Geordie405

Now that AA has well and truly launched its PE cabin / service I was curious whether anyone on here has experienced it and what your views were?

I have read a number of reviews online but nothing really beats a good FT critique.

Reason for asking is that I am looking to book a trip early next year to the UK and can either fly BA WT+ or AA PE, the former LAS - LHR on the 747 or the latter PHL - MAN on an A330.

Prices are equal whether flying AA or BA and irrespective of whether it's ticketed with AA or BA. It's between $1260 and $1300 per person which is - in my opinion - a pretty good deal for a TATL flight originating in the US.

rockflyertalk

This is interesting and I welcome any PE reviews on AA. Does anyone know when PE is on the JFK route?

jday

I don't know anything about AA PE but given the plane you'll get on LAS > LHR with BA, WT+ is not worth it on that plane imo.

rockflyertalk

Id love to be CW or F but unfortunately I'm WT+ for my flights so I can't say it's not worth it.

jday

oh I fly WT+ for all my flights unless it's Avios redemption and I treat myself to CW. But im speaking from experience. I wouldn't fly WT+ in one of the old 747s again. The hard product isn't that much better than WT on those birds in my opinion.

arnie.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but every time I've booked Y with AA, they've given me Y+ by virtue of OWE. I think this is standard for BA Gold and Silver, so fare wise it would almost certainly beat paying for WT+.

wrp96

You are thinking of MCE which is still Y but with more room. PE USA new product for AA and is a different class from economy (Y).

1010101

You are thinking of Main Cabin Extra, which is just an economy section with increased legroom. AA have recently launched a true Premium Economy cabin although it's currently only installed on a handful of aircraft.


To the OP's question if both are direct flights I would go towards AA with a brand new product/newer aircraft. BA seem to put their most nackered 747s on the LAS route with a very old WT+ seat.

arnie.

Ah, that makes sense. Most of my travel this year has been east, rather than west, although I have to book to fly to MSY soon so may try it out myself. ^

Blueboys999

Given that, at the moment I don't believe the OP can be totally confident it will be available when the travel day comes. At least with BA WT+ it's more or less guaranteed.

Cymro

Are these two routes the only options? PHL and LAS aren't exactly near neighbours.

If the ultimate route is LAS-XXX-MAN I'd still choose the knackered 747, though might prefer LAS-LAX-LHR-MAN (yes, two stops!) because of the better BA product and maybe the option for AA as well.

Simply, a long economy feed into the PHL-MAN involves a lunchtime cross-country flight, followed by a relatively early departure (9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. LAS) time, landing in the early morning and being at least 12 hours from a bed.

LAS-LHR-MAN allows you to try to get some sleep as soon as the plane takes off, you get your four or five hours, then get to MAN, pootle around for a few hours in the early evening with dinner and checking in to your hotel, and hopefully get to sleep at a relatively sensible time. Different people deal with jetlag early, but for me, west to east is always a nightmare but late departure and late landing work best.

FlyerTalker39574

It'll be interesting to see if AA install PE on their B788 aircraft and if BA have MCE on their A350 and B787-10 aircraft.

Geordie405

I live in Las Vegas and the ultimate destination would be Newcastle but it's a few hundred dollars more expensive per person, hence the alternative route via Manchester. We'd then take the train up to Newcastle. Some of it is also scheduling due to my partner's work commitments. An arrival in Manchester at 8.45 am from PHL is actually preferable to the much later arrival in NCL via LHR.

HarryBA

I've done LAS-PHL-MAN in J and it was some of the worse jet lag I ever had. Never again I'll be doing LAS or via LAX to LHR.

Or there is the VS option direct to manchester.

Oxon Flyer

Since BA WT+ vs AA PE is likely to be a topic of potential interest for many forum readers, could I ask that further replies on this thread actually focus on addressing the topic ?

Thanks.