Yesterday I had the great pleasure of flying Business Class in the Club Suites from London to Seattle with my family. Yes, my 2 year old even enjoyed her own Club Suite! I have found that over the past few years the Club Suite with BA offers a really solid hard and soft product for consumers. It all began with some champagne and food in the First Lounge in Terminal 5 at London Heathrow. The NV Besserat de Bellefon Rose was a marvelous choice at roughly 50 dollars USD and available in the business lounge. This is one of the better wines I have had in a business lounge over the past year. The first lounge was very full but I was able to access with my One World Emerald Status.
This outstanding Rose champagne was loaded with tart cranberry and salmonberry notes. I used the bathroom in the First Lounge and was impressed that BA had moved to using Elemins products. The bathrooms were essentially identical to what you find in the Corcorde Room. It was a great way to start the day off. Roughly an hour before the flight began they opened the gate so we departed for gate B35. They immediately boarded us although we had to wait for 20 minutes to get everything set with their cabin and crew.
The flight attendants were operating with a totally full flight. This made things go slightly slower than normal but I was still impressed with the cadence of the service that was provided. Cabin crew also had a very short turnaround as they were going to spend roughly 24 hours in Seattle before returning to London. It isn’t easy operating a totally full cabin, doing starters and mains, as well as drinks. Overall, the crew did their best to serve my family in a timely fashion. The attitude of the crew was also fantastic, never pressing or stressing the customer and always gracious in responding to questions or requests. This was a firm reminder that I was not flying a domestic Business Class flight and it was typical great BA service with a smile.
As you can see here that the actual seat is pretty polished, with terrific trim and modern design. Seats are both stylish and functional. There are small storage areas and great looking wood trim. The lie flat seat is really a game-changer for someone who is over 6’4’’ like me. The seat itself was well-made and was firm which made me feel well-supported throughout the flight. The divider between the seats makes things seem really comfortable, quiet and private.
The amenity kit comes with some lotions and creams. It is not the best product, Qatar or Emirates obviously offers much more for a business class amenity kit. These were all functional products with a decent eye mask and socks. Headphone quality was adequate, and we had to switch headphones as mind didn’t work initially. The flight attendant immediately presented us with a pre-flight Champagne which brightened this Club Suites experience immediately. I had a chance to visit the food menu and wine list.
I tried a range of the foods on the menu and found the quality to be outstanding, nearing the quality that you would have in the first class cabin. Both the chicken and salmon were beautifully prepared and delicious, with loads of flavor. I particularly enjoyed the chicken herb jus which made the dish really sing with flavor. The chicken was tender and not overcooked which is absolutely difficult to do in a business class cabin. Kudos to the culinary team for doing such a good job pre-flight on this dish.
The prawn salad was well-crafted and the prawns themselves were not fishy at all. This was a beautifully-presented dish. I thought that the soup was even better.
I’ll admit this dish doesn’t look like much but the flavors inside were bursting with concentrated red peppers. The crunchy croutons on top really helped make this dish in terms of texture. For a business class soup, this is without a doubt one of the tastiest I have ever had at 30K feet.
As you can see here the chicken was garnished with peas and chanterelle mushrooms. For a business class chicken dish, this is undoubtedly one of the best I have ever tasted. The wild mushrooms gave this an earthy kick and the chicken was marvelously juicy. I don’t know quite how they did this. Potatoes were very buttery and creamy.
The wine list has several good options, particularly with sparkling wine. The NV Nicolas Feuilatte is a decent entry level champagne and also the world’s best selling champagne. I preferred the NV Digby which spent a lot of time on the lees and was really delicious. I was not impressed with the red and white wine selections or the port. The Irache Reserva from Spain is a cheap red under 10 bucks. It was barely palatable. Overall, this business class wine list is adequate but far inferior to their incredible champagne and sparkling wine selections in BA First Class.
The cheese plate was solid, if unspectacular. The fig spread was excellent as were the firm crackers that matched the cheese well. Towards the end of the flight they served an outstanding afternoon tea. I had more NV Digby Sparkling Wine with the tea service. Each of the sandwiches were carefully crafted and were also very flavorful, with special attention to texture. The Coronation Chicken in particular was really good.
I’m not sure there is another carrier that does a better business class tea service. The colors and flavors were seriously good. I had been really impressed with the dinner service which had been excellent, with good cadence and no long wait. I decided to have a glass of scotch as I was winding down for some rest. I made my bed into the lie flat position which was really easy and placed the comfy comforter over me. After the tea service we started our descent towards Seattle-Tacoma airport.
BOTTOM LINE:
This is now my fourth time flying British Aiways Club Suites which is clearly a very polished hard and soft product. The bathroom is unspectacular. However, the actual seat is extremely good for Business Class long haul flights. I have found that the service in Business Class long haul to be consistently good. I think that the wine list can use some improvement particularly not having any good red wines. I really enjoyed the British Sparkling wine selection and my wife enjoyed the NV Feuilatte champagne. Despite having a full business class cabin, the service wass consistently great. I will happily do the Club Suites flight again which is one of the better Business Class hard products you will find in the sky.