British Airways is bringing its Club Suite and new First Class to Singapore from October

British Airways has revealed a welcome change to its Singapore network, with a reintroduction of Boeing 777-300ERs from the start of the northern winter season on 30th October 2022, which will see the carrier offer daily Sydney and London flights with the latest Club Suite and new First Class cabins installed.

The shift will also boost premium capacity on both routes, most significantly in Business Class with the larger aircraft boasting 76 flat-bed seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, compared to 42 of the older Club World seats on Boeing 787-9 jets currently plying the BA15/16 service.

The schedule

British Airways currently operates a daily service from Singapore to Sydney and a daily service from Singapore to London:

• BA15: 19:25 SIN to Sydney (787-9)
• BA16: 22:25 SIN to London (787-9)

Both flights are operated by 216-seat Boeing 787-9s, which offer four travel classes – First, Club World (Business), World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy) and World Traveller (Economy).

From 30th October 2022 the London route will gain an extra service with the reintroduction of BA11/12 flights, using Boeing 787-9s, while the existing BA15/16 services to Sydney and London will upgauge to the Boeing 777-300ER.

These larger jets still have a four-class configuration, but the good news is British Airways is using newly delivered Boeing 777-300ERs, or those retrofitted from the older configuration, on all its BA15/16 flights this upcoming winter season.

That means they will boast BA’s latest cabin products, including the direct aisle access Club Suite with closing privacy doors.

The Singapore – Sydney schedule is shown below, with the new cabins operating on highlighted flights.

Singapore    Sydney

30th October 2022
to 25th March 2023

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	BA15 777-300ER
SIN 20:10		SYD 06:55*

* Next day

Sydney    Singapore

30th October 2022
to 25th March 2023

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	BA16 777-300ER
SYD 16:30		SIN 21:30

The Singapore – London schedule is shown below, with the new cabins operating on highlighted flights.

Singapore    London

30th October 2022
to 25th March 2023

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	BA16 777-300ER
SIN 23:05		LHR 05:15*
	BA12 787-9
SIN 23:15		LHR 05:25*

* Next day

London    Singapore

30th October 2022
to 25th March 2023

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	BA11 787-9
LHR 18:50		SIN 15:55*
	BA15 777-300ER
LHR 21:35		SIN 18:45

* Next day

This will bring BA’s weekly departing passenger capacity out of Singapore Changi to 5,068, two-thirds of the 7,469 seats it was operating from the airport pre-COVID, when a mix of Airbus A380 and Boeing 777-300ERs was used.

In Business Class, however, BA will have restored 93% of its pre-COVID capacity with 1,358 departing seats each week compared to 1,463 before the pandemic, thanks to the significantly larger 76-seat Club Suite cabin on the airline’s latest 777-300ER fits.

New Club Suite

British Airways has opted for a heavily customised version of the Collins Aerospace ‘Elements’ Business Class seat, previously known as the ‘Super Diamond’ seat.

Gone is the old 2-4-2 ‘yin-yang’ arrangement used on the older British Airways Club World cabin, in favour of direct aisle access for all passengers in a 1-2-1 layout.

Although the product is also widely used by Qatar Airways (the model predating the Qsuite, see our review), China Airlines, Air Canada and American Airlines among others, British Airways was the first airline to install a privacy door at each seat.

Indeed BA was the first airline in Europe to install seats with individual doors in Business Class.

It’s certainly a far cry from BA’s existing Club World Business Class product, which has been flying on the Singapore route for many years now.

Do note that the privacy door at each Club Suite seat is only 115cm tall, around chest-height, so passengers and crew walking past your seat can still see inside, even with the door closed.

Privacy from the door when closed is perhaps best enjoyed with the seat in bed mode, where you’ll also have a 79in (6ft 7in) flat surface to stretch out and enjoy bedding from The White Company.

A privacy screen between the two middle seats allows you to completely enclose yourself in your own suite if you are sitting next to a stranger, so unless you’re a die-hard window seat fan there are really no bad options in this cabin.

See this review of the new product on a flight from Toronto to London.

