British Airways stunned the world by introducing the world’s first flat bed in Business Class in 2000. Many predicted this would hurt British Airways, why would anyone fly in First? Well there is plenty of room for additional luxury to be provided beyond a flat bed, as we have seen in the years since; with airlines like Singapore and Emirates raising the stakes by walling off their First Class passengers in completely private suites.
The Club World product received a refresh in 2006, which replaced a fabric-and-wood patina with lighter and more durable plastics, but the layout and proportions remained basically unchanged. It was such a revolutionary leap forward that it left every other Business Class product behind for years.
Today British Airways’ yin-and-yang Club World layout has, two decades after it was introduced, become outdated; with the introduction of the Airbus A350, British Airways unveiled a new Club World product.
I flew with British Airways to London from Los Angeles in end of January (Who would’ve thought that would be my last BA 747 flight?) .
After a typical British Airways welcome I settled into my rear-facing window seat, 14K on the lower deck. I chose this seat because it has the best view of those RB-211 engines on the forward edge of the 747 wing.
Seat 14K 
Seat 14K is a backward facing seat. Not only does flying backwards take absolutely no time at all to get used to, but, for the enthusiast, gives a rare view that is hard to find elsewhere; looking rearwards at the wing, drooping with the weight of all the fuel needed for the long flight to London and looking directly into the engines (which are Rolls-Royce Trents, only ever installed on 747s of British Airways, Qantas, Cathay Pacific and Air New Zealand).
Watch the gorgeous B747 takeoff in the video:
We climbed out through a thin so-called ‘marine layer’ of fog into the evening sunshine and, after a sweeping right turn, headed northeast towards Nevada, Idaho, Montana and Canada on our Great Circle track on the polar route to London. I went to the galley, at the invitation of the cabin crew, and chatted about how much they love the 747. “We call it the Queen Of The Skies” they told me.
“The 747 – it epitomises mass travel. This is the way to travel. We try to make all our guests feel special, from newborn babies to the most frequent flyers and, for us, it’s a total honour to be on this plane. Such a solid workhorse for us. The crew love them, our customers love them as well”.
The classic British Airways Club World flat bed product is configured in pairs, with one wide seat facing one way next to the legs of the other passenger who flies backwards. One drawback is that during takeoff and landing, the privacy screen between the two seats is lowered so you are, albeit at an angle, facing a stranger. Also, the high density achieved leaves almost no storage space beyond a small drawer under the feet.
A small advantage, compared to the reverse herringbone, is that there is nothing above your feet, which are not in a foot-well underneath the seat in front of you.
The 747 I was flying on was one of the sub-fleet of low density machines; with 86 Business Class seats, 20 in the upper deck and 66 on the main deck, stretching all the way back to the trailing edge of the wing, leaving just 14 rows of Economy in the rearmost cabin. This flight was not full, so I could try different seats. The aisle seats face forward and the middle pairs face rearwards.
Dinner was not bad, a rare roast beef starter and a gnocci with salmon main. British Airways, who have never been famous for their food, have definitely improved their premium cabin offering in recent years; with catering provided by Do & Co and upgraded bedding from the White Company, which includes a comforter and an extra blanket.
I slept well for five hours, waking up to this gorgeous view with just 90 minutes remaining to London.
The crew brought me a classic English mixed grill breakfast, which I enjoyed with a cup of tea and that beautiful wing-and-engine view.
The weather wasn’t at its best on this cold January day, we flew over London City on a typical Westerly runway arrival.
After a soft touchdown by British Airways’ famously skilled pilots, I was thanked by the friendly (albeit camera-shy) crew for flying their 747 and disembarked into Heathrow’s Terminal 5. I quickly headed for the British Airways arrivals lounge, an impressive facility for their many premium cabin transit passengers, to freshen up with a shower and enjoy the generous breakfast spread; which included an English staple, black pudding. I was grateful for the opportunity to get a massage to combat the jet-lag and prepare me for my onward journey.
It was a memorable transatlantic trip and it was nice to fly with an airline that clearly love the 747 Jumbo as much as I do.
