Stylish BA 787 First Class London to Muscat

Having flown in BA’s Club World before, I’d always been curious about experiencing First Class and how British Airways differentiates that product. British Airways was indeed the first airline in the world to launch fully flat Business Class seats all the way back in the early 2000s. This “Club World” product is no longer so world beating, since many competitors outshine it.

As a child, British Airways was my favourite airline and it always brings back fond memories. They also had the marketing slogan of “Word’s favourite airline” emblazed on their aircrafts and TV ads. It’s service, at least in Economy, is now worlds apart from those glory days.

This sleek in First Class product on 787 Dreamliner’s was launched back in 2016. So I’d held off booking BA First Class, unless it happened to feature this product on the route. When my trip to Muscat coincided with a January sale, I seized the opportunity without hesitation !

Flight details

Route: London LHR – Muscat
Flight no: BA0079
Aircraft: Boeing 787-900
Departure time: 19:45pm
Seat: 1K Window & 2E Aisle (will explain the double seats below!)

BA 787 First Class Check in

I arrived at Terminal 5 about 16:15pm, a full 3 and half hours to enjoy the Concorde lounge and the pre-booked back massage. I headed straight to the First Wing, which was vast and looked empty, setting the scene of something special awaiting you.

As I went through the initial check point, I was warmly greeted by a gent while a check-in staff come forward to take me to check my bags. At this point I could see quite a few passengers checking in.

Lounge

Upon getting a physical boarding pass, I proceeded left into the lounges. After a brief passing visit of Galleries First lounge (which is available to First as well as BA Gold/OneWorld Emerald guests) 

I spent most the time in the Concorde Room reviewed separately here.

Boarding BA 787 First class

As I started making my way to the gate around 6.45pm there was already a large crowd all lined up. Club World were already boarding so I headed straight through, and as they scanned my boarding card, I was momentarily perplexed by a beep, was I being downgraded?

Well this would normally be an exciting beep if you were in the back of the plane. So I already knew First cabin was not full, what could it be? Turned out there was a problem identified with suite 1K so I was assigned a new seat (at this point all other window seats were taken). The agent suggested I keep both boarding passes in case the seat issue can be resolved. This was somewhat deflating, since I specially called concierge to book seat 1K. Oh such First Class problems!

As I walked into the aircraft, there were a couple of crew welcoming us in, not sure if there was a First passengers right in front of me but I was not escorted to my seat.

My host for the flight, Dan welcomed me to BA First and introduced himself, he explained the team were at our service for the entire flight and set a tone for the pampering.

BA First Class seat features

The First class cabin consists of only 8 semi private suites, in a 1-2-1 layout.  Creating a more exclusive and premium atmosphere compared to the 777s which feature 14 seats!

Each passenger has a large 23″ High Definition IFE, with an additional touchscreen controller. Sleek seat/cabin light control panel is located within easy reach, whichever position you are in. Connectivity wise, there are 2 USB points, a mains charging point. There were no WiFi available on the aircraft at that point.

A neat mini wardrobe is available to hang your jacket. A small compartment at eye level opens up as a vanity mirror. There are storage compartments by the seat on both sides as well as in front by the foot rest area. If this wasnt enough a spacious and stylish side console with a lamp, provides additional storage.

When in comes to dine, you have a large fold out table, big enough space for 2 to eat together.

Most of these are certainly an improvement over the 14 suite cabins of the 747 & 777s in BAs fleet. Though perhaps more evolutionary, than ground breaking.

I decided to have a quick look at my original seat to see what was wrong with it. There was no obvious signs, so I asked a First crew covering that aisle side if she could find out what the problem was. They must have got busy welcoming other First guests at that point but they did not come back to me. Rather swiftly, Dan came to offer me welcome drinks in 2E, along with warm nuts and a magazine.

* [ I should note, I found some small rubbish and used products from I guess, the passenger before me. Evidently BA do not do a through job of cleaning their First cabin even ]

Amenity kit & pyjamas

Just after drinks were sorted, I was asked which panamas size I preferred, which were bought over along with the amenity kit.

