Reasons to book with British Airways

In 2024, we launched a major transformation plan - the biggest ever investment of its business. From a brand-new short haul interior cabin to opening a stunning new global lounge concept in Miami and Dubai, we’ve overhauled our operations and digital systems and improved our punctuality to levels not seen since 2012.

In 2026, we became the first UK airline to successfully provide fast, free, reliable Starlink Wi-Fi and most recently launched the new BA app, offering a simple, smart and intuitive digital experience for our customers.

As a global airline and the UK's flag carrier, we have been flying customers to where they need to be for more than 100 years. We connect Britain with the world and the world with Britain, operating one of the most extensive international scheduled airline route networks together with our joint business’ codeshare and franchise partners.

Benefits of booking British Airways

• 24/7 customer support with direct lines for Gold, Silver, and Bronze members of the British Airways Club
• Customers have a generous free baggage allowance on our standard fares - with two free carry-ons and 23kg allowance for checked bags and 32kg in First and Club
• Complimentary meals and drinks designed by our culinary experts on all long-haul flights, across all cabins
• Complimentary snack and bottle of water on all short-haul flights for our Euro Traveller customers
• Free seat selection within 24 hours of departure
• British Airways Club members get free Wi-Fi messaging
• British Airways Club members can collect Avios on every flight and holiday, as well as more than 2,000 retailers to spend on flights, hotels, car hire, excursions and much more
• A 24-hr cooling-off period on bookings in case you change your mind
• There’s no charge to pay for bookings by debit or credit card
• We operate from four London airports (Heathrow, Gatwick, City and Stansted) to centrally located airports at convenient times of day our customers want to fly

Exclusive benefits for flying British Airways

• We’re the only European airline to offer First class between the UK and US
• We’re the only UK airline to offer business class on every flight – including domestic services
• We’re the only airline to allow customers to book Avios-Only flights for as little as £1 plus 18,500
• We’re the first airline to offer bespoke Proactive Customer Care support at 35,000ft. Our customer care teams can now connect with cabin crew on over 300 daily flights, meaning they can provide customers with real-time solutions on board

LOYALTY SCHEME

British Airways' loyalty programme, the British Airways Club, is free to join and open to all customers. Its currency is Avios, which can be collected through flying with British Airways and its partner airlines, taking a holiday, purchasing from 2,000+ retailers on the Avios e-store, or everyday spending with a range of partners such as American Express.

Ways to earn status

• Flights – 1 Tier Point for £1 of eligible spend*

• Holiday packages with British Airways Holidays – 1 Tier Point for £1 per person on the whole package spend

• Purchasing a contribution to Sustainable Aviation Fuels** (SAF) – up to £1,000, equivalent to 1,000 Tier Points 

• Seat selection 

• Extra baggage 

• Spending on the British Airways American Express Premium credit card will earn up to 2,500 Tier Points. More detail will be announced closer to the launch date

British Airways Club members can also access free Wi-Fi messaging on board. Members also earn Tier Points when flying which unlock exclusive benefits when climbing through the Blue, Bronze, Silver and Gold Tiers. Benefits include access to British Airways' global network of premium lounges (more than any other European airline), fast-track security and priority boarding.

We launched Avios Only flights in 2023, which are flights made up exclusively of Reward Seats. The first long-haul Avios Only flight took place in October 2024. Since then, we’ve operated more than 50 Avios-only flights.  

NEW AIRCRAFT

British Airways flies to around 200 destinations in more than 75 countries, operating more than 280 aircraft including the A380, A350, 787, 777, A321, A320, A319 and Embraer 190.

In 2025, we took delivery of 13 new fuel-efficient aircraft, including one Boeing 787-10 and seven A320neo and five A321neo. 

All new long-haul aircraft delivered to British Airways feature the award-winning new business class seat, Club Suite.

CABINS

Our teams are busy working on installing our award-winning Club Suite cabins across some of our long-haul Heathrow based aircraft with more than two-thirds of long-haul aircraft flying with Club Suite.

On board our new A320 and A321neo aircraft, we’ve introduced new short-haul seats and cabin interiors, featuring a new design, larger overhead bins and USB charging at every seat. These designs are made with the highest quality materials from all corners of the UK.

