British Airways Premium Economy - Is It Better On Their A350? | Around The World In 8 Days - Day 1

I girded my loins and got back on the horse to see if there was any redemption for BA in their premium economy cabin.
I had heard good things about their Airbus A350 premium economy cabin, so I booked a ticket and headed off to Dubai to try it out.
From there, I carried on heading eastwards until I arrived home, and this was the first day of my trip around the world in eight days.
Beginning my day in Madrid at some ungodly hour, I flew up to Heathrow to pick up the British Airways flight.
This is the story of my day and my experiences - once again - with BA Premium Economy. Have things improved? Or is it more of the same? Find out in the trip report.
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Travel Date: 6th September 2022
Airline: British Airways
Cabin: Premium Economy
Route Taken: LHR-DXB
Aircraft Type: Airbus A350-1041 (A35K)
Tail Number: G-XWBG
Flight Number: BA107
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[@Thetraveller411]

Lovely video mate. Looking forward to seeing you’re adventures 👍😊🙏

[@TonyCulshaw]

Thanks 👍

[@davidcoker7989]

I think had they replaced "we locked up the bars so we would have enough for the return journey" with "we are trying to avoid bankruptcy again so we had to nix the last couple hours of drinks to save some dough" would have been a more accurate excuse! 😂 Great report, nice plane!

[@TonyCulshaw]

It was disappointing for what's sold as a premium product on a full service airline! Thanks for your comments.

[@stevegonzales3612]

Great video - appreciate you taking the time to film your journey. I am a United (1k) and I average about (16) international trips a year. I presently have a trip scheduled from Phoenix Arizona, to the UK, Italy, and then on to South Africa. I've never flown B.A. but the price to fly business class was almost half of what it would cost me to fly United's business class, so I couldn't pass it up! I've been viewing KZbin to get a feel of what I might expect in regards to the specific on B.A. Again thx for your video Cheers 🍻! / 👊respect👊

[@TonyCulshaw]

Thanks for your great comments. If you're flying that route in business, maybe sign up for the BA Executive club, that would give you a silver card and a whole heap of avios to play with - meaning you could take AA and AS reward flights in the US, and get Admirals club/Flagship lounge access for free! Have a great trip.

[@stevegonzales3612]

I can actually switch my United Airlines 1K status to American Airlines Executive Platinum Elite status, but I am not a fan of A/A. I am happy with United and the fact I am at United's elite top tier, B.A. was simply a remarkable price (Business Class), for the 21 days, I'll be traveling. Plus I haven't flown on either an A350 or A350, so I decided to change it up and B.A. was my choice. But your right...this trip will cost me $15,000 (U.S.), and travel miles/km will be roughly 47,176 miles / 75,940 km. So I should get B.A. silver status. 👊respect👊

[@r.wldn1]

That a350 you boarded I had the same thing when I was flying out to Los Angeles the ife said Johannesburg so it’s kinda funny to see the plane I flew out on

[@TonyCulshaw]

Weird eh? I hope my next one says Johannesburg - sadly not the a350.

[@DavidCulshawmer-r]

nice one bro , nothing wrong with a ham shank is there , its a long time since i had one 😄

[@TonyCulshaw]

It was a lamb shank Dave! I need to work on my enunciation. ;o)

[@richardstreet7518]

Think I would have pushed back and gone to the galley for a beer...

[@TonyCulshaw]

... Or have a bell and shout 'last orders ' I believe once they're locked and sealed, that's it. :O(

[@dospalmascb]

Starting in Inverness is cheaper too. Just booked from inv to Tlv and the price difference made it a similar price to PE from LHR. Pe from inv was £150 each way cheaper than the flight from Lhr. Our PE flights In November we’re actually very pleasant and the 2x25kg bags made a huge difference. Thanks for the video. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your trip.

[@TonyCulshaw]

Yes, no Air passenger duty from INV - or Belfast, Jersey and a couple of others I believe. Flight frequency and times often makes Madrid my go to for cheap PE deals.

[@Ezraaa-xu6dh]

shut up gay

[@colinrenfrew48]

Enjoyed the video, and you’ve confirmed my opinion….they need to do better.

[@TonyCulshaw]

Absolutely! Thanks for watching.

[@jasondangerdyer]

Great video.i seen this as i fly to vegas on the a350 in 2 weeks. Can i ask a random question,does where the headphones plug in have a 2 prong jack or is it just the 1. I was going to get a bluetooth adaptor so just wondered really?

[@TonyCulshaw]

I can't remember if it had two, but the second Jack is used for power, so you'll be ok with just one .I normally use my own headphones which have one jack without issue.

[@thegeneral123]

Around the world in 8 days! Will look forward to this series. Still looking forward to my trip to NYC at Christmas this year. American Airlines 777 Premium Economy there and British Airways 777 Premium Economy on the trip back. I am realistic with my expectations and as long as the seat is bigger, I have more legroom than economy and the flight is reasonably trouble free and on time. I will be happy. It can't be worse than being in cattle class. The selection of alcohol though, wow, J/W Red as the whisky, awful. About as cheap and nasty as you can get.

[@TonyCulshaw]

BA have just announced they are returning the Club service to pre-pandemic at the end of October - fingers crossed they do it for PE as well!

[@TheVaughan5]

@@TonyCulshaw Air France had already returned Business Class service pre -pandemic when I flew from Paris to São Paulo back in August. Fantastic flight.

[@TonyCulshaw]

@@TheVaughan5 I know, I flew with them in July to St Martin. Beautiful food and great service!

