Is British Airways’ First Class still worth it?
Guest contributor Dominic takes an ultra-long-haul flight from Tokyo to London to test out BA’s First Class on an ageing 787. With fifteen hours in the air, that’s plenty of time to review the service, the seat and the wine list.
Checking in and the JAL lounge
BA flies to and from Tokyo via Haneda (Tokyo International Airport). Prior to March 2020, they also flew to Tokyo Narita, but consolidated their twice-daily flights to just one airport. Outbound flights from Heathrow are morning flights, departing at around 9am and then again at 11am. Return flights from Japan to London leave at either 9:35am or 1:15pm. Flight times are around 13.5 hours to Tokyo, and 15hrs heading back to the UK
BA uses Terminal 3 at Haneda, the newest of the three terminals and the one that’s focused on international flights. There are dedicated check-in lanes for Club World and First class.
One benefit at Haneda is that the baggage drop-off belts/scales are at floor level, so they are not raised up. If you’re travelling with a lot of luggage, there’s no lugging of heavy cases from a trolley up onto the belt. It’s a small thing, but so efficient and so Japanese. Check-in was swift, with no one in front of us and a very friendly check-in agent.
They directed us to Priority Security and, as you’d expect, it was quick and efficient. The Priority queue directed us to the main bank of scanners; there is no separate priority scanner, which meant a slight scramble to get through.
First Class passengers use the JAL First Class lounge, which is conveniently located right opposite our gate.
Boarding and the First Cabin
Boarding was via a single jet bridge. Other carriers were using two, but that’s BA for you. It’s hit or miss whether BA splits premium and regular travellers at outstations. It’s a nice bonus when they do, but in this case, boarding was prompt and took us just a couple of minutes to get from the gate to our seats.
BA flies the 787-9 to Tokyo. This is one of the few planes that hasn’t (yet) been upgraded to the Club Suite. There are just eight seats in first class, in a 1-2-1 configuration over two rows.
There are no overhead bins over the middle seats, which gives the cabin a generous feeling of space, but there are no issues with storage even though the flight was full. The bathroom is at the front of the cabin, next to the cockpit door. These still have the old fixed vases in there, which used to house fresh flowers in until the sweeping cuts of Alex Cruz rendered them empty – it’s a small, and sad, example of BA’s drastic cost-cutting in recent history.
The BA First Seat
The 787-9s feature the second generation of the current First seat, which means a slightly updated, fixed screen but no buddy dining or door. New BA First seats are coming next year, on the A380.
The seat is large and very comfortable. It feels plusher and more spacious than any business seat I’ve sat in.
There is plenty of storage. At eye level, you’ll find a cupboard with a mirror and a place for glasses or toiletries.
Next to the footrest is a large bin with a soft cover, a good size for shoes and pyjamas. Opposite this is another storage space, big enough for water and some more bits and bobs.
Below your armrest is yet another cubby, with the IFE controls, power and more space to keep things. There’s also plenty of room under the footrest for yet another pair of shoes. Lastly, next to the aisle is your personal hanging cupboard – ideal for a suit jacket, or, in my case, a hoodie and a cheap H&M t-shirt following a change into a sleep suit.
There is enough seat storage here to unpack your carry-on luggage and still have room to spare.
At eye level is an adjustable reading light, and there’s also the famous First Class lamp. Both lights are controllable and dimmable.
My seat was pretty dinged up and showing its age with scratches and marks on every surface but everything still functioned.
Food and Drink in First Class
We were welcomed aboard with a choice of drinks, and I chose a glass of Champagne. This was served in Dartington stemware alongside a selection of nibbles, including olives, nuts, and crisps.
Menus and amenity kits were handed out before take-off, as well as pyjamas. First Class is the only cabin on BA flights where these are provided.
BA First pyjamas are one of those examples of where a slightly bigger budget could really level up the experience. I think they’re rubbish. Luckily, I had a sleep suit from a Virgin flight with me, so I changed into that instead.
