As noted in the previous lounge review, I was on a very special trip with my family to London.  Part of the special nature was a chance to fly British Airways First Class for the first time.  To date, while I’ve been lucky to fly a number of business class products – including EVA, my favorite – my only other first class experience was the now defunct Asiana first class.  That was an awesome experience, so I was looking forward to seeing how British Airways first class stacks up. This British Airways first class Washington to London Heathrow review captures my experiences on this product.

Now, a few things to keep in mind.  First of all, I run this site, so I read a lot of business and first class reviews.  I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to experience – notably “The World’s Best Business Class,” as many reviewers like to call it.  Second, despite my flying, I’m still in the “just happy to be there” category when it comes to premium cabins.  Perhaps I came in with overly high expectations, but while I enjoyed my flight on British Airways first class, this leg was a bit of a disappointment when you consider how much the ticket cost. The good news was, however, my return leg was much better – but let’s get into the details of this leg.

As a reminder, for internal “house” reviews, we score on the same 1-3 scale we use elsewhere. A 3 indicates that a given category exceeded reviewer expectations, a 2 indicates it met expectations, and a 1 failed to meet expectations. We evaluate the categories we believe are most relevant to the flight, hotel, or lounge experience.

British Airways First Class Washington to London Heathrow Review Details

Flight Number: BA216

Flight Date: 10/17/21

To/From: IAD to LHR

Carrier: British Airways

Class of Service: First

Duration: 7:10

Aircraft: 747-400

Seat: 4E

Price: ~$10,000 for a last-minute first class fare

Seat – 1/3

British Airways is jokingly called the “World’s Best Business Class” on the 747-400 because of the relatively narrow seats – 14 packed into the nose of the 747-400.  However, candidly, with business class seat products like the Qatar QSuite, Delta One Suite, and even United Polaris, I’m not even sure that this product, particularly the exposed middle seats, are actually better than those business products.  Of note, the seat I was sitting in was probably literally the worst seat we could pick, being the middle, forward-most seat. Unfortunately we had booked our flights extremely close in, and that’s all that was available.  This seat (4E) was extremely exposed, and it simply wasn’t up to first class standards.  It was perfectly comfortable for both sitting and sleeping, but given this was a first class product and the price paid, it’s just not competitive.

IFE – 2/3

The IFE screen was a little small, but overall decent size, and high definition – not ultra high-def, but high-def.  The selection was pretty good – nothing mind blowing, but plenty of movies and TV to pass the time.  It was my first time seeing it and I found the current British Airways safety video to be hysterical.  It highlights a number of British actors in an “America’s Got Talent” – or whatever the UK equivalent is (yes, yes, I am an American barbarian who doesn’t track British pop culture) parody that had me giggling… and that was BEFORE the champagne and scotch. 

Drink – 3/3

High-end champagne (Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle), Johnnie Walker Blue, and plenty of teas – nothing to complain about when it comes to drink service on British Airways!  The sauvignon blanc I tried was quite nice as well.  I also quite enjoyed the port I had with my cheese course – I’m not sure which one it was, as I didn’t specify and the flight attendant didn’t ask, but it wasn’t cloyingly sweet and it helped balance the heaviness of the cheese nicely. 

Food -2/3

The food was good, but nothing particularly stood out.  I went all-in on ordering, knowing I had a review to write.  The first course was a series of canapes – they were good, but nothing special.  Next came a salmon and shrimp cannelloni, which was also good, but not memorable.  The main dish of fish was a little dry, but the sauce fixed that right up.  The veggie plate was yummy, except for the zucchini, which tasted “off” – not bad, but some sort of odd taste.  Things took a turn for the better when it was time for the cheese plate, which was wonderful.  I didn’t end up getting brought a chocolate dessert that I ordered (more on that later), but at that point I was stuffed.  Fortunately, the crew did remember to bring me some mint tea which was a perfect way to end the meal.  In the morning, I had a few pastries for breakfast- they were quite nice as well.

Overall – the food was good, but I wasn’t blown away or “wow’d.”  The lack of a caviar dish was also noted – again, I hate to be snobby, but given the price of a first class ticket, I thought the meal was fine, but not something I’d rave about.  As I mentioned in my lounge review – if I was a pro at this and did it again, I’d stuff myself at the Concorde room, down a few scotches on board, and get as much sleep as possible, and then eat a full breakfast – or at least as much breakfast as I wanted. 

Service – 1/3

I struggled with scoring this category for my British Airways first class Washington to London Heathrow review. Everyone was very nice, but there were several off-putting incidents which occurred throughout the flight.  Starting off, I was offered a women’s amenity kit because they were out of men’s kits.  As petty as this sounds, this doesn’t exactly evoke a first class experience to start out!  The only difference was the shaving cream and the color (grandma’s couch pattern vs. dark gray).  Another passenger offered to trade me his men’s kit – he was a regular, and said his wife at home would prefer the female kit. 

The amenity kit affair set the tone from there on out.  Despite being pleasant, the flight attendants were constantly forgetting orders – including drink and meal orders – or bringing the wrong things. This happened to both me and my father, so either they had it out for us, or it was endemic.  When I initially gave my dinner order, for whatever reason, the flight attendant couldn’t understand me (she was British, I was American, and I swear I was sober; cross my heart and hope to die) – and I had to resort to pointing on the menu, which was extremely odd… I’ve done that on an Asian airline, but never one where the native language was English! 

To top it all off – when debarking, they forgot to give my father his coat, and he forgot to ask – which we did not realize until we had left the airport. That’s a near-inexcusable issue for any premium class, particularly first class.  Ultimately, while everyone was nice… this was not a crew which I felt delivered a first class experience at all.

Other Categories

Regarding the other aspects of the flight, things were again a bit of a mixed bag.  The bedding was acceptable, but didn’t trigger any strong emotions either way as far as comfort (2/3).  There were two small lavatories in first class.  They had changing seats, which was nice, and a flower, they were kept reasonably clean, but they were also showing their age (2/3).  The amenity kit, finally delivered, was well stocked and had a number of useful items, including tissues and eye cream that was Elemis branded.  I was impressed with the kits, and am still using several of the products (3/3).  My father purchased WiFi – he said the “basic” speed WiFi was not usable, but the “streaming speed” was acceptable (2/3). 

British Airways First Class Washington to London Heathrow Review Bottom Line – 1.5/3

I hate to write a negative or critical review of a first class product.  But typically I fly on points, and while I was not the one signing the check for this flight, having seen the five-figure price tag, expectations were very high – and they were not met.  Even my father, who hates United (and is not a status whore like myself), said he’d give United a go next time, particularly if it was a Polaris plane.  That said, there were a number of positive aspects, notably the food and drink.  And – as a preview of what’s to come – the flight home from London was much more in line with the expectations I had for this product.  Stay tuned for more!