Hong Kong to London in Premium Economy on a British Airways Boeing 787-9

British Airways currently has only one flight per day from Hong Kong. It operates with a Boeing 787-9 aircraft and operates all four cabins. Increased demand means that the route is now generally congested. And due to ongoing rerouting from Russia and Ukraine, it will be a much longer flight than before. Simple His Flying’s Justin Hayward tried out this long and busy overnight flight in his premium economy class (known as British Airways’ World his Traveler Plus) and found it an improvement over economy class. But nothing fancy.

British Airways from Hong Kong

British Airways currently operates a daily flight between Hong Kong and London using Boeing 787-9 aircraft. This is a significant reduction from the pre-pandemic schedule of two flights a day, one operated using Airbus A380s and the other using Boeing 777-300 aircraft. Flight BA32 departs Hong Kong at 11pm every night and is scheduled to arrive at London Heathrow Airport at 5:50am the next day. This flight time he is 14 hours and 50 minutes, about two hours longer than before. The flight will take a southern route through Central Asia and Europe to avoid Russian and Ukrainian airspace.

Photo: Justin Hayward/Simple Flying

Arrival and airport experience

For this 11pm departure, I arrived at the airport about two and a half hours early. British Airways check-in and baggage drop desks in Hong Kong are only open 3 hours prior to departure, and you cannot check in your baggage earlier. You can still get tickets.) Before the pandemic, many airlines (including British Airways) used the Airport Express in-town check-in service to allow early check-in and baggage drop at any time of the day. This facility currently remains closed.

Check-in was busy as all passengers arrived at the same time. There is a dedicated check-in area for World Traveler Plus and other areas. oneworld elite status. Any of these are much faster than common queues. After check-in, Hong Kong doesn’t have quick security or immigration, but this was fast at this time of the evening.

Photo: Justin Hayward/Simple Flying

British Airways flights are currently scheduled to depart from Gate 6 every night (of course this is subject to change at any time). This is a convenient gate right in front of the airport, just minutes from immigration and security. It is also right next to the Cathay Pacific deck lounge.

Regular World Traveler Plus tickets do not include lounge access, oneworld status. The lounge has a ‘terrace’ overlooking the departure gates, making it easy to leave the lounge and take your time to board. At a big airport and if you don’t have a lot of waiting time, this is a welcome perk! I took a closer look at this lounge on my last flight.

Photo: Justin Hayward/Simple Flying

This flight boarded on time and was the last one to board. With such a long flight, I didn’t think there was much more to spend onboard!

Photo: Justin Hayward/Simple Flying

World Traveler Plus Cabin

British Airways uses different brand names for each cabin class. On long-haul flights, Economy is called World Traveler and Premium Economy is called World Traveler Plus. On a Boeing 787-9, this is his one cabin in his six rows, located directly behind the rear Clubworld cabin (not the toilet/galley area, just a divider in between).

Photo: Justin Hayward/Simple Flying

The seats are arranged in 2-3-2 throughout the cabin. There is a nice size table that folds out from the fixed armrests. Of course, there are standard seat back pockets, but no extra storage for World Traveler Plus seats (which are only present on the Airbus A380, with fixed side bins for storage and extra surfaces). There is also a footrest, but it didn’t help much when trying to stretch out and sleep.

Photo: Justin Hayward/Simple Flying

Seating is more welcoming than Economy/World Traveler (these seats are shown in the photo below). . The seat pitch is also quite narrow from 38 inches to 31 inches.

Photo: Justin Hayward/Simple Flying

Especially on long flights, this comfort is very welcome. It’s not significantly better, though, and in some ways lags behind what many other airlines are doing in premium economy right now. (probably won’t be delivered until 2026).

Except for aisle access, you rarely leave your seat. All seats have the same legroom, and although the front row may appear to have a little more legroom, the limit is the limited legroom in the front seats. I chose an aisle seat in the middle of the cabin and was very happy with it. I see the advantage and preference that some prefer the more private window seats. But for me, on a long flight like this, it’s important to be able to get up and walk around and access my luggage at any time.

Photo: Justin Hayward/Simple Flying

service and rest

There was no pre-departure drink service on World Traveler Plus (this is a change as British Airways used to offer this). Dinner service came shortly after departure – welcomed by such a late departure, we were served in front of the main cabin. For the main, you can choose from beef tenderloin and grilled potatoes, sweet and sour chicken rice, and Portuguese mixed vegetables. The color of the cover seemed confusing and there was general confusion from the crew who seemed unable to agree on what each dish was! It became a sweet and sour chicken. It was very bland and a rather small portion for such a long flight.

Photo: Justin Hayward/Simple Flying

I was surprised that the number of each item was limited. Beef is gone in the third row, and the back two rows are all vegetarian menus. Of course, this can happen on any flight. But with limited payloads and full cabins, it seems to happen on every flight!

There was a selection of beers, wines, spirits and soft drinks, but no after-meal bar service or offerings (perhaps we could have asked for more drinks). remained dark for over 12 hours thereafter. No further food or snacks were available other than a selection of basic packs of biscuits in the galley. Again, I remember better options being available here in the past. This surprised me on such a long flight.

The second meal, with a choice of full English breakfast or mushroom rice vermicelli, was served one hour prior to arrival.

Photo: Justin Hayward/Simple Flying

I slept for a few hours and was so broken. A busy cabin like this is always distracting. It was very difficult to read or use the laptop as the lights on the plane were dim. Fortunately, the in-flight entertainment system is excellent. The screen isn’t the biggest, but the system is reliable and has a good selection of movies. This includes many new releases and an extensive archive collection. British Airways does a good job of creating interesting categories, including a topical selection of classic 80’s and 90’s movies and ‘anti-Valentine’s Day’ movies.

Photo: Justin Hayward/Simple Flying

Arriving at London Heathrow Airport

I arrived at London Heathrow airport about 30 minutes early. It was one of the first flights to land in the morning and I had the familiar experience of the airport not being ready! . Immigration was quick and with luggage we would have arrived in London around 6:30am. Collecting the bags made him wait another hour. It’s not uncommon at Heathrow Airport these days, but it’s surprising to have such a quiet time before your arrival.

Photo: Justin Hayward/Simple Flying

Have you recently flown British Airways to Hong Kong (or any other Asian destination) in a World Traveler or World Traveler Plus cabin? Feel free to share how you found these long flights in the comments section .