Review: British Airways Club Suites, Austin - London - View from the wing (2023)

A few days ago I flew Austin - London Heathrow - Paris Charles de Gaulle with my wife and toddler. I booked award tickets because I wanted the flexibility of a full last minute refund. And I booked British Airways because of the availability of awards and the ability to catch a transatlantic flight direct from our hometown. (There's also non-daily Lufthansa to Frankfurt and KLM to Amsterdam, which weren't available at respectable prices on our day.)

We left Austin during South By Southwest (or "South By" as the locals call it) and early in the UT Austin Spring Break. The airport was crazy and getting to the premium check-in lines for British Airways, which are the first two check-in desks at the end of the terminal, meant exiting the airport and going back through the last door, because it was impossible to get through tightly packed TSA screening lines.

Check-in took some time as passengers with connecting flights beyond Heathrow to Europe had not completed their European locator forms online in advance and were sent out of the queue to do so on their smartphones before returning to check-in. Modern travel is complicated by ever-changing forms and processes, but itIsIt is up to the traveler to search for and sort them in advance.

My check-in was smooth, security was fast - the lines were long in the regular queue, but none at all for CLEAR and for PreCHeck - and we went to the lounge. British Airways uses the American Airlines Admirals Club at Austin Airport. BA passengers are treated better than club members. They used to get everything for sale on the menu for free, but now groceries are limited and the premium drinks are off-limits.

Also, for a seamless joint venture, I'm a bit surprised by the signage for it:

Estimated boarding was announced in the lounge an hour before departure as British Airways departs from Gate 2 - 20 gates walk from the club. We missed about 50 minutes, and while the flight appeared to be on time, we actually endured an hour's catering delay. Everyone queued to get in.

Nobody made an announcement at the gate. Finally, about 20 minutes after scheduled boarding, a "brief delay due to operational reasons" was announced.

We moved into our suites on board the Airbus A350. The new Club Suite seating is attractive and the BA logo on the front is really beautiful. But it's an absolute sea of ​​business-class suites that stretches seemingly endlessly. That's why I chose row one. You look ahead and don't see everyone else. This makes it feel like a more intimate and less claustrophobic experience.

I took a closer look at the suite. It's basically the "Super Diamond" seat that American Airlines has been using for the past five years, with more attention to detail and an added door. The storage compartments on my seat were already showing signs of wear and were difficult to close. But there were several compartments.

However, the door is not very high. It's fine if you're in a sleeping position to limit interaction, but don't expect a suite with high walls like some first-class cabins.

On the seat was an amenity kit, a menu, and a package containing a blanket and mattress pad that accompanied a pillow. The amenity kit socks, toothbrush and pen were greatly appreciated. Personally, I would have liked a mouthwash and slippers so I didn't have to put my shoes back on to go to the toilet.

Dinner was a choice of beef, salmon or vegetable risotto. Here isthe drinks menu.

I started with a Cointreau to start the flight. It was already after 8 p.m. and comfortable. It was served with packaged nuts. I miss the old BA heated nuts because their candied cashews were phenomenal. These were uninspired.

Dinner consisted of a single tray service of covered cheese and dessert dishes. I actually appreciate quick service on a night flight, but the service wasn't quick even though it wasn't offered in courses. The large cab meant deploying the trays by hand seemed to take ages, and it took well over two hours for the cab lights to turn off.

In a way we had the worst of all worlds - no decent pre-flight meal in the lounge so ease sleeping straight away, single tray service which didn't mean a fast meal pace either. If it's taking that long, I'm expecting something more sophisticated or finding a way to take advantage of a single tray to deliver meals quickly. (I recognize the challenges faced by flight crew with the A350's compact galley – BA traded space for food storage and service preparation for an additional row of seats.)

Catering outside of Austin is pretty bad. I'm not entirely blaming BA for that. There are only 3 long-haul departures and no robust premium catering infrastructure. Most of Austin's catering is for American Airlines in First Class. In fact, the catering on my connecting flight within Europe was better. I trust they serve slightly better food in long haul business class on routes from major international stations.

After eating, I lay down for a bit to rest. The White Company pillow and mattress were pretty good, but the mattress topper was next to nothing, and I found the seat itself to be a firm bed to sleep on. So I ended up using the blanket as a mattress. A second sheet would have been nice.

Pajamas aren't offered in business class, but I find I recover better in comfortable clothes, so I brought a 10-year-old American Airlines First Class pajama on the flight. (I brought a pair of United Polaris PJs for my return trip on another airline.)

I didn't get up to look at the snacks in the galley. That's both because you don't go hungry this late and before breakfast, and because the cabin crew clearly didn't want to disturb nearby passengers. In fact, they positioned the front lavatory door so that it was manned throughout the flight even though there was no one inside, and sent passengers who approached to wait for it to the back of the cabin. A friendly flight attendant had my wife take our daughter to this restroom as we were in row 1.

Breakfast was British Airways standard and I opted for the British breakfast although I'm not a fan of sausage although I do appreciate the hash browns. Here was the menu:

And the breakfast:

Besides the seat and a non-stop flight from Austin to Europe, the other positive aspect of the flight is BA's fast internet service. It worked consistently well, with good speed. It was obviously not Panasonic!

We made up about 35 minutes of our delay and landed at Heathrow 25 minutes late. After we parked at our gate, the crew announced that we would have to stay in our seats and they would alight in rows. BA is still sticking to their Covid procedure to announce which rows could stand up to take items from overhead bins to ease aisle congestion.

There were two things that were pretty odd about it. First, although everyone in business class was asked to stand up first, business passengers were specifically warned not to stand up when the seat belt sign went off and instead wait the 3 to 4 seconds before being told to stand up. Secondly, on flights arriving at bus gates, passengers are held back from disembarking to crowd onto a bus – and the bus takes longer to load as a result, so they are packed together on boardeven more timeThis way.

Although Fast Track was announced on board, Fast Track connections were closed. Connection security is always a mess with Heathrw, but even more so with no priority queues.

Club Europe (Business Class) on the connection is of course Ryanair legroom with a blocked middle seat.

However, the catering was tastier and fresher than both of my meals on the long-haul in-store flight, although it's time for BA to change their choices.

Ultimately, a much-improved seat and fast internet make British Airways Business Class a great way to cross the Atlantic. However, cabin crew service and meals required a lot of work. The delay communication should have been much better too.

More from the perspective of the wing