of sense by todays standards (when most airlines have direct aisle access and BA have introduced their club suites), but you've got to remember that when BA first launched this design/layout 20+ years ago, it was a game-changer. Most airlines were still using cradle seats, rather than lie flat beds (or they were using lie flat at-an-angle seats). Steppinf over your seat mate has never been great, but I think it made sense to BA at the time to optimise the space they needed to get enough seats in. The issue has been that they didn't keep that market-leading pace as other airlines moved to 1-2-1 layouts, and now, as you note, they are playing catch up with rolling out the club suites (which is a great product). The down side now is that we'll have to wait and see of they bring that to the A380, as they have the rest of their 777s and the 787-8 and 787-9 aircraft to retrofit first. By the time those are done, I'm fairlybsure BA will be taking a long hard look at what life is left in the A380. Thanks for taking the time to comment and I hope you enjoyed the video! 🙂
I was at the 5B galleries lounge in the summer and i also found the selection to be more lacklustre than the lounges in 5A.
It's a real shame, as i've always found the T5B Galleries lounge to be one of the nicer lounges (certainly it's usually quieter). I didn't visit the main Galleries First or Galleries Club lounges on this trip, as i'd already heard online that they were rammed that morning, so can't give a comparrison, but certainly the buffet seems fairly week on this visit, and a big step down from the table service that was in place in the past.
Nicely done 👍
Thanks for sharing
Greetings from Helsinki ❄️ Finland
Thanks for leaving a comment and I'm glad you enjoyed the video! Greetings from Scotland 🏴
What a beautiful a380 and great video again mate.
Cheers Tony - it's an amazing aircraft - I couldn't get over how quiet it was!
@@GLAFly Shame about meal and crew, BA were always sold as the best. I've never flown with them mind you
@@ScottishT for the most part, the meal was good - certainly a massive improvement from last year when things were all served on the tray and there was less choice - the soup was excellent; but things like the desert and the chicken pie really let it down. As for the crew - there's always a chance something was going on elsewhere or they were short staffed - I don't know how service is "usually" meant to operated on the LAX route as I usually connect from the East Coast and do a transcon - they were perfectly pleasant, but nothing at all proactive - and as I noted - largely absent during most of the flight between service. Its a shame, but usually I've had much more proactive crews doing drink top ups etc.
@@GLAFly Thanks for letting us know your experience bud. Your channel deserves so much more. Can only support your endeavours. Thanks for entertaining and informing. Take care and see you on the next one as they say.
its funny that the Emirates A380 passed by...At least they have a different concept of Business Class ----even going back 20 years ago
thanks for the video... I'll go take the A350-1000 with the new seats instead..too bad as the A380 upper deck on Emirates or SGP are ahead of the rest...
I've not yet had the good fortune to try out Emirates - it's certainly on my bucket list as it looks fab. I'm hopeful that BA can get their club suites on the upper deck of any refitted A380. They are using essentially the same seat (Collins Super Diamond) on their A380 (and some of their other aircraft) as BA are using for the new club suite - albeit, BA are using a more modern and customised version with a closing door - so the layout should certainly work onboard(on the upper deck, at least).
PC 🏘
Another great video as per usual 👍
Cheers - glad to hear you're enjoying the videos!
Thanks that was an very entertaining video 👍 I once in a while fly Johannesburg London Johannesburg on the BA 380 and find the crew and meals excellent thanks GLA
Thanks James - glad you enjoyed it!
great video mate, enjoyed watching
@emiellius thanks - really glad you enjoyed it! I've a trip upcoming at the end of next month where I'll finally get to try First on the A380, so be sure to keep an eye out for that one.
@@GLAFly nice! Have fun on that! Im flying BA A380 to LAX in econ in september too, looking forward to it
@emiellius it's a very quiet and comfortable aircraft. Have you already chosen your seats and have you gone for the upper deck by any chance?
Excellent review thank you , we had same problems on lower deck same aircraft seat broken could could not be resolved on flight staff rather not bothered . Food was as looking at menu suggesting very tasty but a completely different story when it was served dry and definitely should not have been served. Informed by crew to complain via website .
Glad you enjoyed the video but sorry to hear about your experience re the seat and the food. You should definitely complain re the seat - BA will usually offer something in the form of service recover - either avios or sometimes an evoucher - if you've had a problem with the hard product onboard.
