In summary - very impressed. The seat is based on the same Super Diamond product that was used in VA widebody J (RIP) however the cushioning was better than I remember of the VA seat. The sliding door is a bit useless when sitting upright (I'm a little taller than average and my eyes were roughly level with the top of the door/seat) but it does give an additional sense of privacy in lie-flat mode and is not entirely a gimmick IMO. Unfortunately the seat doesn't have a semi-reclined mode for take-off, as there is with the QF product.
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There's a good amount of storage, I found the two pockets under the side table great for storing electronics. The larger of the two has a universal power socket and two USB-A ports, and a gap around the edge which allows cables to be fed out without getting pinched while the pocket is closed. I much prefer this closable storage over the QF seat which is completely exposed and I find my charging cables are usually tangled by the end of the flight.
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There's an open storage cubby alongside your leg which can fit a pair of shoes, or you can slide your shoes under the footwell. There was also a storage cabinet next to my shoulder, but it was quite small and already filled with the amenity kit and water bottle. Not specific to the new seat but here are the current White Company amenity kit contents:
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The slide-forward and fold-out table is very stable and maybe 30-40% deeper in size than most J tables, especially those that slide out from the side like QF J. During meal service the table is deep enough to have both your meal and drink on it, but there's still plenty of space to get out of the seat mid-service by sliding the table back and dropping the aisle-side armrest.
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Also not specific to the new seat but here's the F&B menu:
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Drinks and meal orders were taken on the ground during a ~60 minute delay. Menu options were conservative, as I expected for BA, but the taste and presentation was excellent. I was happy with the pace of service considering it was a late night departure and I was in the 7th row of 18 (!!) in business.
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The pillow was the most comfortable I've come across in a J product and reminded me of the QF F pillow but maybe a tad smaller. The blanket was better than average. While I had read BA offered mattress toppers, what I received was a thin mattress protector sheet that didn't run the length of the whole seat. Not sure if the toppers were just missing from this flight, or if this is a temporary covid downgrade.
One criticism of the seat is that it didn't feel completely flat in bed mode. I suspect this is because the back rest is slightly contoured and has a bucket seat feel, which is great when sitting up but not when lying down. My torso felt 1-2cm higher than my legs which gave the seat an angled-flat feel. If there was a mattress topper this probably wouldn't be an issue.
During dinner service the crew checked whether I wanted to be woken for breakfast (which I opted to skip) and in spite of the seat angle issue I got a solid 5 hours sleep and woke on approach to Sydney. The footwell is slightly more spacious towards the window side, and I found it easy to sleep on my left side (with my knees towards the window) but a bit tight in the footwell to sleep on my right side. So if you're a side-sleeper you may want to select a seat based on that.
I feel it's safer to bury in this forum but I'll keep it cryptic anyway - I had an unexpected win from this award flight thanks to PC. Taxes were about $400 for SIN-SYD which is quite expensive, but I think worth the extra $100-150 over QF. BA seem to release last minute W/J awards on this route about a week out, depending on unsold inventory. Despite only two seats booked in F, they didn't release any last minute F awards.
I'll end with the monster GE90 about 50km out of SYD, which you can get a good view of from 11A!
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