British Airways to refurbish the A380 fleet?

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This is, I should stress, from the BA rumour mill, albeit from a well placed source.

The story is that British Airways has signed off on a full refurbishment of the 12 x A380 aircraft. First Suite and Club Suite will be installed, with the layout tweaked so that the upper deck is exclusively Club Suite.

The current A380 seat map is in our ‘BA A380 best seat guide’ here. As you can see, the Upper Deck is currently a mix of Club World, World Traveller Plus and World Traveller.

You could see this as a vote of confidence in travel demand. However, it is also the case that – without the 747 fleet any longer – running 1 x A380 per day instead of two smaller aircraft is a way of bringing back a broad network whilst waiting for the next wave of deliveries.

A key issue will be the small cargo hold on the A380, which favours routes with high passenger volumes but low freight demand.

Let’s see if there is any word in IAG’s 2020 results presentation on Friday.

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

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British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

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

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Category

British Airways and Avios

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

will says:

25 Feb25 February 11:13

Fantastic planes to travel on and hope to see them remain for some time to come.

Real shame we didn’t see a -900 NEO with new wing.
AJA says:

25 Feb25 February 13:10

I do hope BA does this and does reintroduce the A380. I have never flown on it but from all accounts it appears to be a lovely plane for passengers. I like the idea of all upper deck Club Suite too. I am sure they will be able to very nearly fill it but it also means the opportunities for upgrades must increase.
- BJ says:
  
  25 Feb25 February 15:21
  
  If you are ever in SE Asia, BKK-HKG is a good route to try any cabin relatively inexpensively on EK (provided they’ll still operate it).
  - AJA says:
    
    25 Feb25 February 16:30
    
    Thanks BJ, interesting idea. I have this long time plan to combine a trip to Thailand with visiting both Singapore and Hong Kong so ideally would fly LHR – SIN – BKK / USM – HKG – LHR. About a year ago I found I was searching for hols for this month (Feb 2021) and found a fantastic deal flying Qantas LHR to SIN on the A380 and then Cathay Pacific back from HKG to LHR in J on their A350 for £1600 and was trying to book SIN – USM and then USM – HKG on Bangkok Airways using BA code shares but then Covid struck. Fortunately never actually pressed the button.
    - BJ says:
      
      25 Feb25 February 19:18
      
      That’s an excellent trip and deal. CX is my partners favourite business class. Personally I’d give Samui a miss in favour of other Thai destinations but that’s just me. I might be wrong but I think you can only book Bangkok Airways via BA when it connects with a BA flight, others can confirm or not. If you had the time another option might be to take the VIP bus from Singapore to KL, have a couple of days there and then do a cheap J redemption on MAS to HKT using avios. BKK-HKG is an avios sweet spot, CX regional J or if it still operates the route using a longhaul aircraft Sri Lankan would be better still. IIRC Royal Jordainian also operate the route and you can fly them BKK-KUL too (at least you could in the past).
mark2 says:

25 Feb25 February 17:37

We have travelled to and from Vancouver in F on a 380 (different trips) and enjoyed it.
I am concerned that the shrinking of the cabin will have an impact on F availability for redemptions.
- BJ says:
  
  25 Feb25 February 19:22
  
  BA have also dropped Calgary (very surprising to me) so that vould put pressure on reward availability to Vancouver too.
  - mark2 says:
    
    25 Feb25 February 21:22
    
    True but Calgary was 788, so no F.
- ChrisC says:
  
  25 Feb25 February 21:52
  
  I can’t remember if it was Willie or Alex that said it but they thought there were too many redemptions (and staff) flying in F and they would rather have cash paying passengers.
  
  So a reduced size cabin would fit with that line of thinking.
  
  Not that BA guarentee any F rewards anyway
- Will says:
  
  25 Feb25 February 22:08
  
  Although F is nice, with club suite I’d take more business seats and no F if it means overall more chance of getting an avios seat in business.
Paul Provost says:

26 Feb26 February 02:36

This would be so awesome. Especially with two first cabins. One up one down. And the gloriously huge lavs you can put on a 380! Count me in.