jenecho

Hi, hoping someone can give me some advice....

Planning to visit family near Seattle over Christmas, and pondering taking a punt and booking WT for the return on New Year's Eve. A few years ago when children were tiny I elected to travel on NYE on the basis that we would be stuck in with them anyway and I might just as well drink champagne onboard a flight as anywhere else. As it turned out we were the only ones in the whole Upper Deck of CW, the plane was like a ghost ship. And the air hostess said that the people in Econ had spread out to have a whole row each to stretch out on.

So I am considering doing the same thing this NYE but not paying for CW this time in the hope that there will be loads of empty seats to stretch out on. . I will be gold by then so will get the other perks from status so really the benefit of CW is laying flat, other than the champagne! The economy flights are astoundingly cheap- £137 versus £910 for club, although PE is also pretty cheap at £332..... My concern with PE is that the solid nature of the arm rests might mean that there is no way to stretch out and therefore WT might actually prove more comfortable. But I don't know if that flight a few years ago was an anomaly.

Has anyone flown long haul overnight on NYE that can offer any advice? Because we were on the upper deck I didn't actually see the rest of the plane on that occasion so this is entirely based on a comment from the air stewardess onboard.

13901

Don't know about anyone else, but I travelled on Xmas and NYE twice in the past and in both cases flights were rammed.

jenecho

Ah, maybe it was an anomaly then! Was that overnight/actually on the festive day in question, eg on Xmas day itself or New Years Eve night?

The_Editor

Yup - I flew LHR-HKG in PE on 31/12/2018. Completely rammed! And absolutely no idea when 2018 became 2019 as zero fuss was made (not a complaint!).

A P Yu

BA normally reduce services around these holidays where there a flights with multiple frequencies and this can result in those flights operating having good loads. I wouldn't bank on any flights being almost empty over what is still a holiday period.
Business travel is clearly reduced over holiday time too, which can result in lighter J cabins, but these often encourage the regular holiday time J sales which fill the numbers more. And while J may be lighter around holiday time, Y and WT+ is often overbooked.

13901

Yeah. Flew on Xmas twice, from AUS and ORD - both full - and SCL on 31/12. First was 6/8, Club full, WT+ and WT I'd say 80%.

Tiger_lily

My only NYE flight was completely rammed in all classes too. The best thing about it was that the pilot opened up the taps for takeoff on the stroke of midnight and we got to see all the fireworks going off in Bangkok.

jenecho

Oh Dear. Probably good that I asked!

There are still 2 flights on NYE from SEA to LHR, but I assume that they would have to keep both to position the planes even if it was a low point in an otherwise high season

etiene

Returned from ATL this NYE - don't know how busy it was down the back though. About five in First and the front CW cabin [789] was full.

As others said, no fuss was made about the changing of the year - entirely fine by me though.

Krisz

It can go either way. In my own experience (I usually fly back from holiday on almost always every year on New Year Eve) flights tends to be near full or full. BA is very good to fill the planes. Also the big factor which days is going to be New Years Eve. If its a Thursday or Friday then flights can be quieter then if its a Sunday or Monday as families are coming back from the winter holidays.

jenecho

When I booked NYE the last time I did think that there would be a good atmosphere onboard and was trying to work out when we would cross midnight as we moved through timezones etc but actually since it was so dead it was no atmosphere and nothing mentioned by the staff at all. This time CW is actually more expensive on NYE than the days before whereas WT and WT+ are cheaper. I wonder if BA think people will think (like me) that NYE calls for champagne!

SKRan

From 2013-2020 I have flown nearly every New Year’s Eve on a longhaul with many carriers. All flights were heavily loaded, even in J.

That is still a small data set tho.

jenecho

Hmm looks like it is a Thursday this year so Bank Hol on the Friday. so people have the Friday and Saturday nights available too to get back for school/work.

jenecho

Thank you all for your data points. I don't think I will risk it with econ then, will either do PE on NYE or CW the day before.

UKtravelbear

Yes NYE is a Thursday this year.

I think your empty plane was an aberation TBH and the people in economy were lucky to have an empty cabin. It's certainly not something to plan on.!

Yes airlines will reduce capacity for known dates of low travel demand and if they do will either do it as soon as they release flights or give a good deal of notice of a cancellation and move people to other flights. Of course it depends on passenger numbers on the ex LHR flight as well as those flying to the UK plus what cargo BA is also shifting