The amenity kit was in a Temperley bag. There are male and female versions, both of which contain a wide selection of items.* This includes a comfy eyemask (something BA does do well), deodorant, eye cream, socks, moisturiser, shave gel and a toothbrush and toothpaste.
Orders were taken about half an hour into the flight for those wishing to dine straight away. BA First offers ‘dine on demand’, which is a genuine step above Club World, particularly on a flight as long as this one. I opted not to order yet and to eat a little later.
Shockingly, coming up to an hour, we still hadn’t been offered our first drink since take-off. I’m usually reluctant to press the call button, but I was pretty thirsty and felt it was justified. The staff were lovely, and the drink arrived swiftly. Despite that, waiting an hour for a drink is pretty bad for business class, but appalling for First.
The many courses
When I decided to eat, I chose the Gazpacho jelly, which was a delicious amuse-bouche.
the sea bream with grilled egg and octopus.
The starter itself was a nice nod to Japan, but was quite dry and rubbery. Next, I went for the grilled fillet of beef, which was really good. Pudding was ice cream with berries, which I could have eaten at least twice; it was so good. Finally, I had to have some cheese, and, by plane standards, it was good
Credit to BA for the wine list, I love my wine and everything I tried was excellent. In terms of the Champagne, this was also very drinkable, with the Gusbourne from Kent being a particular treat. That being said, I do miss the Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle that used to be a staple of BA First.
Service during the flight, sadly, continued the theme set by the initial drink service. The staff were incredibly friendly, and requests were dealt with quickly and with a smile, but (and this is a reasonably large but), nothing was proactive or anticipated. I think this is the exception and not the rule for their First service. I’ve flown First twice before, and on both flights, my glass was never empty, and every request was anticipated. That was not the case this time.
Before landing, the second meal service was offered.
This was not a snack but a proper, multi-course affair. I had the prawns to start (succulent and meaty), followed by the risotto, which was also great.
Overall, I’d give the food 7.5 out of 10, the drinks 8, but the service a generous 6.
IFE and WiFi
BA offers free WiFi for First passengers for the duration of the flight, utilising their faster, streaming package. When connecting, I found the speeds anywhere between 2Mb/s and 15Mb/s, with uploads of around 2Mb. Certainly not Starlink (which Qatar have just rolled out and Virgin has committed to), but more than good enough to doom scroll social media and keep up with emails.
My connection dropped out about halfway through the flight, and when I tried to connect again, I was met with a message saying “This Free service has already been used.
A remote in the cubby controls the IFE. It’s a clever idea, as it means you don’t need to lean forward to reach the main screen (which is also touchscreen, but you have to lean forward to press it). It also means you can scroll through other options whilst watching something, and, whilst it didn’t always work, you can have the flight map displayed on your remote whilst watching your film.
The film and movie selection was pretty good; I think BA does a good job of that these days. There was a decent range of new releases and box sets.
First passengers will find a pair of premium noise-cancelling headphones on their seat. I used these throughout the flight and found them to be rather good.
Disembarkation and arrival
We arrived at Heathrow early and, after a few minutes’ delay due to congestion, landed at the B gates T5. Our bags arrived around 30 minutes after we got through passport control, and then we were on our way.
The Verdict
This First experience was a game of two halves. Yes, the seat is comfortable and the small cabin feels premium, but both felt a little tired and in need of an upgrade. The food is certainly a big step up from business and, mostly, was very good. The wine list was spot on. Unfortunately, the inattentive service did disappoint. That’s the really frustrating part of first class. Tickets aren’t cheap, whether that’s cash or points, and whilst BA can’t hurry along a better seat, or cabin, they can enforce a higher quality of service.
I know some of this might come across as nitpicking or first-world problems, and I’m certainly not going to be writing to BA to complain about anything. I booked the flights on Avios with a 2-4-1 voucher. Had I paid £6,000 or more (as the flight was priced when I booked), this might be a different story.
There is a joke that BA’s First is “The world’s best business class”. On previous flights, I would say that that was unfair, and that their First offering is definitely a step above. Based on this flight alone, I’d say that it wasn’t far off.
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