Oooh, that seat looks really claustrophobic and a tad clumsy, especially compared to the Qatar Suites ;-) The views, though, were spectacular, especially with the late afternoon sun. Thanks for sharing!!
It's an older design, which at the time was revolutionary - but my today's standards (club suites; direct aisle access, etc), it is a but of an awkward design - but still comfortable.
@@GLAFly OK, the main thing is that it is comfortable (and that the seat controls decide to cooperate)!
@@dpvisser yeah - that last bit is a deal breaker when it doesn't work.
Nice video! You have a new subscriber. I flew out to LA in Club World mid Feb on the A380. I will be glad to see the back of those old A380 seats! The flight back was in the Club Suites though, so it wasn't all bad.
Thanks for the comment (and the sub👍). I'm a big fan of the Club Suite, and other than (personally) finding the leg cubby a bit tight when laying on my side in them, they are streets ahead of the older style seats. I enjoyed the A380 experience, but would probably avoid these in Club going forward (until such time as BA refit with Club Suites - if they are still intending to do so) and opt for aircraft with the new CS instead (777, A350, 781, etc). They really can't compete with other carriers with these older seats, and i'll have a video coming out in a couple of months (about 6 weeks) about my first Qsuites flight with Qatar - shows just how stark a contrast there is with the old Club seat.
@@GLAFly Qatar's Business class does look pretty great!
I usually tend to fly transatlantically from LHR (or Europe if I'm looking to save a few pounds) so at this time most of my travel is BA based.
I agree that if you are very tall/have a large frame the Club Suites could still be a bit tight! My next transatlantic flight is next week and it looks like it is a Club Suite fitted aircraft (thankfully).💪
@@just_another_watch_nerd6604 I don't have a lot to compare it with other than BA and AA, but Qatar blew me away. The Q suites product is great, but the service and food onboard was on another level. Only downside is it's not practical for connecting to/from the US/West from the Uk, unless you want to add on significant travel time. Going to Asia would be a no-brainer for me if the costs stacked up, but I did this trip as an Avios redemption, so cost wasnt really a factor. Club Suite is really good though, and if you get a good BA crew (which I do more often than not - this flight notwithstanding) then it's a great experience.
The old club world seats occasionally do have issues with getting stuck. It's basically all the gunk in the rails and the motor isn't powerful enough the procedure to fix it is actually really simple basically manual recline slam it all the way up and down about 3 times and usually it works 🤣
The crew were able to adjust it manually, but it was essentially a choice of having it fixed in seat mode, or in bed mode, so I went with seat mode. I would have asked them to adjust it to bed and back again, but most of the passengers around me were trying to sleep (unsurprisingly), and for them to manually adjust, they were having to disturb two of the neighbouring passengers. As a result, I just made do with it in seat mode - not ideal. I'll be glad when they (hopefully) refit these with the club suites - it's night and day in terms of ease of access if you're not on the aisle. Hope you enjoyed the video!
@@GLAFly Sean Doyle has confirmed the A380s are getting the new suite, it's just not known when (expected from next year). Rumours that First and Club will be exclusive to the upper deck with economy and traveller plus on the lower deck.
@@devon896 that would be consistent with how other airlines tend to fit out the a380 - and how the club suites would best fit in. Be a great aircraft if running those new seats.
Morning, I’m a new viewer to your channel. What adapter do you use please so you can use your own headphones? I have Bose SC ones
@edwardsalmon5658 welcome to the channel Edward! Come for the tech advice, and stay for the content 😁. I use the Airfly Duo and have done for the past couple of years. It's relatively inexpensive (£45 on Amazon at the moment), and will give up to 20 hours on a full charge. Instructions to pair devices are very simple and I've used it with a few different types of Bluetooth headsets without issue (my current favourites are my Galaxy buds 2 pro).
@@GLAFly I can’t wear buds due to cauliflower ears but thanks for the info. Just watched 2 of your vids on the train home from nights.
@edwardsalmon5658 I used to use over-ear Bluetooth headsets (including my Anker Sound core Q30s) and found they worked well too!
