Review: British Airways 777 | First Class | Newark to London

Unfortunately this British Airways First Class journey was memorable but in a bad way I'll never forget for the rest of my life. After saving-up a good chunk of points and dollars to pay for a specific product/first class flight experience, I was lied to and fell victim to a good old switcheroo by BA.

**VIDEO CORRECTION: in my video I say the tray table doesn't move. This is not true, as I have since learned that it can (in fact it is even shown on 04:23 that it can). Apologies for my miss and error there!

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:34 Pre-Flight
01:18 Boarding
01:44 Seat Review
03:02 Pre-Takeoff
03:24 Takeoff
03:35 Amenity Kit & Menu
04:02 Bathroom
04:20 Dinner Service
05:28 IFE
05:50 Sleeping Gear & Bed
06:21 Landing & Recap

[DavidMoritz]

Was waiting for this. I was the guy behind you in 1K. Good video!

[Bobrogers]

If the BA agent had been truthful, you might have been able to reschedule your flight to a plane with the anticipated refit, and then you might have given BA a glowing review. It was especially a betrayal because this was to be a special treat for which you had scrimped and saved. If you had knowingly booked on a plane with the dated setup it wouldn't have been such a disappointment. That agent should be demoted to baggage handler.

[AirJermaine]

* UPDATE - Jan 10, 2023: After more back and forth - unfortunately they wrote back and stated they will no longer correspond to my messages and emails. I am now taking the case to the CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution) and also working with my credit card company to refund. Does not look like I'll be getting a refund on the cash I paid for the trip, even though they acknowledged and confessed their error and refunded me 90% of my points. Very disappointing and will definitely impact my decision to fly with them again in the future.
* UPDATE - Dec 22, 2022: After some back/forth, BA has informed me that they can no longer correspond to my claim. I did get 88% of my points back, but they are not able to refund any of the cash I paid for the booking (even though they admitted they misled me into taking their inferior product). Unfortunately I can't trust BA after this experience, and will have a very hard time booking with them again in the future. Very unfortunate situation and as someone who runs a business myself, just a very horrible way to treat customers.
* UPDATE - Dec 13, 2022: After several posts on BA's YouTube, Facebook and Twitter pages (thank you to the viewers who recommended that path!), I finally received a response from customer relations! They gave me 88% of the points I used back, which was a good start - but they are refusing to give me a cash refund because I travelled on the flight. I countered by saying I would not have taken the flight had they told me it would be in their inferior/older first class product, but since they lied to me I didn't have the opportunity to ask for the refund when they called to change my flight. Stay tuned!
* UPDATE - Dec 9, 2022: Posted my complaint now on BA's Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages. Also tried calling but waited too long on hold. I have not been able to reach anyone yet. I'll do another round of calls and social media posts next week to see if I'm lucky and can get a response from #BritishAirways.
* UPDATE - Dec 3, 2022: Filed the complaint on Nov 19th, but not a single word from #BritishAirways.

[Locutus]

I guarantee you, BA's response was "you got the most recent F seat, it just didn't have doors, and we don't guarantee any specific seat, we don't even guarantee you a seat - as you found out!".

No idea why BA couldn't have bumped you to an earlier or later JFK flight. They have 5 flights a day to and from JFK.

[barml]

I think your review extremely fair. I definitely would follow up and request an upgrade to new first class next time.
Switching your flight wasn’t great but these things happen however the agent did not tell the truth. Hope you can get that first class from BA.

[rhymetimeuk]

Very good video, subbing for more. Appreciate your honesty and I agree with you on it not being right at all to be bumped and lied to!

[SpeedbirdAircrew]

That’s standard BA first class only a few 777-300ER have the new first with the doors ….you flew on a refurbished 777 200 but it’s the same seat, Cabin Reduced from 14 to 8 pax and the seat has been refreshed

[The]

sounds like a club world review, not a first class review. Totally agree with your opinion. While this can come off as snotty to the average viewer, it makes more sense when you realize these things retail for about 16k usd or more (without miles) which, for flights that usually are in the 6-8 hr. range, is kinda setting the bar high! so with that in mind, I do agree with you opinion, and its quite scummy for BA to bump you to EWR. Hope your hotel was at least remotely close to the area, so you wouldn't have to deal with traffic.

[shaunpierce]

I can't say I'm surprised to hear these criticisms, BA have gone downhill so much over the last 10-15 years. As a Brit it pains me to say it but I'll never use them again unless I have absolutely no other option.

[happysavy]

I know you used points and they changed your departure airport and a slight downgrade on the seat, But I will say many flyers critique the airline regarding the food and other little things way to much. To me this was a great flight overall. BA communicated with you, same departure date just different airport, clean air craft, good and service, on time and the most important they got you there SAFE, With so many flights each airline run into each day I feel BA did a great job here. Just my feedback here. I just flew BA 2 weeks ago and they did a great job even with some of the delays we encountered. Thanks for your review,

[magic]

the tray table doesn't move...

until 4.23 when you clearly see the tray table move. Lie number 3?

[vinniechudam]

Absolutely you should not be entitled to any further refund, you already received 90% of your mileage back. You also received the full First Class product and service, albeit not the newer version but it is still First Class nonetheless. You were not downgraded on the flight. I think the 90% refund on your mileage is more than fair, to request a refund on the cash element is outrageous and greedy. CEDR will see the argument of both sides and your chances of getting your cash refund is next to zero. Good luck with that. British Airways will simply not give you a free ride across the pond in First Class.

[MrPerfusionist]

Sorry man. Btw, I just booked a BA First class from LHR to LAX but looks like its the old cabin. Its got 14 first class seats. Tbh, door is not a big issue for me, apart from that, are there any other big differences? Also does BA ever change equipment from the old cabin to new cabin :P

[TheVaughan]

A few years back I upgraded to First class on B.A. it was this old product and I thought like you, the F.A.’s were great, food very good but not exceptional and certainly not worth the extra I usually paid in Business on my regular long haul. I understand their new product is much improved. Being bumped on to another flight is not what you expect when paying a premium. I’m currently using Air France Business and so far couldn’t be more pleased and they even give me a better price! Bye bye B.A. at least for now.

[griffin]

This was a kind of a average experience - terrible hard product and promises, but great crew and decent food. Would you fly this again?
Just curios how much did you pay?

[Locutus]

The F product you flew would have been the same as the one you were originally going to fly, the only difference is the door. The seat, the TV, etc, would have been the same.

[MrBish]

Not great buddy, such a shame. What I did notice was how close you were to the person in the next aisle, not a lot of privacy given that this was first class.

[BrandonJohnsonK]

Ufff that’s tough my friend. Anything not the UA terminal at EWR is awful lol. Very unfortunate but I may even argue that BA’s Club Suites are better than their new F product. Glad the FA’s made up for the issues you had. Love the reports. I do need to at some point review BA F for my channel so hope for be able to do it leaving LHR if at all possible to get the most out of the experience.

[Blank]

United has been criticized for being slow with Polaris retrofits. How is BA not getting this kind of criticism for being slow with their 777 and 787 retrofits?

[wearethemags]

At 2:35 you say the table doesn't slide - yet at 4:22 you can clearly see the attendant doing just that!