I flew to London in January 2023, my first international flight since February 2020 (you know what happened then!). It was exciting and thrilling, and it happened to be on British Airways Business Class from NYC – JFK to London Heathrow Airport. While it was a late night flight, there were some unexpected issues, and the flight itself proves business classes are stripping luxuries down to the bare minimum. All in all, here’s my flight review of British Airways Business Class on its Boeing 777-300ER from NYC JFK International Airport to London Heathrow Airport.
Check- In
Since British Airways is part of OneWorld, I departed from Terminal 8. The check-in was extremely seamless, especially since I had a late night flight on BA 0182, which departs at 11:15 PM. There was no one at check-in. Note to passengers who are TSA: TSA closed literally the minute I got there. This was about 9 PM. So keep that in mind. Anyone who checks in afterward will have to go in the regular line since they closed the gate right after me (I barely made it.
Greenwich Lounge
British Airways business-class passengers have access to the OneWorld Flagship Lounge, which has been completely transformed and broken down by class last year, and renamed to Greenwich Lounge. I miss the old British Airways lounge, which was roomy and had better food, but this lounge was still quite OK.
Plenty of space, and not a lot of people this late in the night. Check out my full review of the lounge here.
Review: British Airways uses OneWorld “Greenwich” Lounge at NYC-JFK
British Airways Lounge and Boarding
I was quite annoyed that the flight was delayed an hour. Usually, this doesn’t bother me, I’m perfectly fine with delayed flights (I have a lot of shows I need to catch up on), but there were two reasons this was unfavorable.
One: Passengers did not receive any notifications. In fact, I overheard our flight was delayed when I was checking into the lounge. I did not get any delayed flight notifications via the app, nor was it shown “delayed” on the flight monitors in the lounge. Passengers either went directly to the boarding area around the time they thought the flight was going to board or kept going up to staff.
Two: It’s roughly a 7 hour flight from NYC to London. I booked this late flight so I could a good night’s sleep as I had a packed itinerary the next day. Because the flight was delayed an hour, British Airways tried to make up for that lost hour and reduced the flight to 5 hours 50 flying time! I actually love it when this happens during a day flight, but not overnight as it eats up sleeping time.
Boarding was actually a nightmare. There was one “Club Priority” station. Even business class passengers were herded into little groups. I was Group 2. It was not structured in any way, and even the staff seemed to have no clue what they were doing, so it was a relief to get no the plane.
The Business Class
British Airways Boeing 777-300ER is one of those planes where the majority of seats are business class (a small premium and coach section in the back). After not flying international for three years, I was a little suspicious with the airfare ($2000 round trip!), but then I realized it’s because they have so many seats. In the end, I paid $5000 because I waited too long and booked two weeks in advance, and the fare went up.
While the seats are great, and they are in their signature little pods with sliding door, there was nothing special.
The headphones were cheap. Lightyears from Bose quality, and in fact, it’s one of those airlines where your headphones will be a lot better than theirs. Remember how, back in the day, flight attendants would pass out those really, really, really cheap earbuds? This is the business class version.
BRING YOUR OWN HEADPHONES. Bose QuietComfort is my favorite and lasts.
The quality of these headphones are really poor. I am not surprised though. I wrote a story on how business class is really cheapening their amenities and hoping you don’t notice.
6 Flaws in Business Class That Airlines Hope You Don’t Notice
The Living Company amenity kit had the bare minimum. Nothing luxurious. It felt like something you would receive in Premium Economy. Even the bag itself was very cheap and felt weird in the hand.
The bathroom was TINY. TINY TINY TINY. You can see I can barely even take a photo inside it. There are 3 business class bathrooms, and one is slightly bigger, but get in, get out, as fast as you can. It’s claustrophic.
Also, compared to some amazing business class airlines, like Air New Zealand, I could not believe the bathrooms did not have windows. That’s become a staple these days, so it made this plane feel old.
Comfort
These are true lie-flat seats, which you would expect from a business class airline. However, the sheets quality is bare, and look at the padding. Barely any fluff or cotton in it.
In the middle of the flight, I was awoken by the flight attendant to put on my seatbelt. I could not believe it. There was no turbulence. The wonderful flight attendant turned into a vicious, annoying bug because her direct words: “If you don’t put on your seatbelt, I’ll have to get my manager and the pilot. Would you like that?”
I do not like to be threatened. I did not like her attitude. No business class or ANY passenger for that matter should be talked to that way! And I do not like the fact that I was barely drifting awake when she said this.
Note: This flight not only had seatbelt for the waist, but also across the chest, like a car. You can unsnap that part, but even still, I needed the gnat to go away. All I wanted was sleep. I put on my seatbelt, not even looking at her, wrote in my notes what she said (yes, I take notes for all my reviews, including this British Airways Business Class 700-300ER JFK to London review, and went back to sleep.
Second note: Airlines more luxurious with BETTER customer service do not disturb you when you’re sleeping. I’ve flown many business class cabins like Qatar and Cathay Pacific where, if you are sleeping, and the seatbelt needs to be on, they lean in and put the seatbelt on you so you don’t wake. British Airways: take note.
FOOD
I preferred sleep to food, so I did not eat dinner. I asked my flight attendant, who was wonderful, to make sure I was the very last person to serve breakfast too, so I could maximize sleep. I was shocked, actually, at the quality of breakfast. It was quite nice for airplane food.
ARRIVAL
Maybe the odds weren’t in my favor for this flight. When we landed, we spent an hour on the tarmac. Heathrow did not have a gate for us, even though we cut back flying time and arrived right on schedule. I couldn’t believe it. Not only did we sit on the tarmac for an hour at this point, we were told we would be shuttled onto buses. It was a mess. The pilot got on the intercom: “Sorry for the bad news. I don’t know when the buses will come. They did not tell me a timeframe so I gathered 10 to 30 minutes.”
It ended up being TWO HOURS.
Listen. I know this is not in the controls of the pilot or the flight attendant. It was just a weird flight. And I’m not a fan of having to exit a plane to get on a bus to get to the airport, but hey, it happens.
Conclusion
All in all, it was fine. Yes, fine. On a scale from 0 to 10, I’d give the overall experience a 5. For the flight itself, I’d give it a 6, and this is comparing it to other business class flights I’ve taken. That’s being generous, and the ONLY reason for that is because the flight back was chef’s kiss. No delays. Amazing food. Great entertainment (unlike other airlines, none of the movies are edited).
Would I fly British Airways Business Class On 777-300 (NYC – JFK to London Heathrow) for a review again? Perhaps. I know what to expect. But I might prefer Delta next time.
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Jimmy Im has traveled to 113 countries, stayed in over 600 hotels and has flown a million airmiles. He lives in New York City.