FIRST CLASS STYLE AT BIZ CLASS PRICE
By Matthew Graham

My wife, Karen, and I were flying in British Airways’ new business class on a flight from Baltimore, Md. to London and I really needed to get some sleep.  I had to drive four hours to Wales on the wrong side of the road as soon as we arrived in London.  Usually biz class just means bigger seats and more leg room.  But it still amounts to trying to

sleep in a chair on an overnight flight, something I’ve never really been able to do.  First class seats on British Airways, however, fold down into a flat bed, but the fare is quite pricey. . 

To remedy this situation, BA has introduced a new biz class seating arrangement on transatlantic flights.  The redesigned Club World seats recline to a fully flat six-foot-long bed.  The seats are arranged in oppositely facing pairs.  Karen took the window seat and I took the aisle.  It was weird to be looking each other directly in the eye.  I wondered how strangers would handle this situation.  But then Karen found a fan shaped curtain that unfolded to create a privacy screen between the seats.  The seats themselves had a variety of controls and a large pamphlet with instructions.

As I fumbled with the instruction pamphlet, a lovely flight attendant came by and offered us a glass of champagne.  She pulled a small triangular drink holder out from the side of my chair and placed the glass of champagne there. The seat was semi-reclined, so I had to lean forward to reach the champagne. The six-foot’ sleeping surface didn’t come from the chair alone.  A separate foot rest completed the bed once the chair was fully reclined.  While trying to adjust the foot rest I carelessly bumped the glass of champagne.  It spilled all over my pants.  I was soaked through.  The flight attendant saw my predicament and immediately came over with some towels.  But towels didn’t even come close to doing the trick.  And there would be no way for me to sleep through the night with wet pants.  So I took them off!

I wrapped a blanket about my waist and shed my drenched trousers. The orange fleece blanket looked almost like a kilt.  Karen looked at me and shrugged.  I asked the attendant if she could place the pants on an empty seat to dry, but she offered to hang them up for the duration of the flight.

After the plane took off we had an excellent meal with wine (and more champagne.. We were traveling with a couple of friends who were sitting in the economy plus seats (World Traveler Plus) just a few rows behind us.  Karen told me to go back and visit them in my spiffy new kilt,  but I chickened out fearing that the blanket would drop off if we hit some turbulence.  Knowing my luck I’d be hauled off to the Tower of London for indecent exposure.

Instead, I watched a bit of the news.  Each seat had its own video system and a wide selection of movies.  The video monitor consists of a large flat screen attached to a pivoting arm.  Karen decided to stay up and watch movies for a while as I reclined the chair into bed mode and went to sleep.  It was great!  I slept for almost five hours straight!  I think shedding the pants helped.  Who sleeps with their pants on anyway? 

I woke up just in time for breakfast and decided to find my slacks.  The first stewardess had no idea what I was talking about and looked at me rather suspiciously, but I found the other flight attendant who fetched my trousers.  To my surprise they were completely dry.  I re-dressed, brushed my teeth and freshened up in the bathroom.  Back in my seat, the attendant asked if Karen or I wanted anything else to drink before we landed.  Karen raised her eyebrows and gave me a worried look.  So I passed on a beverage.  Better safe than sorry.