British Airways have taken delivery of their first Airbus A350-1000, which features the brand new Club Suite. Test flight dates have now been revealed, which means you can try the new product quite easily.

Since this is the first new business class seat for quite some time at the oneworld alliance carrier, it is a big deal. For the first time, all Club World passengers will have direct aisle access and all suites come with a privacy door.

BA A350 Test Flight Dates

Before these aircraft are deployed on long haul services, they will fly within Europe on test flights. This provides flight crew, cabin crew and all the supporting employees an opportunity to get used to the new plane and iron out any bugs.

Regular passengers and other enthusiasts are able to book these flights as normal as they are available for sale. Executive Club members can use their Avios for reward flights as usual also.


Want to try the new Airbus A350? You will be looking at flights from London Heathrow to Madrid and vice versa, specifically BA464 which leaves LHR at 16:45 and BA464 which leaves MAD at 21:20.

The new aircraft will be flying daily from 6 August to 30 August on these flights, except for 13, 23 and 24 August. In addition, some services on BA456 leaving London at 06:20 and BA457 leaving Madrid at 10:55 will also feature the A350, but dates are not firm.

Overall Thoughts

It is excellent to see the British Airways introduce a whole new business class seat. Revealing the test flight dates is also brilliant, as it gives people the opportunity to try things out.

With suite door, it is one of the few business class products that offers this kind of privacy. No doubt the bar has been raised, with Qatar Airways offering something similar with their QSuite. We may see more airlines following this trend.

What do you think of the test flight dates for the Airbus A350 at British Airways? Will you be taking a trip to or from Madrid to give it a whirl? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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All images via British Airways, with Club Suite by Nick Morrish.
With thanks to Head For Points.