BA CW to LAS from LHR or LGW - please help me to decide!
Hi Everyone,
I've been a lurker for 3 or 4 months now but have now finally plucked up the courage to create an account and make a post. So much great info available on this site so I have been reading and reading and taking it all in.
I am very new to the points game and only signed up to a FF scheme (BAEC) for the first time in November. Thanks to some great advice from Raffles and by taking a BMI Amex, I have managed to amass about 40,000 avios in 3 months and I am now ready to book my first reward flight.
To get the most from my points, I have decided to book a cash ticket in WT+ to Las Vegas and use 25k points to upgrade to CW.
My question is as a first timer in CW, I am really excited at the prospect of flying in this cabin, being treated like a human being (rather than being herded like cattle! And making the most of my experience. Therefore, would you experienced flyers recommend I fly the 777 from Gatwick or take the 747 service from Heathrow?
As I only have Blue status, I wll have to wait until T-24 to make my seat selection. I have already read the Best Seat Guide for CW and it seems unlikely that I will be able to snag the coveted 62/64 A/K seats on the 747 from LHR but I do want a window seat. Perhaps I have a better chance to et a window seat (where I don't have to hop over someone) if I select the LGW flight? However, it seems that the lounge at T5 is much better than the lounge at Gatwick?
Any advice from those who have fown this route would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry for rambling on so long and hope this isn't a dumb ... question!
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Welcome Escapade
Welcome Escapade to FlyerTalk and well done for taking the plunge on the BAEC board too. It's such a popular route that I'm sure your question is going to interest many people, so thank you for asking it. Please keep updated with your travels, it's always good to learn from others.
I would definintely go LHR. The lounge and facilities at T5 are, in my opinion, world class. More over Upper Deck on a 747 is the best way to travel CW without doubt. If it's a special trip then you should get that window seat. Despite all the pinhead dancing, and I'm guilty of it too, all seats in UD are good.
For me 777 are no fun in CW, others will disagree, but the 3 class CW on 777 isn't too bad.
Don't forget to put your details on the lounge meet-up thread, someone may be able to take you into CCR or Flounge.
If it's the first time you're doing it, I highly recommend doing the LHR flight and spending the £60 to bag 64K on the UD on the day flight out to LAS.
On the way back home it'll be a night flight and you'll (hopefully) sleep, so can choose a T-24
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Even though I'm only 15 mins from Heathrow, I would still choose Heathrow over Gatwick any day of the week.
Gatwick is only 40 mins away so will only go there if the price different is a lot.
For anything less than 10% difference I would always choose Heathrow.
Your decision may be made for you, availability for upgrading using Avios can be hard to get to LAS, but you may have slightly more luck from LGW.
I have still found much more availability on the LHR flight since the LGW flight was introduced. (not surprising given the LGW flight is only 3 times a week).
I have to make the same decision, and I'm leaning towards going out ex-LGW purely because I prefer to arrive in LAS earlier. I will probably come back to LHR as I'd rather be on the UD on a night flight.
I'd second the LHR recommendation because you get a better CW experience in the lounge (including the chance of getting a spa treatment if that's your thing and you get there early enough).
the LGW flight also arrives into LAS around the same time as the VS flight and immigration can get busy..i flew LHR-LAS (yes, one of those pesky WTP lot who got off the plane before J) and immigration was empty...
Thank you for the fast, plentiful, astute and not to mention genial advice folks!
Looks like LHR it is.
I am looking at early March and funnily enough, the difference in price doesn't seem to be too much; LGW is priced at £1071 + 25k avios and LHR at £1094 + 25k avios.
I called BAEC yesterday and they offered me the above LHR fare plus 5 nights at The Palazzo in a Bella Suite for an all inclusive price of £1490.
I think this is too good to refuse as the accomodation works out at less than £80 per night and I beleive I may get an additional 5 or 10k avios bonus for booking the hotel with the flight?
Programs: BA Gold, bmi *G, Flying Blue Gold, Marriott Silver, EK, TK, MH, UA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mdj1
If you're first experience of CW and the especially the lounge is at LGW you won't bother again.
Even the Galleries lounge at LHR is better than the F lounge at LGW.
Any I rarely had a problem bagging upper deck seats even 62 or 64 as a blue, you just need to be punctual!
I guess it depends how important the lounge is to you. Yes, the lounges are a bit nicer at LHR, but you're there for, like, an hour, as opposed to 10 hours on the plane. Apparently the Elemis treatments are lovely - but there've never been any spaces when I've been there. Compared to LHR, the whole airport experience at LGW is a lot less frenetic, especially with a proper working Fast Track, a lot fewer BA passengers, and much, much faster inbound immigration in the mornings
And maybe it's my luck and the fact that my CW trips have historically been last-minute/Gold-heavy business routes, but I have never gotten close to getting 747 Upper Deck seats as a blue (without paying). In fact, I generally get given the middle section downstairs, or, worse, the middle seats - mmm, nothing better than sitting (bum)cheek-to-(bum)cheek with someone else in a suit who hasn't showered all day and is desperate to get home on the last flight from JFK/IAD/ORD on a Friday night
By contrast, Gatwick will be filled with non-status novice passengers, so there's a much better chance of snagging window seats, and the LGW 777 has two cosy mini-cabins instead of the LHR dormitory. Finally, YMMV, and this is a gross generalisation, but I've had better cabin service experiences, on average, out of LGW
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Welcome to flyertalk Escapade
Very nice to see some new faces here ! i really hope that you hang around and then post about your flights once you take them etc !
you do of course have the option of flying out of one London airport and returning to another if you so choose !
And if your paying for wt+ remember that if upgrade space opens up for you, your flights might well post as 0 avios and 0 Tier Points, which is a known error on ba.com which will be resolved by calling up
cs
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Doesn't really seem to fit in on BA flyertalk anymore, hey ho, times change, I'm still around and might post from time to time, still read forum and PMs
