I have a choice of flying BA or QANTAS LON-BKK-LON in cattle class,the price and flight times are practically identical so that does not come into the equation.
Which one would you more experienced flyers choose and why?
Any advice, choice of seat etc would be most appreciated.

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

After 1 Jul:

Full miles/credits for cheap fares on QF.

25% miles/credits for cheap fares on BA.

Screw BA - fly QF!

I have flown both on long hauls and I can't see a great deal of difference.

Unfortunately they are both about as uncomfortable as each other..but since I am anti-QF I say fly BA

If you find you're getting identical flight times on BA and QF "flights", you may actually be looking at the same flight. BA and QF codeshare on every flight from LHR to Australia via SIN and BKK. Make sure you know whose aircraft it will actually be, if that matters to you.

For the aircraft alone, I marginally prefer QF to BA in economy. I happen to fit into the QF seat better, but that's probably very personal to me. I personally think BA cabin crew and service have the edge on QF, although QF has made some recent enhancements - like the mid-flight snack pouch which is totally useless to me because I don't want it during the flight but I'm not supposed to carry it off.

If it matters to you, frequent flyer points earn is governed by the code you're booked under. A QF flight number earns as a QF flight even if it's actually operated by BA, and vice versa.

What you earn also depends on which scheme you're trying to earn in. If you are a member of QF's, you'll basically earn 100% of flown miles as points for discount economy fares on all QF and BA flights, and 50% status credits if you take a full economy fare as the benchmark.

BA 9/10 is the BA flight, QF 1/2 is the QF flight. Both of these are 747-400s.

The best seats are centre row aisle seats. At worst, you'll have the person next to you to contend with for "pit stops". If you're lucky, there might only be 1 or 2 people in the row, so you won't have to contend with the dreaded "excuse me" while you're (trying to be!) asleep.

I've done both, and you could pretty well flip a coin. I would ask your TA which flight has the lightest loads, and/or allow seat pre-allocation, and take that one. I think the QF seat is marginally better, but that's my 5'9" 72 kg frame...

Of course, if miles/status credits are an issue, you have another issue to take into account.

Finally, seriously consider World Traveller Plus (WT+), BA's "premium economy" product. WT+ is worth EVERY cent.

...and welcome to FT, northeron!

Thank you all for your input to my query,
I have decided since there seems little differance in flying conditions to fly BA out and QANTAS return so i can have my own opinion for future trips.
Willyroo,thanks for the tip of asking for a centre aisle seat,i always just ask for a aisle seat at the back of the plane and morew often than not get a side aisle seat,i can not believe i have not specified middle in the past.
I have now joined the QANTAS FF prog and have checked that the tickets will be issued by QANTAS even the BA leg,must be something to do with the codeshare Globaliser talked about.Do i just hand my card over when i check in or is there someother way i get credited with the points?
What is the inflight entertainment like on these flights,are there personal seat back monitors fitted to all planes?
Thanks, chris.

The easiest thing to do is to phone each of BA and QF reservations to get them to put your FF number into the booking. Each of them ought to be able to do it for both legs (little things like this show how close the BA/QF working relationship is at a normally-invisible level) but it would be as well to check with both airlines that they have got it.

When you talk to each airline, you can also talk to them about the possibility of pre-allocating a seat. Just before you speak to them, go to www.seatmap.com, put in your flight details (class Y will do for your flights) and check the seat map to see what is currently available for pre-allocation. BA will only pre-allocate about 30% of the cabin, so there comes a point fairly early on when you can no longer do that, but they will take requests - be as specific as you can.

You can also look online once you've done all that - the QF FF website allows you to check your future bookings and will pull up any bookings that have your QF FF number in it. Also www.checkmytrip.com should also show you the FF numbers that have been entered into the booking.

Finally, take your card with you when you travel, and show it at check-in - you should be greeted with the comforting words that the number's already in the system, and it should show on your boarding passes too.

You don't say when you're flying, but I think you will be pretty unlucky not to have seat back screens on both flights. I think that conversion cycle has pretty much finished for both BA and QF.

[This message has been edited by Globaliser (edited 06-05-2003).]

Globaliser,absoulutely superb advice i will do as you say ,thanks,Chris