Another flight to Brazil, this time with BA on an A350 in Premium Economy to São Paulo. We’ve flown BA on shorter routes in Premium Economy to Dubai and the Caribbean, but would it be as comfortable on the long journey from Heathrow down to São Paulo Guarulhos?
Flight Details
Flight No: BA0247
From/To: London (LHR) to São Paulo (GRU)
Departure time: 22:20
Ticket Class: Premium Economy
Flight time: 11 hours 3 mins
Frequent Flyer Points: 9,000
Status Points: 90
Aircraft: G-XWBF
Aircraft type: Airbus A350-1000
Number of classes: 3
Number of seats in flying class: 56
Seat: 23A
Position: left hand side of the aircraft, 4 rows from the front of the premium economy cabin
In this review:
Airport Experience
The flight was scheduled to depart at 22:20, making it one of the final BA departures of the day. Terminal 5 was already emptying out as I checked-in through the first wing. There was only me and a couple of other passengers at security, so I breezed through directly into the BA First Lounge (Flounge) within 10 mins of being dropped off outside.
After discovering the flight would depart from B36, I decided it was a perfect excuse to reacquaint myself with the BA lounge at B gates. I left the lounge at A gates earlier to allow time for the detour. I found that lounge was much busier.
While premium economy (World Traveller Plus) tickets do not include lounge access, you can pay to use the Plaza Premium lounge and Aspire Lounge at Terminal 5.
Boarding & Welcome
Boarding was well underway when I got to the gate. Frustratingly, there was a single long queue in front of two different boarding group lanes where 2 BA staff members were checking passports. Once through the passport check, I was able to skip past the crowd using the boarding group 1-3 lane. I scanned my boarding pass at the automated barrier and then I was on my way down to the aircraft.
I was greeted at the aircraft door and directed down the first aisle of the twin-aisle aircraft, through the back of the Club World cabin.
Below is a cabin shot we took when the A350 aircraft was launched in 2019.
Once seated, I was offered a choice of juice, water or sparkling wine (The friendly crew member said champagne, but I didn’t believe them!) When boarding was completed, I was issued with a menu card.
Seat
The World Traveller Plus seat is a nice upgrade to the BA economy seat, offering larger seat pitch (distance between your seat and the one in front) and a much better recline. There was fold down foot rest, a seat back pocket for small items and a small ledge on the armrest for drinks that you share with the neighbouring passenger.
The recline on the seat was stiff. We remarked on this in an earlier review of the new A350-1000 and it sadly hasn’t improved through use. I had to use a lot of force to push the seat back and had to pull the seat back into the upright position.
I didn’t know my neighbour, so I wondered how the comfort/privacy would be. The wider seats meant I wasn’t shoulder-to-shoulder and generally felt we had enough space between us. Two passengers of a larger built might find it a little more cosy.
Sleep
I managed to get some sleep, but my lower back was sore from essentially spending a night slouched in a recliner chair with my legs resting on the floor. I found that the footrest wasn’t comfortable enough to use – I could either raise my legs to match the recline, but have them at an odd right angle, or straight out but then the footrest was digging into my calves. It needs to be bigger and cushioned.
Access to these seats isn’t very good, owing to the immovable large middle armrest and further reduce space when seats in front are reclined. Because of this, passengers with restricted mobility should opt for the aisle seats only.
Storage was at a premium in the premium economy cabin. The overhead bins were full of rolling luggage, but fortunately were tall enough to accommodate smaller bags on top. The seat back pocket was fine for my personal amenity bag and phone, but anything beyond that was on the floor.
My water bottle fitted the bottle holder perfectly and I was able to hang my hoodie on the small coat hook on the left of the forward seat.
After previous missteps, I heeded my own advice and booked a seat by the window in the middle of the cabin, row 23, four rows from the front and three from the back. This meant I was served relatively quickly and wasn’t too disturbed by the crying infant attached to bassinet behind row 26.
I found USB and mains charging points at floor level between the two seats.
What is the best seat on BA A350 São Paulo Premium Economy?
I think the bulkhead seats 20A, B, J and K offer the most privacy and space. These seats are staggered slightly in front of the centre seats, so no risk of side glancing someone else’s movie. The back of the Club Suites is on the other side of the wall, so no crying infants there. Caveat Emptor: Row 20 of premium economy is the designated infant bassinet location. If there’s a baby in the cabin, it’s most likely BA will put the family on this row.
See the seating plan on SeatGuru.
Take a complete tour around the A350 Premium Economy cabin with us…
Onboard Experience
Despite the Premium Economy cabin having wider seats and a deeper seat pitch, the cabin is still very congested. I found blankets, pillows, headphones, amenity kits on the seat, but there’s not really anywhere around the seat to put it all. The floor quickly became a storage area.
Because the meal tray folds from the armrest, everyone is trapped in their seats during meal service. Accidents were bound to happen; I saw several spilt drinks and even a whole meal tray go on the floor as various passengers attempted to negotiate their seat’s obstacle course.
To reach the washrooms, I had to walk through the curtain at the back of the cabin and through to the rear of the first economy cabin. Here, there were 4 washrooms; 2 on each side. There were a further 3 washrooms at the very rear of the aircraft, making 7 in total for 275 passengers. That’s 1 washroom to 40 passengers. Meanwhile, there is 1:19 ratio in the business class cabin.
Food & Drink
The crew served drinks from a trolley ahead of the dinner service. There were two choices of red and two white wines. I was told that the Cabernet Sauvignon was better than the Merlot. Usually the case! Along with beer, there was also still and sparking water, and a range of soft drinks.
The crew were friendly and efficient about the service.
I received two meals on the 11-hour journey to São Paulo: dinner about 45 minutes after leaving London.
And then breakfast 90 mins before arriving into GRU.
Both meals were supplied by Do&Co and were generally good quality in terms of taste, ingredients and presentation, with the exception of the leg of lamb. It appeared to have been boiled, shredded and then reconstituted into a medallion. Those with dentures must’ve loved this whole mushy dish!
In-flight Entertainment
The seat back screen was loaded with movies and TV content.
The touchscreen was a fairly slow and clunky to use and the Android software gave a laggy experience. There are more responsive systems in the BA fleet and on other airlines.
Noise-cancelling headphones were supplied in a sealed bag.
I tried the £2.99 Wi-Fi for messaging and email and found it functional but very slow at sending and receiving small WhatsApp messages. Unsurprisingly, I couldn’t get email to load. Given that poor performance I doubt that the £19.99 streaming package would’ve delivered credible bandwidth.
BG1 Verdict
My BA A350 flight to São Paulo in Premium Economy was definitely more comfortable than economy, so for that reason alone, it’s probably worth the upgrade – at the right price. While seated in a partitioned cabin, you still feel very much part of the economy cabin. If you want to feel pampered and have people waiting on you hand and foot, then you will be disappointed. If you see a reasonably-priced opportunity to upgrade your cramped economy experience to something that nicer, then I would jump at the chance.
Personally, I think an 11+ hour overnight flight in a Premium Economy seat is 4 hours too long for me to be slouched sleeping in a chair. A 5-10k walk and plenty of stretching is required straight after to cure the lower back aches.
BG1 Tip
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