DINING

We continue to invest in menus that reflect our commitment to using British provenance and premium ingredients from local producers that champion the ‘Best of British’ cuisine.  Menus are carefully curated by our culinary experts and have been thoughtfully paired with beverage options from our inflight drinks menu. 

In addition, we also offer menus with regional variations that feature cuisines tailored to specific routes, and seasonal menus to celebrate festivities throughout the year, such as Diwali and Thanksgiving.

We’ve recently expanded our Club World wine selection from four to six options, including Whispering Angel which is now available on board and its big sister, Rock Angel returns to First. Each quarter, our specially curated wine menus spotlight wines from a different region around the world for customers in Club World and First.

FIRST

First customers are invited to use our newly refurbished First Wing at London Heathrow, a private check-in area and two dedicated security lanes that lead customers directly into our First Lounge. Customers travelling in First are invited to use our exclusive Concorde Room.

The Concorde Room at Terminal 5 London Heathrow draws inspiration from the very best of British design, craftsmanship and heritage.  Customers can enjoy a meal in one of our comfortable private dining booths with full waiter service and a seasonal à la carte menu, which has been carefully crafted by our talented team of chefs.

On board, our First cabin offers super-soft, sophisticated loungewear designed exclusively by luxury British fashion brand, Temperley London, slippers, and bespoke amenity kits. They feature Temperley’s “Star” design, filled with products from No.1 British skincare brand, Elemis, including products from the highly sought after Ultra Smart pro-collagen range. The amenity kit contains the essentials to cleanse, revive and hydrate.

More than 1,100 cabin crew are specially trained as part of our First Service Specialist scheme, to elevate the first-class experience. Customers can create their own dining experience with our à la carte ‘Dine Anytime’ menu. All signature dishes are made with quality British ingredients and delivered with impeccable service.

Customers travelling in first can settle into their own spacious suite, perfect for customers to work in peace using free Wi-Fi, watch a film on our 15-inch screens, or stretch out and relax, with a luxurious quilted mattress, crisp white cotton duvet and pillow.

CLUB WORLD

In 2026, we launched a new bespoke amenity kit with four limited-edition designs for customers to collect which showcases artwork by British artists. The travel pouch includes items by luxury British wellness brand and London-based modern apothecary, anatomē: 10ml moisturiser and a 3ml multi balm as well as ear plugs, a dental kit, an eye mask and socks. We offer a brasserie-style dining experience, allowing customers to select their choice of freshly prepared starters, mains and desserts.

Our award-winning Club Suite is available on all London Heathrow – New York (JFK) routes and on a variety of long-haul routes, such as Denver, Barbados and Mumbai. The new suite made its debut on our Airbus A350 aircraft and is now available across many of our Boeing 777 and 787-8 aircraft. We’re continuing to retrofit our long-haul fleet at Heathrow, with two-thirds of long-haul aircraft flying with Club Suite.

LOUNGES

British Airways has the largest number of lounges of any European airline and we’re refreshing our lounges across our network.

In 2025, we opened our stunning new global lounge concept in Miami and Dubai featuring striking full-service bars as focal points, menus that champion local ingredients with a British twist, as well as the exclusive Concorde Dining Rooms.

We recently refreshed our lounges in:

• London Gatwick
• Lagos
• Singapore
• Seattle
• Washington Dulles

Later this year, there will be a full redevelopment of our lounge at Newark Liberty International Airport and will reopen in 2027. British Airways has also earmarked plans for future lounge investments in Boston and San Francisco in 2027.

In the UK, customers can relax in our refreshed:

• First Lounge
• Galleries Lounge (business class)
• Arrival lounges at London Heathrow Terminal 5

In selected First and Club lounges, we introduced new culinary choices for customers to enjoy, including new food servers and deli stations. The lounges offer customers complimentary Wi-Fi and plenty of USB and power points, enabling customers to work, surf online and charge personal devices.

FAMILY TRAVEL

We have a dedicated family check-in zone at our hub at Heathrow Terminal 5, to ensure families have a stress-free experience from the moment they book their flight, through the airport, to when they land in their destination.

