BA or AY in J?

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jakob

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Mar 12, 2007
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Hi All,

Was hoping for some advice from the experts (or anyone with an opinion) here.

Background: Planning return trip to Europe from Perth. Myself and GF. Fly out End November Back just before Xmas 2007. Was originally planning a DONE4 but have scapped that and am looking for a more budget way, but still getting longhaul J. Am QF SG need 360 SC's to retain by Dec 31, so want to fly OW (at least on the longhaul).

Ideas: Thinking Y to and from asia and J asia to LHR and back. Currently looking at prices online zuji etc... seems HKG has cheapest onward options in J. For HKG-LHR-HKG. Have got prices of $6500 All In for both of us on AY and $7000 on BA for the same.

From first glance thought BA fare was worth the difference for the product plus no transfer to get to LHR. But as my recent J travel has been confined to QF would like to ask:

1) Is there a big difference between BA and AY J? (i know thats a very subjective question)
2) What is it like for couples (who like to talk on the flight)? Seatmaps suggest that all AY J seats face forwards in pairs, while on BA the two middle backwards seats lower deck seems the logical choice??
3) Am i missing another good option?

Thanks heaps for any ideas/opinions,

jakob.
 
I would take BA since the seats go fully flat

I would take 2 seats on the side , one facing forward and one facing back; that way you can talk to the person in front rather than to the side

Dave
 
Finnair have a special Business fare for approx $7500. It allows 5 stopovers, with the main stipulation that you go AY on the Asia sector. I would say in your case you could do PER-HKG, HKG-HEL, HEL-LON, LON to either SIN or HKG then onto PER. It wouldbe J class all the way.

Has been discussed here in other threads.
 
Not sure if you have come across it but here is a recent thread on Finnair Business Class.
 
Thanks all for the replies.

Thinking BA will be the way to go. Just have to convince the G/F of the whole backwards/forwards seating. Will have to finalise dates and flights. The Finnair J special all the way would be nice, but may be a bit pricey this time.

Will let u know how it turns out,

Thanks again,

jakob.
 
garyjohn951 said:
Finnair have a special Business fare for approx $7500. It allows 5 stopovers.

Bestflights quote this fare ex-Perth for $6599+taxes & fuel fines for Zone 1 cities (which includes London). If you're looking at paying $7K for the BA fare and only travelling in Y to Asia to get that fare, I'd gladly swap the BA flat seat for the AY angled lie flat to go J all the way.
 
Fly BA and try and get the seats on the side (new product) - the seats are much better than QF J and if you are a big bloke much much better!
 
dajop said:
Bestflights quote this fare ex-Perth for $6599+taxes & fuel fines for Zone 1 cities (which includes London). If you're looking at paying $7K for the BA fare and only travelling in Y to Asia to get that fare, I'd gladly swap the BA flat seat for the AY angled lie flat to go J all the way.

It certainly is tempting to have J travel all the way. Looking at the Y fare to/from asia plus the BA J fare comes to approx $10k all in for both of us, while the Finnair J deal all the way you mention will be about $14k all in.

I was hoping that if flying Y into/out of asia I may be able to use points upgrades on these legs (I have had decent upgrade success on these routes), but it is still a risk obviously.

But thanks for pointing out that finnair fare, we'll have to consider closely whether its affordable.

jakob.
 
jakob said:
It certainly is tempting to have J travel all the way. Looking at the Y fare to/from asia plus the BA J fare comes to approx $10k all in for both of us, while the Finnair J deal all the way you mention will be about $14k all in.

Ah, it would help if I read your original post closer, see the difference now! Probably worth saving the extra $4k for something else, and chancing it with an upgrade.
 
Dave Noble said:
I would take BA since the seats go fully flat

I would take 2 seats on the side , one facing forward and one facing back; that way you can talk to the person in front rather than to the side

Dave

Thanks Everyone.

We have taken the above advice and we are now booked on BA28 HKG-LHR 28/11/7 and Return BA31 LHR-HKG 19/12/7. I have used MMB to chose our seats and we are currently in 62J/K outbound and 62A/B inbound. From looking at expertflyer I believe these flights are both currently scheduled as NGCW, which leads me to just a couple of more questions.

1) Do people recommend the above seats for a couple in NGCW?
2) Am I reading EF correctly that these flights are NGCW (the seat maps start at 17 in CW down stairs)?
3) We can use the arrivals lounge in LHR this is T1 I believe, does anyone have directions/link for this?

thanks again,

jakob.
 
H i Jakob

1 - I had 62A and it was a great seat - easy access out and it would work for a couple.
2 - Unable to assist
3 - Out into arrivals through baggage collection and on the right. It is sign posted.
 
simongr said:
3 - Out into arrivals through baggage collection and on the right. It is sign posted.

I thought that the T1 arrivals lounge was a little bit more hidden

Dave
 
I am sure I found it relatively easily but memories do play funny tricks on you...
 
simongr said:
I am sure I found it relatively easily but memories do play funny tricks on you...

Okie. I know that at T4 it is turn right and walk to end of terminal, but at T1 I thought it was a bit more hidden; then again I dont tend to use the arrivals lounge so could be wrong

Dave
 
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It will be an interesting consideration for me if I have any DONE4 flights through the UK in the second half of next year. Using AA across the ATlantic means a T3 arrival or departure so I might move to QF as my connector rather than BA to avoid a Terminal change. But I do want to have a look at T5...
 
jakob said:
It certainly is tempting to have J travel all the way. Looking at the Y fare to/from asia plus the BA J fare comes to approx $10k all in for both of us, while the Finnair J deal all the way you mention will be about $14k all in.

I was hoping that if flying Y into/out of asia I may be able to use points upgrades on these legs (I have had decent upgrade success on these routes), but it is still a risk obviously.

But thanks for pointing out that finnair fare, we'll have to consider closely whether its affordable.

jakob.

An update....

it seems to have worked well. We booked the HKG-LHR-HKG on an I fare via BA and QF in Y (V fare) into and out of asia -ex PER. As i said above trying to use points for upgrades. Well the upgrade gods seemed to have smiled on us :D .

We're on QF 67 PER-HKG 26/11, and i've just logged into my qantas QFF page and 80k points have 'gone' and now we're confirmed in U. It seems to have processed at T-10hrs, don't know how that compares with others experiences?

It's great to know things work out as planned sometime.
I know its a 763 but for a day flight thats no problem.

Also means I don't have to worry about the very average perth international QP, as we'll now have much more to look forward to on board.

well i'm stoked anyways (still excited by international J)

jakob
 
Congrats on the upgrade Jakob.;)

I'm flying CW from SYD to LHR this Christmas. I am unable to choose or request seats thru Manage My Booking. Does anyone know if this is because I have no OW status? The best option I have is OLCI the day before.

Cheers for any advice,

Dubno
 
What type of ticket dubno?

This page on the BA site lists who can choose seats - I assume you don't have a fully flexible J/C ticket?
 
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