Two More Routes To Get The New British Airways Club Suite

Some links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission that helps contribute to the running of the site – I’m very grateful to anyone who uses these links but their use is entirely optional. The compensation does not impact how and where products appear on this site and does not impact reviews that are published. For more details please see the advertising disclosure found at the bottom of every page.

On 18 March this year British Airways unveiled the new Business Class seat it’s fitting to its soon-to-be-delivered Airbus A350-1000 aircraft. The new ‘Club Suite’ looks like it’s going to be fantastic and will be such a significant step up from the current Club World seat that it’s got a lot of people justifiably excited….especially those of us who have to cross the Atlantic with any great frequency.

When the new Club Suite was presented to the world the British Airways announced that the first long-haul routes on which the suite would be offered would be the airline’s routes from London to Toronto and Dubai.

The new seat (and BA’s new Airbus A350-1000) is slated to make its long-haul debut on 1 October (Toronto) but, in reality, this date is open to change depending on when Airbus actually delivers BA’s first A350.

Still, start dates aside, it now appears as if  British Airways has scheduled its new Airbus to fly on two more long-haul routes taking the confirmed number of BA A350-1000 routes to 4.

British Airways A350 To Serve Tel Aviv

From 1 December 2019 British Airways will start to operate an A350-1000 between London and Tel Aviv with the aircraft operating the later (overnight) flight on the outbound and the earlier (morning) flight on the inbound journey. [HT: Head For Points]

Here’s how ExpertFlyer is showing the flights in the system:

Note that the A350-1000 (with the new Club Suites) will be operating the return flight from 2 December.

Just in case the ExpertFlyer image isn’t showing up in some browsers, here’s the published schedule:

BA165 LHR 08:05 – 14:50 TLV (Daily)
BA163 LHR 20:55 – 03:40+1 day TLV (Daily)*

BA162 TLV 06:15 – 09:40 LHR (Daily)*
BA164 TLV 16:40 – 20:00 LHR (Daily)

*A350-1000 service

The new Airbus will be replacing a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner on the Tel Aviv route so not only is this route getting the latest (and easily the best) British Airways Business Class seat but it’s also seeing an increase in capacity.

• Club World: 35 seats –> 56 seats
• World Traveller Plus: 25 seats –> 56 seats
• World Traveller: 154 seats –> 219 seats

With Virgin Atlantic starting up service between London and Tel Aviv from 25 September this move appears to be British Airways firing a shot across Virgin’s bow and signalling that it’s prepared to battle it out for the Business Class trade – this should be great news for flyers.

Bangalore Will Get The New British Airways Club Suites

Bangalore may not sound like the most important of routes for British Airways but clearly it is as the airline will be operating an A350 between London and Bangalore from 1 January 2020. [HT: Live From A Lounge]

Here’s how ExpertFlyer is showing the flights in the system:

Note that the A350-1000 (with the new Club Suites) will be operating the return flight from 2 January.

Just in case the ExpertFlyer image isn’t showing up in some browsers, here’s the published schedule:

BA119 LHR 13:45 – 05:00+1 day BLR
BA118 BLR 07:00 – 12:40 LHR

The A350-1000 will be replacing a Boeing 787-9 on this route so the introduction of the new aircraft will see British Airways remove First Class from its route to Bangalore.

Still, considering this route will now be getting the best Business Class seats British Airways has to offer as well as more seats in Business Class, Premium Economy and Economy Class, I don’t see the loss of 8 First Class seats as a major issue.

Here’s how the capacity on this route will be changing:

• First Class: 8 seats –> 0 seats
• Club World: 42 seats –> 56 seats
• World Traveller Plus: 39 seats –> 56 seats
• World Traveller: 127 seats –> 219 seats

In further good news, Buisiness Class award seats on this route are plentiful…

….and these can be booked now on ba.com.

Bottom Line

It’s nice to see British Airways already schedulling its A350-1000 on more routes but be aware that the date the new aircraft appears on the new routes may change.

British Airways has yet to take delivery of its first A350 so the appearance of the new aircraft on these routes is very much dependent on Airbus delivering aircraft on time….and that’s not something that can be guaranteed.