British Airways no longer operates direct flights to Buenos Aires. Instead, flights are routed via Rio de Janeiro. One advantage to this is the ability to book flights between the two South American cities as a standalone ticket. Since I needed to fly back to Europe, and fares from Argentina were being expensive, I decided to head back via Brazil instead. It seemed like a good opportunity to try out the British Airways B777-200 Club Suite product. Having not flown business class on British Airways in several years, I was curious to see how it’d be.

With a scheduled flight time of just over three hours, the Buenos Aires to Rio route with British Airways feels pretty unique. This flight used to operate through São Paulo instead, but changed to Rio at the end of 2023. This was actually slightly more inconvenient for us, since it meant needing to take a domestic flight between Rio and São Paulo for our onward journey to Mexico City. Nevertheless, it’s one of the few BA flights you’ll find that doesn’t involve London. It also seemed like the perfect opportunity to experience the British Airways B777-200 Club Suite product.

Flights departing from Argentina can often be expensive. We decided to use our Avios points for this flight. There are several different options, depending on how many points you want to use, and how much you’re willing to pay in cash. We opted to pay 13,250 Avios + €65.50 each. We could have paid just €0.50 each, but this would have meant spending 24,250 Avios – and for us, this didn’t seem like great value.

British Airways B777-200 Club Suite Check-in

We arrived at Buenos Aires Ezeiza airport around three hours before departure. Check-in was almost empty when we arrived. There were separate queues for business and economy passengers, but regardless of cabin, the process was quick. As we were bringing back a few bottles of Malbec, our two checked bags were right at the maximum, weighing just over 31kg each. Fortunately, this wasn’t a problem. If you’re traveling in business, or hold oneworld sapphire status or above, 32kg is included. This assumes you’re not flying on a hand-baggage only fare, of course.

Security & Lounge Access

Although Ezeiza does have a fast-track security channel, it isn’t available to passengers flying with British Airways. Instead, we were directed to use the main security lane. Unfortunately, this was very slow. It took around 40 minutes to clear security and passport control.

Passengers travelling with British Airways are invited to use the American Airlines Iberia lounge which we’ve previously reviewed. In summary, it isn’t very good. If you’re able to, I’d recommend heading to the Centurion lounge instead.

British Airways B777-200 Club Suite Cabin

Boarding was well organised, and our flight was running to schedule. First impressions were very good. Although I’ve never been a huge fan of British Airways, I thought they’d done a really good job of implementing a suite product in business class. While overall I prefer the A350 to the B777-200, I thought the overall look and feel of the British Airways Club Suite was slightly nicer than Iberia’s new A350 product. Largely this is because BA have done a better job of creating a more stylish ambience, whereas Iberia’s business suite product feels a little more sterile.

The first thing to note is that BA’s business class cabin on the B777-200 is huge and in total there are 48 seats. Business class is divided into two different cabins. The front section has 28 seats, while the back section has 20. We decided to sit in the larger forward cabin – but since all of the seats are identical, it doesn’t make a huge difference where you choose to sit.

The cabin has a 1-2-1 layout. We chose seats 1A and 2A which are window seats. If we’d been flying onwards from Rio to London, I’d probably have preferred to take one of the middle seats, since these are a nicer option if you’re travelling with someone else. Of course, if you’re travelling solo, a window seat is always likely to be preferable.

The seats themselves were very comfortable, and when the door is closed, the suite feels very private.

It’s easy to adjust the position of the seat, including converting it into lie-flat mode. This can be done using a small touchscreen located in the armrest. Overall, I was impressed.

IFE and Amenities

Even though this was a short flight, and we were only flying to Rio, a seat topper, pillow and blanket were supplied. These were White Company branded, and all of very good quality. As I’d have expected on such a short flight, we weren’t offered an amenity kit. Presumably, these are supplied to passengers travelling onwards to London though.

Wifi was available on the flight, however, I didn’t test it out. The IFE system worked well, and the screen quality was great. BA have fitted the cabin out with an 18.5 inch screen, and the interface was intuitive. Normally, I don’t use the IFE system much, and this flight was no exception. I did follow our route and make use of the moving map though.

British Airways B777-200 Club Suite Food and Drinks

Before boarding, I wasn’t sure what to expect food and drinks wise from this flight. In the end though, I was relatively impressed with what was offered. Upon boarding, welcome drinks were offered, with a choice of either water, orange juice or champagne. Despite this being a short-haul flight, the service was more in line with long-haul.

Menus weren’t supplied for the flight, and there didn’t appear to be any options for the meal service. Shortly after take-off,  service began and I was offered a steak sandwich. I noticed that most passengers didn’t eat on this flight. Presumably, they were making the onward journey to Heathrow, and decided to wait until later.

Alongside the sandwich was a small sponge cake dessert. A bread basket was also offered. Overall, I thought it was a reasonable offering and the quality was good.

A full drinks menu was available for the flight, and while again there wasn’t a menu, the red wine I was offered was good.

Conclusions

Considering I’ve never rated British Airways particularly highly, I was pleasantly surprised by my experience. I should also mention how excellent the crew were on this flight. They were charming throughout. As we were preparing to disembark, my backpack broke and they found a small plastic bag for me to use to transport my items off the plane – a small thing – but very appreciated!

Overall, I really liked the Club Suite product. Prior to this flight, it had been at least seven years since I’d last flow with British Airways in business class. Things have definitely improved during this period. The cabin design looks sleek, the service was excellent, and I had an enjoyable flight.