British Airways announces long-haul economy flight improvements

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British Airways is bringing genuine improvements to its World Traveller economy cabin in the form of a new cushion and blanket design for passengers (photo below).

After the World Traveller Plus (premium economy) overhaul last year, World Traveller was up next for an upgrade.

The new soft product is now being rolled out across the fleet starting with Heathrow as of yesterday. Gatwick flights will get the new items from 1st March.

The new cushion and blankets replace the rather uninspiring existing ones: a brown fleece blanket and a thin square cushion in a plasticky single-use case. Apart from being really, really ugly (!) the old cushion and blanket bore no resemblance to the rest of BA’s design language.

The cushion features a similar herringbone design to the pillow and blanket in World Traveller Plus, albeit in all blue.

You can learn more about what you get from British Airways World Traveller on this page of ba.com.

PS. If you missed it, take a look at our recent article on the top 10 reasons to get the FREE British Airways American Express card.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Category

British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

NigelthePensioner says:

4 Feb4 February 07:22

Also Qatar giving “10%” via spend £800 get £80 back on one of mine.
Beware the Malaysian offer……if you choose to pay in GBP to avoid the Amex foreign exchange fee you will get an atrocious exchange rate, biting into the rebate.
I have literally 2 days ago bought 2 J to KL and paid in Ringgit’s on Tandem…….at least I got 0.5% on the M/C rate 🙄!
- Polly says:
  
  4 Feb4 February 07:46
  
  We use curve to pay for all those intra Asia flights. Just now paid air Asia with curve in ringits. Couldn’t get mas direct to bki so booked a Asia. Added exit seat for £6 and 25kg of luggage for about 10. So not bad.
  - BJ says:
    
    4 Feb4 February 08:14
    
    What fee did Air Asia apply for paying with Curve? Last flight I booked was a clean FX conversion to GBP but I think the card fee was high regardless of the payment card I tried. Furthermore, they wouldn’t take amex which I think they used to take but I cannot recall for sure.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    4 Feb4 February 08:54
    
    The problem with paying with curve is you have no s.75 protection even if the underlying card is a credit card.
    - Harry T says:
      
      4 Feb4 February 09:08
      
      This is why I only use Curve abroad to pay for food, drinks and incidentals. Essentially anything under £100.
    - BJ says:
      
      4 Feb4 February 09:38
      
      Not much need to worry about s.75 on Air Asia fares.
      - Polly says:
        
        5 Feb5 February 05:51
        
        Exactly! Can’t work out the fee BJ, but didn’t seem much different to xe.
Rob says:

4 Feb4 February 08:09

As soon as ba.com shows an aircraft swap you can ring up and change your seat if necessary. You have zero rights unless there is a time change because, in the same way that all London airports are treated as the same airport, so I assume both Tokyo airports are legally treated as one airport.

If you ask for compo for being 40km nearer to Tokyo I doubt anything will happen 🙂
- Doogie says:
  
  4 Feb4 February 08:16
  
  Thanks – HND is going to be more convenient anyway depending on timings, just keen to not be bumped down from F!
  I’ll keep my eyes peeled on BA/MMB
- Charlieface says:
  
  4 Feb4 February 17:18
  
  Don’t think that’s right. AFAIK if even the flight number changes but times stay the same you get cancellation rights under EC261. Obviously no compo unless the times change by more than 3hrs but you can add in extra travelling time from HND (granted in this case HND is nearer than NRT for most places)
Alan says:

4 Feb4 February 08:09

Yep, saw the Malaysian offer last night on my Plat sadly of zero use. Wish I’d had the £75 Hilton one instead (although did at least have the £50 one)
- BJ says:
  
  4 Feb4 February 08:24
  
  Check again to be sure, the £75 offer appeared on my other cards the day after some had the £50 offer. Regarding meeting in Edinburgh that you queried, @Axel is assessing interest in a meeting possibly @The Wash. Rob suggested postponing until he or Rhys could combine with a review of the new EDI Clubrooms lounge.
  - Michael says:
    
    4 Feb4 February 08:39
    
    I’d definitely be interested in meeting up but surely we can do better than The Wash. Apart from its location I can’t think of one reason why of all the bars in Edinburgh one would drink in there.
    - BJ says:
      
