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Interesting info here about the reduction in seating, change in layout and refurb on BA’s A380s.
A reduction in overall seat count was inevitable given that CS takes up more space than CW, as well as enlarged Club and WTP cabins.
Delayed – well the refit program hasn’t even started yet so that’s a given.
Interesting that First is staying on the main deck rather than moving upstairs.
It’s pretty amazing if BA is really going to have 110 Club Suites on the A380 vs Qatar only 48 Business and even Emirates only goes up to 76. Whether BA will have sufficient cabin crew and/or galley space for them to work easily and enough Club loos is another matter.
@jdB is completely right.
At most you could squeeze in 20 suites in the front where others have first. This means BA are aiming for 90 suites where Singapore have 78.
Might be sandwiches and going downstairs for toilet. Doesn’t add up
Well BA do have 97 CW on the A380 at present, and 76 CS on the 773, so in terms of cabin balance they clearly see things differently from others.
Whether they make it fit sensibly is another matter.
Well BA do have 97 CW on the A380 at present, and 76 CS on the 773, so in terms of cabin balance they clearly see things differently from others.
Whether they make it fit sensibly is another matter.
And they are adding another 10%! We know BA sees things differently – never mind the product quality, let’s do just enough – which is currently doing them very well.
Since they struggle to board an A320 efficiently, it’s going to be more chaotic than ever if they have 120 F&J A380 passengers + a few status holders all expecting priority boarding.
That’s a good point. ‘Group 2’ and 120+ (allowing for more Silvers than Golds) all dive in, most heading for the same door. At the moment they are fairly evenly split between the two decks.
It’s pretty amazing if BA is really going to have 110 Club Suites on the A380 vs Qatar only 48 Business and even Emirates only goes up to 76. Whether BA will have sufficient cabin crew and/or galley space for them to work easily and enough Club loos is another matter.
QR is as much an outlier as BA (but yes 110 seems surprising). Most configs are ~70J:
BA: 97
EK: 76
EY: 70
KE: 94
LH: 68
NH: 56
OZ: 78
QF: 70
QR: 48
SQ: 78I’m not sure the source of this story is reliable.
I’m not sure the source of this story is reliable.
Why? It is meant to be based on a new seat map which was published by BA, and later removed/
I’m not sure the source of this story is reliable.
Why? It is meant to be based on a new seat map which was published by BA, and later removed/
Is the seat map on a website somewhere?
Well BA do have 97 CW on the A380 at present, and 76 CS on the 773, so in terms of cabin balance they clearly see things differently from others.
Whether they make it fit sensibly is another matter.
And they are adding another 10%! We know BA sees things differently – never mind the product quality, let’s do just enough – which is currently doing them very well.
Remember this is all going on upper deck , not distributed across two.
F and J are currently at front so disembark first. In this new layout some J will be last off.
Since they struggle to board an A320 efficiently, it’s going to be more chaotic than ever if they have 120 F&J A380 passengers + a few status holders all expecting priority boarding.
If BA maintain the same number of galleys and WCs, then I can’t see a problem, and the availability of WCs and galleys improves for J pax.
The galleys on the main deck will be busier, but other airlines have more pax on the main deck.
Boarding by seat number would be sensible for J pax on the upper deck, although I can see some might not like that.
The boarding process for the nightly (post midnight) A380 DXB-LHR flight is already completely chaotic. It is utter stress inducing mayhem with passengers penned into a gate area with insufficient seats, and insufficient updates, well before any crew has even boarded. Group 0 and 1 boarding is just a signal for a general lurch which the copious ground handling staff do nothing to control. I can’t imagine how it could get worse but with this seating plan I expect it will.
If BA maintain the same number of galleys and WCs, then I can’t see a problem, and the availability of WCs and galleys improves for J pax.
The galleys on the main deck will be busier, but other airlines have more pax on the main deck.
Boarding by seat number would be sensible for J pax on the upper deck, although I can see some might not like that.
The plans are for all 110 suites to be on upper deck , so the number of toilets will be 7 for 110 , vs current 7 for 97.
But the biggest issue is how to squeeze the 110 in. Singapore has 78 back from galley and mid door. Can be squeeze another 32 in, doubt if more than 24 in front, so 86 vs SQ 78 it will be dense for business.
Boarding J by seat row makes sense but not a premium look. Most sensible would be to restrict front seats to gold so priority group 1. Becomes refactoring boarding by seat number
Biggest draw back is disembarking. Those at back of J will get off behind a very large chunk of PE and E. Fine is no queues at immigration, but that is unl.
Should say defacto boarding by seat number
The same ‘conflict’ arises with boarding by seat number. Upper deck Club passengers boarding at the same time as lower deck Economy. Nothing priority about that.
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