10 Days In Italy: Business Class On British Airways 787 Flight Home

Here’s a recap of previous posts and a list of what’s upcoming for our recent trip to Italy.

After hanging out in the Marco Polo lounge in Venice airport and a short flight to Heathrow, we were just about ready to head for home. We didn’t have a ton of extra time to transit Heathrow and we were leaving from one of the remote concourses at T5.

My son loves riding trains and since our concourse was only one stop on the train, he was desperate to keep riding. So, we rode to the end of the line, stayed on the train and headed back to the B concourse. Mistake.

Duh, this one I should have realized. It’s a sterile train back to the terminal for security clearance. We headed upstairs and were momentarily surprised to find a security stop until I realized our mistake. To compound matters, we had bought duty-free liquids that security informed us technically weren’t supposed to come back through. Not entirely sure how we got this lucky, but the supervisor turned out to be a NY Giants fan, same as me. A brief talk about the upcoming season and we were waved through. We had a quick stop to take a picture with the Harrod’s bears and then we were on our way to boarding. As a side note, there’s a very quiet club lounge in B if you happen to depart from one of the outer concourses (B and C) and have lounge access.

Boarding was delayed a few minutes but once it commenced we were onboard quickly with our bags stowed. This wasn’t my first flight on the 787, but it was the first time for the kids to explore. They loved the British Airways Business Class seat and enjoyed playing with the buttons on the windows to darken them.

Judging my the smile on Michelle, I think she was just happy that both kids wanted to hang in their seats and watch a movie instead of using mom as a couch.

The business class seat itself is a pretty good one (though I like the new seat American is using the 777-300ER more). The cabin is configured in a “yin-yang” formation, where one seat faces forward while the seat next to it faces backwards. It’s completely lay-flat, with a fold-down foot rest that adjusts for recline and for sleep. Due to the yin-yang format, there’s a privacy panel in between each pair of seats. It needs to be down during take-off and landing which presents a bit of awkwardness since you’re kind of staring at the person next to you if you’re watching the TV with the privacy panel down. If you’re traveling as a family though, it makes it easier to socialize.

There’s ample storage, including a bin that will fit a smaller pair of shoes or a computer pretty easily. The controls for the seat and in-flight entertainment are located below your elbow which can make it a bit tough to retrieve the remote. There are two USB ports in the seat for charging/syncing. The IFE uses a two-prong headphone jack. British Airways supplies decent (though not great) headphones for use, but if you have your own two-prong adapter and Bose noise-canceling headphones, you’ll be in better shape.

The menu had a good selection of wine along with a 3-course dinner. I chose the filet of beef. While it was cooked more than I prefer, it was flavorful. They offer kids meals as well, though my camera somehow ate the picture I took of the meal. The kids both enjoyed their meal since it came with a couple of fun food items to play with while they ate. I’ve included copies of the menu if you’re interested.

After things calmed down a bit, I took a nap and watched a movie. By then, the kids were hungry so I took them to the mid-cabin galley where British Airways provides a small snack area. There’s chips, ice-cream, fruit, healthy snacks like hummus, some candy bars as well as wine (along with my receding hairline in the background of the picture). Oddly enough, both kids chose ice cream!

They were both content to watch movies for most of the flight while Michelle and I both took a nap. The pace of service was slow but reasonable, which is something I’ve found is a pattern for British Airways. They’re never going to set a record for speed of service but they do a good job getting the food out.

They also served afternoon tea, which the kids got a kick out of, along with a pretty tasty scone.

Other than fuel surcharges on award tickets, there’s not much to complain about with the British Airways Club World product. The seats are in a good state of repair and the staff is quiet but mostly helpful, making it easy to pass the time on a 7 or 8 hour flight.

For an aviation junkie like me, no 787 post would be complete without a picture of that curved wing in flight (through a tinted window no less)!