Today, I am finally getting to fly British Airways’ new Club Suite Business Class aboard the 777-300, on their signature flight route, BA15, which flies from London to Sydney via Singapore. I am only flying from Singapore to Sydney today, which is a great excuse to try out this new product.
I want to start out this review by saying I am a huge British Airways fan generally, and flow with them many, many times over the years. I love Club Europe, but haven’t had a recent need to fly long-haul for a few years. This flight was a perfect excuse to test it out.
Below, I will go into depth about my very mixed experience in Club Suite onboard this British Airways 777-300 bound for Sydney.
Check In
Check in at Singapore Changi is a breeze. I wanted to get the airport early to see the Jewel waterfall, which is located across the pick-up/drop-off road from the terminal, and is located landside. Annoyingly there is a lack of information online about early check in availability, since British Airways does not use the early check in facility at Changi. The early check in service is available to passengers travelling on a selected number of airlines who can check in their bags up to 24 hours prior to scheduled departure.
Instead, British Airways operates their own early check in facility, with a single check in desk open for early check in from 2:30pm on the day of travel. This isn’t advertised but is handy to know.
For British Airways Club World and First passengers, you can head to the SATS Premier facility to check in. It is a generic premium check in area for multiple airlines down the back of Row 4, and they happily checked in my bags in 4 hours early.
I then made sure to head to Level 3 of the Jewel to capture this amazing shot of the waterfall.
It’s so much easier to head to the Jewel after checking in your bags as it is located landside, however baggage storage does also exist if your airline doesn’t offer early check in. After seeing the incredible waterfall and exploring the countless number of shops and restaurants, head back across the road and follow the signs for departures.
Singapore Changi Immigration
I had access the e-gates, which meant I was straight through immigration and on my way to the various oneworld airport lounges at Singapore Changi for a lounge hop. There are no priority lanes for elite status, business or first class passengers at Singapore Changi like there are at other airports. But they are not needed either, as the automated e-gate process was quick and there was no queues.
Do note that airport security is located at the gate at Singapore Changi, not after Immigration. But more on that later.
Airport Lounges at Singapore Changi
If you are flying Club Suites with British Airways, you have access to three lounges at Singapore Changi Terminal 1. A perfect excuse for a lounge hop. You have access to:
- British Airways Lounge
- Qantas International Business Lounge (located next door)
- Qatar Premium Lounge
The Qatar Lounge is the standout option at Singapore Changi. Definitely the best airport lounge at Singapore Changi. If you only have time for one airport lounge, go there.
If you have a bit more time, it’s still worth exploring the Qantas and British Airways Lounges too. I was disappointed by both in comparison to their international counterparts, but I think it is still worth stopping by for a shower, a drink and some food before moving on. The Qatar Lounge is located closer to the C Gates, so it’s worth leaving that until last if your flight is departing from there. British Airways does tend to operate from both the C and D gates.
Check out my detailed reviews of the three airport lounges at Singapore Changi above. I strongly suggest spending the majority of your time at the Qatar Premium Lounge if you are flying British Airways Club Suite / Club World departing from Singapore (either to London or Australia).
Fast Track Security
Security is located at the gate at Singapore Changi. This means if you are visiting any of the airport lounges, do make sure to leave early as there may be a significant walk to the gate, plus queues to get through security.
Usually, for most flights, the boarding time on your ticket is the time that they like everyone to be at the gate, to start boarding 10-15 minutes later. At Singapore Changi, the boarding time on my ticket was the time of final call. I was still in the fantastic Qatar Lounge, so had to make a run for it as my gate was about a 10 minute walk away, departing from the D gates, and I managed to make it there in 5.
British Airways had two security lines set up at the gate. One security line for British Airways Executive Club Silver and Gold status holders, oneworld Sapphire and Emerald elite status holders, Club World / Club Suite, and First passengers. The other line was for everyone else. I was one of the last in the line but the line moved swiftly and I basically boarded straight after.
Priority Boarding
British Airways had a dedicated Priority Boarding line for British Airways Executive Club Bronze, Silver, Gold and Premier status holders, oneworld Sapphire and Emerald elite status holders, Premium Economy, Club World / Club Suite, and First passengers. Economy was already boarding, so I boarded straight away after passing through security at the gate.
Club Suite / Club World Cabin
Club Suite is the new British Airways Business Class product, made to replace the old Club World cabins.
