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Virgin Atlantic or British Airways from JFK to Heathrow which is better?

sinned19

By sinned19,
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Woobstr112G "Live from...." Rare

Woobstr112G

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I can only speak to half of this as we have only flown VA Upper class. We are scheduled for first Class on BA in September. While the service was second to none, I really didn't like the Upper Class cabin. It seemed quite claustrophobic ( and this does not bother me). I also found the pods to be somewhat uncomfortable. Remember, this is just my personal opinion.....

 

Bob

Edited by Woobstr112G
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reedprincess

reedprincess

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We vastly prefer BAs First class over Virgin's Upper class. Excellent service, great food, large personal space, extra baggage allowance, etc. We prefer Virgin's Upper Class over BAs Club World class, - Virgin's Upper class offers more space and amenities over BAs Club World (business class).

In economy, 6 of one, half a dozen of the other. Economy is fairly similar across the board. Smallish seats, economy meal, packed aisles.... If it's economy, we'd be booking based on price and schedule, without much differentiation.

Edited by reedprincess
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wowzz

wowzz

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On a 'relatively' short flight like JFK - LHR, I would be inclined to save my money, and travel in Premium Economy, rather than Club. Both BA and Virgin operate a 'proper' PE service, with a separate cabin. The Virgin offering is a bit more 'upmarket' than BA.

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Gardyloo Excellent Advice! Rare

Gardyloo

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Hello,

We are taking a British Isles Cruise and are looking at fights from JFK to Heathrow both through eZair and on our own, which airline is better?

I am 6`2 and DW is about 5`9.

I appreciate your input.

Dennis

Neither.

 

If you book on American Airlines you can pay a little extra for "main cabin extra" economy seats with lots more legroom and priority boarding (hence no fighting for space in the overhead bins.) Plus, you can pick your seats at no cost when you book the flights, rather than having to pay extra to pick seats on BA or Virgin (unless you're willing to wait until 24h before flying.)

 

MCE is NOT a "premium economy" product like BA's World Traveller Plus or Virgin's premium economy, which are separate cabins and which will cost a lot more than ordinary economy.

 

Delta (JFK) and United (Newark) have similar "economy plus" products.

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Gardyloo Excellent Advice! Rare

Gardyloo

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According to their Web site, the extra legroom on AA is 6 inches. Hardly 'lots more legroom'. And of course you have to pay for your beer and wine (and spirits) on AA, which are free on BA and Virgin.

Beer and wine are complementary on AA transatlantic and have been for years. For economy, I'd say six inches is quite a lot if the alternative is having the seat in front of you reclining into your nose. YMMV as in all things.

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waterbug123

waterbug123

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The extra legroom and extra recline (on some) is a matter of perspective as to whether it's worth it or not. Some people book an Economy + type product, believing it's pretty much like business class or domestic first class and are sorely disappointed to find out it is a LOT closer to regular economy than to either biz or first. I was on a flight recently with a friend who got burned by that unrealistic expectation. As long as one understands exactly what a few inches of extra legroom means and/or a tiny bit of extra recline (so little I can barely tell the difference, myself) then one can make a fair judgement as whether it's worth whatever the difference in price is.

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wowzz

wowzz

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Beer and wine are complementary on AA transatlantic and have been for years. For economy, I'd say six inches is quite a lot if the alternative is having the seat in front of you reclining into your nose. YMMV as in all things.

 

Mea Culpa.

However, as has been noted before, it is important that pax know that the AA offering is not a true PE product, and the extra 6 inches is a lot less space than you might be expecting.

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FawnRiver

FawnRiver

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I don't know what planes they're using, but watch out for the Dreamliners if going BA. Their economy class is awful, booking the bulkhead or exit rows doesn't really help.

 

Our first BA flight YYZ-LHR, I paid extra for exit row for DH who is also 6'2 (& I'm 5'8). With the immovable armrests, the seats were extremely tight and uncomfortable. I have an old hip injury from a car accident and the seat was so tight to my hip that by the time we landed, I couldn't walk without help. I'm a little hippy, but even DH was not comfortable with the width. The girl in the "window" seat (there wasn't a window there) knew what she was doing when she booked. There is a jut out there for the door, she was so petite that she curled up wedged between her seat and the jut out and slept very well.

 

Our last BA flight, we paid extra for the Plus class and it was worth every penny. And on our way home, we were given an upgrade to Business Class :D

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Gardyloo Excellent Advice! Rare

Gardyloo

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...the AA offering is not a true PE product, and the extra 6 inches is a lot less space than you might be expecting.
Which is what I said. OTOH BA WT+ offers 7 inches and costs $1100 more for some arbitrary dates in June, plus the price of reserving your seat.

 

For comparison, BA WT+ is $100 more expensive than business class on LOT's new 787s - http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/07/12/review-lot-polish-business-class-787-new-york-warsaw/

Edited by Gardyloo
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Twickenham

Twickenham

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Which is what I said. OTOH BA WT+ offers 7 inches and costs $1100 more for some arbitrary dates in June, plus the price of reserving your seat.

 

For comparison, BA WT+ is $100 more expensive than business class on LOT's new 787s - http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/07/12/review-lot-polish-business-class-787-new-york-warsaw/

 

Good grief, if you can get LOT biz for less than BA WT+, then that really is a no-brainer! I mean, I enjoyed WT+, but LOT biz on the 787 was eons beyond - excellent product, and very friendly FAs.

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  • 2 weeks later...
sverigecruiser

sverigecruiser

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It's only a 6 hr flight. The few extra inches on the various US based airlines (MCE, E+ or the Delta one) would be fine. All the economy is about the same, AA, BA, UA, DL doesn't really matter...you are in the back and there really isn't much difference.

 

Are all the old aircrafts gone from AA now? We flew in an old aircraft (767?) from Miami 2012 and that was far from what BA offer in World Traveller.

 

I will not make that mistake again so I will stay away from AA on longer flights!!!

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