British Airways – premium airside transfer, WiFi roll out and new boarding technology

Julian Munsey
Julian Munsey
Last Updated: 21 April 2021

Following our blog at the beginning of the year where we looked at the plans BA had announced for 2018, we’ve started to see them being implemented so thought we’d update you on what has changed.

British Airways Premium transfer

Premium transfer service

‘Premium Transfer Drive’ is a service that has been launched at Heathrow to try and stop customers missing their onward connections by offering a chauffeured car from your inbound flight to your connecting flight.

You will experience the service if you are at risk of missing your onward connection and are transferring through Heathrow on a domestic flight and flying onwards in Club Europe, Club World or First or you are a Silver or Gold cardholder.

You should be notified while you are onboard that a car will be collecting you so you know not to panic (or get on a bus or rush off to try and make the connection!).

British Airways LA

Transforming the international boarding experience

BA is the first European airline to trial biometric boarding gates at LA on international flights. The technology means you present your passport and boarding card at check-in and security but there is no need to have it checked at the gate. Instead, you will have your biometric data checked by looking into a camera and once it is verified, you are free to board the plane. You’ll recognise the technology if you travel on domestic flights through Terminal 5 but this is the first time BA has used it as the sole check at the boarding gate. We imagine that if it is successful this technology will be rolled out across the airline’s key airports where the infrastructure supports it and should improve the speed of boarding, especially on a busy A380.

British Airways WiFi

Launch of onboard WiFi

For those of you who frequently use BA to travel for business, you might be relieved to hear that their WiFi roll out is underway and 90% of the fleet will have been fitted with the high-speed internet connection by 2019. At the moment just 4 longhaul aircraft have the functionality and if you find yourself travelling on one of those (it will be either a 747 or 777-300) you can either choose to browse or stream content with packages starting at £4.99. Interestingly in March Singapore Airlines announced that they will be offering their Suites, Business Class, First Class and PPS cardholders complimentary WiFi access but it remains to be seen if BA and other airlines will follow suit or not.

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