asianwanderer

will be travelling to London in mid april. looking for cheap business class ticket. any idea who to get in touch with?

MACH81

Do you want to earn miles?there are a lot of people that could offer you a ticket on their miles...if you wanna pay a regular ticket check EOS and MAXJET,all C class carriers...

Newryman

A travel agent?

Ask him to book you into LOT if you want cheap fares with *A miles and dont mind a long trip using the following
LONYCLON ZERT fare
LOLONNYC ZERT fare

$2379.60 and 5165 miles each way via warsaw

I understand that Air Iceland are joinging an alliance, perhaps One World? In which case $2238 is looking good for Biz. KEF is worth a visit just to say you have been there.

The shortest and cheap direct option is as stated by a previous poster JFK-STN for $1958.70 which for some bizzare reason unknown to me can be had for even less dollars if you return to IAD instead of JFK and connect to a UA flight in coach back to JFK. The price drops to $1488. Maybe UA are going to link up TED with Max?

Of course some people would say it isnt really business at all and who on earth wants to land at stanstead? I will be interested to see what happens when aircraft start to go tech etc with this LC 'business carrier'.

Will Ryanair start to look good?

sadiqhassan

If you are willing to fly airlines such as LOT and Icelandair, neither of which have impressive business class cabins, I would just pocket the cash and fly Maxjet. If you want to fly J class for the comfort, Maxjet is definately the best choice as it gives you 60" of seat pitch. Icelandair gives you 39" of seat pitch, and LOT gives 45"

Cheers

Newryman

Bigger is not better despite what McDonalds tell you How much use is that extra 15 inches when an aircraft goes tech and there is no replacement? The clue phone just rang an apparently the correct answer is sweet FA

There are many more factors to consider when choosing a carrier other than seat pitch. A primary one with LCC's is the location of the airports they fly into. One word STANSTEAD.

Both LOT and Iceland Air (I have flown both by the way) are recognised national carriers with a full international infrastructure and members of alliances and of course interline agreements. Any airline can run into tech problems and I for one would rather fly with a carrier who is more likely to be able to re route me endorse tickets or find a replacement aircraft etc etc.


What exactly do you find lacking in their buisness class for a short TA hop? It certainly isnt the food or the personal DVD players.

Maxjet are a start up that have not even managed to fulfill their initial targets in terms of launch dates etc as set out in their business plan. What chance then of them accomodating me in the event of any 'unforseen circumstances'

As it happens all 3 airlines have a 3 star rating with www.airlinequality.com

In my book an additional $288 is a small amount to pay for the added peace of mind and miles at 0.028 aint to bad either! If 300 bucks is a purchase decision factor in business class then frankly my advice is fly coach and make a significant saving.

I do however wonder about the number of posts on this forum recently by apparently new (ie sub 10 post) members asking spurious questions about the best business class to fly between NYC and LON.

It would be cynical of me to contemplate ambush marketing wouldnt it?

sadiqhassan

I am not familiar with Icelandair, but LOT has had its fair share of aircraft problems.

The flat that my family owns is in Central London. For me - there is no difference between STN and LHR in terms of convienience. Since he said NYC-London-NYC we can assume that he means any airport in London.

Also, if someone is looking for a CHEAP business class ticket - they are probably not looking for anything more than more comfort. This is just my experience.

To me, this doesn't make a difference. If Maxjet went bankrupt, I would claim the travel insurance from my credit card company, and fly another carrier without paying an extra penny.

Nothing, but travel insurance helps

Depends if the OP has use for the miles. Personally, if I was collecting miles, I would go with LOT. However, Maxjet gets you there quickly, and in comfort.

What might be the deciding factor for me would be the schedules

[KVS Availability Tool - Apollo: ITN/CWT/US-CA]
If I fly LOT, I leave JFK at 11pm and don't get to Heathrow until 9:35pm the next day!

The way back isn't great either

[KVS Availability Tool - Apollo: ITN/CWT/US-CA]
The Icelandair schedules are slightly better, but still not as good as flying nonstop.

