British Airways Boeing 777 Economy Review (Singapore-Sydney)

The last European airline still flying to Australia, British Airways operates daily flights from London to Sydney via Singapore.

I recently needed to return home from Singapore to Australia during the middle of the school holidays. With airfares even on Scoot selling for over $1,500 one-way, I booked the only award flight I could find – an Economy seat on British Airways. (British Airways brands its long-haul Economy Class as “World Traveller”.)

So, what’s the Economy Class service and comfort like on British Airways from Singapore to Sydney? Find out as I review flight BA15…

Flight Details

Flight number	BA15
Route	Singapore (SIN) to Sydney (SYD)
Aircraft type	Boeing 777-300ER
Class of travel	Economy (World Traveller)
Seat number	47G
On-time performance	We arrived on time
Star rating

The route

Flight Cost

I paid 30,200 Qantas Frequent Flyer points + SGD240.10 (~AU$260) for a one-way Economy Classic Reward ticket on this flight.

As this was a peak travel period, a commercial ticket would have been very expensive. During normal times, a return Economy Class ticket on British Airways from Singapore to Sydney starts from around SGD819 (~$900) return.

In the other direction, BA flights from Sydney to Singapore start from around $939 return.

Airport Experience

It was a busy Saturday evening at Changi Airport’s Terminal 1, but there was no queue at the British Airways check-in counters. Most of the passengers on BA15 were flying all the way through from Heathrow to Sydney, and I was one of only a few dozen passengers joining the flight in Singapore.

Flying out of Singapore’s Changi Airport is usually a great experience, and this was no exception. Even for passengers without lounge access, the airport has lots of entertainment options – from the free cinema to the butterfly garden – and there are plenty of great food, drink and shopping options.

As a Qantas Platinum member, I had the choice of using the British Airways Lounge, Qantas Singapore Lounge or Qantas First Lounge. (Passengers booked in Business or First on any Oneworld airline, including British Airways, could also use the excellent Qatar Airways Lounge.)

I’ve used the British Airways Lounge before and really like it. But it was hard to look past the Qantas First Lounge, which offers great service and a superb à la carte dining menu packed full of Singaporean flavours.

This was the summer menu at the Qantas First Lounge:

I enjoyed a couple of local classics…

…before trying the barramundi and some dessert.

I also enjoyed a shower in the lounge before heading over to the gate for boarding. (You can adjust the skylight in the roof to simulate daytime or nighttime – a great little feature!)

Security screening took place at the gate, and boarding commenced on time with priority boarding working well.

The Hard Product

British Airways uses a premium-heavy seating configuration on its Boeing 777-300ER. On this particular aircraft, there were 8 First seats and 76 of BA’s new Business Class “Club Suites”, which took up around half of the physical space available on board the aircraft. Behind this were 40 Premium Economy seats and just 132 Economy seats, filling up the very back of the aircraft between the fourth and fifth exit doors.

I last flew Economy on a British Airways Boeing 777-300ER in 2015, and recall it being quite comfortable. That was when British Airways used a 3-3-3 seating layout in the back of the plane.

A year later, then-CEO of British Airways Willie Walsh unveiled a plan to add an extra Economy seat per row to the airline’s Boeing 777 fleet in an investor presentation controversially titled “show me the f*cking money”. British Airways now uses a 3-4-3 Economy seating layout…

This was a completely full overnight flight, and I definitely noticed that the seat had become narrower as I rubbed shoulders with my seat neighbour throughout the night while struggling to fall asleep.

Ultimately, I didn’t get much sleep in my aisle seat – but that wasn’t unexpected. I don’t usually sleep well in Economy and there were a lot of children on this flight. On the plus side, the legroom was reasonable and the cloth-covered seat itself was quite comfortable, with a good level of padding and a fully adjustable headrest.

There was a comprehensive selection of in-flight entertainment available. Wifi was also available for a fee, ranging from £4.99 (~AU$9) for 1 hour to £17.99 (~AU$32) for the whole flight. (I’m not sure if a passenger flying on BA15 from London all the way to Sydney would need to pay for a separate “Flight pass” for both legs, or just once.)

Note that British Airways charges extra for advance seat selection (even in Business Class), unless you have Oneworld status.

The Soft Product

Both on the ground in Singapore and in the air, the British Airways staff were excellent. The flight attendants looking after Economy, in particular, were enthusiastic and professional.

After take-off, the dinner service began with a drink and some pretzels. Complimentary bar service including beer, wine and spirits was offered.

This was followed by a hot meal. The two choices were chicken with vegetables & potato wedges or a vegetable curry. I chose the latter, which came with various accompaniments including cheese, crackers, a pearl couscous salad, dessert, a bread roll and a bottle of water.

This was quite a substantial meal and I thought the food was pretty good, except for the dry white bread roll which barely anyone even bothered to remove from the plastic. After dinner, the crew came through the aisle to offer tea and coffee.

Overall, this was a very good meal service. My only complaint is that it took well over two hours to complete. It was also slightly annoying that when the crew cleared away the rubbish after the meal service, the cabin lights were switched to their brightest setting – just as people were trying to doze off on this relatively short overnight flight.

Exactly two hours before landing, the lights were switched back on for the breakfast service. This was a choice of a cheese croissant or a ham, egg & turkey croissant served with drinks.

While the croissant was fine, I don’t quite understand why the crew needed to allow two hours to serve this. Because the meal services took so long, there were less than three hours available to sleep in the middle of the flight.

Before landing, the flight attendants handed out arrival cards for Australia. For some reason, the crew insisted that only one immigration card was needed per family. This was incorrect, meaning families travelling together got held up at immigration while they filled out extra cards for each of the other passengers.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & 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.