BA Business Class
 

Does anyone know the seat pitch on BA Business Class from Heathrow to Rome? I think it is on a 737. Also any comments on the service for a 2.5 hour flight?

On BA's 737 within Europe, the seats of Club Europe are basically the same as coach. Same width, same pitch. However, seating is 2-3. The ones on the 2-seat side have half a seat between them, while those on the 3-seat side has wider armrest than coach, but that's about it with the seats.

They should have better food.

I've never flown them, but last time I had a seat on the 1st row in coach NAP-LGW, so I had a lot of time studying the seats up there.

BA CE has around 3 more inches of legroom than in the back. IIRC it's 34-36 inches in their 737s (31 or less in economy.) The seats are indeed wider than in coach, organized 2/3 as rkkwan says, with the A/C side being far preferable than the other, as they have a 4" divider between the chairs and each seat has two armrests, plus a wee tray table perfect for beverages.

On the D/E/F side they can and will fill the middle seat, which is unpleasant given the price of business class.

Catering is of a pretty high standard - full meal service, drinks, etc., even on surprisingly short flights. On LHR-FCO you'll get some meal or other, depending on time of day.

On the 737s they can "move" the CE-ET zone barrier back and forth, and sometimes coach pax can sit in CE chairs if the "boundary" has been pushed forward.

Yes, I was sitting in Row 6, when Row 5 (with the 2-3 seating) was also available for coach. I should have grabbed one of those if I'd known better. The divider was set between Row 4 and 5 on that flight.

Depending on how much demand they have on business class, CE seats can go quite far back. I've been on intra-European BA flights where CE goes to rows 12 or so (half way back). I also try to get As or Cs--you can select seats and print out boarding passes on their internet check-in.

The most civilised part of CE out of LHR is Zone R. It's a bit of schlep to get there (around the corner from El Al check in area), but they have a separate security gate which does speed up things.
Meals--usually hot English breakfast in the morning (complete with bacon, grilled tomatoes and sauteed mushrooms), lunch can be salad with some meat/cheese/seafood toppings.

You might want to avoid BA in the next month or so, until they resolve their labour issues: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6261935.stm

A good place to monitor updates on the potential for strikes is the BA forum on flyertalk.com, especially since some of the posters are BA crew.