I Dont Like 2-4-2 Seating Or 2-3-2 Upper Deck The A380 Business Class I Hope Britssh Airways Will Have 1-2-1 Seating Like The A350-1000.Great Trip Report
While BA had previous (pre-pandemic) stated they would be refitting the A380s with the new Club Suite, I think that time will tell whether they actually do or not. They have the rest of the 777 fleet, and then all of their 787-800 and 787-900 aircraft to retrofit first, and I think by the time that is done, BA will probably take a long look at the lifespan / use left in their A380 fleet before committing to it. Certainly the layout as 1-2-1 works well on the upper deck (Qatar use the same Collins Super Diamond style of set on their A380 upper deck), but time will tell. I kind of hope that they do refit them, as the A380 is a tremendous aircraft to fly on (very quiet and comfortable) - we'll just have to wait and see what the future holds in a couple of years.
I don’t see BA doing much updating to the a380’s, it’s more likely they’ll start retiring them once the new 777-9 deliveries start.
@@andrewmorton3177 I think you may be right, but a lot will depend on demand and available aircraft when they get to the end of refurbing their remaining 777s and 787s. Would be a real shame to see them go - especially with the larger First Class seats (haven't been lucky enough to fly those yet)
when was this flight and do they served you hot towels before land? and please next time show galley snacks that is also interesting
Hi Robert. This was the 25th of March this year (my videos have the date on the opening titles and in text description if you're ever looking for them). No hot towel before landing that I had noted, and I didn't really visit the galley (due to difficulties stepping over the passenger next to me) other than to report my broken seat. Will keep in mind for future videos.
I’m going with 9 of my extended family from Glasgow to LAX at the end of June in the new club suite, on the 777-300 in the 12 seat forward Club cabin. We’re travelling via Dublin (jumping on Ryanair Glasgow to Dublin & starting our BA journey there) because of the superb price & it will earn us a good amount of avios. Although I’m very much looking forward to experiencing the club suite for the first time, I do have a great affection for the old seat especially upstairs on the 747 that we’ve done the same journey on a few times in the past, it was my favourite seat on a plane, even better than BA1, a318 out of London City. The upper deck of the a380 doesn’t have the same intimacy, I’m not a big fan it’s just not as much of an event somehow. One of my biggest concerns with the club suite will be keeping an eye on my 2 young kids, something that was easy to do with the old seats. Many people/videos bang on about how private they are & have more storage (I’ve never found storage a problem on the 747 or a380) but I personally think they are bordering on antisocial & don’t cater as well for people travelling in groups as the old seats did. Hopefully my concerns are unfounded. Enjoyed the video & thanks for uploading 👍🏻
I think if you've got kids the pairs of seats in the middle of the 777 are your best bet - they have a retractable partition so you can speak to your travel partner (if you want). It would have been good if they did something like the q-suite quads, but you can't have everything I guess. Used to love the upper deck on the 747 too - was like a wee private jet! Storage is ok on the 747 or the A380 only if you have a window seat with the storage bins - otherwise i do think the old seats desperately lack storage (I travel with a lot of stuff so need somewhere to put it). Sadly never had a chance to fly the baby bus BA1 - gutted that went bye bye as that would have been fun. Anyway, glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for the comment - hope you have a brilliant trip (and yeah - ex EU flights from Dublin make a huge difference to the price!)
@@GLAFly That’s exactly what we intend to do, kids in the middle & my wife & I will take an opposite window seat being “assigned” a child each 😂 The baby bus we only did once before the kids came (we flew home out of Washington Dulles on an a380 that trip) it was something different the immigration clearance in Shannon was great, we were out the door of JFK 15mins after landing 😳 & there was only 13 other people on our flight. It’s a shame it’s gone but I’m more sorry that the 747’s have all been retired.
@@andrewmorton3177 that sounds like a good plan (and you still get the window!!!). Thankfully my kids got a shot on a 747 just before most airlines scrapped them - we managed a trip to Orlando from Glasgow on the upper deck of the Virgin 747 just before lockdown - i definitely miss seeing them (my favourite airline). Have never used the pre clearance in Ireland but have heard lots of positives, but just managed to get myself global entry last month so I'm hoping to try that out on my next trip.
@@GLAFly I’m glad your kids got to experience a 747, it’s something mine probably won’t do but I have toyed with the idea of flying Lufthansa 😂
When the lockdown started in 2020 my brother was in Dallas & had to come home early. He came home on a 747 (can’t remember the number but he knows it) in seat 1A & was the very last revenue passenger to do so on that plane because it was scrapped a few months later. So sad 🥲
@@andrewmorton3177 will admit I was tempted with their FRA-PMI seasonal flight, but couldn't justify it.
