Having saved up our Avios, Dave and I used them to fly Club World from Cape Town to London in November 2019.
Check In and The Business Class Lounge
We arrived at the airport about 3 hours before our flight and made our way straight to the Club World Check In. Despite being allowed two suitcases each of 32kg, Dave and I checked in 2 suitcases in total. I made full use of the weight allowance as we were bringing a lot of things with us for our trip. The check in was seamless and we made our way through security and passport control. Not needing anything from duty free, we went straight to the Business Class lounge which is close to the departure gate. The lounge offers a great selection of food, and we had a late lunch while waiting for our flight to board. We had our afternoon coffee and a preflight drink before boarding.
Club World
The seat layout on the Club World flight we took offered 2 seats facing each other, one next to the window and the other next to the aisle. Dave took the window seat and I sat down on the aisle seat and got comfortable straight away. That meant taking my boots off and placing them in the drawer next to my seat. I put my flight socks on and sat back and relaxed with my welcoming glass of champagne. Sticking with our usual nightly drink Dave and I had a single malt before dinner. This was served in a crystal glass, with a small bowl of nuts.
Dinner
Dining in style makes airline food so much better. Club World offers fine linen, decent crockery and proper stemware. We chose to have red wine with our meal. Our dinner started off with a choice of crab rillette, piquanté peppers, soup or salad. This was followed by either hake, beef or ravioli. Dessert was lemon cheesecake, apple crumble, seasonal fruit salad or a cheese board. I started with the North Atlantic crab rillette which was served with asparagus and a tomato vinaigrette. For mains I had the mushroom ravioli with a creamy Parmesan cheese sauce. And dessert for me was the lemon cheesecake with a berry glaze. After dinner we had a Cognac, and then I had Camomile tea before going to sleep. An express option is available for people who are working or need to sleep.
Sleeping in Club World
Dave and I swapped places when it was time to go to sleep and I made up my fully flat 183cm bed once my tea was finished. The high quality bedding includes a soft mattress topper, luxury duvet, and blanket. I did not need all the extra layers of comfort as the plane was quite warm. The down pillow was amazing and something I would have taken home with me if I could have. Amenity kits are provided which have been specially designed from The White Company. They came in lovely leather bags which I have kept.
Waking Up and Breakfast
As the flight lands very early in London, there are several waking up options offered. The choice has to be made before dinner and includes having breakfast onboard. This means being woken up 90 minutes before landing. Breakfast starts with fruit, yoghurt, granola and compote. Served with a drink of your choice (coffee of course) and bakery items. Followed by a hot meal where you can choose between a full English breakfast, an omelette or brioche French toast. I went for the cheddar cheese omelette which was served with creamed spinach, potato croquette and vine roasted tomatoes. Or you can be woken up 50 minutes prior to landing with a beverage only. If you wish to maximise your sleep, you will only be woken with 40 minutes to spare.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge
The arrivals lounge is available to everyone who has flown Club World. Here one can enjoy a full breakfast and shower. We made use of the shower facilities and had a cup of coffee and a croissant before heading off to Abingdon. This worked perfectly for us for two reasons. One, it meant we started off the day clean, and in clean clothes. And the second was that we did not arrive too early at my cousin. We make use of the arrivals lounge whenever we can for a shower and coffee.
My thoughts
I would love to be in a financial position to fly business class all the time. Just being able to lie flat and get a decent sleep makes it worthwhile. The service extras, decadent meals and super comfortable seats are the cherry on top. The seat arrangement only has one downside, and that is you have to climb over the feet of the person sleeping in the aisle seat. I am looking forward to our next experience where hopefully the suites will be on board. They offer larger beds and more storage. And despite all the storage at our seats, I could have done with more for the amenity bags, my book and glasses case.
Avios
Dave and I belong to Avios which is British Airways rewards system. We signed up on our first flight with them and used our Avios to fly Premium Economy back from London. Even though flights around the world have been drastically reduced there will be a time again when we get to travel.
Inspiration published on Lavender and Lime July 8:
-
- 2019 – Red Lentil Soup
- 2018 – Private Princess
- 2015 – Tea
- 2012 – Food Quiz Number 74 For A Friday
- 2011 – Food Quiz Number 59 For A Friday
- 2010 – Salsa Verde
What are your thoughts on flying business class?
It all sounded quite delightful,Tandy! Happy, safe flying in the future. x
Thanks Joy, I am really looking forward to our next trip 🙂
A few years ago, my daughter and I got upgraded to business from economy on a British Airways flight from Italy to London and wow! I was blown away! The food and service were fantastic! And there was so much tasty food! I loved reading about your experience on Club World – and I loved seeing all the food y’all had!
That is a fantastic upgrade to get Shashi 🙂
I enjoyed this review a lot Tandy! I miss flying and miss flying business class in particular. I think the best feature of a flight is a lie flat bed and the best feature of a lounge is the shower.
I am with you on that, 100%
The few times we have managed to fly business or first class we also felt that it would be wonderful to afford it all the time! The leg room alone makes it worthwhile.
be well… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
For sure! I would love to fly first class, just once, for the experience 🙂
Lots of negativity around BA at the moment.. getting rid of mature staff to pay new staff much less money and make huge profits.. not going down well.. 😉
I am sure they are not making profits right now! But, we will fly with them regardless as they fly direct from Cape Town 🙂
that sounds like a wonderful flight! And lots of free alcohol. I also wish I had enough money to always fly like this…
Me too Jim, me too!
As you say Tandy, Business Class is worth it for the flat bed so that you can get I good night’s sleep. Have you made any future travel plans?
We are meant to be going to Europe in October but so far our flights have been changed, cancelled and changed again, so who knows? And we are going to Croatia in December.