British Airways 787 Club World Review (Singapore-Sydney)

British Airways flight BA15 flies every day from London to Sydney via Singapore.

Earlier this year, I needed to fly from Singapore back to Australia during school holidays. There wasn’t much award availability to go around, but I was lucky enough to find a Classic Reward seat using my Qantas Frequent Flyer points in British Airways “Club World”. That’s what British Airways calls its long-haul Business Class.

While this wasn’t the best Business Class flight I’ve ever had, it was certainly a more comfortable way to fly than BA15 in the World Traveller cabin (Economy Class). Join me as I review the British Airways Club World service on its fifth-freedom route from Singapore to Sydney!

Flight Details

Flight number	BA15
Route	Singapore (SIN) to Sydney (SYD)
Aircraft type	Boeing 787-9
Class of travel	Club World (Business)
Seat number	7K
On-time performance	We arrived on time
Star rating

The route

Flight Cost

I booked this flight for 75,000 Qantas Points + SGD462 (~AU$520) in taxes and carrier charges. Note that the carrier charges on this route are higher for British Airways flights than for Qantas flights.

If you were to buy a British Airways Club World ticket from Singapore to Sydney, you could expect to pay around $3,700 one-way or $4,600 return. Fares could be higher during peak periods or when booking close to the departure date.

Airport Experience

I happened to arrive at the airport a bit more than three hours prior to departure. The British Airways check-in counters at Singapore’s Changi Airport were not yet open, and British Airways does not offer early check-in at The Jewel.

However, there was a notice that British Airways customers travelling in First or Club World (Business), as well as Executive Club Gold (Oneworld Emerald) members, can check in early at the SATS Premier Check-in Lounge.

As I was flying in Club World, I did exactly this. The SATS Premier check-in lounge was located behind the Row 4 counters in Terminal 1, and there were no other passengers in there. I was checked in promptly and escorted through to the immigration checkpoint.

British Airways operates its own lounge in Singapore, which is a very nice lounge.

I stopped in briefly at the British Airways Lounge, which had a full bar service and a good selection of buffet food available. You could also order extra food for delivery to your table by scanning the QR codes on each table.

This lounge also has clean showers and bathrooms, and was pretty quiet ahead of BA15’s departure. (It gets a bit busier later in the evening before the two British Airways flights to London depart.)

As I have Qantas Platinum status (recognised by British Airways as Oneworld Emerald status), I was also able to use the Qantas First Lounge. This isn’t a standard inclusion with a British Airways Club World ticket, although you could also get in here with a British Airways First Class ticket.

The service in the Qantas First Lounge was exceptional. I’ll give a quick shout-out here to Kamal, who took very good care of me and was up for a friendly chat. I also enjoyed trying one of Chef Linda’s specials, which during this particular visit was the seafood noodles.

With a Business Class ticket on British Airways (or any other Oneworld airline), you could also visit the Qantas Business Lounge and the Qatar Airways Singapore Premium Lounge.

Of all of the lounges available in Singapore with a British Airways Business Class ticket, in my opinion, the best one would be the Qatar Airways Premium Lounge which opens at 6 pm. Unfortunately, this doesn’t provide a lot of time before BA15 starts boarding at around 6.40 pm. But I still think it’s worth popping into this lounge for a short visit.

The Qatar Airways Singapore Premium Lounge has an outstanding food menu and incredibly attentive service. I got the feeling there were more staff than passengers! I asked for a cocktail that wasn’t on the menu and this was delivered with a smile.

At Changi Airport, you clear security directly at the boarding gate. There was a priority security line that Club World passengers could use. Boarding was then done in boarding groups after passengers travelling with small children were invited to board first. The eight boarding groups were strictly enforced.

The Hard Product

During the IATA northern winter period (from late October until late March), British Airways uses a Boeing 777 with the new Club Suites Business Class product on its London-Singapore-Sydney route.

Unfortunately, as I was travelling in July, British Airways was using a Boeing 787 with the older-style Club World product in Business Class. This is a rather bizarre 2-3-2 Business Class layout where every second seat faces backwards.

As well as being an efficient use of on-board space, this configuration does have some advantages. For example, I was able to access the aisle without disturbing my seat neighbour. When sleeping, you also don’t have to squeeze your feet into a small foot well – you can freely stretch and move your legs.

