Review - British Airways Business Class B777-200 Toronto Pearson to London Heathrow

I arrived at YYZ shortly before 4pm for my 6:10pm departure. I transited through Pearson back in August and hated it. The check-in areas were so dated and cramped. I don’t remember Canadian airports being this dumpy? What happened?

I quickly found the British Airways (BA) counters, which there were only three: one for business/oneworld, one for web check-in and one for everyone else. Fortunately, most passengers seemed to have checked in already, so I was helped within 5 minutes. YYZ offered fast track security to premium passengers. I had trouble locating it initially, as it was shrouded by the 200-person check-in army for Saudia. Once I found it, I was through to the airside in no time.

Lounge:

British Airways didn’t operate its own lounge in YYZ T3. Rather, it contracted out a standalone section of the Plaza Premium Lounge for its passengers. I’m intrigued by the economics of such an arrangement, given presumably the space stayed empty when not used by British Airways.

Anyways, at the entrance to the Plaza Premium Lounge, there was a sign directing BA passengers to the right.

Once admitted, the lounge divided into two sections. BA had two daily flights out of Toronto, and neither featured a first class cabin. So it was nice to see there was still a first class section for oneworld emerald members.

We all know that airport real estate comes at a premium, so I guess I can’t fault the Plaza Premium for storing boxes in the bathrooms… There were only two individual bathrooms in this part of the lounge, but you could also access the business class bathrooms on the other side.

Inside the lounge was a bar, as well as a small selection of snacks and treats.

The main part of the lounge consisted of some lounge chairs and a dining area.

One nice feature of the lounge was the apron view.

While the lounge did in theory offer a la carte dining, don’t get too excited about the actual execution. As a matter of fact, most of the menu items were just business lounge buffet items plated by lounge staff. I’ve long said that the only thing first class about BA first class is how it says it’s first class😉.

There was no champagne in the lounge, just prosecco. They did have Perrier, though.

Since the food wasn’t all that exciting, I just asked for the salmon, which was dry and not good. It was also smothered in this greasy cream sauce that was utterly unnecessary.

At its busiest, there were 13 passengers in the first class section of the lounge, with one waiter serving everyone. There was a pair of Brits who were clearly overserved in the lounge. They weren’t unbearably loud but were constantly cackling. I overheard them talking shit about someone later at the boarding area - they said “why would you think you’re the only emerald in the entire queue?”. AND GUESS WHICH WAY THEY WENT? STRAIGHT TO MIGHTY PREMIUM ECONOMY!!!

Boarding:

Boarding was delayed a bit as the crew showed up right at the scheduled boarding time. Once boarding commenced it was surprisingly orderly, thanks to the flight not being full.

British Airways B777-200 Business Class Cabin

While I’ve seen pictures of the new club suite in other reviews, I must say it looked even more elegant and understated in person. BA might not be good at much, but it does have nice cabin interiors. The design of the cabin much resembled the BA first class, given the bones of the seats were identical. The padding on the seats was excellent, and you could find the same white stitch marks in its first class.

British Airways B777-200 Business Class Seat

Awaiting at each seat was the bedding kit from the White Company, which BA introduced a few years back. I particularly loved the pillow, as it was quite plush and sizable.

Cleaning, on the other hand, was quite concerning.

Shortly after settling in the crew came by with welcome beverages, which I chose champagne and orange juice.

British Airways Business Class Pre-departure Drink YYZ-LHR

Menu was distributed as well, which reads as follows:

There were no individual air nozzles, but luckily I didn’t find temperature to be an issue. Overall, I was extremely pleased with the hard product. It was an extraordinary upgrade from the old BA business class.

Inflight:

Within 10 minutes of takeoff, meal order was taken. At this point I was wondering when amenity kits would be handed out, and after enquiring with the crew, it turned out none were loaded onto our flight.

On the bright side, a hot towel was available, albeit not served on any towel dish.

British Airways Business Class Towel YYZ-LHR

In about 20 minutes, an apéritif was served. I know the Brits are really pushing their sparkling wine these days, so it felt like an appropriate opportunity to try the Simpsons Chalklands Classic Cuvée Brut. While I wouldn’t say it beats a Belle Époque, it was aromatic on the nose and well-balanced on the palate.

British Airways Business Class Dinner Apéritif YYZ-LHR

I decided to put on a movie to accompany my drink and came across the new Mission Impossible. Before it started there was a disclaimer message saying “warning - contains images of aircraft in distress”, which I thought was funny. As I was about to start the movie, one of the FAs came up to me and told me the fridge in the galley was broken. Therefore, she couldn’t serve me the poached prawn appetizer due to the lack of refrigeration. This left us with the cream of mushroom soup and the asparagus salad. Neither was all that great.

British Airways Business Class Dinner Appetizer YYZ-LHR

75 minutes into the flight, main course was served. I selected the braised beef cheek with gratin potatoes, buttered heirloom carrots in a red wine and balsamic jus. This was one of the better beef dishes I’ve had on a plane - tender and flavorful. But does BA ever serve warm bread in business class? Because I couldn’t recall the last time when I didn’t have cold stale bread.

British Airways Business Class Dinner Main Course YYZ-LHR

Main course was promptly cleared, and before much time I was offered the dessert. I went with the festive raspberry chocolate yule log with whipped cream and blueberries. This was decent.

British Airways Business Class Dinner Dessert YYZ-LHR

For a short transatlantic flight, dinner service wrapped up at just a bit over 90 minutes, which was a win in my book. I relocated myself to the rear business class cabin on the starboard side for some shut-eye. This section was completely empty, so I was able to rest undisturbed for the remainder of the flight. There were only 6 passengers in the rear cabin.

I made my seat into a bed with the bedding kit provided. The mattress sheet was mostly a gimmick, but I appreciate that it added a layer of separation. Like I mentioned earlier, the pillows from BA were fantastic. I grabbed another one from a nearby seat for some extra snuggles.

One downside of these seats was that the shells of the seats were rather low. Even with the door closed, I still felt pretty exposed. On the other hand, though, this version of the reverse herringbone seats had noticeably more ample knee space and space to the side. So I never bumped my knees into the seat during my sleep, which was otherwise a common issue I experienced with other similar products.

On Arrival:

Soon enough we were approaching the London area. I slept through breakfast until it was time to prepare the cabin for arrival. Heathrow Airport was subject to a curfew, so we couldn’t land before it was 6am. The captain informed us we would be making a few loops in the air and were landing at two minutes past six. He had a distinctively American accent except when he said “she-dule”.

I had a largely pleasant flight with BA in the not-so-new club suite. I’m trying to evaluate this flight from as objective of a perspective as possible. When you compare vertically to the last generation of BA business class product, this was no doubt light years ahead. To see what that experience was like, check out my review of BA’s old business class here. But does it still impress when you stack it against the other comps in the market? I think the answer is still yes. Quite honestly, BA and AF are the two carriers who have reinvented themselves so much in recent years. I really can’t think of a more premium major European airline? Like SAS is barely out of restructuring, Austrian/Brussels haven’t had a new plane since I was in kindergarten, and Alitalia, oh wait, it doesn’t exist anymore… And tell me what Lufthansa has done to improve itself? Nichts. As much as we all used to love hating on BA, I think the BA today is the best it’s been. I’m not saying I’ll pick it over EVA/Turkish, but I sure would pick it over Emirates business class.

Review - British Airways Business Class B777-200 Toronto Pearson to London Heathrow

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Satay Away