First impressions were very positive. The cabin looks very upmarket. As it was a night time departure, the whole cabin was bathed in blue light, adding to the appeal.

Set at the bulkhead at the front of the second Club World cabin my seat (8A) promised extra legroom, made possible by the foot recess being in the bulkhead, rather than being accommodated in the seat in front of it. Extra legroom is essential for me at just shy of 2m tall. . Waiting for me was a large pillow and a blanket from luxury brand ‘The White Company’. Also at the seat was a bottle of water, and a comfort pack (also from ‘The White Company’) which contained an eye mask, earplugs, socks, and some hand and body lotion.

The Club World Suite offers direct aisle access for all travellers, which is a definite improvement over the previous British Airways design. The seat also converts into a fully flat bed.

British Airways did not offer pyjamas, nor did they offer a proper, full-sized seat topper, so the bed is relatively firm. They did provide a semi-fitted, lightly padded rectangle that you can place over the seat fold – but it is way too small. It moves around during the night (as it is not attached to the seat) and is kind of pointless. The duvet and pillow are great – soft and well-sized.

Settling down to get some sleep, I remembered the flaw of the reverse herringbone seat layout, especially for a tall person… There is VERY limited leg and knee space if one is a side sleeper.

The angle of the bed, combined with the curve of the seat surround (to accommodate the legs of the person behind you) means that there is only one position I can physically fit into when laying on my side – which is a challenge when airborne for over half a day.

This isn’t an issue specific to BA, and I’ve found this to be a problem on reverse herringbone used aboard Finnair, Cathay, and Virgin Australia in the past. But for BA, it is a significant drawback from the old Club World seating, which offered a staggered design, with nothing interrupting the angle of a sleeping person. Choosing a carrier that uses the reverse herringbone seat is on me, so I will continue to seek out staggered flat beds that offer better leg and knee space in the future.

Oddly, the sleep quality on this flight, in the new product, was significantly worse than what I experienced on the British Airways A380 some years back. On that trip, fitted with the old product, I had one of my best night’s sleep in the air, ever!

British Airways also made a big deal about the Club Suite ‘door’, that promises to offer extra privacy. Sure, this may be true to a degree, but the door on my suite would not close properly, so it was a bit of a non-starter.

A flight attendant hurriedly brought around welcome drinks before take off. There was a definite feeling of stress in the interaction, but I figured the team were busy, as boarding was underway. I was given a menu (handed over with no verbal interaction) for the flight ahead. After take-off, the service started. Supper was preceded by a drinks service. There was no offer for second drinks or top-ups, something every other premium airline I’ve flown does as standard.

Sadly, the crew interactions were no better during the long flight than what we experienced at boarding. Each crew interaction was rushed. No one was overtly rude, but no one excelled at customer service either.

The cabin crew maintained their rushed, disinterested service during breakfast – so the whole dining experience was rather forgettable.

Service was transactional. Rather than making one feel special for flying Club World, I felt like any request (such as some more water, or a cup of tea later in the flight) was a bit of an imposition. At one point, the flight attendant serving me sighed when I asked for a cup of tea. This reduced the overall quality of this flight.

This trip offered a scaled-back ‘supper’ meal after take-off, rather than a full dinner, and breakfast before arrival into London. For supper, I ordered Grilled Beef fillet which was flavourful and plenty filling enough. I skipped dessert, as I wanted to maximize my sleep time.

A few hours out of Heathrow, breakfast was served. I opted for the Spinach and Feta Frittata. I had asked about the Full Breakfast sans bacon and sausage; but was told it was all pre-prepared in Singapore, so edits were not available.

WiFi was available and it had a good speed. The IFE library had loads of options but given this was a night time flight and sleep was priority I really didn’t use the IFE for much more than checking the route map.

One final note, my luggage, tagged as Priority First Class due to my One World Emerald status, was last onto the conveyor belt and took over 40 minutes to arrive.

In all, the British Airways experience was… okay. Given I paid a relatively low fare for this trip, it was acceptable, but only just.

The seat was fine, and it would have been great for a shorter person.

The cabin looks wonderful, and the food was good – but the service really let the airline down. There was just none of the top-class magic that you get on carriers like Emirates and Singapore Airlines, or the warmth of friendly, casual service on Qantas, which is a huge shame, as BA should be so much better.

The other thing to bear in mind is the 777-300ER is an older aircraft. Compared to newer aircraft such as the A380, A350 or 787, the 777 is noisy. The huge engines make a lot of noise, and its air-conditioning system is very loud – so using earplugs was a must.

Would I fly British Airways Club World again? Yes.

Would it be my first choice based on this experience? No.