While the pyjamas were not oozing luxury like Emirates ones, they were still very comfortable.

The amenity kit came in a patterned leather Liberty case (unpacked below), items inside included Refinary facial moisturiser, shaving gel, lip balm, mini deodorant, razor, toothpaste and brush, hair brush, eye shades and earplugs as well as a BA First branded pen.

Departure

As we were settling in, the captain then came on to announce that we expected to depart on time, and a smooth climb out . I love BA pilot announcements!

On-demand Service

I requested to eat about an hour after takeoff (its dine on demand in First class ), since I was not very hungry. I had pre-ordered the Arabic fish main. The meal service started with the Arabic meze starter with an assortment of breads fresh off the oven.

The fish main was amazing! Cooked just right, tender with lovely fluffy rice, this was paired with a white wine, the crew recommended. (I’m not the biggest wine person)

Next came the dessert, I ordered the chocolate blueberry cheesecake, which was just perfect.

At this point I was very full, Dan came around to check everything was OK a few times with drinks tops up and then presented me with the cheese options.

I was reluctant yet simultaneously wanted to see how this compared, so I ordered the mix platter cheese board. This was ok, but I would not say it was as good as Swiss Business, which I adore. I had a few nibbles, and washed it down with the port. Then ordered a mint tea. Dan came along with some more chocolates. One of the perks of flying First, is that you really get to know the crew. There were only 5 first class passengers and 3 first class flight attendants. I learned Dan has been working for BA over 5 years, and First class for the last 2, and chooses to do 787 routes!

Entertainment & Bed

I was watching a movie, which I lost track off during the course of the meals but decided to finish it anyway. About half hour after, I decided I should try to get some sleep. I have to say I found the programming rather limited on choice, there were a handful of movies, but nothing I was really keen on. 

I went to the first class bathroom to change into the pyjamas. This is one area where BA have decided not to do anything special with, First cabin bathroom is just the standard 787 ones! With added toiletries, and fresh flowers. 

Meanwhile my bed was being prepared. BA First provides a full turn down service, I was asked if I would like to be woken up for breakfast. Dan also handed me some slippers and another bottle of water.

The bed was super comfortable with good mattress padding, thick duvet and a large soft pillow.

At this point it would have only been 10.30pm UK time, and not sure if it was just that it still wasn’t quite my normal bedtime yet or being too stuffed, I couldn’t really sleep. I stayed in bed for about 3 hours. Sometimes when you force yourself to go to sleep, its even less likely to happen!

When I eventually gave up on sleeping it was only 40 minutes to landing. About 30 minutes to landing, I was asked if I would like an express breakfast. I could not fathom eating anything at all so just ordered a tea and asked if they do anything to go, just in case I got hungry on way to hotel. It seemed this was not possible.

We landed at 7.10am local time, and it seemed like the whole flight lasted only a couple of hours.

Post Landing

On landing at Muscat airport we had a short taxi to a remote stand. I gathered all jet bridges were already occupied!

I’m not sure if I had missed something. There seemed to be no priority disembarkation for First passengers. So off we all went getting lumped into busses to take us to the terminal. There we had a rather long queue for the visa-on-arrival service.

Final thoughts

I have to admit, the flight ended in quite an underwhelming note. There was absolutely nothing premium about that arrival experience. Much less First Class. Being bussed into the terminal with large crowds does not scream First class to me.

The experience as a whole was broadly in line with what I had expected. One the one hand, service was for the most part, excellent. The crew were delightful and did spoil me with constant top ups, yummy chocolates etc. 

The ground service could really be improved by offering First chauffeur service (not just connecting passengers in LHR, which BA does do now) I do really like the hard product, and can’t genuinely fault it.

Yes, its not as large or lavish as something like Emirates First Class. But is the added opulence ever really necessary? If BA can address some of the service shortcomings, this has the potential to be a very solid product.

Check out BA’s latest luxury deals if you are interested in flying this product.