Review: British Airways A380 First Class (SFO-LHR) – Part 2

September 23, 2016

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Link to Part 1 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 First Class Food & Drink

One of the big treats of British Airways First Class is that the airline serves Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle Champagne on board and, while I’m no enophile (I’m more than happy with Moët and Chandon), I do enjoy a glass or two of LPGS – it’s a guilty pleasure that I don’t get to indulge too often.

It wasn’t long after I’d settled into my seat that the super-friendly flight attendant came round with the menu and offered me a pre-departure drink so, naturally, I asked for a glass of champagne to get the whole First Class experience off to a good start.

Now, I don’t know enough about Champagne to be a critic or to discuss the merits of one over another…but I know what I like to drink and what I don’t…and I didn’t like this. This wasn’t LPGS.

I asked the flight attendant what was being served and it turns out that British Airways don’t serve LPGS until the aircraft is in the air (at least that was the case on this flight). What was being served was Castelnau (which was, at one point, what was offered in BA’s First Class lounges) which, interestingly, didn’t appear anywhere on the First Class “Champagnes & Sparking Wine” menu (click to enlarge):

British Airways First Class Champagnes & sparking wines

This may have something to do with the fact that airlines have to pay tax on whatever alcohol they open while on US soil and Castlenau is about 4x cheaper than LPGS so, presumably, this is another way BA are trying to keep down costs.

Not exactly a major issue for me (I asked for a glass of water instead) but interesting to see BA’s attitude to their most premium product.

The food menu looked perfectly ok but I can’t say that anything really leapt out at me as a “must try” dish…..

British Airways First Class dinner menu

Shortly after take off the crew came around to take dinner orders and, about an hour into the flight the tables were set for dinner:

British Airways A380 First Class

For my starter I chose the “George’s Bank lobster with mango salad and sauce Marie Rose“:

British Airways First Class dinner

And for the main course I chose the “Alaskan halibut with chilli lime risotto and mixed bean fricassée“:

British Airways First Class dinner

The starter was a little low on lobster but looked good and was very tasty while the main course had a generous portion of halibut but both the risotto and the fish were a little dry.

I chose not to order any wine with my dinner although the selection on offer looked pretty good….

British Airways First Class white winesBritish Airways First Class red wines

And I didn’t order anything from “the bar” either….

British Airways First Class bar

…but I did order from the dessert menu:

British Airways First Class menu

The cheese option looked good…so that’s what I chose:

British Airways First Class cheese plate

There was nothing particularly fancy about the cheese plate but it was actually very good. There were just about enough biscuits/crackers provided (I’m sure I could have asked for more if I’d wanted to) and all three cheeses had a good flavor……which I thought was surprising at 38,000ft.

Overall the dinner was perfectly ok if unremarkable. The cheese plate was the food highlight although the service was what stood out most – it was excellent.

Service aside I’m not sure that dinner was anything better than I’ve had in some of the more premium Business Class cabins I’ve traveled in – I’m not sure I could point to anything and say “now that was First Class”.

About 90 minutes before landing the flight attendants came around to take orders from the breakfast menu:

British Airways First Class breakfast menu

For the starter I chose the “fresh seasonal fruit appetiser” with some orange juice:

British Airways First Class breakfast

And after having been reasonably health-conscious with my food choices up until now (ok, the cheese wasn’t that healthy) I went rogue and chose the “sweet mascarpone stuffed French toast with berry compote“:

British Airways First Class breakfast

Both courses were pretty good.

The fruit was fresh, chilled and crisp while the French toast was nicely decadent – it was a nice meal to wake up to and to get the day going.

Connectivity & Entertainment

British Airways is behind the game as far as inflight internet connectivity goes – none of their aircraft offers it as yet – so there’s nothing to report on that point. For the last bit of information I saw on BA’s WiFi plans you can check out this blog post from November 2015.

What the airline does offer is somewhere to charge your devices and an entertainment system.

The power ports in the first class cabin are in the storage bin by the seat:

British Airways A380 First Class

The obvious issue here is that, if you have too much stored in the bin, you can’t get at the power ports so be careful how much of your stuff you choose to leave out of the overhead locker.

Still, access issues aside, the there are 2 USB ports and a multi-country power outlet available as well as some audio inputs (does anyone know anybody who actually uses those audio inputs?) – that’s pretty good.

The remote control for the entertainment system is in the same seat-side storage bin as the power ports….

British Airways A380 First Class

…and looks like pretty much every other remote control you’ll see in a modern premium class cabin…..

British Airways A380 First Class

…but it was a lot more modern than the controller in the 747 First Class cabin I’d flown in about a week earlier.

The screens in the A380 didn’t appear to be too different to the screens in the British Airways 747 First Class cabin….

British Airways A380 First Class

….but the entertainment system was vastly superior.

There was a lot more to watch than on the system I’d seen on the ageing 747.

There were quite a few TV box sets to watch (that pleased Joanna!)…..

(click to enlarge in a new window)

…and the “box sets” weren’t just a few episodes…

(click to enlarge in a new window)

…whole series were available.

There were quite a few “new releases” which seemed reasonably up to date….

(click to enlarge in a new window)

….and there was quite a bit more including dramas….

….and what BA calls “branded channels”:

Joanna is probably the bigger TV fan out of the two of us and she really liked what BA offered on its A380 but, if I had one complaint, it would be that I kept being given previews of other shows before the show I had selected started – that needs to be cut out. I know what I want to watch and seeing the same previews over and over again gets old very quickly.

Service

The service on this flight was excellent. The flight attendants were cheerful, courteous and seemed on the ball and I really don’t need any more than that from a cabin crew.

The service was polished and the crew struck a nice balance between being friendly and being professional…that’s quite a hard thing for a crew to pull of so I found that impressive.

There was also a noticeable step up in service compared to what I’ve experienced in BA’s Club World (Business Class cabin) – I’ve had a lot of mediocre experience in Club World while this was very good indeed.

Bottom Line

The onboard service was First Class – the crew were great and deserve a lot of praise for how they went about their jobs – but I think that’s where the First Class element of the experience ended.

The seat and cabin (reviewed in Part 1) were very nice but not significantly better than what you’ll find in the better Business Class cabins and the food was ok but nothing special. So, if you take the service element and the premium wines/Champagne out of the equation, I’m not really sure that BA is offering a true First Class product.

When you consider how much British Airways First Class costs and compare that to the cost of a Business Class ticket at, for example American Airlines (on their better aircraft), I can’t see the value in BA First Class.

The seat on BA First Class is only marginally better than the Business Class seat on American’s 777-300’s so, essentially, what you’re paying for (when buying a BA First Class ticket) is better service and a better premium drink selection…and that’s a lot of money to pay just for those.

If you take it a step further and compare BA First Class to Business Class on a premium airline like Qatar, Etihad or Singapore Airlines then I’m not sure that anything that BA First Class offers is better. I would argue that those Business Class cabins and products are as good if not better than BA First Class…and they can all be purchased for a lot less than British Airways First Class (most of the time).

Overall I’m really glad Joanna and I got to experience British Airways First Class on both the 747 and the A380 but I doubt I’d go out of my way to book it again – I don’t think it’s worth the expense in cash or Avios/miles.