The Business Class British Airways Won't Advertise

Hello and welcome to another video. I'm Paul Lucas and this morning I am at London City Airport here in East London

Today I'm going to be flying the British Airways business class the company doesn't want to advertise

London City Airport is at the heart of the Royal Docks Complex in East London

This is the last of the Docklands areas to be repurposed and gentrified as part of the Docklands regeneration scheme, which started in the 1980s

As a result, there were lots of empty spaces and derelict land

It's a quaint part of East London, and mostly the only reason that people visit this area is to use the airport

Fortunately, the airport is just one stop away on the Docklands Light Railway from my girlfriend's place

so it's pretty handy for me, and I tend to use it quite a lot these days. As you enter the airport, before you even get inside the front door, there's a handy

area of self-check-in kiosk machines. If, like me, you're travelling without a hold bag, you can just go to one of these

machines and head straight upstairs to security, or if you checked in online with British Airways

you can avoid having a paper boarding pass altogether. City Airport was constructed mostly to service the burgeoning financial district at Canary

Wharf in East London. It's ideally placed and just a couple of miles away from the financial centre of the city

However, it's not a big airport and is something of a victim of its own success

If you travel in the morning or in the evening, you're sure to find that it resembles a glorified and upmarket bus terminal

It's always really, really busy with not enough seating areas. The airport has done quite a lot to install more seating in recent years, but still, it's a very busy place

The one good thing about this airport is the excellent apron views you'll get if you manage to snag one of the window seats

Following a decline in importance after World War II and the introduction of containerised ships

London's docks closed in stages between the 1960s and the 1980s. London City Airport is built on the old King George V dock

As you can see from the picture, the airport didn't really need to expand on the footprint of the old dock

but this does mean that the airport is extremely congested and small

The runway in fact used to be even shorter than the 1,500 metres it stands today

It was just 1 metres long and this old turning circle marks the end of the old runway There are still a few clues around that this airport used to be an active dock not least the tramlines which are visible on the north and south extremities of the airport

Parking space is at a premium here at City Airport and there are no gates with jet bridges

All boarding is done by Airstair. Aircraft movements can also be fun to watch

There are some very tight turns required when parking and leaving aircraft stands

One of the more unusual flights you can catch from this airport is this British Airways Airbus A318

It flies to New York, United States via Shannon on the outbound leg for a technical stop

Here's the aircraft, which is in an all-business-class configuration. There are no economy seats whatsoever

I noticed something a bit nerdy about the little stains around the window on this aircraft

Look at the direction the stains appear to travel in. they very closely match the airflow over the wings

Before too long, my aircraft has arrived on the inbound flight from Dublin

It's quite a sight to watch it as it turns into the parking space

If you take a real close look at this right-hand main landing gear here

you can see that the turn is so tight that it barely appears to move forward at all

And yes, one of the reasons this is such a unique flight is that it's operated by Sturbart Air

That's an Irish wet lease airline that contracts out services to airlines like British Airways and Aer Lingus

However, the real reason this aircraft is so special is that it used to belong to Virgin Australia

Stobart Air have had this for a little while now, but what they haven't done is change the interior

The reason that it's so special is that anywhere in Europe, you won't get a proper business class seat

Almost all European airlines use convertible economy seating, as you can see here on one of British Airways' Umbrella aircraft

Today's former Virgin Australia aircraft features exclusive 2 plus 1 seating, meaning on the left-hand side of the aircraft there are proper large armchairs with direct aisle access

This type of seating configuration is extremely rare in Europe. The legroom here is absolutely fantastic and there are two whole windows in the seat 2A

aircraft taking off from london city airport usually use short takeoff and landing protocol

that means that we're going to wind up the engines before releasing the brakes today of the umbrella is impressive and were airborne in I calculate about 800 metres

The views to the south on takeoff are quite impressive. The Thames barrier is

Britain's largest tidal defence protecting the centre of London from tidal surges. Despite the gentrification of the Docklands the south side of the

river does still see some industry. This is Angustin Wharf. As we gradually head

northwest towards Ireland now's a good time to have a look at today's route

London City to Dublin is 297 miles and it takes just over an hour to get there

at an altitude of 32,000 feet. Now the main reason that fixed formation

business class cabins like this one aren't popular in Europe is because the

airlines prefer flexibility. They like to be able to sell a certain number of

seats as economy and business depending on demand with the curtain moving back

and forwards depending on how many seats have been sold. These business class

seats are basically the same as the ones I flew in last year between San Diego and Minneapolis

St Paul with Alaska Airlines operated by SkyWest Stobart business is basically wet leasing that is to operate flights on behalf of other airlines They supply the aircraft and the crew but the marketing airline

in this case British Airways, supplies all the service items including all of the food. This

breakfast is identical and just as delicious as any other British Airways breakfast you'll get on

a flight of this length. Business class short haul catering in Europe tends to be pretty good

compared to the US model of simply giving you a snack. I think this more than makes up for the fact

that the seats are usually not a patch on the proper business class seats you'll find elsewhere

It's for that reason that this service contains a proper fixed business class cabin with lovely big armchairs

that British Airways don't actively market or advertise this superior experience. You have to go and find it yourself

and I'll explain at the end of the video how you book yourself on this kind of secret flight

And that is how you fly British Airways

secret business class. Now, how do you find out which routes that aircraft is operating and how

do you book it? Let's have a look. First, you need to know that British Airways is leasing

two of these aircraft and here are the registrations to look for if you're looking for them on Flight

Radar 24. Make a note of which flights they appear to be operating and this will give you a good base

to research from. Here, the law is on your side. Airlines marketing flights must explain which

airline is actually going to be operating them and as you can see here on this ITA matrix screen

this flight is operated by Stobart Air and that's the one that you want to be looking for

This distinction is also available on the British Airways website. You can see the Stobart Air logo

and name here. This is the flight you want to book if you want to fly in British Airways secret

business class. That's all for this video. I hope you really enjoyed it. I hope you subscribe and I

will see you again in the next video in just a few days time. Bye-bye