Review – British Airways A380 Los Angeles to London in Club World Business

Introduction

I’m sure you all have read reviews on this flight already, so I won’t beat a dead horse.  I’ll make this short and sweet.

 

Where to sit as a couple

I did very little research on picking my seats because BA charges you something like $100+ if you want to reserve an advanced seat.  Within 24 hours, when you’re able to check in online, you can then pick your seats.  It had defaulted my wife and I to the lower deck, but I was able to grab the last 2 seats on the upper deck (smoother ride I suppose.)

Remember that the business class seats face both forwards and backwards.  If you’re traveling as a couple, the 2 aisle seats would work.  While you’re not perfectly aligned with each other, at least you can both easily get out of your seat.  If you pick an A and B seat, the person in A will be facing backwards and will have to step over someone else’s footrest to access the aisle (unless you pick the correct row.)

On the way to London, I sat in 52A and thus had to step over 53B’s footrest to use the restroom.  If you choose 53A, you won’t have a footrest to step over, thus row 53 is ideal.  On the way back from London, I sat in 53E.  My wife was in 53F, and a lady was in 53D.  It was awkward having to face her head-on; eventually once we hit cruising altitude, she put up the divider and I never saw her again until we were about to land.  Thus, I think the best option for a couple would be 53A/B or 53J/K.  I’m sure there are other good combinations; just spend some time looking.  As long as you are checking in right at the 24 hour mark, you should be able to select a good combo of seats.

By the way, the 52A seat also felt pretty claustrophobic for me, even without the water issue that I’ll talk about below.  My 53E seat however didn’t feel as claustrophobic.  It felt like a “pod” once you put the 2 dividers up.  Thus if you want privacy, pick 53E.  If you want easy aisle access, pick one of the aisle seats.

courtesy of Seatguru.com

 

Issue with my seat

Like I said, I was seated in row 52A on the way to London.  Well it seems the person before me spilled some drinks on the storage compartment, INSIDE the storage compartment, and ON THE FLOOR.  I couldn’t put my feet directly on the floor because it was still wet; I had to use the foot stool or put my feet to the side.  It was no bueno.   I wanted to complain to the FAs, but I didn’t want to move away from my wife and figured I’d deal with it after the flight was over, so I’ll need to fire off a complaint to BA.  It’s unacceptable for a business class customer to have to sit in a chair with that mess.  See pictures below:

If you zoom in, you can see the standing water in the bin.

 

Rest of pictures

 

What 52D looks like

More 52D

Claustrophobic 52A seat

 

Menu

 

Amenity Kit

Socks without slippers.  Came in that bag that I don’t know what you would do with it.

 

Dinner

The salad was okay.  I didn’t like that tomato tartar, but my wife enjoyed it.  My beef was okay.  Dessert was okay too.

Breakfast

Breakfast was edible.