Onboard this 777-300, the Club Suite cabin is in a 1-2-1 configuration. The cabin is split into three parts. The forward cabin on this 777-300 was small, with only 3 rows, and is located behind British Airways First. This would be the ideal Club Suite location, but it was sold out when I booked my flight a few months in advance.
Next is 10 rows (11 in the middle) in the main Club Suite / Club World cabin. For today’s flight, my seat is 10A, a window seat on the left side. This area is where the majority of Club Suites onboard this flight are located.
At the back, there is another mini cabin of 5 rows, which offer another very private seating option. However they are located on the leading wing and so they have restricted window views, blocked by the wing and engine.
British Airways Club Suite Seat
The Club Suite seat is a reverse herringbone seat, found in many other business class seats on other airlines around the world too. The seat is fairly spacious, with plenty of storage for all your belongings.
The seat turns into a lie flat bed, perfect for sleeping, however at 6’1″, my feet were touching the end of the foot cubbyhole, which wasn’t the most comfortable for relaxing or sleeping.
There is plenty of storage around the seat, including under the ottoman, a small cupboard besides the aisle (good for shoes), space under the side table and a small vertical area next to the ottoman, perfect for storing a laptop.
Build Quality
What I really, really disliked about this seat, was the build quality.
This seat, in my opinion, has been poorly engineered or not tested extensively enough. The side area of my seat next to the window was broken. It was a broken hinge, that meant the flat area next to the window didn’t sit flat as it wouldn’t shut. And it wasn’t just broken, the hinge was clean split in half.
The tray table pulls down from underneath the in-flight entertainment screen, and is really clunky to move closer to you. It seems to stop half way as well, between the storage position and the table position. The latch is on the underside, and is easily missed. In fact, I had to ask the flight attendant for help as I couldn’t work it out.
Seat Controls
Additionally, I found the seat control panel quite useless. There were buttons on the side of the panel that achieved the same functionality as the touch screen control panel. The takeoff and landing seat position button kept malfunctioning, and would start reclining after the seat was fully upright. Also, the reading light button on the seat control panel was for the in-seat reading light, while the button on the in-flight entertainment screen was for the overhead reading light. The in-flight entertainment remote is located within the side cabinet, so its not easily accessible if you are in a reclined position.
Sliding Door
Unfortunately, the sliding door, locked open for take off and landing, is nothing more than a gimmick. It’s only waist height, so people walking up and down the aisle can still see in, and I found the promised extra privacy was overhyped.
Conclusion
British Airways has only recently retrofitted the 777-300’s with Club Suites in the last 12 months, yet the seat had scratches and signs of wear and tear all over.
Overall, just a really disappointing and poorly-thought-out seat for a business class product that can sometimes cost over £2,500 ($3,150) on this route.
Welcome Drink
Upon boarding and before takeoff, a welcome drink of champagne (Heidsieck & Co Monopole Silver Top Brut NV) or orange juice was offered. This was also a great chance to meet the cabin crew on today’s flight. The flight attendant took food and drink orders for after takeoff. Unfortunately, no hot towel was offered before takeoff on this flight.
British Airways Club Suite Food
Club Suite Dinner
Today’s Dinner menu on this flight from Singapore to Sydney is:
Appetizer
- Cucumber, cherry tomatoes and quinoa salad
Starter
- Prosciutto with feta, quinoa and compressed melon
- Roasted beetroot and bulgur salad, with bocconcini, radish, pomegranate, pesto and balsamic vinaigrette
- Crème of Jerusalem Artichoke Soup, with sage and crème fraiche
Main
- Braised Pork Cheek, polenta with mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and courgette
- Roasted Chicken, Potato au gratin, Kenya beans, almonds and spinach with a lemon thyme jus
- Stuffed Tofu with shimeji mushrooms, braised cabbage, choy sum, steamed rice and three cup sauce
Cheese and Dessert
- Cheese Platter, served with grapes, fig and walnut roulade
- Gouda
- Sante Maure
- Kikorangi
- Strawberry Cheesecake with strawberry coulis
- Fresh Seasonal Fruit (only melon was available)
- Carrot and Walnut pudding with vanilla anglaise
Club Suite VGML Dinner
I had ordered a Vegan Vegetarian Meal (VGML) on today’s flight. My Club Suite / Club World VGML consisted of:
Appetizer/Starter
- Tempeh salad with couscous, cherry tomatoes and radish
- Grilled tofu with smashed avocado, cherry tomatoes and cucumber
Main
- Fusilli with Peas, tomato black beans and chickpeas, steamed carrots and chestnut mushrooms
Dessert
- Frozen Pannacotta with Strawberries
The food presentation was quite sloppy, but tasted fine. A bit bland, and nothing overly special for a Business Class Dinner meal. The ingredients were cheap (pasta main) and there wasn’t much creativity here. I have had much better food on a short Club Europe flight from London to Manchester or London to Edinburgh.
