British Airways Club World review

Dreamliner seating

BA's business class seating has, what the airline calls, a "ying and yang" design, as people are sat facing the opposite direction to their neighbours.

The seats can also be manoeuvred, by holding down a button built into the arm rest, into a fully flat position to make them more comfortable for passengers to sleep on.

The process doesn't take long, and the bed is somewhat comfortable (and certainly more so than trying to get some shuteye in economy class), but it's not something you'd want to put yourself through every day.

We were sat in the middle row of seats, in between two other passengers, which felt a little claustrophobic, particularly when the privacy screens between us were raised.

That being said, the screens are a nice touch, and mean business passengers have somewhere secluded to crack on with work without being distracted by their neighbours.

Getting out of your seat to use the bathroom is problematic in the centre seat, though, particularly if the passengers diagonally to your right or left are sleeping and have their seats fully reclined. You either have to climb over them, which isn't particularly dignified, or wake them up and ask them to move.

Our seat featured a plug point and USB port, which is a big plus for business users that need to work during the flight, and charge any devices they have in the process.

The walls surrounding the seat also had a laptop drawer for passengers to stow away their electronic devices during take-off and landing, but there wasn't any space to secrete a handbag or books as there is no under chair storage available.

Therefore, any items that don't fit in the laptop drawer have to be stowed in the overhead locker, which we found a tad inconveniencing.

Shortly before take-off every passenger was also handed a goody bag containing a sleep mask, toothbrush and toothpaste, and some Elemis toiletries to help them freshen up and relax during the flight. It's a nice touch, and goes some way to making passengers feel at home and pampered.

Caroline Donnelly is the news and analysis editor of IT Pro and its sister site Cloud Pro, and covers general news, as well as the storage, security, public sector, cloud and Microsoft beats. Caroline has been a member of the IT Pro/Cloud Pro team since March 2012, and has previously worked as a reporter at several B2B publications, including UK channel magazine CRN, and as features writer for local weekly newspaper, The Slough and Windsor Observer. She studied Medical Biochemistry at the University of Leicester and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism at PMA Training in 2006.