[@swarooptanmay1]

Hi, great video, thanks for sharing this. I wanted to know can world travel plus passengers get any discounts on lounge access? I am traveling from Japan to London and then will have 5 hours layouver in terminal 3.

[@TonyCulshaw]

Hi, thanks for watching! Unfortunately, BA don't allow WTP passengers into the lounge, and you can't pay for entry either. You can book No.1 or the Aspire lounges, however there is a three hour limit on entry to those. Whatever happens, have a great trip!

[@realcdcruze3558]

Great video. Out of curiosity did you ask for sparkling wine and what did they say? I’m wondering if it’s policy or just crew laziness.

[@TonyCulshaw]

Thanks! I didn't ask as that's all they had on the tray. It was cut as part of the pandemic measures but hasn't been brought back yet. We live in hope!

[@dicksbits]

The irony is that they do serve sparkling wine in world traveller plus, just not currently as the welcome drink!

[@tandl996]

I had hopes for BA, but I found BA’s PE product on the A350 to be subpar to other carriers ranging from American Airlines to Singapore Airlines. The food was decent, but that was where it stops. They packed the seats 8 across, making it a tighter fit, and the seats are closer than most other products. I’ll continue to avoid BA with a passion.

[@sussex33]

You’re on a steel tube in the sky. It doesn’t have endless storage space. There are over 300 seats on that plane. If everyone had one beer and same on return, that’s 600 cans of beer to store. There’s always a reason, it’s not always done to piss you off.

[@TonyCulshaw]

It should still have enough space to cater for the seats that they sell though shouldn't it?

[@sussex33]

Boeing and Airbus build planes the same with galleys in the same place. They’re not going to spend millions having revenue-generating seats removed to build extra storage space for beer. Think about what you just said. It happens rarely and on certain flights like Las Vegas. It’s not a regular occurrence.

[@indianairlines]

@@sussex33 That's no excuse. It's just the British stinginess that we all know and .....don't love. We have a culture of cutting corners here in UK, thinking that no one will notice. We've done it for so long that now everywhere you look in our society the chickens have well and truly come home to roost. There was no excuse for BA to run out of drinks.

[@sussex33]

Dear God. What part of limited galley space don’t you get. Have you worked for an airline or onboard aircraft? Virgin Atlantic ran out of beer on every single Las Vegas flight without fail, because the entire flight is in party mode. They would stock up with as much as physically possible to store onboard and still run out, every single time. Only takes a group of guys on a golfing trip or something on a Dubai flight to drink them dry.

[@andrewreece7312]

I smell a BA employee. Other airlines manage to offer good service. No excuse.

[@76damage]

With regards the bar you’ll have to blame your fellow passengers and not BA. This route is getting the reputation of a long-haul ibiza which attracts party goers which means drinkers. Imagine you were on the return flight and thanks to the crew you got your choice of drink thanks to the outbound crew locking the bars. Its done to be fair to everyone. Theres only so much storage on a plane. Why do people think theres a never ending amount of drinks on a plane.

[@happysavy9296]

I am flying BA Premium Economy in 2 weeks. Bummer you did not film your 1st meal service and what a shame on BA closing the bar service 2 hours before landing...WOW!!!!

[@TonyCulshaw]

Hope you had a good trip -and a better bar service!

[@happysavy9296]

@@TonyCulshaw Yes I just got back and it was great all the way around. the Airbus 350 1000 is a great plane!

[@tonytaylor5204]

i can't believed that BA didn't serve you with beer on the pre landing snack ! Even in the premium economy? ....fly Emirate next time!

[@TonyCulshaw]

I would like to try Emirates, but they always seem to be twice the price of other airlines.

[@jamesprice4647]

The 787 is better - in my view. The air pressure is better. But the seats are very comfortable - just slept through the night from Buenos Aires. I really would not spend my own money on business.

[@TonyCulshaw]

If I could afford business, I definitely would for a long overnight!

[@tantebaguette]

​@@TonyCulshaw Stating the obvious :)

[@sithabelamandlawenkosiwodu6298]

But the items at 5:38 will topple over during turbulence. Most airlines secure them. Lol@ they locked the bar to save some for the return journey. Stingy Brits. Next time, use the Middle Eastern carriers. Lol Thanks for another awesome review. 8:44 can't hear any thrust reversers.

[@TonyCulshaw]

Maybe they don't get turbulence on the A350! Thrust reverse is there, just very quiet compared to older planes. Glad you enjoyed it!

[@sithabelamandlawenkosiwodu6298]

@@TonyCulshaw quiet thrust reverse?? 😳😳 That's damaging to my ears. Truly devastating for me as an avgeek.

[@MultiSUPERLATIVO]

Tony, do you have any business email address for contact?

[@TonyCulshaw]

Hi Pierre, you can reach me at tvoxford at Gmail dot com

[@MultiSUPERLATIVO]

@@TonyCulshaw I tried to contact you, doing the changes, replacing "at" for "@" and "dot" for "." but my Gmail account did not recognize your address and refused to send my message to tvoxford 😂

[@TonyCulshaw]

@@MultiSUPERLATIVO did you remove any spaces?

[@MultiSUPERLATIVO]

@@TonyCulshaw Yep.

[@neilhaynes4972]

First day of your epic flight. One minute wearing a mask where the bottom staps are broken and the next not wearing a mask. Really?

[@royferguson2297]

Hope the mask crap is gone when we fly to Vancouver next September.

[@OptimaMrL]

BA - always trying to protect their pension pot.