I visited Ecuador and Galapagos this year, and flew my First first on a BA 2-4-1.

We flew LHR-MIA on the 2-4-1 in BA First. Because of the need to fly on BA metal you can't get closer than that unless you go via Madrid and then with Iberia, but then you can't use the 2-4-1.

You need to overnight in MIA but there are several good cheap hotels nearby. The next lunchtime we flew down from MIA to Quito with LAN. Nice lounge. I used my silver card to get business checkin, priority tags and access to the nice First Club America lounge. Economy seating was fine, it has good IFE. Not sure about the food as nothing veggie was loaded. Flying back we came in J, and that was excellent, good food, wine, lie (almost) flat seats.

To get from Quito to Ecuador you can fly with TAME, LAN or AeroGal. Our travel agent had booked us onto TAME and it was pretty good - free meal / soft drinks, good service. It was also my first ever stopover where I got to stay on the plane - the flight goes from Quito to Guayaquil in a 30 minute flight, then on to the Galapagos Islands.

Some things to consider - MIA to Quito is just short of 2000 miles, so you get short haul tier points rather than the long haul ones. If I had thought about it a bit more, I might have flown somewhere a bit further away in the US to make sure it was over 2000 miles, but actually I was happy just to get there quickly. Also, the LAN flight leaves Quito late in the day, arriving into MIA at midnight.

A fantastic holiday destination though, you will have a fantastic time however you get there!