The 747’s of Qantas and Air New Zealand began to equip with GE Engines while Cathay Pacific leased some of the 747’s from Singapore Airlines
Greetings Sam
In a month Sam, how many days are you away from Dubai for ?, Example , do you take a week (7days )day1 you depart day 7 you return? Then same again the next month? Essentially 1week every month?
Article information correction ; Rolls Royce powerhorse
the RB-211Trent engines were used on the B747-400 fleets of Air NewZealand , British Airways , Cathay Pacific , Qantas AND 1 other , South African.
BA’s sudden change in plan ,seeing them withdraw the B747-400
from its operations , 11 month earlier than planned , was certainly unexpected, suprised me! Then , lately their business decision making plans have been surprising.
South African Airways didn’t order the 747’s equipped with GE but they just took those when Philippine Airlines did not took up
I was right! City of Elgin i will always remember reg was G-BDXH and City of Birmingham G-BDXJ.
An artical on the Jumbo i flew on to America for the first time in the mid 1990’s!
https://dunsfoldairfield.org/boeing-747-200/
Overall i flew on 4.
My favourite aircraft when i was young! Always wanted to fly on one,luckly i have flown on several since! All BA ones! B747-200,400 types!
My first was called the City of Elgin! I believe it was once called the City of Edinburgh? Well that was out of Gatiwck 1990,my first ever B747! Went to the cockpit,saw all the instruments as it was a 3 man crew in those days and i could see Mt.Teide in the distance! Captain told me that plane was involved in a Volcano ash situation in the mid 1980’s! I think it was Jakarta somewhere ,i am sure it was not Mt,St.Helens USA, i could be wrong? Anyway that plane was involved in an air incident that nearly turned tragic! A few years later City of Birmingham to Orlando USA from Gatwick and went into the cockpit about 400 nautical miles out from the east coast of America (always remember the noise of the wind hitting the windows-very loud that day) that plane was sold to European and i am sure its now the plane that is used for films at an airfield in SE.England where TopGearBBC car programme is filmed! You always see it in the background when they were filming and it was used in some scenes with added on parts and upperdeck for the JamesBons film ,’Casino Royal 2005′! The Miami shots were done using a different B747 over in Miami ! Flew back on the City of Manchester that year ,All B747’s 200 with the RR engines.
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Later B747-400’s but i cannot recall the names as they were then no-longer Landor liveries,but world flag’s! I still prefer the smaller bubble like on the 200 and 747-8F’s! The A380 is amazing,comfortable & engineering masterpiece,especially the wings and engines but ugly!
Regarding seats/cabins its disgusting that their B777’s down at Gatwick ,old machines have still not been fitted out with new seats and entertainments sets as i would be very angry if a flew on one today and they were still peddeling that old crap! I still feel BA with their love of ‘cost-cutting’ are not the airline they were once and it shows as all the Arabic airlines make BA look 2nd rate! BA needs to really UP THEIR GAME! Do not go the RYAN AIR ROUTE which they seem to be ,especially European???? I’d go Turkish or Swiss for Europe now!
End of an era!
Garry, you’re correct! The St. Helens aircraft encountered engine troubles due to volcanic ash, and the crew were forced to land with most engines out, ash-darkened cockpit windows, and made it almost impossible to land… Somehow the crew did it! There’s actually an Air Crash Investigation episode on this, I would check it out!
Sam, wonderful article and video! I have loved flying the 747, I could cry now that it is seemingly all over.
Sam I hope you’ll soon be back in the air giving us your superb reports and videos! I enjoy them so much!
All the best!
John
So sad 2 see the BA queen of the skies go. But I was devastated about the Air France A380s as well. Can u do a trip report on one plz.
I have never flown the AF A380. However I made a video of her at maintenance.
One of the best views in the world: looking out the window of a 747 and seeing the two RR engines doing their thing, especially during takeoff & landing when the engines/wings are bouncing around just a bit.
Hi Sam did u do any video of your trip back to the UK from Accra on the 747.
Thanks Leslie
No unfortunately, it was a total night flight and I was exhausted.