I was still quite hungry so also ordered the vegan main from the main menu (Stuffed Tofu with shimeji mushrooms), which was really delicious and much better than my VGML main.
Club Suite Snack Bar
At the front of the main Club Suite / Club World cabin was a self service snack bar filled with a variety of crisps, nuts and other snacks, as well as self-serve wine, juice, water and soft drinks. This was great for midnight movie snacks on the overnight journey to Sydney. But as you can see above, it was rather empty by the early hours of the morning.
Club Suite Breakfast
The regular breakfast menu consisted of the following two main options:
- Scrambled Eggs and Gammon Ham Ciabatta
- Cheddar Cheese and Tomato Baguette
Served with fruit yoghurt, and a selection of warm breakfast pastries.
VGML Club Suite Breakfast
My VGML Club Suite / Club World breakfast consisted of:
- Quinoa and Chickpea Wrap with Tomato Relish
- Bread roll with jam
Possibly the blandest Business Class breakfast I’ve ever had. Once again, I’ve had much better in Club Europe, including a vegan Full English. It was cheap ingredients, bland, with no added flavour or creativity. The very least you would expect for Breakfast in Business Class on an 8 hour flight would be a hot meal, not a wrap.
In all, British Airways needs to step up their food quality big time. It seems like a massive cost cutting exercise, rather than a focus on customer experience. Club Suite and Club World should be a restaurant in the sky, featuring the best of British cuisine. Two small salads, dried pasta and a wrap are not acceptable Business Class meals on an 8 hour flight. British Airways London catering from Do & Co is fantastic, so it could possibly be an issue with their caterers in Singapore.
British Airways Club Suite Drinks
The beverage selection in Club Suite is fantastic. There is a wide selection of wines (red, white and champagne), spirits, beer, cocktails, mocktails, juices and soft drinks to appease all passengers. Here are a few of my bar highlights onboard this flight:
- Heindrick & Co Monopole Silver Top (very delicious)
- Simpsons, Chalklands Classic Curvée Brut NV, Kent, England (a very delicious English Sparkling Wine)
- Yealands Land Made Pinot Noir 2021, Marlborough, New Zealand
- Brewdog Speedbird-OG Transatlantic IPA
- Tanqueray Gin
- Ciroc Vodka
- Singleton Classic Single Malt Scotch Whisky
I really love Aviation Gin, which British Airways serves in Club Europe. However unfortunately it wasn’t available on this flight, or the London to Singapore leg either. Only Tanquaray and Gordons Gin were available. The English Sparkling was delicious, as was the champagne. The Chilean whites and red were nothing special. The Yealands Land Made Pinot Noir is always delicious. Make sure to try Speedbird-OG, British Airways exclusive IPA in conjunction with Brewdog. It is very, very good.
In all, a fairly good and comprehensive bar selection in Club World / Club Suites. It could be better if it was more in line with the Club Europe offering. And it would be great to showcase more of the best of British gins, vodkas and whiskies, instead of focusing on bottom and middle shelf spirits in a business class cabin. The wines could also do with a rethink too.
British Airways Club Suite Amenities
Waiting at my seat upon boarding was the bedding kit, and a black leather White Company amenity kit, as well as a bottle of water. Passive noise cancelling headphones are also provided. Unfortunately, British Airways does not provide pyjamas in Club World / Club Suite, only in First.
Club Suite Bedding Kit
Starting with the bedding kit, a super thin mattress pad, thin duvet and a thick, plump pillow was provided. The mattress pad was more like a mattress protector, and kept sliding off, whilst not providing any extra padding or comfort. The duvet was fine, albeit a little on the thin side and the cabin was cold. The pillow was the highlight of the bedding kit, but overall, I would have expected much better for British Airways Club Suite from the White Company.
