Azores Airlines vs British Airways

Best product each one flies

Scored on what can be verified. Service, food and ground recovery are absent deliberately: they need someone in the seat, and they live in the reviews rather than here.

One caveat on the Value line, stated rather than buried: the cabin scores describe a business product and the fares behind Value are economy. A carrier that prices economy aggressively generally prices business the same way, but they are different products. Read Value as how an airline prices against its competitors, not as what its business seat costs.

Dimension by dimension

• Seat: British Airways

  0/10 on the A321neo / A321LR against 10/10 on the A350-1000 / 787-10 / 777 (Club Suite).

• IFE: level

  Screens, connectivity and power: 8/10 against 8/10.

• Lounge & bags: British Airways

  What the fare includes before you board: 5/10 against 10/10.

• Value: Azores Airlines

  Median premium over the cheapest carrier on the same route: 9/10 against 5/10.

What happens if the aircraft swaps

Both carriers are paying-the-same-fare-either-way propositions on some frames. The worst product each one flies:

Azores Airlines: Comfort Class is a wide 2-2 recliner, not a lie-flat business seat. The airline states about 40 degrees of recline; it is closer to US domestic first than to a transatlantic bed, and the sub-five-hour Azores sector is what it is built for.

British Airways: The outgoing yin-yang cabin: eight seats abreast, half of them rear-facing, and window seats requiring a climb over a stranger. A materially worse product at the same fare.

Common questions

Is Azores Airlines or British Airways better to Europe?

British Airways scores 8.3/10 against Azores Airlines at 5.5/10 on seat, screens, lounge and fare. On the four dimensions we can verify, Azores Airlines wins 1 and British Airways wins 2. Service and food are not scored here because they cannot be read off a spec sheet.

Does the aircraft change the answer?

Yes. British Airways scores 10/10 on the A350-1000 / 787-10 / 777 (Club Suite) and 5/10 on the 787-8 / some 787-9 (old Club World). Check the equipment on your date before deciding.

Has Jon flown either of these?

Azores Airlines, in business on a Europe route. British Airways has not been flown, so nothing here claims firsthand experience of its cabin.