Why BA's new business class has a door, but Virgin Atlantic's doesn't

Now that Britain's two international airlines have revealed their next-generation business class, the most obvious different is how British Airways and Virgin Atlantic each approached the issue of privacy at the pointy end.

British Airways' Club Suite sports a sliding door which fully encloses the seat, turning it into a cosy cocoon.

Virgin Atlantic's latest Upper Class has less of a door than what could be called a 'privacy panel' that extends only partway between the seat and the aisle to be half-closed (or half-open, depending on your life philosophy).

Apart from that, the seats are broadly similar – direct aisle access, 1-2-1 layout, a good degree of personal space for each passenger – and each marks a dramatic shift from its predecessor.

So what drove these staunch competitors to a decidedly different approach when it comes to privacy for those primo passengers?

For British Airways, the foundation seat (Collins Aerospace's Super Diamond) lacked sufficient privacy in its native form.

'I’ve flown the seats without a door and it’s not that private, you still are open to the traffic of people going back and forth," admits British Airways CEO Alex Cruz.

"With the door closed you will only see the head of the person going by. You also have the option of privacy. If you don’t like it, you can keep it open and then the experience will be like those others."

"But if you want privacy and sleep, it will shield a bit of noise and no one will walk into your space. It was not an easy feature to include, but it’s also about differentiation with other airline’s seats."

Virgin Atlantic maintains that its choice of seat – Safran's Cirrus NG – and its angled orientation offers sufficient privacy as a sans door starting point.

"The staggering of the seats and the layout has been designed in such a way that with the privacy dividers pulled out you can't see the person sitting across from you," the airline's Vice-President of Customer Experience, Daniel Kerzner, tells Australian Business Traveller.

"So whether that privacy divider closed completely or didn't close completely it's giving you maximum privacy in the suite."

"But the other thing that we noticed throughout our research was that a full door can often create a barrier between you and the service on board. So having the partial privacy divider gives you maximum privacy but it also protects have maximum sociability."

Read more: Virgin Atlantic's new Upper Class business set revealed

David Flynn

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.