BA goes anti-antimacassar in Club Europe as it ditches the cloth headrest
Have you ever wondered why airplane headrests have flaps of cloth attached to the headrest?
‘Antimacassar’ is the name of the small protective piece of fabric attached to a headrest. The name is descriptively literal: macassar oil was a popular hair oil for men in the 19th and 20th Century but had a habit of staining furniture.
As a loose addition, the antimacassar prevented the oil from transferring from scalp to furniture directly and could be washed as necessary.
As a result, antimacassars became near ubiquitous, not just in the home but on public transport as well, protecting upholstered seats for over a century.
(You see, reading HfP really is an education!)
As hair products go, macassar oil has fallen out of favour, but you’ll still find antimacassars all over the place. These days, they’re more a signifier of cleanliness and, to some extent, luxury. Rob was on airBaltic yesterday and he told me that both cabins had them, for example.
One place you’ll no longer find them is in British Airways’ short haul business class cabins. As of today, headrest covers will no longer be placed on seats. The airline has told employees this will help:
“ensure operational resilience, improve punctuality and align with our wider sustainability commitment.”
It’s unclear how much time this will save, given that Club Europe maxes out at 14 rows or 56 seats and the antimacassars were attached with velcro. As for how it aids ‘operational resilience’, well ….
Of course, with leather headrests across the fleet, the antimacassars don’t serve any real purpose, beyond distinguishing the Club Europe cabin from economy and making business class passengers feel special.
In fact, the newest short haul seats which BA unveiled in 2024 are designed without antimacassars (see image above).
The bigger saving is likely to be in the laundry of these cloth headrests. Removing their supply also marginally reduces the complexity of operations.
Add in the aggressive cuts to Club Europe catering a few months ago, and the earlier cuts to hot breakfasts on the shortest routes, and it’s turning out to be bad few months for anyone sitting at the front of the plane.
British Airways will continue to provide headrest covers on long haul flights, where fabric seats are the norm. These are generally considered more comfortable for long flights thanks to the breathable nature of the fabrics used. Economy antimacassars typically feature a plasticky material whilst premium cabins get a proper fabric one.