Business Class gets a big capacity increase on the newer Boeing 777-300ERs, from 56 seats previously to 76 in the newer fit.

The large cabin is split across three sections.

The best of these is surely the favourable three-row mini-cabin directly behind First Class, which is likely to be the quietest most intimate option, with low foot traffic. Pick a seat in rows 5, 6 or 7 to benefit, though do note row 7 has a missing window.

New First Class

BA’s new First Class cabin on the Boeing 777-300ER has just eight seats across two rows in a 1-2-1 configuration, a significant drop from the 14 seats installed on the aircraft previously.

With Business Class now a closed suite, First Class stood out as still lacking in privacy, so in BA’s latest design doors have been added to these seats too in the carrier’s newly configured Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

It’s nothing revolutionary – the same seat complete with 23″ HD IFE screen is already installed on the carrier’s Boeing 787-9s, but the addition of the doors is currently unique to these new and refitted jets.

Redemption rates

You can redeem award seats on British Airways flights using any oneworld airline’s frequent flyer currency, with some examples for flights departing from Singapore shown below.

British Airways award redemptions to/from Singapore (one-way)
FFP	Sydney		London
	First	Club Suite	First	Club Suite
	68,000* 80,000**	50,000* 60,000**	119,000* 140,000**	87,500* 105,000**
	50,000	40,000	90,000	75,000
	87,000	61,000	110,000	70,000
	107,700	75,000	149,800	104,500

* Off-peak dates (calendar)
** Peak dates (calendar)

American Airlines’ AAdvantage miles programme typically offers the best value, though most of our readers unfortunately don’t hold a balance, since the scheme has no credit card transfer partners in Singapore.

For BA’s London flights it’s Asia Miles which represents the best deal in Club Suites at 70,000 miles one-way.

Don’t forget you can now search and book BA awards using Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios points at the same rates enjoyed by BA Avios members.

One downside of award redemption on British Airways flights is that fuel surcharges are high, so you can expect to pay around S$450 in taxes and fees when departing Singapore to Sydney or S$490 from Singapore to London, in addition to the miles requirement.

There’s a chance of operational swaps

The airline currently has 7 of its 16 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in this new configuration, with two more currently undergoing refit, meaning 9 out of 16 will sport the new cabins by October.

Unfortunately even though British Airways is planning to use only its new or refitted aircraft on these BA15/16 flights to and from Singapore every day of the week this winter, it does mean there’s a chance your flight might still be substituted for an aircraft with the older seats, due to last-minute operational aircraft swaps.

BA plans to have all 16 of its Boeing 777-300ERs refitted with the new cabin products by the end of 2022, a year later than it originally planned to.

BA’s Singapore Lounge has reopened

Back in May 2022, British Airways reopened its Singapore Lounge after a two-year closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The comfortable facility, and its inner sanctuary ‘The Bar Singapore’ for First Class passengers, is now open from 4pm each day, until the last BA flight departs.

British Airways Business Class passengers also have the option of using the excellent (and frankly far superior) Qatar Airways Premium Lounge in Changi T1 before their flight, while both Business Class and BA Silver / oneworld Sapphire members also have the option of the adjacent Qantas Business Lounge.

British Airways First Class passengers can access ‘The Bar Singapore’ prior to departure, which includes an à la carte dining menu, but will likely prefer the Qantas First Lounge, which is also open to oneworld Emerald members.

British Airways is bringing its new Club Suite Business Class cabin to not one but both of its routes from Singapore this winter, with daily BA15 departures to Sydney and BA16 flights to London sporting the new cabins from 30th October 2022.

This will also mean the newest version of the airline’s First Class seats, including closing privacy doors, on the same services.

With all oneworld lounges at Changi T1 now reopened and travel to most countries back in full swing, it’s great to have this far superior option compared to BA’s old Club World cabin, which has featured on its Singapore flights for many years.

Despite high fuel surcharges, it will be possible to redeem a Club Suite award from as little as 50,000 BA or Qatar Avios points to Sydney or 70,000 Asia Miles to London, around 30% less than flying Singapore Airlines using KrisFlyer miles on these routes.

(Cover Photo: British Airways)