Passive Noise Cancelling Headphones
Under the side table next to the window were passive noise cancelling headphones. I thought these were really hidden, and I didn’t manage to find them until after takeoff. Unfortunately I had lost my airline adaptor on a recent Cathay flight, so had to make do with the provided headphones. The sound quality was perfectly fine for in-flight entertainment.
Club Suite Amenity Kit
Within the signature black leather White Company amenity kit (which is lovely and very reusuable), was a fantastic White Company eye mask, lip balm, moisturizer, flight socks, earplugs, toothbrush and toothpaste, ballpoint pen, pulse point relaxation oil and a thisworks pillow mist. The relaxation oil and pillow mist were a nice touch, and something you don’t find any many airline amenity kits. The lip balm, however, only had one application in it, which is disappointing. A very well-stocked amenity kit indeed.
British Airways Club Suite / Club World Service
I thought the service was a little lacking on this flight. The cabin crew were friendly enough, and I did end up speaking to some other members of the crew on a snack run to the galley. It was two of the flight attendants first trips to Australia, so they were excited and ready to explore Sydney on their layover. However the dinner service was very very slow, not commencing until well over an hour into this late night flight. The starters (there were two salads), main and dessert were all served as separate courses, which was nice, but there was way too much time in between courses and myself and other passengers were ready to sleep. It also took way too long to clear plates after finishing. I did see a few passengers gave up and ended up heading to sleeping before the dinner service was finished.
Another point to add in relation to the service, was that I had to ask three times for an arrival card into Australia from various crew members, and did not receive one until just an hour before landing. I had hoped to fill it in before getting some sleep, so I could wake up close to landing.
Club Suite Bathrooms
The Club Suite cabin is quite large, with 76 seats in total on this 777-300. So it was good to see four bathrooms for all these passengers. Some of these are larger than your normal airplane lavatory. Quite roomy and spacious indeed. They feature White Company Relax Hand Wash and Hand Lotion, in line with other Club (Club Europe and Club World) lavatories.
British Airways In-flight Entertainment
British Airways In-flight Entertainment System is fairly extensive, with a good mix of movies, TV shows, music, podcasts and games. I would say it lacked new release content (which there is plenty of on Cathay Pacific) but it was perfectly adequate. There are also plenty of foreign language films too which is great to see.
The in-flight entertainment screen is fixed in place, so doesn’t fold away like Cathay Pacific Business Class to give you more room when sleeping. It also means you get two windows, instead of three, like on Cathay.
The in-flight entertainment remote is located in the side table next to the window, along with headphones.
Wi-Fi
There is no free Wi-Fi for Club World / Club Suites. Only the 8 seats in First Class. Ridiculous, considering the cash price of this flight is over £2500.
Wi-Fi was available on this flight from Singapore to Sydney, with prices set (for the “Browse and Stream package” at £4.99 for one hour, £11.99 for 4 hours and £17.99 for the whole flight. The messaging only package is priced at £2.99 for 1 hour and £4.99 for the flight.
Cheap enough, but inconvenient that it is not free for Club World and First passengers. It would also be nice to see this extended to British Airways Silver, Gold and above elite status holders to reward them for their loyalty.
Window Views
My seat had 2 large windows, and as I was located Forward of the Wing, I had perfect unobstructed views of the sunrise over the vast Australian Outback, and of Botany Bay upon arrival into Sydney.
Great Value Avios Redemption
I paid for this flight with Avios, and used my American Express British Airways 2-4-1 Companion Voucher. As I was travelling solo, I got 50% off the Avios amount, and extra Club Suite availability. In total, from Singapore to Sydney in Club Suite, this flight cost me just 40,000 Avios and £175 ($220). A very good redemption indeed. The redemption value of this flight was 5.8p (7.3c) per Avios, which is very high. If you are looking to accumulate Avios for cheap, check out my other article here.
Conclusion
This flight was a real mixed bag of highs and lows. I was really looking forward to this flight and trying out Club Suites for so long, and it just did not live up to expectations at all. A broken and unclean seat, extremely slow meal service, poor bedding, sloppy food…the list goes on. There were way too many issues with this flight.
I am a huge fan of British Airways, and fly Club Europe regularly. But if this is their latest and greatest product offering, they absolutely need to go back to the drawing board and think about the passenger experience from check in to arrival.