LHR-USA in C... BA or AA?
 

All opinions welcome!

I'm almost always a *A guy...;)..but in the new year I'll likely be flying LHR - West Coast....and it'll be on either BA or AA...

Which airline to choose? I suspect BA will get the nod for service.. but am more interested in the hard product for what will apparently be a day flight....

Which product is newer/cleaner/less worn fr'instance... 777 or (BA) 747 ? entertaiment systems ?

Thanks folks.....:D

AA only fly from LHR to LAX, which is indeed on the west coast, but it's not the only city out here.

By the way, with Oneworld it's "J" not "C."

BA fly to SAN, LAX, SFO, SEA and YVR, and also to PHX and LAS, so unless you want to change planes someplace, BA would be the most convenient option.

If to LAX, opinions vary. I'd prefer AA myself since you can choose your seat in advance at no charge, and - on average - I've found AA's inflight service to be superior to BA's - food, etc. Upper deck on the BA 744 is great, and BA have lots more seats to LAX than AA does, but if you don't have Oneworld status you'll have to pay in advance for seats upstairs, and even then I'm not sure you can pre-select the exit rows (62 and 64) the window seats of which, IMO, are the best on the plane.

It depends partly on when in the "new year". AA has a new business class seat arriving in 2013 in their new 777-300, and it looks very nice (certainly nicer than BA's current offering on its 777s). The upstairs on the BA 747 is my current favorite by far, but AA will definitely be worth trying if the trip isn't in the first few months of the year.

Thanks very much....

Trip is not until April... which makes it sound a bit of a crap shoot for the new AA product...

Might come down to the more convenient destinations BA serve...

Definitely BA.

~Guaranteed flat seat
~The "Z" position is *heaven* for lounging in with some tea, a scone, and a glass of bubbly.
~Acceptable food; above average drinks (Kir Royale...hic...)
~No complaints with IFE. There's enough content to suit most, though they do keep it generally wide-appealing (IE, few movies catered toward the low-end youth demographic that would probably offend most other pax)
~Cabins seem to be in decent shape. The J product is a few years old, but I've generally found it clean and well maintained. But again JFK-LHR is the route in the network. I would imagine that LAX birds would be similarly well treated, but I've heard some complaints about premium cabins on the (comparatively) lesser routes such as SFO and EWR.
~Generally a professional, interested, "genuine" service (at least on JFK-LHR)
~Comparatively stunning lounges that offer a premium experience (versus paying for drinks at an American lounge:rolleyes:)
~Prompt handling of irrops/general screw ups that happen
~EU protection for when/if something really goes wrong.