Uncategorized

What’s the best seat in British Airways Club World Business Class?

a plane parked at an airport

We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.


What’s the best seat in British Airways Club World Business Class?

Here’s the thing…British Airways isn’t THE BEST business class in the sky, but you can find quite a bit of award availability on it, AND you can find great deals to fly it from places like Dublin, Stockholm, Copenhagen, or Oslo to route back through London to the States. I just finished a trip back from Stockholm through London to Los Angeles on British Airways Club World Business Class. This trip was on an A380 and on the main deck, whereas last year I flew Club World on the upper deck. What’s the difference between sitting upstairs/downstairs and what’s the best seat in British Airways Club World Business Class to make your flight most enjoyable?

The big difference between upstairs and downstairs is 2-4-2 vs 2-3-2. The upstairs isn’t as wide and therefore has a smaller cabin.

  • Here’s the seat map of the A380 downstairsbest seat in British Airways Club World Business Class

    • How awkward would those middle seats be if you didn’t know the person? Oh hello stranger, let’s snuggle for half a day.
  • Here’s the upstairs on the A380

    best seat in British Airways Club World Business Class

    • I sat on the aisle, in the middle upstairs. There is far more privacy for all middle seat passengers, but still no direct aisle access for all. AND VERY LITTLE STORAGE.

The biggest complaint I have is you’re either STEPPING OVER somone or being STEPPED OVER by someone.

Biz ain’t cheap people…there should be easy peasy, gliding out into the aisle to stretch, snack, or go to pee 15 times cause you had too much champagne without having to mount your neighbor.

The annoying and awkward aisle climb is what makes Club World inferior to competitors. Here was my seat downstairs from London to Los Angles. Notice the foot stool that pulls down. Whomever is sitting on the inside has to step OVER it to get out. This means if you’re sleeping, you’re probably going to get bumped by someone stepping over you.

My seat, 14J

But here’s the secret sauce…look at the window seat that is rear facing, one behind my seat, 15k. The seat behind me, 15J actually blocks the aisle from the person sitting in 14K ( the window seat next to me), who has to step over 15J to get into the aisle. So who does 15k have to step over? That leads me to my next point.

Where do you sit if you want privacy and aisle access?

Upstairs

If we look at Row 59… Those sitting in A and K are up against a bulkhead and exit their seat BEHIND B and J seats. This means no stepping over anyone to exit.

a diagram of keyboard keys

The prices in SEK are the quotes for pre-selecting my seats on my return to Europe later in the year. Another complaint I have with BA Biz. No seat selection until 24 hours ahead. Cahmon.

Downstairs

You also have the setup where those in A and K are on the window, face a bulkhead ( but near the galley) and exit their seats behind B and J seats. a white background with a black line

To get a visual as to what this looks like…

a stuffed animal on a seat

I value privacy and aisle access the most.

Do you lose a few windows vs other window seats on the plane? Probably. Are you closer to the galley so it could be noisier? Yeah. But you don’t have to worry about stepping over someone nor do you have to stepped over. That’s huge to me.

I didn’t go over every single cabin on every single plane within BA’s fleet, but the same configurations can be found on those planes as well, AND the concept remains the same. Find a rear facing window seat, near a bulkhead, and you’ll find a secret little seat that gives privacy and aisle access.

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

a blue credit card with lines and symbols

Learn More

 Affiliate link 

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card


4.8
4.8/5
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott.

Welcome Offer

60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months

Annual Fee

$95

Points Earned

Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards

  • 3x on dining
    •  including eligible delivery services for takeout
  • 3x on select streaming services
  • 3x on online grocery purchases
    • (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
  • 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel Portal
  • 2x on all other travel
  • $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Chase Travel
    • The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
  • 10% Anniversary Bonus
    • Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred® continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
  • Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
  • Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
    • Primary rental car coverage is my favorite

We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.

Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.

Main Cast: 

Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.

Supporting Cast:

Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on. 

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.

If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners

Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.

The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

8 Comments

  • Too Much Time in the Air November 8, 2018

    I have flown with BA on several occasions and yeah, the seat is narrow and yeah, you may be stepped over or have to step over somebody – so it does not compare to the “standard” 1-2-1 configurations you may see on many aircraft. HOWEVER, after take-off and landing you can close your cocoon and if you are flying alone and sitting at the window, you have privacy – at a bulk-head even more so and you are well-shielded from the noise elsewhere in the cabin due to the many cocoons and everybody sitting in one. It is not so bad afterall and it beats all airlines with a 2-3-2 or 2-2-2 which still are quite a few in the market… and considering that BA currently flies you to East-Asia for just about 2000EUR and you get full-tier points, that is a pretty good deal.

    And: My food experience usually was fairly ok and the service experience usually pretty good.

  • Luthada Victor October 1, 2018

    How many inches wide is a business class seat on a British Airways flight from JFK to LHr?

    • Miles October 2, 2018

      correct me if i’m wrong but i think all club world seats are the same in width – 20 inches

  • […] written in the past about which seats are the best to select on British Airways business class. I just flew from LA to LHR this past week, and there was a seat I’d overlooked! While the K […]

  • […] You’ll get lie flat seats […]

  • James June 14, 2017

    The easiest choice is not to fly BA at all. Most of the reviews on boardingarea.com hated the seat configuration.

  • Pat June 13, 2017

    If you’re traveling with a partner, I prefer the innermost two seats; they essentially form a suite for the two of you to share. It offers maximum privacy, and the aisle access isn’t bad because there’s two escape-paths to chose from. However, it is still awkward when interacting with flight attendants over somebody in the aisle seat.

    • Miles June 13, 2017

      Thanks for the tip Pat

Leave a Reply to Pat Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.