Following my superb trip to Munich in Singapore Airlines Business Class (review here), I opted to get back to London with BA, in their domestic Business Class product, Club Europe (CE). The trip cost me 7,000 Avios, and only £22.50 in taxes, fees and carrier charges, which was a bargain. The low short-haul fees are one of the many reasons I love British Airways Executive Club. My itinerary for the flight was as follows:

BA953
Dep: 16:30
Arr: 17:25
Flight time: 1h55m
Aircraft: Airbus A320

Boarding

I came from the BA Galleries Lounge at Munich (review here) straight to the gate. Boarding was very efficient, and I was among the first on the plane, due to the priority boarding of Club Europe passengers. We were greeted by the purser, who always serves the CE cabin on a BA short-haul flight. Having a senior crew member serving you will hopefully ensure a professional service. The purser can be differentiated from the other cabin crew by their silver tie/scarf instead of the normal red. Hot towels were immediately offered out to all CE passengers. As the Economy passengers were boarding, I heard one of them complaining about the unfairness of the “rich people getting priority boarding and better food”. If only they knew how cheap it could be with miles ;)…

Seat & cabin

The Club Europe Seat is an Economy seat, with the middle seat converted into a table, to guarantee every passenger an aisle or window seat, and no one directly beside them. After take-off, a curtain draws behind you, separating the Club Europe cabin from the Euro Traveller (Economy) cabin.

IMG_0777

Food & drink

Afternoon flights on British Airways in CE have afternoon tea for their meal service. Today, it consisted of finger sandwiches of different flavours, scones &jam/clotted cream, and a lovely Medeira and pistachio cake. Complimentary drinks are also available, for which I chose a cup of tea, to maintain the English stereotypes! I also requested a bottle of Castelnau Champagne, under the advice of The Flight Detective, TravelUpdate’s resident British Airways Club Europe Expert. The meal service was with proper cutlery, crockery and napkins, which was a nice touch.

IMG_0779

 

I used the hand-wipe they provided to test the cleanliness of the tray-table and seat. To my delight, after a minute or so’s vigorous rubbing, there was no black to be seen on the wipe! This is a testament to BA’s cleaning staff, so props to them.

 

Final thoughts

British Airways offers a solid soft product (food/service), as well as superb ground facilities at many of their European destinations. The seat however, with the same legroom as Economy, of course falls well short of other domestic Business Classes (e.g. US/Australia), many of which boast increased legroom and seat width, or even a lie-flat bed. That said, for the amount I paid in miles and fees, I wouldn’t hesitate to fly BA Club Europe again.

What are your experiences/thoughts on BA Club Europe?