British Airways unveils new first class

[Mike W]

Good on BA for not falling into the trap of chasing the cheap seat punters at the expense of low yields just to fill huge white elephants, eh, I mean VLA's.

I applaud BA for giving the uber rich (and believe me, while there are not the numbers of recent times, they are still there and there will be more down the track) and giving them and their wallets a reason to fly with BA.

If QF and others, don't want 'em, BA sure does. :)

[Matt_L]

Andrew,

one hopes they will continue the one service still- do you have other info?

[Mike W]

The thing is Andew, keep doing the same thing and you get the same result. BA are obviously looking at other options and and if, as you put it, they are "close to financial collapse", then they need to do something different from what they are doing now and maybe even something different to QF and others who are removing F class seats.

History will tell I guess.

As for cutting back on flights? if it's losing money....? I booked a trip with QF to LHR and back a couple of years ago and actually flew with BA on one of the legs. The same applies in reverse and making some money on QF flights is better than losing on their own I expect.

[Mike W]

The product still remains on the 380 which services the premium markets, maintaining a competitive offering.


Of course, that's why I didn't say "all their first class seats"

BA's existing P class product is out-of-date and uncompetitive, just like QF 744 P. For a premium passenger who travels in these cabins, price and schedule are not key drivers as they are for punters down the back. Product is critical considering the costs to travel, thus BA are potentially loosing market share.

I was flying J at the time and the BA seat/service was at least as good as QF, in fact the seat was better (I had no problem facing back as my wife was facing forward) than the QF "bucket" seat which I found too narrow for my 105kg 185cm ex rugby playing frame and could not fit both my arms in the seat beside my body.

[Mike W]

It was the hard edges of the QF Skybed that dug into my arms forcing me to fold them rather than rest them beside me. And this isn't just one trip but several to Europe and Asia.

Other than that sideline, I believe the existing BA product to be the equal at least, of the QF product. The CX and SQ products however, are in a different (better) league to them both IMO. Maybe they are BA's targets, not QF.