BA first class seat choice

zaffi

Myself and the good lady a flying first for the first time later in the year, we are currently allocated seats 4E and F.

Having looked on youtube these seats seem a little open and perhaps have less personal space than others. We could move to seats 3A and K, rows 1 and 2 gone, they seem more like being in your own "pod" which is how I always thought first would be!

So, eventually, are the middle seats in first worse or even better than the others? would you swap to the window seats?

Cheers
zaf

loobs40

I'd swap to Business Class and save a ton of money !

Have you looked at seatguru.com to find the best seats ?

Doshwaster

I don't think any of the seats in First could be called "bad" but regular F travellers will have their own preferences.

As above, Seatguru will give you some opinions as will, if you dare, the BA forum on FlyerTalk.

Icequeen99

I have just flown first on BA and had 2K. It was a great seat, but I was travelling alone (it was a New First cabin). It wouldn't really give you the opportunity to chat easily, whereas with the E&F seats you can peak across the dividers, but still have your own 'pod'. Depends which you prefer. There are a lot of images online that show you the new first cabin (will be different if the old first).

IQ

trolleyrun

As Icequeen says, the E/F seats are better when travelling as a couple, as you can dine together in comfort (the buddy dining seat isn't that comfy if you sit in window seats and want to dine together). Also, you can chat easier if you so wish. There are (usually) only 14 seats in the First cabin anyways, so still pretty private. Have a good trip!

rocking69

loobs40 wrote: »

I'd swap to Business Class and save a ton of money !

Have you looked at seatguru.com to find the best seats ?

Yes, I would rather Club World any day too

malkie76

Why? Inferior seat. Inferior food. Inferior alcohol. Inferior ground service.

Honestly, there are no 'bad' seats. 4E/F on the 747 are absolutely fine, and the seat design is pretty private. The buddy seat for face to face dining is perfectly adequate unless you are pretty large - I'm a big 6foot4 bloke and never had an issue.

You do get more personal space in the window seats than the middle seats on the 747, so perhaps consider 3A/K and join up for dinner.

I've had 1A/K and 2A/K in the past and would probably go for row 2 over row 1. However, row 1 is held back until T72 for Golds and above only, so check closer to the time.

You actually get far more space on the 777, window or middle pairs - far more private too. I'm guessing that isn't an option though.

I personally wouldn't stress. Slip into you F PJs and kick back with a glass of Laurent Perrier Grand Siècle!

Doshwaster

rocking69 wrote: »

Yes, I would rather Club World any day too

Errr... not when you are in a middle seat in CW when your neighbour is a young mother with a screaming baby, like I was recently, you wouldn't! To be fair, it was a free upgrade from WTP so I couldn't complain too much.

When CW is good, it's very good (such as Upper Deck on a 11 hour flight) but I'd still take First as long as I wasn't paying for it out of my own pocket.

dickydonkin

loobs40 wrote: »

I'd swap to Business Class and save a ton of money !

The OP may have only paid for Business Class and Upgraded with Avios - so may have already saved 'a ton of money'!

Roger1

malkie76 is right. There are no bad seats in F on a BA 747.

I'd say it depends on whether you want to see the view. I do and so does Mrs Roger. 1A and 1K have the best views but are generally unavailable for advance selection.

We find 2A and 3A great (one behind the other), or 2K + 3K, 3A+ 4A or 3K + 4K. All have great views and the buddy seat means that we can dine together face to face like in a restaurant. I find the EF seats claustrophic without window access and they have less space for newspapers/books/electrical gear.

As for business class seats, BA Club World is a disgrace in my opinion except for certain seats on the Upper Deck. Eight-across downstairs with only 4 having direct aisle access means a lot of clambering over others. Some airlines (Virgin Atlantic, Air New Zealand - there are others) have aisle access from EVERY biz seat and are far better for those that have the choice.

zaffi

Thanks for the replies,

So the consensus is: we're overthinking it!

I think we'll just stick with what we've got

The flights were booked with a combination of avios and companion ticket flying lhr to las in first then nyc to lhr, with connections to and from edi, in club total cost £1180

And just about got enough avios left for two internal flights on AA from stl to iad costing 15000 avios and £3 in tax!

Edit: seatguru has all seats in first as standard first class seats

zaf