Jameslondon77

Morning all - first time poster.

Have a Ba holiday booked for next week in ET, flying on BA0800 departing at 11am from Heathrow T5. ive been trying to upgrade with cash for a few weeks now and spoke to ba today who quoted 350 GBP per person for the outbound leg. No way was i paying that, i then noticed there was avios seats, called again and was told 8500 miles pp and 13 GBP tax's. Is it worth the cost? The holiday is for a special occasion.

Will it be a full english breakfast and do we get the likes of priority baggage still?

Currently seated in seats 11A 11B.

Would really appreciate peoples thoughts,

James

Swiss Tony

The 11am departure would be 'brunch' which doesn't seem to be well liked.

I guess you have to decide what you could use the miles on otherwise and make a call from there. If it's a special trip, I would be tempted to do it, although the lounge offering in the morning is a bit scant, too.

Note that on BA holiday bookings, you don't get the proactive online upgrade options in advance, but they may be on offer on the day.

BA6948

If it is a special occasion then go for it. 8500 pts is not much. You'll get access to the lounge, enjoy a few drinks and then travel in a better comfort than in ET knowing the whole BoB mess now. There is nothing left in BA ET. It is just another LCC with worse servce no matter how they try to spin it.

DaveS

Iceland is a beautiful place to go at this time of year - a good choice for a special occasion. You will very quickly forget about the flight, so not worth the cash and debatable for the points. The flight is not too long to endure the ET 'experience'.

Jameslondon77

thanks, what will the lounge have on offer? The only 2 pairs left are 3DF 4AC, which is best?

Swiss Tony

There's a dashboard at the top of the forum that gives a blow by blow account, but the bacon rolls disappear at 9am.

You can always get champagne on request - just need to flag down one of the catering staff.

mikeyfly

Hi James - there may in fact be more seats available but the choice will be limited to status - do you have BA status ?

And welcome to the Forum just noticed post 1 / 2

Jameslondon77

Hello - i have no status (blue)

CoweyB

You will have a great time. I visited last year and Ibwill definitely go back.

Just be aware if you are upgrading the return leg with Avios that there is no Lounge access at KEF. It's also possible to order your duty free in advance of your arrival into Iceland and have it there waiting for you. Alcohol is expensive in Iceland so depending on whether you drink you might want to avail of the option...

HarryHolden68

I did this flight in December and upgraded using avios. I don't regret it even though I already had lounge access - note that there is no lounge for BA passengers in REK but the airport has plenty of options, albeit at a cost. The bus transfers tend to "dump" 50 passengers at the airport at a time somewhat regularly and not too early, so if you are unlucky you may find yourself at the back of a long Euro traveller queue at check-in. Being in club will help with light queues at the dedicated check-in.

The flight times, especially the return make a couple of bottles of champagne enjoyable and of course the meals help compared to BoB.

Add to that, I had great crew including on the return, a CSD who allowed the Purser to "manage" the Club cabin alone to help the Purser in his quest for further development and promotion.

That the BA IT system then awarded full club Tier Points was the icing on the cake.

If you can afford the Avios, I would do it. You could save the £13pp in food and drink alone.

Jameslondon77

Only reward space on the outbound sadly. So I will just upgrade the first leg. What was the best seats out of the 2 that are left?

corporate-wage-slave

The CE seating is fairly similar apart from row 1 (and a few complications with the Gatwick fleet) but I would go for D+F because the view coming into KEF along the coast line should be better that way. However there are several approaches to that airport, and bad weather in Iceland isn't unknown. I go there every 3 months and I've only had 2 clear views so far. The return service availability may show up for CE, so keep an eye out for that, but there is no lounge for anyone in KEF except Icelandair and their partner airlines, and BA is in competition to them. Nice airport though, they have put Icelandic poetry (translated into English) on the walls there. You can get expensive but exotic looking Icelandic gin from there, which went down very well as a present.

For lounges, the departure is usually from T5A, but the best lounge is in T5B. So read up on the lounges in the Dashboard, and also the passageway guide, which allows you to easily get to and from that lounge for any T5 gate.

Welcome to Flyertalk and welcome to the BA forum Jameslondon77, it's good to see you here, I hope you have a good time in Iceland and that you continue to participate actively in this forum.

liamvad

Hi,I did this a while back,BA to KEF and back in ET,about 3 hours,if you come back ET after security at KEF they have large display buckets full if miniatures of alcohol,grab some there for your flight back!!! I had all my trips in Iceland cancelled as the weather was so bad,but I had a great time,was there for 3 days,and was never bored,but it is expensive,so beware of that,the road to/from the airport is through old lava fields,have a great time....

liamvad

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BrianWBrazil

Unlimited Bloody Marys (mixed to your own liking) and Kettle chips! What else would a person need at that time in the morning?