First look at British Airways’ new first-class seat with sliding door
Editor's Note
Editor's note: This story has been updated with photos of the new seat.
British Airways has unveiled improvements to its first-class seat product, which will be installed on some newly delivered aircraft. And as of Wednesday October 7, we have photos from the inside of the aircraft.
Following the success of its long-awaited Club Suite business-class product, the airline has decided to install a sliding door design in First on newly delivered Boeing 777 aircraft. The airline took delivery of the first of these 777 aircraft earlier this month.
BA took delivery of the first 777 with the new seat on Oct. 2. Registered as G-STBM, the aircraft flew from Everett (PAE) to Heathrow (LHR), according to FlightRadar24.
On Wednesday, the aircraft is set to operate its first commercial service as BA 113 from Heathrow (LHR) to New York (JFK).
The seat closely resembles the design already featured on BA's Boeing 787-9 and 787-10 aircraft, with the addition of a sliding door to turn a seat into a suite.
The new seat is described as only an "adjustment" on the current design, so it's not noticeably different — except for the new door.
"The new Club Suite has been so popular with our customers that we made the decision at the start of the year to adjust the First seat on the new 777-300 aircraft to include a door for additional privacy," British Airways told TPG.
Related: Review: British Airways (787-9) First Class From London to Santiago
In business class, the cabin has the airline's new Club Suite product, as all newly-delivered long-haul aircraft BA receives now feature.
Related: Suite refresh: A review of British Airways’ Club Suite on the refurbished 777, New York to London
While the "hard product" of these new cabins will be an improvement for passengers, for the time being, food and beverage service in First will continue to feature meal boxes rather than elaborate gourmet meals on fine china. It's unclear how long the reduced soft product offering will continue.
Why is BA taking delivery of new aircraft during a time where it's retired or parked a large number of its long-haul aircraft, including its entire Boeing 747 fleet? British Airways told TPG that these aircraft were ordered long before the pandemic commenced and its deliveries could not be deferred.
Additional reporting by Emily McNutt.
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