International First - AA vs BA
 

Am looking at F to Continental Europe next year, fares are reasonable (yes I get that this is “business plus”) via LHR and am debating AA metal vs BA on the first JFK-LHR leg. (Will prob stick with BA on return)
How do the two compare these days?

• Preflight dining - CCR vs FFD? I’d like to try FFD before it disappears (?)
• Will have to change terminals in LHR if I choose AA so that’s a clear negative but there’s an extra 30m connection if I take AA metal.
• Do I get CCR access going from AA F -> BA J?
• Is one seat much better as a bed? BA has better privacy, no?

I will mostly sleep ex-JFK although for that reason maybe I should just stick with J on the outbound and save the $$…

BA are moving from T7 to T8 next month so there won't be CCR for you to try at JFK.

It's not 100% clear what the BA offering for F passengers will be in terms of lounges / facilities wll be in T8 yet.

BA does regular T5 - T3 and vv terminal switches at LHR so it depends on what your onward destination is as to whether you will have to switch terminals or not. Also possible AA may switch some flights back to T5 as well.

If you fly BA F to LHR and your next flight is from T5 then you would have LHR CCR access on the next leg (would need to show your F BP).

Credence is playing in London?

Depending where in, "continental Europe," you are flying to will depend where your flight from LHR departs from. While most of those destinations (and I believe most if not all long-haul BA flights) are from T5, BA does have a few departing from T3. When I flew to TIA last month, the BA flight was out of T3. Although I arrived on BA at T5, I don't think there was any option to go into the terminal proper, just get on the train, bus to T3, then security over there. It really wasn't a horrible process at all, from flight to lounge in maybe 30-35 minutes (I had just missed a bus so there was a short wait for the next).

This thread in the BA forum is kept fairly up to date with the BA flights out of T3:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...lights-t3.html


Also, I believe BA F is also included in the $200 AARP discount (like business). Plus you can get the 10% discount if you have the BA Chase card (you don't need to pay with it); all segments must be on BA metal to get the Chase discount. Yes, you can stack those discounts.

I find FFD to be better, and although I love Credence, I don’t get that excited about the CCR at LHR. That said, to me the in-flight hard product is the most important factor for me, and I prefer BA, especially with the new suites. But I just flew AA last week, and it was fine, and had no problem accessing the CCR (although I suspect I would have preferred the buffet food in the F lounge than the disappointing burger in the CCR).

BTW, when transferring at LHR I always use the F Wing rather than flight connections to clear security. When I landed in T3 last week, I took the flight connections bus to T5, where I cleared immigration using the e-gates and went up to the F Wing on the departures level to clear security.

I’m confused by OP referencing Business Plus in the context of researching F fares/routings.

if it’s true F service OP is seeking then I guess that limits options to LHR on BA or a route with an AA 773.

Otherwise, if the continental European destination is served by AA nonstop from the US, I would guess taking that routing and avoiding the LHR mess is a better option.

I was confused by this as well. Though I understand a business plus fare includes FFD as a benefit I don't believe that would in any way entitle the passenger to things like the BA CCR, which the OP referenced a couple times. First is first, business is business. Business plus is business with some additional benefits bolted on.

I do not believe BA CCR is at all in scope with a Business Plus fare. I guess the OP needs clarify what class of service they would really be booking.

Regards

My hunch is that the OP was referring to the quality of AA’s inflight product vs. the actual fare.

I’d go with BA every time if given the choice, but AA is totally fine as well. For all of the shade thrown at BA F, it does feel more like a true F product than AA F (especially on the F&B front). T5 to T5 is also a big positive.

it seems at JFK that FFD will be going away as the new lounges come online and include a new dining option that would capture both BA F and AA F (and eligible flights) so in any event i only stick with BA F for a few years now for many reasons but i just appreciate the overall aesthetic much more in addition to privacy and service which on both can be hit or miss, yes, but on BA is much more commonly polished professional and friendly.

BA tries in F, and every once in a while, succeeds.
AA doesn't try.
You decide.

That's absurd. You may prefer BA, but it's ridiculous to say that "AA doesn't try." I have flown BA a lot more than AA, but I've also flown AA a fair bit (including DFW-LHR in F this past week), and I've never had a bad experience with AA. Once, about 25 years ago, the only passengers in F -- I think it was LHR-JFK -- were my girlfriend and me, and the AA CEO and his wife, and the crew spent too much time kissing up to the CEO. That's the one thing I can think of in 30+ years of flying AA.

maybe they should have said "people dont try" because as much as i defend both, AA has a verrrrry long history with me of not trying.

It's not that AA F is horrible (like Air India or something), but it's not worth being called an F product. Why spend more for less?

AA doesn't try to do anything special or better in F. It's the same soft product, albeit you may get a super surly seniority FA. The seats are in crappy condition and rock on the swivel slightly.

There's zero reason to buy AA F over AA J.

You should, but doesn't seem to be always consistent. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...cess-aa-f.html