FullFare

Thinking of going over Thanksgiving to London to catch theatre. Grandkids are at the in-laws and we're too old to fly coach. So, looking at the fares on either UA or BA----UA is $5052 vs $5650 for BA. Bother are flying 747-400's with 8 seat across in business and both leave at about the same time. Anyone know why the $600 discrepancy? Is BA really that much better? Virgin's price is the same as UA's.

Also, does anyone know if UA will allow upgrade on Z fares with miles and co-pay as it seems to have done prior to the merger?

andrewwm

No good reason the prices are different other than sometimes fares are lower on one carrier rather than the other.

UA and BA's seats are very similar. Service/lounge is better on BA. Not sure if it is worth $600 extra, but that's your call. One thing to note about BA is that their seat arrangement is not very conducive to two people traveling together (same with Virgin).

Personally, I'd go with Virgin, which is probably the best of the 3 if you don't care about miles. If miles matter, UA isn't that much worse than the other 2.

Z fare would require $550 copay and 20,000 miles per person per direction.

MarkedMan

Lounges are really the biggest differentiator between UA and BA, not to mention VS. Honestly on board I am not convinced the difference is all that much. Flew VS many, many years, and have survived UA just fine

UAkls

FYI...the last few years there has been a Thanksgiving business class fare sale, provided you leave no earlier than the Sunday before Thanksgiving and return the Mon or Tues after. I have gotten Z fares from ORD for about $2400 and have seen them for just a tad more from SFO. I forget when the sale normally appears but it sometime toward the end of summer.

Time traveller

Although UA Z fares are not upgradable with SWUs, they are upgradable with miles+copay. With BA, you can upgrade with miles without copay to F if they open up an award F seat.

BA's higher fares may include additional fuel surcharge.

StingWest

Used to like VS Upper Class seat a lot, but these days it's seeming kind of dated.
The VS London lounge is really something to experience if you haven't done so however.

Absolutely love the upper deck on UA's new 747 layout - really nice!

If you want better service and a great lounge experience on the way back, go with VS- if you want a better seat, go with UA in my opinion. I wouldn't pay more to go with BA.

entropy

If the miles aren't important I'd take VS.

The lounge product is so much better than UA its laughable. And I'd recommend that you eat whatever you want in the lounges because the food onboard is quite bad.
VS seats and service are nice though, but not good as others have mentioned, for couples.

EnvoyBoy

Isn't it also the case on a Z fare on BA that can't choose seats until check-in? That alone would drive me away. If I'm paying big bucks and planning that far in advance, I'm not willing to roll the dice on a crappy seat for such a long flight.

Jorgen

My attitude to lounges is: sure, it's nice to be in a nice lounge rather than the general terminal, but even the nicest lounges aren't *that* fabulous by the standards of the great wide world outside the airport.

As far as food goes, they're not as good as a decent restaurant. As far as drinks go, they're exactly the same as any decent bar. If you want cool chairs and snazzy architecture, go stand in the lobby of a fancy hotel. All those experiences put together (eating at a decent restaurant, quaffing a few decent drinks, and standing in the lobby of a fancy hotel) are worth less than a hundred bucks put together. So spending any extra money (or even forgoing any worthwhile miles) in order to sit in a fancy-pants lounge like the LHR Virgin Clubhouse rather than a rather boring one like the LHR *A Lounge seems like poor prioritization.

(I've never actually been to the LHR Virgin Clubhouse, but I've seen pictures. Looks like a nice hotel lobby. )

StingWest

The LHR Virgin Lounge is quite amazing though. I never chanced it, but you can even get a haircut there! They serve good, light meals at a sit-down restaurant - all included. They have a very large open feel to them - lots of different places to sit, work area with computers, a pool table, kids area etc.

Definitely worth it to chose VS - all else being equal. (but "all else" is rarely equal!)