Review: British Airways A380 First Class, London-Dubai

 

British Airways A80 first class, London to Dubai

New Year in Dubai Flying British Airways Business & First Class
Flight: BA107
Departure time in London (LHR): 12:25
Arrival time in Dubai (DXB): 23:35
Aircraft: A380, G-XLEL
Seat: 3A
Duration: 7h 10m
Date of flight: December 27, 2021
*This is a revenue ticket, First Class flight #54

Video on YouTube



The Concorde Room

After clearing security, we headed directly to the Concorde Room where we had our early lunch.

We left the lounge early and took the shuttle as our departure gate is located in Concourse C, the only concourse in Terminal 5 designed to handle the A380s.

Aircraft, A380

The superjumbo flying us to Dubai!

Boarding, Gate C56


At 11:25am, pre-boarding began. As usual, there was a separate passenger bridge for first class passengers 👍

Cabin, First Class, Lower Deck

The first class cabin on the British Airways A380 is located in the lower deck and consists of 14 seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. On this flight only one seat was empty.

Seat map, first class cabin

Stairs to the upper deck

Seat, 3A

As I boarded, I was welcomed by a lady flight attendant who directed my to my seat.

Welcome to my seat, 3A! Already waiting at my seat are two pillows. Just like in Qantas first class, the monitors are stowed which is a big minus especially for me who loves watching movies even before take off.

Personal screen 

Although the seat was nice, the "small" personal screen is just below par and something British Airways would need to improve on. From the movie selection, I ended up watching the continuation of "Black Widow".

Ottoman

Blanket and IFE controller

Meridian headphones

A nice lamp

To the left of my seat are the literature pocket, personal storage and light and seat controls.

Inside the personal storage is the IFE controller.

Seat and light controls, headphones socket

The left side of my headphones was not working, unfortunately. I tried to borrow Mikes headphones and they were working so the problem is not in the headphones socket.

Air-sickness bag, safety instruction card

Foldable tray table

From a small ...

... to a really large table which is perfect for the buddy seat (ottoman).

A mini wardrobe perfect for my backpack.

Included in my seat are two large windows 👍

View of the cockpit from my seat.

Pre-Departure Drink & Amenity Kit

Around 12:05pm, I was offered something to drink and settled for a glass of apple juice.

Mike on the other hand had a glass of champagne.

A few minutes later, I was offered the male amenity kit by Temperly. It consisted of a Elemis products in small size (17g deodorant stick, 10ml anti wrinkle moisturizer, 30ml soothing shave gel, 4g lip balm, hydrating facial wipe), a dental kit, eye mask, socks, tissue, ear plugs and a pen.

The female amenity kit also from Temperly included Elemis products (cleansing micellar facial wipe, moisturizing facial wipe, 17g deodorant stick, 15ml hand and nail balm, 12ml refreshing facial mist, 7.5ml anti-aging serum, 4g lip balm, 5ml eye balm) a dental kit, socks, eye mask, mirror, ear plug and a pen). Unfortunately on this flight, no slippers was offered 👎

The menu card was also offered. Minutes later, the post departure beverage order was taken and I settled for a glass of apple juice. My choice for the lunch service was also taken, I settled for the prawn for appetizer and the lamb for my main course.

Dettol antibacterial hygien wipes

Delay

Around 12:37pm, the captain came on the PA to inform us that we did not have the minimum required crew for the A380. Moments later, the inflight manager came to welcome us onboard and to apologize for the delay. At 1:08pm, the captain was back on the PA. It turned out that the one on standby at the airport is not trained for the A380 and that it would take time for a new flight attendant to arrive. At 1:32pm, the captain was back on the PA to inform us that the flight attendant we needed was on the way. 

Pushback & Taxi

An Emirates A380 at London Heathrow

Shortly after, the manual safety demo was done as we pushed back at 1:36pm. After 20 minutes, we were airborne 👍

Wifi


A very good thing about flying first class on British Airways is that there is complimentary wifi for the whole flight 👍

Airshow

Airshow enroute to Dubai

Dining

British Airways first class menu card and wine list


Lunch and snacks

Light meal and beverages

Champagnes, sparkling wines, wine

Bar

Canapés
Roasted baby beetroot with lemon yogurt and pistachio, hummus filled pimiento pepper, marinated olives

Around 2;50pm, my table was set up.

A glass of sparkling water

Appetizer
Poached prawns, basil lemon olive oil dressing 😋

Unfortunately the bread was hard 👎

Main course
Roasted rack of lamb, chateau potatoes, leek sauce, herloom baby carrots, runner beans, broccolin

Dessert
Winter berry triffle

View of seat 3E with the new glassware from Dartington Crystal

I had asked for my usual green tea earlier but it never came. Moments later, a bottle of mineral water was offered.

Turndown Service

Unfortunately, there was no turndown service on this flight as the crew "had to rest". I woke up about 2 1/2 hours before landing and shortly after the crew was back and started offering duvets to the passengers. I declined since it was a bit too late.

Snacks

With 1 1/2 hours before landing, we were offered some snacks. First I asked for some potato chips.

I thought the bread this time would be better but it was not as it was not reheated.

The chicken was very good though 😋

Lavatory

There are two lavatories located in front of the cabin.

The White Company luxury hand balm and hand wash

Lavatory

Changing seat

Coat hook

Landing in Dubai

Around 11:40pm Dubai time, the captain was on the PA to announce that we were landing in 40 minutes with great tail wind and that we would arrive in Dubai at 12:20am.

Some detour before landing

We landed in Dubai Airport at 12:24am and reached our gate in Terminal 1 about 8 minutes later.

Taking the shuttle to Arrivals

Passengers from London were not tested regularly but our flight was randomly chosen and we were asked to take the queue to the testing center. Fortunately, there were so many testers that it took only about 10 minutes.

CONCLUSION

This was my second time to fly in British Airways first class (and my first time on their A380). There were good and bad things on this flight as usual. I loved the fact that the seats were comfortable, the amenity kits were lovely and the crew were friendly. Unfortunately aside from the one-hour delay, the small personal screen needs to be updated, my headphones were not working well, no slippers, no turndown service, the bread were not reheated and the general food offering was subpar if you compare it to Emirates first class and Cathay Pacific first class. Still, it was a good use of my GUF2 voucher from British Airways. 

Comments

Post a Comment