Review: British Airways Business Class (A350-1000)

I recently went on a sojourn to Europe, but of course, I chose to do so after a sojourn to visit friends in Brazil. This was opportune because British Airways flies direct from São Paulo to its hub of London Heathrow, and its ability to charge heavy fuel surcharges on award flights booked with Avios is capped by Brazilian law.

The flight aboard their brand new A350-1000 aircraft was absolutely fantastic, and my photos unfortunately cannot do the high-quality service that I received justice.

With that in mind, let me take you through my recent experience onboard British Airways business class, also called Club World, on the Airbus A350-1000.

Booking British Airways “Club World” Business Class

Booking my business class British Airways flight wasn’t too difficult. It’s generally best when redeeming British Airways Avios on these high-traffic routes to book well in advance to ensure you can find the award space you want. The total cost was 125,000 Avios points, plus taxes and fees of $38.50 CAD.

This is much better than the typical $350-450 you might be charged in taxes and fees when booking a shorter business class flight from Canada to London, and on a newer aircraft, to boot.

British Airways Avios are surprisingly easy to earn for Canadians, thanks to several RBC credit cards, including the RBC Avion Visa Infinite card and the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite card. Their utility is also unmatched, as they can be redeemed for many highly desirable business class flight experiences.

I’m partial to the RBC Avion Visa Infinite card with its welcome bonus of up to 55,000 Avion points, as Avion points can be transferred at a rate of 1:1 to Avios and there are often transfer bonuses making the transfer rate even better.

RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card

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RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card

The RBC Avion Visa Infinite card earns 1.25 Avion points on all travel purchases. Avion points can be redeemed against travel purchases or transferred to popular frequent flyer programs.

Check out our RBC Avion Visa Infinite card review for more details.

OFFER
55,000 Avion points

MINSPEND
$5,000

EST. VALUE
$1,045+

ANNUAL FEE
$120

FOREX FEES
Yes

EXPIRY
Jun 15, 2026

If there was one thing about this flight that bugged me, it wasn’t the service or product; it was the itinerary. Departing São Paulo at 1530 and landing at about 0700 in the UK, or the very early morning in Brazil, was brutal for my scheduling. This schedule alone meant I couldn’t sleep very much or very well, and landing that early in London made adapting to European time even more jarring than it usually is.

I also had a connection in London to Paris, which got bumped back and was generally chaotic to get to and very poorly managed; in my opinion, British Airways is almost a Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde airline. 

In my experience, their long-haul business class international flights have been polished and well-oiled while their domestic and European operations have been perpetually late, delayed, and disorganized.

Cabin Arrangement

British Airways business class, or Club World, on the Airbus A350 offers 56 seats in the business class cabin, split between a bigger cabin and a mini cabin. The seats are arranged in a 1-2-1 format, meaning all Club World passengers will have direct aisle access.

One of the most annoying facets of British Airways is that they charge all business class travellers, even those paying cash, for seat selection in the Club World cabin. Only those with British Airways Gold status or equivalent OneWorld status are exempt from paying seat selection fees.

This means that you get stuck selecting whatever is available 24 hours in advance via mobile check-in, and by the time I was able to go through the process, not many seats were available. I therefore wound up in seat 17K in the business class cabin. 

This was not ideal, as rows 15-17 are in a business sub-cabin right behind where passengers enter the aircraft. While rows 1-11 sit at the front of the plane, rows 15-17 are in front of premium economy and the main cabin. This means you have to stash your stuff pronto and sit down for everyone else getting on.

It’s also annoying because it means at journey’s end, you have to wait for rows 1-13 to exit before you can. Yes, I am being petty, however it kinda sucks to imagine paying for a business class ticket and not even being allowed to get off the aircraft with the other members of your fare class. This isn’t a dealbreaker, because I got a window seat, but it was annoying.

I definitely recommend picking a seat, even an aisle seat, in rows 1-11 because the club suite seats on this layout are enormous and come with private doors, so a window seat is not really needed for privacy.

Seat

The business class seat on the British Airways Airbus A350 is one of the largest and most comfortable you’re likely to find on a European airline.

The ergonomic use of space was efficient. Not only was there a side desk, but a closeable side cupboard containing the amenity kit and a bottle of posh water that could be used to store stuff during takeoff and landing.

