A brief history of British Airways' Club World business class
1970: the Boeing 747 “Jumbo” enters service, with the first flight from New York JFK to Heathrow on Pan Am. While airlines including British Airways offered first class as well as economy, business passengers were thought likely to gravitate to Concorde, which BA started flying in 1976.
1977: British Airways introduces an “Executive” zone on Heathrow-New York 747 flights, comprising a curtained-off area at the front of the economy section for passengers paying full economy fares.
1978: British Airways’ director of commercial operations, Gerry Draper, says the business traveller “pays a fare up to three times higher than many discount fares but does not receive enough consideration in return”. So he introduces an new class called “Club” on Boeing 747 jets, between first and economy.
BA promises: “Full-fare passengers – most of whom are business men and women – will enjoy exclusive seating areas onboard their flights.” Innovations include free drinks and inflight entertainment.
1981: Super Club is introduced on US flights, and described by British Airways as “virtually first class but at a much lower fare”. It gives business passengers the widest seat on any airline, but involves a rudimentary and uncomfortable design, which involved a nine-abreast economy cabin that can be swiftly switched to a six-abreast configuration.
But for the first time business passengers get proper electronic headsets in place of the old plastic “stethoscope” earphones.
1984: Super Club is extended to all BA’s intercontinental services. Meanwhile Virgin Atlantic is launched by Sir Richard Branson, with the unprecedented luxury of Upper Class between London Gatwick and New York: the “bubble” on the upper deck of the Boeing 747 has just eight seats, offering an unheard-of 55 inches of legroom. Oh, and free limousine transfers to and from the airports at each end, as provided for BA’s Concorde passengers.
1988: With Virgin Atlantic’s network and popularity increasing relentlessly, British Airways hits back with Club World – featuring what it called a “slumberseat” – a cradle seat. But soon Virgin’s Upper Class starts offering seats that extend to 6 feet long (though they do not go completely flat).
2000: As the new millennium begins, British Airways becomes “the first airline in the world to offer business class passengers a ‘real’ bed to sleep in on a long flight”.
Six months later, an Air France Concorde crashes shortly after take-off from Paris. By October 2003, the supersonic jet has been grounded worldwide.
2006: BA’s current Club World configuration is launched, with a seat 25 per cent wider than the previous version.
2019: Radically new “Club Suites” are unveiled for a few lucky travellers – to Madrid, Toronto and Dubai in the second half of the year – with the promise of the roll-out to many more aircraft from 2020.