In fact, this was a very comfortable lie-flat bed, assisted by the quality bedding. I managed to get a few hours of quality sleep during the middle of the flight.

There was a universal power outlet and USB charging port at each seat.

The main disadvantages were that the seat lacks privacy and storage space. It’s also quite narrow, and very difficult to get out of the seat while the tray table is in use.

There is a privacy divider between the seats, which can be raised or lowered. But it needs to be lowered during take-off and landing, meaning you’re staring almost directly at your seat neighbour. This could be great if you want to have a conversation – or could mean spending the start and end of your flight trying to avoid awkward eye contact with a stranger.

This was a truly innovative long-haul Business Class seat when it was first introduced around two decades ago. In 2023, it’s outdated – and British Airways knows it. Which is why the airline will soon begin retrofitting its 787s with the far superior Club Suites.

I selected seat 7K, which was in the last row of Business Class in the forward Club World cabin on the Boeing 787-9. British Airways normally charges a rather hefty fee to select a seat in advance, even if you’re in Club World. But this fee was waived thanks to my Oneworld Emerald status. Considering the available options, I thought this was one of the better seats in the cabin.

A large in-flight entertainment screen folds out from the side of the neighbouring seat. There was plenty of content on the High Life Entertainment system.

British Airways offers free Wi-Fi to passengers in First Class. Everyone else has the option to purchase Wi-Fi access, but I didn’t bother as I planned to sleep for most of the flight.

The Soft Product

Waiting for me at my seat were a pillow, noise-cancelling headphones, an amenity kit and a bottle of water. There was also a bag containing a duvet and blanket from The White Company. Unlike on Qantas, however, no pyjamas were provided.

I was offered a pre-departure water or Champagne while we were still on the ground in Singapore.

British Airways provides printed menus in Club World. This was the drinks list:

On this flight, British Airways served a full dinner after take-off and a light breakfast before landing. This was the menu:

Shortly after take-off, a crew member took my order for dinner and asked if I wanted to be woken for breakfast. Given the 5 am arrival time into Sydney, I was planning to sleep through breakfast so asked not to be woken up.

A while later, I was offered a drink but declined as I’d already ordered one to come with dinner and expected that to arrive soon. Unfortunately, this wasn’t really the case and it took more than 90 minutes after take-off to receive my starter. On a 7-hour overnight flight where most passengers want to maximise sleep, that’s too slow.

When it did arrive, the starter was not what I’d actually ordered. The flight attendant returned a short time later with the correct starter, but had to ask me to repeat my drink order as she couldn’t read her colleague’s handwriting.

Instead of the main course that I ordered, I was then handed a cheese plate. Again, I advised the crew that I had ordered the chicken main course and they fixed this.

Once it arrived, the food was tasty and well-presented. I enjoyed the Singaporean-style chicken with rice and vegetables. This came with a salad and a bread roll that for some reason was shaped like a muffin.

By this point, I realised that there was probably a mix-up with my meal order, and double-checked that the crew would not wake me up for breakfast. I’m glad that I asked, because the crew had in fact been given instructions to wake me up. Turns out that my meal order had been switched with another passenger’s.

The cabin crew were all lovely and meant well, but just seemed a bit disorganised. I also couldn’t help thinking there were simply not enough crew to serve the number of passengers on board.

By the time I finished dinner, there were less than five hours until landing so I was keen to go to sleep. It took ages to find a crew member to clear away my table, and I ended up making the bed up myself.

I was planning to skip breakfast but happened to wake up anyway when the service began around 75 minutes before landing. The crew served breakfast very quietly and only turned on the cabin lighting to a low level so as not to wake people who were still sleeping, which was great.

The breakfast was nice and exceeded my expectations.

Unfortunately, the crew were again not particularly attentive after I’d finished breakfast and didn’t clear away any of the service items. I had to call someone to do this almost an hour later when the crew were preparing the cabin for landing. (I don’t think the flight attendants were being lazy – I suspect they just couldn’t see my tray table from the aisle and were probably busy doing other things as they seemed understaffed.)

Arrival Experience

We were the first passenger aircraft to land in Sydney in the morning, right at 5.01 am and just ahead of QF2. This meant a very fast run through immigration and customs before the inevitable morning rush at Sydney Airport!

The downside of landing so early is that it’s 3 am Singapore time (or 8 pm London time, for those continuing from the UK). That doesn’t really give you the chance for a full night’s sleep before arriving in Sydney.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.