nux

See: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...dont-know.html

You will not be able to book for April 2016 until April 2015 at the earliest. Even then it is likely only to be only more expensive fares available. There are normally quite a few WT/WTP sales each year, however some may exclude busier holiday periods including Easter.

See: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...ng-thread.html

I will stress again that there is no guarantee of either a POUG or AUP being offered. BA has been reducing the amount offered and not offering them to passengers who have done it in the past due to the improving economic forecast.

rjh090384

Thanks i have looked at the cost tracking already but see nome for london to chicago.

Will have a read of the ba sale thread. X

BearX220

I just went and looked at an old credit card statement -- last time I did this, LHR-JFK, the buy-up to WT+ cost £179 one-way. A fair bit cheaper than paying the going rate for WT+ at booking. Mind you this was in mid-winter and I was a distressed passenger, having misconnected at LHR owing to weather back in Norway, and it was the last flight of the night to JFK. Don't know if those were influencing factors. I did the deal at the T5 missed-connections / rebooking desk.

rjh090384

Have found another option delta? Any advise on these

rjh090384

Thanks bear. Very kind of you to go to the trouble.

rjh090384

Another issue is while i have money for economy to book at the time i wont have enough to book plus. Is ot possoble to phone up and pay difference

rwoman

DL offers Economy Comfort. These are regular economy seats with extra leg room and recline. Unlike World Traveller Plus on BA, EC is not a separate class of service/cabin. Costs depend on the length of the flight.

Delta most commonly operates 767-300ERs (763) and 767-400ERs (764) on their flights to/from LHR. Keep in mind the direct service is actually operated by Virgin Atlantic (VS). Any flights on Delta metal would require a connection.

See:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...t-seating.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...london-dl.html

BA - You can call or look on the website in "Manage My Booking" which will offer paid upgrades, if available.

DL - To book EC it can be done at time of booking or, if available, via delta.com.

wrp96

If money is an issue, may I suggest booking for a time other than Christmas, New Years, or Easter? Popular times like that will mean everything (airfare, hotels, etc) will be much more expensive no matter where you are heading - since everybody else will be on holiday at the same time, trying for the same flights, hotels, etc driving the price of everything up.

If the goal is the US, consider US thanksgiving (last weekend in November) as there isn't much business travel at all and while domestic US travel is extremely busy that week, international travel is low so deals can be found to/from the UK.

BearX220

What would your question be about Delta? On DL you can book into "Economy Comfort" for a more modest upcharge than BA imposes for WT+. But the DL "Economy Comfort" product is far less special -- it's just a regular coach seat with more legroom, in the front 4 or so rows of the economy cabin. On the 767s, however, if you can score the forwardmost bulkhead seats in EC against one wall or the other (17 A&B or F&G) there is scads of legroom -- anyone who is 6'4" ought to be quite happy. See seatmap:

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Del...67-300ER_A.php

You can, but you may have to pay a change fee on top of the fare difference which may make this idea unattractive. Unsure about this.

If you have to watch the dollars at booking, perhaps DL EC is the better bet for you. Although Delta does not fly LHR-ORD nonstop. The Virgin codeshares that DL markets LHR-ORD do not have this cheap Economy Comfort option.

rwoman

As I stated above, DL uses both 763s and 764s. While the bulkhead seats on the 763 have great leg room, row 15 AB CDE FG does not have great leg room and is not recommended.

rjh090384

Thanks again for fab info. Would love to considee another time but unfortunately our childcare is only available in school holidays. Pain in the bottom but our only option.

bhomburg

These upgrades have fixed prices and cost the same regardless if booked at the airport or online via MMB, if offered.
Upgrading east coast transatlantic flights from WT to WT+ generally is GBP 200 one way - that's what I recently paid to upgrade PHL-LHR and LHR-JFK.
However, these are not always available. I never saw them offered for WT to WT+ on the LAX route, for example. If you depend on more room than available in a standard economy seat, by all means do not rely on this.

To reiterate, here's your options sorted by ascending price:
- if money is a real concern and your mobility disability is documented, book Economy but do not select seats and check "Disability Assistance Required" during the booking process. Then, call the airline and have suitable seats assigned. You likely will be placed in bulkhead seats that mostly have extra legroom.

- pay for advance seat selection on BA. Check which plane type operates the flights you want and select a suitable seat. On every plane type that BA operates there are a few good seats with extra room that are not exit rows. Examples: 16CH on three-class 772, 29AK and 51,52 BCHJ on the 744. I think that is priced at around 60 pounds one way (don't know exactly as I only started to fly BA after getting oneworld status which allows me to select seats for free )
Make yourself familiar with the seat maps and check out seatguru.com and the BA forum on FT.

- All the US carriers have an economy section with extra legroom, called "Main Cabin Extra" on AA, "Economy comfort" on Delta and "Economy plus" on United. Paying for those seats is cheaper than WT+ on BA and you can secure them at booking. Cost is about 100 pounds one way. AA markets other 'good' seats in its economy cabins as 'preferred' and charges for them as well, at lower rates than for the extra legroom section.
There's seat threads for any plane type in the AA forum with tons of information, and I'm sure for the other airlines as well.

- Buy WT+ outright on BA.
These can be decently priced when taking advantage of sales. Sales happen periodically and are announced by email to registered users. Join BAEC or register for these notifications on their website: www.britishairways.com/travel/register-now/public/en_gb.
Seeing your travel dates are far in the future - nothing will pop up until five to three months before departure, so sweating things now is premature.

And, last but not least, hey, this is FT after all:
Go ahead and collect Avios through non-flying means. Sign up for their credit cards, do this Tesco thing - whatever. Heck, even buy them (click here for ways to do that on the cheap) and use those to upgrade your flight. The more Avios you have, the cheaper the upgrade will be using Avios plus money. Between the two of you and given you have over a year you should totally earn enough to enjoy a free upgrade!

rjh090384

Thanks i really appreciate. I have come to the conclusion that i will earn points like mad to try for upgrade but ill probably book wt plus one way and hope for a poug the other way or pay closer to time if possible

My other option is to try aer lingus as i hear they are letting people bid on business flights. But alas my ocd of planning is getting ahead of me

Thanks for all your wonderful suggestions xx

nux

Just be aware that you cannot upgrade with avios from economy (WT) unless you are in an expensive flexible fare class. You can upgrade from any WTP fare but there needs to be CW award availability which most likely will not be available during peak holiday times.

Redeeming avios for WT/WTP or even CW on BA for a TATL flight will require a cash payment of £400+ for taxes/fees/charges which will be similar to a discount economy fare.

rjh090384

Thanks xx