As well as sitting families together for free, children have their own free checked luggage allowance, and we invite families to board first. We also offer families the option to bring a pushchair and car seat for free, and little ones can enjoy our complimentary kids meals on long-haul flights. In 2025, we launched Paramount+ Kids channel on our inflight entertainment, offering hours of brand-new family friendly content on board.

We also have exclusive Skyflyer Kids Zones and a dedicated kid’s menu in our lounges at Heathrow and Gatwick. We introduced a new SkyFlyers snack box available to purchase in Euro Traveller and on long-haul flights.

TECHNOLOGY

We have invested £100m in machine learning, automation and AI across our operation, driving improvements from bookings to baggage handling and helping to revolutionise our operation, speed up departures and respond to disruption.

Innovative new tools are helping to predict delays (prompting pre-emptive action to reduce disruption) and analyse real-time weather, aircraft capacity and customer connections data to help our teams make better long-term decisions. Since the introduction of the systems, alongside a number of new processes and ways of working, we have seen significant improvements in our on-time departures. 2025 was a record year for punctuality across our mainline network, with 82 per cent of flights departing within 15 minutes (D15), up from 73 per cent in 2024. It’s our best operational performance since 2011 and strongest winter performance (Q4) on record.

 We’re also invested £750million in our IT infrastructure to move 700 systems and thousands of servers to the cloud. Our new website and app is designed to offer a range of personalisation services, empowering customers to self-service if they wish, taking control of their journeys online. We were the first airline worldwide to introduce high-tech remote controlled Mototok tug devices to push back aircraft across our short-haul and long-haul operation. The machines have reduced push-back delays by more than 70 per cent, greatly improving punctuality for our customers. We are the first commercial operator to deploy the devices across multiple aircraft stands.

We are also using biometric technology to speed up boarding and arrivals processes in London, Orlando, Los Angeles and New York, with long-haul flights boarding in half the time, and short-haul flights in as little as seven minutes. We are the first and only European airline to use this technology to board international flights out of the US.

IN-FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT

Whilst on board, customers can enjoy the latest blockbuster entertainment with more than:

• 560 movies
• 100 TV boxsets
• 700 pieces of audio content including podcasts and wellbeing music
• We also have a dedicated Paramount+ Kids channel for our youngest flyers to enjoy at 35,000ft.

In 2026, we collaborated with Audible, a leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling, to bring more than 250 hours of podcasts and audiobooks to the skies. Customers can continue listening after landing with a two-month Audible trial to enjoy their favourite audio entertainment on holiday and back at home.

We also offer a range of seasonal content and dedicated channels to suit everyone’s preferences. Most recently, we introduced a range of Indian films and boxsets to celebrate 100 years of flying to India and include a festive channel, featuring Christmas classics, for December.

ONEWORLD

We’re a member of oneworld, along with Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Fiji Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Oman Air, Philippine Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian and Sri Lankan Airlines. With our partners in the oneworld alliance, we offer a global network of hundreds of destinations, seamless customer service, and shared benefits for frequent flyers.

We’ve partnered with American Airlines, Finnair, Iberia, and Aer Lingus to provide more choiceson flights between Europe and the USA. Additionally, we have collaborated with Japan Airlines, Iberia, and Finnair to offer more options for flights between Europe and Japan. Our partnership with Qatar Airways enhances the choices and connections available for travel between the UK, Doha, and beyond. Furthermore, our cooperation with China Southern Airlines improves choices and connections for travel between the UK and China.

SUSTAINABILITY

To find out more about our sustainabilty programme, BA Better World, read our latest Sustainability Report and discover how we’re supporting our people while helping to reduce our impact on the environment, click here.

*When customers book a flight, eligible spend includes the base fare and the Carrier Imposed Charges (YQ and YR), but not the non-airline taxes and fees. The price breakdown of a ticket can be found on the “Flight Summary” page before confirming a booking or on the booking confirmation email (e-ticket receipt). When booking a British Airways Holidays package or buying any eligible add-ons (seat selection, additional baggage or cabin upgrades) eligible spend will be the full amount spent. 

**Sustainable Aviation Fuels’ (‘SAF’) are defined in the Refuel EU Aviation Regulation as aviation fuels that are either synthetic aviation fuels, aviation biofuels or recycled carbon aviation fuels. For further information, please visit ba.com.