Yesterday I flew one of British Airways’ newer A320neos from Amsterdam to London. I booked this flight in Club Europe hoping I’d be able to try the airline’s new cabin interiors, and fortunately, I scored. It was great to be able to try this new A320neo, given that whether you get a new or old A320neo is a complete lottery draw.
Well, I’m glad to have tried the airline’s new A320neo. Truth be told, these seats aren’t actually better than those featured on British Airways’ older aircraft, and in terms of in-seat power I actually find these seats to be worse. However, if you’re flying economy, the product is significantly better than what you’d find on the airline’s older low-cost airline style A320neo seats.
British Airways’ New Shorthaul Seats Are Okay
British Airways’ new A320neo has 180 seats with 30″ pitch. I really like the stitching and the red finishes, though otherwise the seats are fairly standard.
British Airways A320neo Cabin
Much like the airline’s older seats, recline is fairly limited, though I do like the adjustable headrests at these seats.
British Airways A320neo Seats Recline
Also, in Club Europe you’ll get a table blocking the middle seat, which you wouldn’t get if you were flying an older A320neo.
British Airways A320neo Club Europe Middle Seat Table
The one thing is that if you’ve got a laptop that won’t charge using USB-C, you’re out of luck, as British Airways eliminated 110V power ports at their seats. While this is unfortunate, only British Airways’ older planes have nose-to-tail 110V power ports, so this aligns with the industry trend. You might want to charge up your laptop before your (hopefully short) flight if you’re planning on using a laptop that doesn’t have a USB-C charger. It’s also worth noting that the ports in rows 13 and behind are only rated up to 15W – this can charge a phone or tablet easily, but can’t charge a laptop.
British Airways A320neo Power Socket
Also, while these planes typically have WiFi, we were informed before takeoff that it wasn’t working on our specific aircraft.
I wouldn’t consider this to be much of an upgrade from British Airways’ older aircraft. These had 110V power ports nose-to-tail, which I’m sure some would appreciate more – however, there’s only USB-A charging, and no USB-C charging. Otherwise, I find the headrest on the new seats to be almost negligibly better, and seat comfort is the same otherwise. This is the seat you’ll find on British Airways’ older A319s, A320s, and A321s.
British Airways A320 Economy Class
British Airways’ New A320neo Economy Seats Are Much Better Than Their Other A320neos
If your flight is scheduled to be operated by an A320neo, I find the seats to be roughly comparable, with a slightly worse in-seat power situation…if you’re seated in rows 1-12. If you’re seated in rows 13 and behind, though, these new A320neos are a massive upgrade.
Why? Well, as a cost-cutting measure, British Airways installed some dreadful, no-recline economy class seats on some of their older A320neos. These are installed in rows 13-30 on those A320s – that’s right, some economy seats have adjustable headrests and AC ports, whereas others don’t. (Club Europe can go up to row 12 on certain high-yield flights, hence the slightly random cutoff between rows.)
These seats do apparently come with USB-A in-seat power, though that’s about it. There are no headrests, legroom is poor, the tray tables are absolutely tiny, and these are the exact same seats you’ll find on easyJet (or Aer Lingus).
British Airways’ inconsistent older A320neos feature these low-cost airline style, non-reclining seats at the back half of the plane (Credit: GLABA on FlyerTalk)
Which British Airways aircraft have which seats?
The way that British Airways has run this A320neo retrofit programme means that which you seat is a complete lottery draw. That’s not a massive deal on the short flights these planes run, though there’s generally no product consistency between planes.
- If you’re flying an older A319, A320, or A321, you’ll get British Airways’ older seats, with AC ports and USB-A charging (but no USB-C)
- If you’re flying an A320neo with registration number G-TTNA to G-TTNU, you’ll get the older seats (with the slimeline rows 13-30); G-TTNV onwards have the newer seats, and anything G-TTS_ has the newer seats
- If you’re flying an A321neo, G-TNED to G-TNEG have the new seats; everything else has the older configuration (rows 15-37 have the slimline seats)
Note that this doesn’t include British Airways Euroflyer planes (G-GAT_, G-MEDK, G-MIDO) or their ex-BMI fleet (G-DBC_) – these planes aren’t equipped with power sockets whatsoever. The former aircraft are likely to be based out of Gatwick, whereas their ex-BMI A319s are deployed from Heathrow across the network.
British Airways’ shorthaul seats are now a big lottery draw
If you want to know which seat will be featured on your flight, British Airways typically estimates which airframe will be operating your flight around 24-36 hours before, and Flightradar24/Flighty will update accordingly. Don’t expect full adherence, though – my flight changed from a plane with the new seats, to a plane with the old seats, to a plane with the new seats again very shortly before the inbound aircraft left Heathrow.
You’ll be able to know whether your flight is expected to be operated by an A319, A320, A321, A320neo or A321neo at time of booking (though even then, swaps are common).
Conclusion: British Airways’ new shorthaul seats
British Airways’ new shorthaul seats are fine – I find them to be marginally worse than the older variant due to the lack of 110V power ports, though I appreciate that there are still power ports at every seat, with laptop charging capabilities in the first 12-14 rows. The one win is economy passengers get a far better arrangement than they would if flying one of the airline’s older A320neos or A321neos, where the dreadful slimline economy class seat has thankfully been replaced.
I’ll review this flight fully in the coming days, where I’ll detail my overall experience more.
What’s your take on British Airways’ new seats?