Article from BTNews 10 APRIL 2017
BA’s £400m upgrade
A £400m upgrade for Club World long-haul and self-service check-in and biometric boarding gates to accelerate passengers’ journey through the airport are part of a major investment package announced by British Airways last week.
The package, introduced by chairman and CEO Alex Cruz, also covers already-announced developments including introducing Club Europe on UK domestic services, new lounges, the First Wing direct security and lounge access at Heathrow and latest-generation wi-fi for long-haul and short-haul fleets.
From June, new catering will be introduced to the Heathrow business lounges to improve food quality and extend the breakfast service to 11:00. In the air from July, there will be new linen, bigger pillows, soft mattress toppers and duvets.
From September, a new restaurant-style premium dining service will begin in Club World, with display trolleys allowing passengers to select dishes from a choice of freshly prepared starters and desserts.
The changes will launch on flights between Heathrow and New York JFK, before being rolled out across the rest of the long-haul network during 2018. BA is also developing options for a new Club World seat in 2019 with direct aisle access.
OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)
All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum
Janet Walford, Little Chalfont
Hooray for new biz class seats on BA! They have stuck with the old style seats since inception, and BA's biz class offering is now way behind every other major airline. We try never to fly BA biz class for that very reason. I hope the new seats will go some way to restoring my sagging faith in the airline. Just hope I live long enough to actually try them out, since the scheduled start for introduction is not for another two years.
Brian Donohoe,
Well I'll not hold my breath as I'm long haul in Club during September
Tim Brooksbank , UK
BA needs to update its seating before worrying about frivolous things like the meal. I'm a BA regular, sometimes First sometimes Club, I also travel Cathay. The Cathay business seat is every bit as good as the BA First seat. Also how about sorting immigration on the way in through LHR T5, why can I only use fast track immigration if I do NOT hold a UK passport?