Just took this flight last month…upper deck business class…LAX-LHR-LAX
@horatiolust5693 Hope you enjoyed it? What was your experience like?
@@GLAFlyit was good…love the A380, and the upper deck/business class combo…I’m at the stage in life where flying economy or even premium economy is not an option for long distance flights…would prefer to fly out of PHX (home location) but the price difference by choosing LAX is significant…will fly the A350 next trip if the pricing is more competitive
@horatiolust5693 I'm very much the same - I just can't do long haul in a cramped seat at this age! The A380 is such a quiet and comfortable aircraft and the upper deck window seats remind me of the old days of the 747 u/d. Haven't tried the A350 yet - something I very much look forward to trying at some point.
@@GLAFly The 1-2-1 seating in Business Class on the A350 is better, especially given the I’m on these long distance trips with my wife, the 2 seats together in the center is more appealing. Haven’t flown on it yet, but soon…Taking Singapore Air Business Class from LAX is on the bucket list…
@horatiolust5693 the new Club Suites are a big improvement in terms of layout - will be interesting to see how they work on the A380 when they are refitted (but that's likely a couple of years away)
Hello GLA-FLY, did you need to apply for any Visa for travelling to LA? Such as an ESTA visa?
Yes - UK passport holders need to apply for an ESTA, providing its not for work and you dont have any other restrictions to travel to the US. They are usually valid for 2 years and it costs $21.
@@GLAFly thank you so much
@@videoshares my pleasure!
The day after I flew lhr to yvr
BA certainly make good use of their fleet. It's always cool to see where your aircraft has been - or is going next!
Great plane. Old and tried interior. The seat was the 1st lie flat seats in the sky sadly that was many many years ago and BA haven't bothered to undated the layout, the seat covers even the TV is old.
And you wonder why BA is being left behind by all the other airlines. TOO OLD AND TOO EXPENSIVE
I think the main challenge for BA with the A380 is that they didn't have their new seat (Club Suite) ready when they got their first A380s at the end of 2012, so they went with what they had - the yin-yang layout that had worked well for them on the 747 and the rest of their fleet. Now, it's going to be a case of whether it makes financial sense for BA to replace the seats on these, or simply retire the aircraft. It's likely to be a couple of years before the finish the refit of Club Suite remaining 777 fleet (nearly done) and then the rest of the 787-800 (underway) and 787-900 aircraft. Once they get to that, I'm sure they are going to look at what makes sense for the A380 in the long-term. Given they have retired their other 4-engine aircraft, and in the context of newer aircraft in their fleet (78X; A351) and the new 777-900 on horizon, all with more efficient engines, they may decide that it's not commercially worth it to refit these massive aircraft with Club Suites, but instead simply retire them, like a number of other airlines have. It would be a shame, as personally I hope to see them refit them (there are other operators who have variations of the same seat that the Club Suite is based on installed on A380s), but we're likely a couple of years away from seeing if that will happen or not. What they certainly CAN focus on in the interim, is to further improve the catering, and fix the seat reliability issues on these.
The seating design sucks.
It was good at the time (revolutionary, in fact), but that was more than 20 years ago. It's certainly not up to scratch with the current offerings from other airlines (or BA's own Club Suite, which is very nice).
Be 🏬
Excellent review. BA A380s have horrible seats in a 2-3-2 configuration and the food served is mediocre at best. Seems like BA is competing for world’s worst airline.
Thanks Andre. In fairness to BA, they are usually better than this (in my experience), and the crews are excellent most of the time. Unfortunately the food still has a way to go (despite recent "improvements") and they need to sort out the older seat's reliability. The new club suites are excellent, but I'm not sure the A380 will ever get a refit - i think BA are more likely to retire them by the time they have finished the refit of their 777s and 787s with Club Suite. I hope they don't, but it will come down to whether it makes sense to BA at that point.
I absolutely hate BA horrible airline have had a bad experience with them
Sorry to hear that, Louise. I've certainly had a few less than ideal experiences with BA, but i have to say, for all their faults, I (personally) find them to be good more times than not - sorry if that's not been your experience with them.