wilsnunn

I am itching to get back to flying (as I am sure many are) and have started to look at booking a 4 day weekend in NYC either for Mrs Wilsnunn's birthday in February or our wedding anniversary next March.

I have been looking for fares and would like to know which of the following people would pick:

WT+ - WT+: £535 LGW-JFK & EWR/JFK-LHR/LGW
WT - CW: £808 LGW-JFK & JFK/EWR-LHR (high chance of 10 abreast WT seating)
WT - CW: £841 LHR-JFK & JFK/EWR-LHR
WT+-CW: £999 LGW-JFK & JFK/EWR-LHR

I have always wanted to do upstairs on a 747 but I am not sure they will even exist then, nor am I sure that the nearly £500 per person premium is worth it when we are both comfortable enough in WT+ and that £1000 could go a long way on a nicer hotel in NYC.

I have only ever flown into/outof JFK before, is there any advantage of picking the EWR flight over the JFK flight?

I think that the best option would be WT+ both ways, booking the return on a service that is currently scheduled to be a 747 and then maybe UuA later on if it is still a 747 and there is availability.

cameramaker

The W fare that you have is a good price, so like you say, I think the best option is to book that from LHR and see what UuA or POUG opps come your way in the meantime. The Gatwick service is often cancelled, so if the hatchet is taken to the schedule once this all dies down then that may well not survive.

Hawk777

F9r me wt+ both ways I've never slept for long on the return leg of the East coast flights so pointless going for club

rockflyertalk

As like anyone we don’t know but the LGW route could be an even bigger gamble. Go for LHR. Worse case for BA, they will still be operating out of LHR.

The price in WTP is decent right now and if you can lock it in at the £535 fare then I think you have done very well. Pick a 747 flight number, hope for the best and then POUG/UUA/AUP much nearer the time.

If you’re unsure about NY hotels or the Covid impact, 104,000 cases in NYC then look outside of NYC. An area I know well is Greenwich or Stamford, CT they are only an hour from JFK or Manhattan and a lovely place to visit for outdoor, peaceful times, whilst still having access to the mayhem that is Manhattan.

Swanhunter

If you can get the day flight home then WT+ both ways is perfectly survivable.

Misco60

My general rule is that I travel in the cabin which provides a level of comfort I am happy with, and no higher. So if you're comfortable in WT+ why pay more? It's only a few hours. Upper deck has almost legendary status here but it is, after all, just a standard club world seat and you'll be asleep anyway.

I would personally use the money to upgrade the hotel in New York, which would add much more value and enjoyment to the trip.

corporate-wage-slave

Indeed, I would suggest the LGW service out since you get an updated seat and IFE guaranteed on that; it's also nicely timed for a straight to bed arrival in New York; then the LHR day time service back, which was a lottery in terms of seat quality but perhaps less so now. Note the front row of the LGW service in WTP has a lot of leg room, but no window.

wilsnunn

Thanks for everybody's advice and comments. I think it is likely that we will go for the WT+ flights. I understand the desire to take the day flight back from NYC and on the day that we are looking to fly back from NYC it is currently on a 747 however I would rather avoid the day flight simply because one misses a whole day in NYC that way or has to take an extra day off work. By departing Friday afternoon from LGW I get a half day at work on Friday and then an overnight flight back from NYC on Tuesday means I can get a full day at work on the Wednesday, or at least a half day if I need to recover at home for a bit after the flight.

I have taken the LGW flight to JFK before and agree with c-w-s that it is perfect timing to land, clear immigration and then head to the hotel and sleep before a full day the next day.

There are comments about the LGW service being cancelled, however if it does get cancelled then I am sure BA would just put me onto an LHR service instead, preferably similarly timed, so is that really something to be worried about?

LondonElite

For a short flight to JFK, I'd be more than happy with WT+ out. Given the price differential, I'd agree with others that WT+ back and sticking over £300 per night onto better hotel and dining options is an very reasonable choice.

ISTFlyer

Unless you ( both ) would be short at Tier Points at the end of your collection year ( 2021 ), fly Y and enjoy the extra legroom seats.
1000GBP could really be a good opportunity to save for another vacation or stay at a better hotel/room in NYC.

By the way, for non-US citizens, EWR has better immigration wait times than the past ( especially if you arrive with the earlier LHR-EWR flight ) ( personal experience based on 2nd half of 2019 and first two months of 2020 )

Keiran Newberry

I have booked similar as a BA Holiday for the Mrs' birthday present for our anniversary next year. I went for WT+ both ways as the CW ticket difference was immense. The difference in fare between WT and WT+ was only about £125pp each way.

Use the extra for a better hotel as people have said - surprised how small some rooms in NYC are. Put the extra towards a bigger named hotel too, brands like Hilton, Marriott and their respective subsidiaries Are more likely to weather this than others (imo - could be completely wrong)

I chose to fly in to JFK and back from EWR. Flying indirect from MAN via LHR, and the reason for choosing each airport in that direction was simply down to connecting times at LHR both ways and then the departure time from EWR coming back.

argonath

Mmm I would have done it the other way round as EWR is rubbish going outbound airport services wise.. compared to JFK

Keiran Newberry

It was purely down to the connection times at LHR. The rtn leg is a 2140ish departure so I will have eaten in the city before getting to the airport, don't need much in the way of services.

Keiran Newberry

I'm thinking of purchasing Avios using the 50%bonus (don't have an eligible card) to then UUA myself and my wife to CW from WTP on a MAN-LHR-JFK EWR-LHR-MAN
Is it worth doing? Vice the cost of doing it in cash? And if so how many would I need? I only have about 2500 gained through clubcard points. Which is a major frustration as I had a Lloyds Bank amex and I've never been able to find the Avios I earned on, that!!

Thanks

wilsnunn

This is something that will depend on your dates etc etc, however if you are flying on off-peak dates, then you will need 24,000 Avios per person each way (if only upgrading the LON-NYC flights). Therefore if you are only upgrading the long legs, it would be a total of 96,000 Avios for the two of you both ways. It looks like you would have to buy the 70,000 Avios package (i.e. 70,000 Avios + 35,000 bonus) to get enough for your upgrades which would be £1,135 worth of Avios. Then there would be a taxes/fees/charges increase of approx £200 per person total. That brings you to spending about £1,535 to upgrade the two of you. Whilst this is not going to be the worst use of money, there is actually quite wide availability to travel MAN-LON-NYC-LON-MAN for about £1,500 per person.

In conclusion, it depends on how much you spent on your current WT+ tickets, if they are on dates when there are cheap MAN-NYC tickets available then upgrading using cash (for the fare difference plus any upgrade fee) will probably be the better option as it seems that cheap WT+ tickets are about £750 and cheap CW tickets are about £1,500 per person meaning that the fare difference is £750 per person or £1,500 in total, the same as you would spend on buying Avios and taxes/fees/charges etc.

Also, if you upgrade with cash then you will earn the TPs and also Avios for being in CW.

N.B. I see here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32292115-post11.html that you said you booked with BA Holidays, this normally means that there are no upgrade fees, only fare differences. With BA Holidays it is always best to call them up and ask how much it would be to upgrade with cash.