hungry

Hi Everyone

I always use BA for my flying needs and BA Holidays for my City Breaks/Summer holidays. I usually fly Short Haul and have used Club Europe a lot. Earlier this year I did my first Club World flight from New York to Heathrow- we flew out premium economy. It was simply amazing.

However that left me wanting to try the best of the best, FIRST! I won't rest until I have tried it once. I know I will never be able to do it regularly but just to experience it would be amazing.

I would like to do it as part of a trip to somewhere I could go for a few days, 5 at the most. And would like to try FIRST out of LHR to experience the FIRST wing and Concorde Room lounge. And then fly back business or premium economy class.

So as a modest Train Driver who doesn't earn a fortune, what is the cheapest/easiest way to do this? I would be with the Mrs (and I would probably have to pay for her). I am thinking either spring or autumn 2018.

Someone told me that it is very possible and cheap to do it to Moscow using Avios. But I can not work this out I had a look and it looks like Moscow is just short haul??

If anyone can give any help/tips I'd really appreciate it. I am currently Silver until the end of May and have enough trips before my collection year ends to extend this until end of May 2019 (thanks to the Tallinn Finnair run and a Malta and Istanbul bargain BA Holidays trip).

Also, I have 59k avios and 80k in the household account.

Thank you for your assistance, in advance

flatlander

The easiest way to fly First is to go to the BA.com website, enter your desired route and date, and select "First" as the class of travel. Then go through the booking process and pay the amount indicated.

The cheapest way to fly First... is essentially what this entire website was set up for :-)

Prices to places like Beijing (you'll need a visa in advance which is usually no problem to get) during a sale can be quite good, if you want to pay cash.

Premium Fare deals (J and F) often tracks the cheap paid deals in First.

hungry

Is it generally cheaper/better value to pay First in a sale, or use Avios to upgrade?

Filthy Monkey

Your absolute cheapest way to fly first is to get an RFS to Moscow. Ł50 each and, I believe, either 62,500 or 80,000 Avios*, depending whether peak or off-peak. You'll also need a visa at around Ł120 each if you want to enter Russia.

*approx. guess - it's been a while since I took that trip!

ratechaser

If this is all about 'experiencing' the best possible First flight, and you are open to different destinations, then you might want to consider a wider range of airlines than just BA... there are plenty of threads on this board which debate different First offerings and I would say (at the risk of getting jumped on here) that several airlines have at least anecdotally a better product than BA do.

corporate-wage-slave

By far the cheapest way to do it is to fly First to Moscow using RFS. Off peak 68k Avios and Ł55 per person, return.

Now this means getting a visa for Russia, which is mild hassle, but essentially get a 3 star hotel or higher to do you an invitation letter, check and double check the details, then get your visa fairly swiftly from the VFS service. Even better if you can use the Edinburgh office. As an example of the attention to detail required, incidentally, one of my passports starts with four zeros, and the hotel letter I had simply left off those 4 zeros. Mathematically this is correct but the Russian ice maidens in EDI had other ideas! Essentially it's a travel tax, you'll get the visa easily enough, you just need the paperwork in place.

Moscow is an interesting city to visit, plenty to see and do, good public transport, and very much walkable too.

You need to find the 777 flights to DME - which isn't necessarily guaranteed, but it will typically be a day flight leaving LHR at 0840 or so.

As for the best possible First experience, I think it's going to be something like a 747 to San Diego, or an A380 to SFO - long enough for you to enjoy it.

hungry

Ł120 for a visa :O is just for a tourist stay?

Dan London

I’d do a long weekend trip to Tel Aviv anyday and you also get the new 787 first suite.

Currenty sat in 28 degrees in TA having UUA to First and just noticed my Z class ticket posting 210 tier points too 🙂

agehall

+1. BA has the worst first class I've tried. (Not counting the domestic "first" in the US). After I took my wife to HKG in BA F a year ago, she has explicitly forbidden me to spend money (or avios for that matter) on BA F.

T8191

I suppose the cheapest would be using an Amex 2-4-1 voucher, but I don't think the OP has climbed that ladder yet. A thought for the future, perhaps?

Having been underwhelmed by our first and only First, I could think of better ways to spend money!!

hungry

Thanks ! We are open to going out First and back Club.

That sounds very doable. But the Visa sounds like the headache, especially as my Mrs has a Swedish passport. Would she have to go back to Sweden to sort her Visa out ?

Hawes7701

Believe Russia is do visa free entry for the World Cup next summer...... starts about two weeks before and continues for two weeks after.

headingwest

Same for me. I had my first BA flight in F from HKG last month and although it was quite pleasant, the cabin crew were rushing around the cabin which made it feel quite unprofessional. Added to that when I arrived at Heathrow I noticed that my ankle had been bitten to death by a bug! Thank god I didn't pay for the flight!

rossmacd

Don't waste your money/Avios on BA F, fly Club World (business) or another carrier's F.

NickB

No: the visa must normally be issued in the country of residence rather than nationality so, if she went back to Sweden, she could be faced with the problem of the consulate refusing to issue the visa (although, afaik, they tend not to double-check residency in many Russian consulates in European countries).

Incidentally, getting a Russian visa is often easier and cheaper elsewhere in Europe than in the UK when one is eligible to get a visa there.