First look: MailOnline tries out British Airways' brand

Release time：2024-05-22 11:03:19 Source：Global Grid news portal

British Airways was recently voted among the worst airlines for both long and short-haul travel in a survey by consumer champion Which? – but the carrier is likely to be more confident about its standing in 2025’s ranking.

That’s because it has announced a £7billion ‘transformation plan’, with upgrades unveiled across the business, including brand-new short-haul seats, a new website and mobile app, free onboard messaging, and AI technology to improve its operations.

The investment will also bring a brand-new first-class cabin to the A380, making its debut at the end of 2025, and new lounges in Dubai and Miami.

The announcements were made last night at a glittering event in central London, with rows of the brand-new short-haul seats on display in a mock-up cabin.

MailOnline tried them out, and they seemed impressive – though, of course, the only true test is during a flight.

British Airways has announced a £7billion ‘transformation plan’, which includes new short-haul seats. Pictured above are the new short-haul business-class seats

Pictured above are the new short-haul economy-class seats

MailOnline Travel Editor Ted Thornhill tries out the new short-haul business-class seats

The new seats, by Collins Aerospace, will feature on Airbus A320neos and A321neos, and will enter service, initially, on eight retrofitted aircraft from May, with bigger overhead bins and superior ergonomics.

Calum Laming, Chief Customer Officer at British Airways, said: ‘[The seats] represent the best of Britain in terms of design. They’ve been manufactured in Northern Ireland, they have Scottish leather, there will be larger overhead bins, [and] they incorporate USB A and C technology that’s located right in front of you.

‘We’re listening to our customers, that’s crucial. Listening to the feedback.’

The mock cabin, which included both business (Club Europe) and economy seats (Euro Traveller), revealed how USB ports are placed very handily next to the tray table.

And the seats look dynamic – with racy red piping around the headrests.

In terms of comfort, they seem, from a brief initial inspection, perfectly adequate for short-haul trips, with decent-enough padding and anti-head-lolling winglets on the headrests.

Ted is all smiles in the new short-haul economy class seats

USB ports are placed very handily next to the tray table

The new seats, by Collins Aerospace, will feature on Airbus A320neos (above) and A321neos, and will enter service on eight retrofitted aircraft from May

Watch this space for a more thorough appraisal.

British Airways explained, meanwhile, that its website and app upgrade would offer ‘deeper personalisation’, adding: ‘The new ba.com browser is already in beta testing with platforms designed to offer a range of new services, including empowering customers to self-serve if they wish, taking control of and making changes to their journeys online, rather than having to call one of the airline’s customer care centres to alter their plans. Initial changes will start to roll out by the end of the year.’

Wi-Fi enhancements for customers are also being introduced as part of the bumper investment package.

BA revealed: ‘From April 3, British Airways Executive Club members will start to be able to send messages free of charge on a single device using the airline’s Wi-Fi - whatever cabin they’re travelling in. The service will be available on every Wi-Fi-enabled aircraft within two weeks of the rollout date.’

BA revealed that from April 3, Executive Club members will start to be able to send messages free of charge on a single device using the airline’s Wi-Fi

The flag carrier explained that a £100million portion of the investment was being piped into ‘machine learning, automation and AI across [the] operation’, a move that would ‘drive improvements from bookings to baggage handling and help to revolutionise operations, speed up departures and respond to disruption’.

BA added: ‘Innovative new tools are helping to predict delays - prompting pre-emptive action to reduce disruption - and analyse real-time weather, aircraft capacity and customer connections data to help teams make better decisions. Since the introduction of the systems, alongside a number of new processes and ways of working, the airline has seen improvement to its on-time departures.’

At the event, BA also announced that flights from London to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur are set to return, re-starting in October and November respectively.

The airline will operate daily flights between the Malaysian capital city and London Heathrow on a Boeing 787-9 aircraft, as well as three flights a week between the Thai capital and London Gatwick on a 777-200ER.

‘We’re on a journey to a better BA for our people and for our customers, underpinned by a transformation programme that will see us invest £7billion over the next two years to revolutionise our business,’ Sean Doyle, British Airways’ Chairman and CEO, said.

‘We’re going to take delivery of new aircraft, introduce new cabins, elevate our customer care, focus on operational performance and address our environmental impact by reducing our emissions and creating a culture of sustainability. We’re also heavily investing in the development of a new ba.com website and app and are laser-focused on transforming our business and fixing any pain points for our customers.’

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