I had a business trip to Munich in November 2022, so I decided to fly in Club Europe, BA’s short haul business class product, to see what the experience was like now they had had some time to recover from the pandemic.
Booking
The booking process for this flight was quite complicated as I wanted to do something that was not possible through the website. When you use the “book and upgrade” option you get the choice to upgrade the outbound, the return or both legs of your trip. What you can’t do is upgrade one way from economy to business and buy a normal business seat in the other direction. In this case I discovered that the outbound business was expensive, and the return business was a good price, so I needed to do something unusual, but it is possible.
I had to phone BA three times to get the right department to book the kind of ticket I wanted. I booked an economy outbound and upgraded that with Avios points and a business return, all in one ticket. Both flights were going to be on A320’s and I chose my seats early, thanks to my Silver Executive Club status. I was considering flying hand luggage only, as they let you take a bag and a laptop or handbag sized bag on, but as I was away for a week my luggage was quite heavy, so I checked it in.
Outbound
I asked my partner to drop me at the airport as it was a quiet Sunday, and the drive wasn’t too bad. I also wanted to try out the new charge for dropping off at Heathrow, I’d setup my car to be automatically charged. I was dropped at the 4th door along, which is right by the (old) business class check in area. There was practically no queue, and my bag was being checked in within minutes.
There is a fast-track queue at Heathrow for business class and those with airline status at both ends of the terminal. The signs by the entrance to security tell you which of the two-security area are the quietest. They were both even when I arrived, so headed to the nearest South security area. Once through I checked that my flight was due to leave from A gates, they tell you this on the information boards, then I headed to the South Lounges. If your flight is B of C gates then I always recommend you use the B gates lounge, it’s always quieter. If you are A gates then you have a choice of two business class lounges, North and South. I always go South, I don’t know why, I just prefer it.
I was pleased to find that the catering in lounge had returned to normal, with a huge range of breakfast choices, from hot food to cold continental, fruit, porridge and pastries. Plenty of drinks choices, so being a Sunday and wasn’t driving, I went for a bucks fizz. As it was mid-morning they started the changeover to lunch while I was there. I was pleased to see the hot food was left alone and the cold was replaced with lunch foods, salad and snacks etc. In addition, they have installed new tables with power beside many of the chairs. These included a wireless charger and an adaptor with most phone connectors on it, so you didn’t need to dig out your charger, very handy.
When it came time to board, I headed to the gate, the flight was full so they were offering to check bags in for anyone who wanted to, glad I did mine earlier now. They boarded by group number, so as I was group 1, I was first onboard. This was a new (1 year old) A320 NEO, which was fitted out in the domestic layout. So, no tray table in business between the seats and no curtain to divide the section form economy. Now I’m going to sound like a snob here, but the curtain and the little table on the seat next to you really makes it feel like you are in a different section, which you have actually paid for. It’s bad enough that you don’t get extra leg room or a more comfortable seat, but now the only difference is a guaranteed empty seat and better food. BA, try looking at America or Asia, their short haul business class (or first as they call it in the States) is a much better product!
Without delay we taxied and took off. We were offered a full bar service and a light meal. I chose beef option, which was very nice. I came with bread, butter and a dessert. I took champagne and water, because why not? They kept coming back offering more drinks, and on a 2-hour flight you could get quite a few in if you wanted.
Upon arrival in Munich, we headed to passport control and then the joys of Brexit, a very long queue of non-Europeans waiting to go through. Half an hour later and I was there.
As a little side note, my actual destination was in Austria and I took the RailJet, Austria’s alternative to flying, and found it to be a very nice and comfortable train ride. Particularly in their First and Business class seats (for some reason Business class is better than First on RailJet).
Return
I arrived at Munich airport with plenty of time before my flight. Rather unusually check-in was completely empty, not a single person there, so I checked in very quickly.
Security was also empty, didn’t even need to use the fast-track queue as I went straight to the machine. Passport control was another story, once again non-European’s all having to queue up. Admittedly part of the problem was the people at the front of the queue not being very observant where the empty booths were and there were no signs or “next please” light to warn them.
Eventually I got to the lounge. Munich doesn’t have a dedicated BA or One World lounge, it is shared with other airlines and called “Airport Lounge World”. This turned out to be a very nice lounge, which was spread over two levels. As a general rule, if you find a lounge that has two levels, I often find the upper level is always quieter. For some reason people don’t explore lounges, they just walk in and sit in the first place they see.
Here’s some photos I took…
This lounge had a good selection of drinks, plenty food and light snack options. There were also a lot of different seating choices, from single armchairs, to small working booths, to large open seating areas with tables. For me the best part was the views over the airfield, especially from the upper level. There are also the usual range of facilities; showers, toilets, prayer rooms etc.
My flight was delayed getting in, I was watching it on Flight Radar, so I stayed in the lounge a little longer to relax. When it came time to board, I headed to what must be one of the strangest gates I’ve ever been to in an airport. It was essentially a gate bolted onto a corridor between two sections of the airport. The gate itself was just another corridor leading to the airbridge with a set of desks midway to check boarding passes. The seating for the gate was lined up along the corridor. With the flight being slightly delayed the whole plane’s worth of people ended up waiting in the corridor, causing quite the blockage for people trying to reach the other gates.
Anyway, we boarded eventually and I took my seat. This time a slightly older A320 which still had the nice little trays between seats and a curtain to separate business class. The service on the way home was very nice, they served a very nice afternoon tea and again plenty of drinks.
Bottom line
If you’re looking for a big comfy seat, lot’s leg room or a guaranteed hot meal, Club Europe on BA (or any European business class) is going to disappoint! However, if you don’t have airlines status, Club Europe comes with dedicated check, fast track security, priority boarding, some space next to you and a light meal and plenty of drinks. And of course, you’ll be one of the first off the plane when you arrive.
As an airline status holder, upgrading to Club Europe doesn’t make a lot of difference as I get most of these perks anyway, but it does help with the tier points.