The controls for the seat were beneath the desk, too.

And I got a window with a view of the Rolls-Royce engine. Good to see British aviation is alive and well.

Directly in front of the seat was the entertainment console, which I’ll touch on later.

Bed

All bedding was provided by the White Company, which seemed to contract for a lot of the products aboard the flight.

It was very soft and comfy; probably one of the softest airplane blankets I’ve cuddled in.

There was a good deal of footwell space, so even my 6’2” body had plenty of space to lie down.

When all made up with the door closed, the seat and bed truly lived up to its “club suite” name and felt like a neat little pod hotel room for one.

Amenity Kit

The amenity kit, just like the bedding, was by the White Company and came in a beautiful little white pebbled leather-looking material clutch. I do not think it was actually leather, but I hope it was.

Inside were the usual suspects: grey socks, eye mask, dental care kit, soaps, lip balm, earplugs, all by the White Company. The grey color was nicer than the usually ubiquitous black in such kits.

I didn’t wind up using any of these as I stashed them back inside and kept the amenity kit to give as a gift; these are some of my favorite Christmas stocking stuffers or curiosities to hand out after a trip, and I didn’t want to break up the set. That said, it’s one of the nicer ones I’ve seen from a European airline.

Bathroom

There were several bathrooms, or as the English call them, toilets, available to Business Class and Premium Economy passengers, and I never noticed any lineups or issues despite the flight being full.

Inside, the throne room wasn’t as big as I’d imagined.

The sink drained very slowly. I told the crew; they were aware. There were the usual little bottles of non-denominationally, vaguely-expensive soaps and toiletries typical of such cabins (all by the White Company, of course) within.

Dining

The menu and food for this flight were fantastic, and I’m pleased to share the menu and wine list below:

I didn’t wind up drinking much of the wine, but I did have a glass of champagne or two, as you can probably see from my photos

Dinner & Snacks

For dinner, I ordered the pirarucu fish. It’s nice when an airline can do local cuisine well, and having a Brazilian fish for the main course was a great culinary twist. Service was fast and prompt, and occurred within 2 hours of takeoff.

I wrapped up dinner with the dulce de leche mousse for dessert.

All of the food was excellent; some of the best I’ve had on an aircraft, and there was also a variety of snacks available in the galley. The only ones I cared about, though, were Walker’s Scottish shortbread biscuits, which have been a guilty pleasure of mine since childhood.

Breakfast

As I mentioned earlier, I felt really messed up by the schedule of this flight. I may have had a poor quality nap for 2-3 hours, and asked the steward for only a cup of tea at breakfast, but he was kind enough to also bring me a croissant with jam and more Walker’s biscuits.

This was a welcome way to wake up because I didn’t have it in me to try and consume a full English breakfast after all that.

Entertainment

Entertainment Console

The entertainment console was controlled by a fairly standard remote in the side “desk” of the seat, which seems typical for most aircraft.

Each Club World passenger was also provided with a set of British Airways-branded over-ear noise-canceling headphones.

These did their job, as did the entertainment selection.

Honestly, I prefer content I can stream or made by creators on platforms like YouTube. I don’t think there was anything wrong with their catalogue, but I generally don’t watch a lot of mainstream entertainment anymore, so I can’t comment.

WiFi

In-flight WiFi was available; however, it cost 20 GBP, which was frankly very high. I needed the internet, so I paid like the peasant I am, and on the upside, at least it was lightning fast.

For my money, I think the place where British Airways came up short, in addition to the schedule, was around little things like the wifi.

Why charge business class passengers for wifi and seat selection? It’s not like they were doing this to me for being a filthy award traveler; they do the same thing to cash customers and enterprises.

This nickel and diming may be profitable, but it detracts from the premium experience. Hell, the in-flight wifi policy is now worse than Westjet’s for domestic Canadian economy class passengers.

Conclusion

The flight was excellent, the aircraft spic and span, and the service truly above and beyond. I was very pleased with this flight, and alas, I feel sour to note: a fantastic product, with great staff, was ruined by the scheduling. Maybe this 1530 flight was needed by business professionals who needed to be up and working by 0900 London time, in which case, I doff my hat to their bravery.

For my money, flights going to Europe shouldn’t leave the Americas mid-afternoon. No good can come from that time shock.