Comfort is critical to any business traveller faced with a long-haul flight. So while taking a British Airways Standard Club World Sleeper seat from London Heathrow to Buenos Aires Ezeiza – a journey just shy of 15 hours on a Boeing 777-400 – a few hours’ shut-eye was a top priority.
BA has long been a leader in providing high levels of passenger comfort. The airline was the first to launch cradle seats, or flatbeds, allowing passengers to lie down completely flat, back in 2001.
Being horizontal allows for more natural sleeping positions, such as on your side or front. Despite the huge difference a flat bed makes, aside from BA, only a handful of airlines offer the option in business class cabins; these include Virgin Atlantic, Dubai’s Emirates and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad.
My seat is an updated version of the pioneering original and is available out of the UAE to a broad range of destinations.
The configuration is termed “yin-yang” and refers to the fact that two seats are joined together with wide backrests and narrow leg spaces. I have a window seat and face the rear of the plane. This may strike some passengers as unusual – people often avoid travelling backwards on trains – but this is largely a psychological preference and makes no difference at 35,000 feet. The seat design also means you are facing a fellow passenger, at least during take-off and landing, after which a divider screen can be engaged at the push of a button. it’s a questions of who presses it first.
Once enclosed in your personal space, the seat proves perfectly comfortable, if slightly narrow in the leg region. Access to the aisle is simple, with no clambering over the legs of others to get to the lavatory. A drawback is a lack of conveniently accessible storage. There is one drawer at foot level that can just about take a pair of shoes and a laptop, but there is nowhere to store handy items such as spectacles or mobile phones.
When sleep beckons the seat is easily reclined via armrest buttons to a 183cm-long flat bed. The cabin itself was kept clean and well maintained, as were the lavatories, with a sombre ambience created by mood lighting and neutral colours.
The Club World Sleeper is essentially an assuredly comfortable option accompanied by respected service that would be a reliable choice for any transoceanic or long-haul flight.
business@thenational.ae