      4 Feb4 February 09:17
      
      Because they are letting Axel have the space for free I think. There are worse places too. With the amount of interest being expressed it may be too small anyway, especially if couples come along.
      - Colin MacKinnon says:
        
        4 Feb4 February 12:29
        
        Sounds like fun – was this prompted by my anchovy olives comment?!
      - BJ says:
        
        4 Feb4 February 13:00
        
        Nope, but you’ll be disappointed to learn Axel has pizza not tapas in mind although I suppose you could bfing wlong your own topping 🙂 Sorry I didn’t mention it before, I thought you knew.
    - Anna says:
      
      4 Feb4 February 11:57
      
      I might need to visit Edinburgh at some point to get a Spanish passport at the consulate if it turns out we get a rubbish Brexit deal over things like visas and EHIC.
      - Colin MacKinnon says:
        
        4 Feb4 February 14:19
        
        @BJ – met my other half 20+ years ago in the old Tapas Ole in Forth Street and can’t afford another one! Pizza good 😉
  - Doogie says:
    
    4 Feb4 February 08:49
    
    I’d potentially be interested – based in Glasgow but frequently work in Edinburgh. There is an FT meetup in Glasgow in April but not figured out if can go yet.
  - Harry T says:
    
    4 Feb4 February 09:11
    
    Count me in for an Edinburgh meet up, if filthy southerners are permitted.
Michel29 says:

4 Feb4 February 08:31

OT – Does anyone know how long it takes for the Virgin companion voucher to appear in your account after having hit the spend threshold on the Virgin MasterCard? I called Virgin yesterday who told me it would only appear after the statement which contains the spend has been generated. Is that correct? Also, where do you find it once it has been added to your account?
- Louise says:
  
  4 Feb4 February 08:35
  
  It will appear in your virgin flying club recent transactions
- Grant says:
  
  4 Feb4 February 08:35
  
  That’s correct. It will appear in your Virgin Atlantic account as a line item in the activity list and will be added when the points from your statement are moved across. You need to call to use it.
  - Michel29 says:
    
    4 Feb4 February 09:16
    
    Thanks. I do remember Rob writing somewhere that the voucher gets added immediately to your account – thus not having to wait for your statement. The T&Cs also state that the voucher will appear within 7 days of earning it. Is that all outdated and do we now have to wait for the statement to hit?
- jc says:
  
  4 Feb4 February 12:35
  
  Not true in my experience. Posts a few days after crossing the threshold, even if statement is weeks away
  - jc says:
    
    4 Feb4 February 12:37
    
    Could be 7 days, haven’t counted, but it’s not all the way til statement. Shows in flying club activity stream as others have said, as something along the lines of “Virgin Credit Card Reward Qualification”
    - Michel29 says:
      
      4 Feb4 February 14:03
      
      Thanks!
Tazzy says:

4 Feb4 February 08:40

OT I’ve just cancelled my return flights to Hong Kong which was booked with avios and a 2-4-1. How quickly should the avios and 2-4-1 return to my account?
- MattB says:
  
  4 Feb4 February 08:48
  
  Should be almost instant. My last cancellation the points were immediate and the voucher about 20 mins later. If you are unlucky it will need to be chased up with BA.
- Harry T says:
  
  4 Feb4 February 09:05
  
  I recently had to make two phone calls to get my Avios and 241 returned. Keep an eye on it.
  - fivebobbill says:
    
    4 Feb4 February 10:48
    
    Me too! Cancelled Avios flights 28th Dec then went on holiday, when I returned on 21st Jan the Avios still hadn’t been returned to my account, nor had the almost £400 taxes!
    Get on the phone if they are not there within a few days, they’ll do it manually right there and then.
Alex T says:

4 Feb4 February 09:01

OT: if first Amex platinum statement is generated after you cancel the platinum card, does the fee still post on the first statement ?
Jus says:

4 Feb4 February 09:08

I also received ‘spend £800 and get £80 back with Qatar’
- BS says:
  
  4 Feb4 February 11:17
  
  I nearly had palpitations when I read that! I’ve just spent £800 11h ago, but it seems I do not have the offer on my card.
Harry T says:

4 Feb4 February 09:10

I was downgraded from First to Club when they changed my flight to Tokyo Haneda. No compensation was offered. This was on a 241 booking. I cancelled and just booked Swiss companion fares instead.