HomeSickAngel

Hi all, looking for some advice please. I’m looking at NY to LHR for two people at Christmas. Want to fly in business but trying to figure best strategy.

So do I use miles and get the tickets (110k each) and then pay the exhorbitant taxes and fees that Heathrow flights cost or do I pay for coach seats and use SWUs?

I know I earn miles that way but also definitely want to be in business so the risk of upgrades not clearing worries me!

Thoughts and strategies welcome!

I’m Executive Platinum.

Many thanks in advance

3Cforme

BA metal flights have high fees. AA-metal flights do not. It's not a Heathrow problem but you're going to pay UK Air Passenger Duty and airport taxes with either.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...er-thread.html

JJeffrey

What dates are you planning to travel on? Clearing SWUs around Xmas should be zero problem. And if you decide to use miles, it's extremely likely that AA will open up sAAver seats at 57.5k each way, although you'll probably have to wait till December until you really see movement.

Normal paid business travel to Europe all but stops around the holidays, so upgrades and sAAver J awards are typically very easy to come by as long as you're not traveling on a few key days.

And as mentioned above, if you fly a AA metal then you will not pay the BA fuel surcharges. But the LHR taxes/fees and UK APD tax will be charged regardless of which carrier you use. If you buy coach and upgrade, then in addition to your coach fare you will also have to pay the higher business class APD for your UK departure.

HomeSickAngel

Thank you for the speedy replies! I would be JFK>LHR on Dec 20th and return on Dec 28th if that helps.

fotographer

just my 2 cents, I have had SWU clear before on AA to LHR for Christmas travel as early as Sept, If you are dead set on doing J, I would call AA in a month or two and see if they have space open,
The 20th might put you ahead of other passengers who may not have the time off during the time you want to leave, and coming back on the 28th ,I know that helps.. (trying to get awards now for Christmas time frame)
Good luck

JDiver

You only pay the UK Air Passenger Duty originating and flying out of Heathrow. See https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...age-policy.jsp

If you definitely want to be in Business and you’re flexible in your travel plans, book Coach and upgrade into available inventory - ExpertFlyer or calling AA. Your travel companion will “borrow” your status. Or, spend miles.

A third option: Premium Economy? Like coach, you pay the reduced (50% .less) APD out if LGR.

thunderlounge

I’ve been looking for 11-23 DEC myself for several months. Tickets I’ve seen so far are pretty high still. Like summertime high. Dunno if it’s just still too far out, or what.

SeattleDavid

Depends largely on how important earning miles is for you. If you buy a ticket and upgrade then you earn miles on that ticket (and EQMs and EQDs too).

For your dates, it looks like BA has redemptions both ways throughout Christmas (17-31 December), but it will cost you as much as a Premium Economy ticket in BA surcharges ($1300 plus 115000 miles). However, there is also the random possibility that you will earn miles as though in paid J (an error that you can't expect to happen, but which does happen).

For paid tickets it looks like you can do AerLingus in Business class for $2830 (you'll need to credit to Avios though), PEY on American for around $1300 ($1450 nonstop) and as low as $700 in Y (through RDU)

HomeSickAngel

Thank you all. Some good advice there. I’m going to sit it out for a month or two I think and see what happens to fares.


Cheers

mvoight

Regarding this, you can even earn Alaska Airlines miles on AerLingus now
https://newsroom.alaskaair.com/2018-...ghts-to-Europe

JJeffrey

December is still months and months away, I would be in no hurry at all, unless you just happen to see C space open up on a potential flight.

stephem

I was up against this about two months ago and what I found was lots of C space (6+ on some flights) for days where there was no super cheap O economy tickets available and so while I really wanted to burn some SWUs it wound up not being economical. Eventually I found us 5 U biz Saaver awards on AA via LAX-LHR that I pulled the trigger on. I have been buying $1,000-$1300 biz tickets for the last few years during the various flash sales, just grabbing Christmas and Summer ones when the 24-48 hour sales were on, but none of that this year-- at least from the west coast there has been little in that price range. While there are some good O class eco sales, getting those paired with C space that is available at booking was also tough. And if you wait too long on the Christmas time paid eco flights, you will not find anything cheap.

Antarius

Depends on what travel you have planned otherwise, IMO. Meaning, JFK-LHR is a short hop.. so I'd save SWUs and miles for something better. I barely manage 4 something hours of sleep on that flight, which is what I can pull off in Y anyways. So if those miles or SWUs are better served elsewhere, use them there.