SuperFuzzed

Hello, I’m thinking of booking a business class return to Nashville from London (Gatwick or Heathrow - don’t mind). It will be a once in a life time experience sort of trip. I’m excited about all of it - spending time in lounges before the flight too

I was thinking of booking British Airways since whilst I barely have any Avios, I would like to collect some. And also, I have a little discount from a former staff member. However, I’ve seen some posts suggesting BA’s business class is something to be desired these days. Is that true? Is BA Club World still good? Or if not, are their airlines flying they route that others would highly recommend for business class experience?

Thanks.

Mwenenzi

What is your criteria for best?

• seats
• food & beverage
• prices
• schedule
• frequent flyer earnings
• other

From wikipedia looks like only BA flys BNA to UK non stop. All others will require a transit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashvi...tional_Airport
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=c%3Ablu...=bm&PW=3&DU=mi

JayhawkCO

As Mwenenzi said, BA is your only non-stop option. Your 1-stop options are AC, UA, DL, B6, and AA. I'd probably rank those DL > B6 > UA > AC > AA myself. If you want any product which is demonstrably better than another though, you'd need to double connect and very likely use separate tickets (for something like SQ FRA-JFK or TK IST-xxx).

steveholt

If this is your first or one of your first business class experiences, you'll be happy with British Airways.

guv1976

Is Nashville the only U.S. city which you want to visit on this trip, or would you like to add a few days in an additional city, too?

bitterproffit

BA is non stop. Everything else is a connection and you will have to go through US Customs, retrieve your checked luggage, recheck your luggage and sometimes transfer terminals. Then you fly a smaller plane to Nashville.

I think you will have access to the AA lounge upon your return flight, and the 'Grand Lobby' is opening this week which will allow you to get from the AA lounge to the BA gate. (It was split for a year)

While I wasn't a huge fan of BA's Club World, being able to land in Nashville, be through US Customs, retrieve my bags and be home within an hour was a huge benefit. Your flight will be the only one at Customs and even without Global Entry, it will not take very long at all. Then you pick up your bags and go catch an Uber/Lyft downtown. You will be downtown, checked into your hotel, and at your first honky tonk within 1.5 hours of landing.

No matter how you go, have a great time! But I have flown home from Europe a lot of times and you really can't beat that non stop arrival into Nashville. Its so convenient.

SuperFuzzed

I would like to visit Memphis also

bitterproffit

Its about 3-3.5 hour drive. Its probably best to stay overnight. There are some fun hotels downtown off Beale Street.

There is really no easy way of getting from Nashville to Memphis without renting a car. No direct flights and no train.

guv1976

As noted, there are no trains or direct flights between Nashville and Memphis. There is Greyhound bus service (multiple trips each day in each direction) which takes about four hours.

You might want to investigate the price of an "open-jaw" ticket which would have you fly into one city and return from the other, thereby necessitating only a one-way ground transfer between the two cities.

Peter9

Last year I did an open jaw trip to Chicago Amtrak-ed it to Memphis and then rented a car to Nashville. I flew back on CW with BA from Nashville.

I'll be honest the flight wasn't great from Nashville - there was no lounge at all just a 30USD meal credit. The plane was also old CW with the ying yang seats and the meal was not great either (see pic).

I'm not sure what aircraft BA are flying on this route now but with the club suite and 'Grand Lobby' lounge open I think this would massively improve it.

I've got to say that Memphis was great and if you're into music and planning to do Graceland, Sun Studios etc. it's well worth it.

guv1976

If I were to make this trip as an open-jaw, I would probably fly BA LHR-BNA, and then AA or AA/BA MEM-XXX-LON, where XXX might be AUS, DFW, ORD, MIA, CLT, or PHL. BA could probably sell the ticket as BA codeshares on any flights operated by AA.

wrp96

I agree with guv1976 I would fly BA LHR-BNA, and then consider flying AA/BA from MEM-XXX-LHR. I'm relatively close to MEM and prefer connecting at DFW for the better lounges at DFW (vs AUS, CLT, or PHL) and the longer flight time over most other options (the short overnight transatlantics don't leave a lot of time to sleep) but that's just personal preference on connecting airport.