Cheers

Newryman

The travel insurance argument is something of a strawman. If someone is looking for the cheapest flight available I seriously doubt they would be happy to pony up the walk on business class fare and possibly a night in a hotel and related expenses, then sit back to happily await the arrival of reimbursement from an insurer.

Yes the total travel time is indeed a factor but only one. The time factor however evaporates rapidly in the event of a Tech issue that cannot be resolved as expediantly as it would be by an alliance carrier.

I must admit you are the first person who has ever expressed to me no preference as regards LON airport arrival. With the exception of people living in the essex area I have found most people who live in London avoid Stanstead like the plaque. However, that may just be the people I know and there may well be many here tell me otherwise. I guess that one comes down to personal preference and isnt really of any great consequence.

Personally, if i were looking to do NYC - LON as cheap as possible in a bearable level of comfort and in a timely fashion then the answer is UA E+ on the 777 service not a deeply discounted C. This is a short TA flight and barely qualifies as a long haul, many carriers utilise 757 and 767's as opposed to a big bird for this crossing.

It seems to be the most sensible compromise over comfort and value for money. I do very regular TA jaunts (on my own dollar) and wouldnt even consider paying C for the westward sector it is to me simply a waste of money. If I get an op up great but otherwise it isnt that much of a deal. Eastbound as it is invariably a night flight (the only exception I am aware of is the BA 08.00 ) it is worth considering an u/g if you are one of those lucky people who can actually manage to sleep aboard an aircraft. I have yet to manage that, even in C on QF to SYD.


Call me old fashioned but I believe in the adage that you get what you pay for. if you want to save cash fly Y on an established carrier. If you want more comfort then pony up the cash. A half way house will only lead to disappointment when your expectations are not delivered, shrugs.

Just my 2 cents

sadiqhassan

Why? If Maxjet goes technical, depending on your travel insurance company, you could pay for a fully flexible J class ticket on the sector you are flying. If Maxjet goes bankrupt.. you have time to claim insurance and make new arrangements.


You are using the "tech" issue as something that is quite likely. However it is not.

Is there a reason that they prefer LHR over STN?


Many carriers? Of the ones that fly JFK-LON.

Eos - 757
Maxjet - 767
AA - 777
BA - 747/777
UA - 777
AI - 744
KU - 340
VS - 343/346/744

For me, the best combination of value and comfort would be BA WT+... to each his own.


I believe that too. Maxjet's product is not a great J class product. The main plus is the seat. The food seems to be ok, and the lounges are a nice plus, but at the end of the day, it is still a J class product. In another thread, when comparing Maxjet and BA WT+, I stated that Maxjet offers a Business - product. To me, the "half way house" is UA E+ (if you have to pay for it) or BA WT+

Cheers

Swiss Tony

I think you've got to go - as has already been stated - Maxjet or premium economy (and not UA's E+).

Stansted (note spelling) vs Heathrow... Admittedly STN is further out, but LHR is plagued by ground delays, crap baggage handling, shortage of stands etc. There were some numbers published recently and they were nothing short of terrible.

This fact alone would likely make the JFK-central London times comparable.

Admittedly there's a risk attached to the Maxjet service but the doomsayers have been out since day one and we're now at about day 150. These guys have deep pockets. The technical issue also exists, but as it does with any carrier and if it's a busy week, then expect problems in getting rebooked regardless of carrier.

Note, Maxjet have also been running a special of $750 r/t from NYC-LON. It finished yesterday, but at that price it's got to be worth the (very small) risk!

fratboy

Air India's daily LHR-JFK flight is quite comfortable and resonably-priced at GBP950. OK, they wouldn't win any prizes for their C class but it certainly beats economy. You can also collect AI mileage on Lufthansa's Miles & More programme. Bookable through AI's website.

erik123

You could also try PIA to Manchester with a connect from there. About $1,100 r/t in business (sometimes on an ex-cathay 777 with great seats) if I remember correctly.

Imperial Special

There's also Kuwait Airways, which sells J class through outlets such as Trailfinders in the UK for well under GBP1,000. If you check out some of the agency small ads in the Sunday Travel Section of the New York Times you may find a seller. They have 3 flights a week between JFK and LHR. One reason for the bargain fare = its a dry airline.