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Review: British Airways A380 First Class (SFO-LHR) – Part 1

September 23, 2016

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Link to Part 2 of this review

This review forms part a trip I took with Joanna to Las Vegas and San Francisco (introduction and full details of the trip are here).

British Airways A380 First Class

Having flown in an old British Airways 747 First Class cabin a little over a week before this flight I was interested to see how the two cabins would compare. I dearly love the 747 aircraft but I had higher expectations of the much newer A380.

The British Airways A380 First Class cabin has 14 seats and is set out in a 1-2-1 layout much like American Airlines’ Business Class cabin…

British Airways A380 First Class Seat Map – courtesy of SeatGuru

….except the seats here are a little wider and there’s a bit more space.

British Airways A380 First Class Cabin

The seats in the middle are great for couples traveling together but, if you don’t know (or don’t like) the person seated next to you in the middle then there’s a centre divider that can be raised after take off.

British Airways A380 First Class seats

Joanna and I get on very well but, as neither of us feels the need to be seated right next to the other on long-haul journeys, I had selected seats 2K & 3K for this flight.

These were two of the single seats on the starboard side of the aircraft….

British Airways A380 First Class cabin

…..and, in my opinion, are two of the better seats to have – you have windows to look out of, and neither seat is too close to the galley or the bathrooms.

I think the seats themselves are the same as those on the 747…..

British Airways A380 First Class seats

….but the area around the seat was newer and more spacious.

The leg room was good….

British Airways A380 First Class seats

….there was a good amount of space to the side of the seat…..

British Airways A380 First Class seats

….the storage cubicle was easy to access (right next to the funky colored seat controller)….

British Airways A380 First Class seats

…and was deep enough and wide enough to fit an 11″ Macbook Air (diagonally) along with various accessories and a Kindle.

British Airways A380 First Class seats

Each seat also comes with its own closet which is large enough to fit a suit and some shoes – very useful.

British Airways A380 First Class

I enjoyed the two large windows that the A380 offers each First Class seat…even if their position did mean that I had to lean forward a bit to see out.

British Airways A380 First Class

As we were waiting for clearance to taxi I got some cool views of aircraft coming in to land on parallel runways at SFO…at times it looked like formation flying 🙂

British Airways A380 First Class

I got some great views of San Francisco after take off:

San Francisco

And the views of London weren’t too bad at the other end:

London

It’s views like these that reinforce why Joanna and I are perfectly happy to sit apart on flights – if you insist on sitting together you have to sit in the middle of the cabin and then you don’t get to see a thing for 10+ hours. That’s no fun at all.

Last but not least (as far as the seat goes) is the table…which is exactly the same as the one on the 747 and which I love.

British Airways A380 First Class

The carbon fibre look gives a very modern feel but its the size of the table that I liked the most – it’s huge and easily big enough for you to have dinner with a companion sitting on the ottoman.

This 11″ Macbook Air adds a bit of perspective so you can see the size of the table:

British Airways A380 First Class

The Rest Of The Cabin

Out of the First Class cabin there’s really only the bathrooms left to cover and, to be honest, there was nothing special about these.

British Airways A380 First Class

Two things that stood out for me:

The bathrooms were considerably smaller than the two bathrooms at the front of the Club World cabin on the upper deck (which we were not aloud to use).

The empty flower holder stood out as a monument to British Airways’ cost-cutting measures.

British Airways A380 First Class

Apparently a single flower in each of BA’s First Class bathrooms was a cost that was no longer bearable to the airline’s management so the flowers were axed earlier this year – that’s pretty pathetic if you ask me.

British Airways First Class Amenities

Blankets and headphones were already laid out on my ottoman when I boarded….

British Airways A380 First Class

…and it wasn’t long after I had taken my seat that a flight attendant came around to ask if I’d like a “sleep suit” (pajamas) and to hand me an amenity kit:

British Airways A380 First Class

British Airways offers a men’s and women’s version of the amenity kit (if you’d like to see the women’s version check out my review of the British Airways 747 First Class experience)…..

British Airways First Class men’s amenity kit

…and, inside, comes a handy card letting you know what you’ve been given click to enlarge in a new window):

I can’t say I’m all that bothered about what’s inside an airline amenity kit so perhaps I’m not the best person to comment…but it all looked nice and I really liked the bag (that will come in useful on future trips 🙂 )

Thoughts So Far

I like the look of the BA 380 First Class cabin and seat – I think it looks modern and sleek and I prefer that kind of look to the wood veneer and gold trim that you find on some of the more lauded airlines.

The First Class cabin on the A380 definitely felt more “premium” than the cabin on the 747 (although the 747 felt more intimate) and, most importantly, there were no bits of trim falling off in the A380…..so that’s a big step up from the 747!

The seat is comfortable (in all positions), feels spacious enough and is a massive step up from the truly woeful Club World seat. So, compared to BA’s Business Class product it’s a big improvement…but I’m not sure that’s good enough.

If you compare this BA First Class seat to the modern Business Class seats you find on American’s 777-300ER, Etihad’s A380’s and Finnair’s A350s then the BA seat compares pretty well and is better than all three….but not by that much.

Those are Business Class seats I’ve just compared to the BA First Class seat and you can fly in the Business Class seats for a lot less than it costs to fly in British Airways First Class….so shouldn’t the BA First Class seat be considerably better?

In Part 2 of this review (now live) I take a look a the food, the entertainment and the service in the British Airways A380 First Class cabin and see if those have an ultra-premium feel to them.

Our Favourite Luggage

a man and woman standing next to luggage

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