British Airways: new Club World business class seat for 2019

Would be nice to see BA launch the A350-1000 on the LHR - SIN - SYD Route. It would make for a strong argument on the Kangaroo Route :-)

Obviously it is unfair to comment on just drawings from a patent application, but, doesn't that look... rather congested? Personally, when I fly business, I do enjoy the exclusive aspect of it. Also, I'm not a fan of flying backwards.

A pity that BA went with this design, just as other airlines are moving to suite-style J. This is really premium economy plus.

On another note, impressive editorial independence from AusBT - running BA promo spreads one day and publicising leaks the next!

Oh dear more awfulness from BA!

What a lost opportunity, they could have made their First seats their business seats and then introduced a true First Class. 

Just dreadful.

"British Airways is also retaining a 2-4-2 'high density' layout, although this benefits from the wider cabin footprint of the A350'

Wider than what?  The A380, 747 and 777 all have 2-4-2 on BA and all have wider cabins than the A350.  The 787 is 2-3-2 and is narrower than the A350, so the A350 has the narrowest cabin of any with a 2-4-2 layout.

It's an improvement as it addresses the biggest objection to the product, but it is designed to make money on the Atlantic, as it probably will still do for some time.

So... more bed length, more width, more privacy and direct aisle access for all seats.

A great improvement! Good work BA! Please bring this upgraded product to Australia ASAP!

Have there ever been any designs with seats facing sideways?  I think that could be a good design.

This has potential to be a forwards-backwards Apex suite of sorts (Japan Airlines, Korean Air, Oman Air etc.), let's hope that they get those partitions up!!

What's with airlines opting for backwards facing seats? It doesn't sound hugely progressive. True, they don't feel different in the air but people still won't naturally gravitate to them. JAL, I think it is, do a 2-2-2 configuration with all seats getting aisle access - its perfectly possible to do with all seats forward and still fitting lots in. Credit to BA for good seat width and, I hear from those who've flown their latest J and F, comfortable cushion but i'd love to see an end to this 2-4-2 melarky. Still, between the UK and US, BA would always be my first choice on their B787 or A380, they still beat the American products on service, seating, plane and food.

Hey, greed is good at 8 across,maybe they should try Boeings patented 12 across!Then you could travel from a shoe box into a sardine tin, all for the price of a business class ticket.  I much prefer to travel with airlines that think about me,instead of their shareholders and travel business class just 4 abreast.

Backwards or forwards, who cares? But BA's J config is rubbish, even though the seat itself ain't bad at all. It's just too congested and one can usually feel a person exiting behind one's pod: bump, bump, rumble, rumble. Window seats are bearable but the rest are like flying in a Japanese capsule hotel only for about 500 times the cost. And the soft product is always, always very iffy, not much better than a Japanese convenience store (to extend the simile) at its worst, like DJ's food hall at best.

Nice to see the biggest problems addressed (climb-over or be-climbed-over, lack of storage). It'll still be a tight squeeze, but the worst is that it won't be retrofitted to existing planes. 

Personally, I'm fine with backwards-facing seats. I get nauseous riding backwards in trains, or in a car looking inside or reading, or in a bus in the back, but never a problem flying backwards, aside from taxiing. 

Much prefer the herringbone config used by other carriers.......BA is going to be last choice for me.

I travelled on BA A380 in business class from Hong Kong to London and London to Singapore earlier this year. I chose BA over other airlines because I like the A380 configuration on other airlines. I will NEVER travel BA again except on short hauls to Europe. It was a 2/3/2 configuration meaning 7 seats across so it felt cramped and quite claustrophobic. 

My husband who is over 6ft was on the window and because of the bulk head struggled to get past the feet of the sleeper in front as he had to bend down very low and then lift his legs over - it was ridiculous and unacceptable for a full paying customer. 

I am pleased to hear that they are reconfiguring the seats but from what I can tell on the plans it doesn't look any less congested.

I repeat - I am never flying BA on a long haul. 

Which seats would be at 193cm and which seats would be at 185cm? You dont really say, other than "depending ...". What would be the guess ... window and cramped middle two at 193cm?

BA=Horrid business class hard and softproduct(First isn't much better either)

Minimal flat areas to place anything. I'm with others - wouldn't pay for the seats, but acknowledge that it's easy to find BA J award seats.

Actually I like BA design far better than QF one (I am talking about old one, not new on A330). Though to get most of it one should choose seat carefully.
However I agree that nowadays this Yin-Yang approach more suitable for PE than for Business.

I quite like BA's existing J seats - especially the window seats, where you have plenty of storage and a lot of privacy. Direct aisle access in the new config fixes the only real problem. FAR superior to the QF Skybed, though I rate the QF A330 J suites better than the BA version.

Actually looks like a PE layout more than a business layout. 

still try to squeeze 8 seats into business while the quality airlines have 4 in a row-this is really bad! would never pay for this as long as there are alternatives-

btw etihad also uses backward facing seats on their 787 business class products but it still 1-2-1 layout

Never, ever again will I do Business Class with BA.  HKG to LHR return .... That's it .... They got my money, but they won't ever get it again.  I will say no more .... 

Never, ever again will I do Business Class with BA.  HKG to LHR return .... That's it .... They got my money, but they won't ever get it again.  I will say no more .... 

Why persist with the Club World format? Almost every time you fly the "Nose to Tail" format long haul you get the unfortunate experience of having a flatulent person in the next seat for 24hrs. So apart from being packed like sardines, you guaranteed to get that specially priced CW (or was that WC?) smell. AY,CH,CX,QF,SQ are so many better ways to fly.

Let's be VERY clear.  This design is by no means confirmed as the option BA is going to go for.  CEO Alex Cruz said "“We have made a decision to move away from the Club World seats. The time has come to change and the decision has been made. It’s going to take a little time, and we’re not going to oversell and we will tell you as we make our decisions, but it will have full-aisle, all-aisle access for all passengers so people will no longer have to have long legs to step over a passenger when they want to get to the aisle. We will take some time to come back with all the details of how we will do that."

I gave up on BA (iro long haul) some time ago because of its rear facing seats and the feeling of being cramped. I know its illogical but I hate travelling backwards, even on aircraft. The two centre seats look dreadful and I would hate to wind up in one of them. When I am paying J class prices I want a J class product. Other airlines understand this and provide a better product so I fly with them. This proposed 'new' offering has done nothing to persuade me to return to long haul BA.

Why do people keep saying other airlines offer 4 seats per row compared to BA's 8?! Do you not realise that BA have significantly fewer rows compared to other airlines because herringbone or staggered seating overlaps each other. Other airline seats can be very claustraphobic in a different way by having little cubby holes to put your feet in, compared with BA's having full height for the whole length of the pitch. The trade off is a lack of table space, but BA have tried to compensate for that with this new update with the small table in addition to the main table.

I grant that BA seats might be slightly narrower than other carriers but i think people get carried away when criticising the product.

The improvements to this seat design will make the product much more competative than the current offering, and because it is a unique product offers a real alternative to other airlines depending on what you like.

This is very much like the current set up.