Planning to fly to london - who with?

[lipari]

hello'

i am planning 1st ever overseas trip to london in may. ok a bit late but heres the biggie, who to fly ?

would have liked qantas but higher price for premium economy & dont fancy goiing to dubai.

so choice narrows r
to bristish or virgin atlantic. virgin gets more thumbs up but i read the plane they use had major structural work on their planes. gets me nervous.

so looks like british airways even though premium is not as good. little bit concerned that they have very old 20 year old jumbos.

does any body know if british fly their old jumbos from sydney to london or do we get the newer ones ?

 

[Deleted member]

Re: planning to fly to london

Your profile reveals very little about yourself, so not sure what you are looking for.
Do you have any accumulated points or status ( from domestic flying)
What are your priorities ?
I liked Dubai, but then you don't have to stop over if you don't want to, and yes it is a bit hot

 

[docjames]

Re: planning to fly to london

SYD-lhr all on BA is a 777 not a 747 nowadays

 

[TonyHancock]

Re: planning to fly to london

SYD-lhr all on BA is a 777 not a 747 nowadays

Indeed.

Y+ on BA is not the best experience either. Personally I find QF's Y+ a much better product.

 

[lipari]

Re: planning to fly to london

ok well my profile is im not a flying person. flew once to brisbane, not great. would love to see london and hop over to paris.

so before i book i did all this research and found this scary stuff about major work on the virgin atlantic planes something to do with wing spars.

then researched more on the other choice which is british but shocked to see how old their planes are.

this is a bigmove for little me and maybe i am going into it too much . was even thinking qantas to hong kong and then british to london. would prefer a jumbo and have saved for premium.

 

[jetlagger]

Re: planning to fly to london

hello'

i am planning 1st ever overseas trip to london in may. ok a bit late but heres the biggie, who to fly ?

would have liked qantas but higher price for premium economy & dont fancy goiing to dubai.

so choice narrows r
to bristish or virgin atlantic. virgin gets more thumbs up but i read the plane they use had major structural work on their planes. gets me nervous.

so looks like british airways even though premium is not as good. little bit concerned that they have very old 20 year old jumbos.

does any body know if british fly their old jumbos from sydney to london or do we get the newer ones ?

How about Cathay Pacific?
Unsure of the price, though they have PE (Premium Economy) & generally newer airplanes.

 

[mannej]

Re: planning to fly to london

If you are looking at age of planes, maintenance etc - look at the bigger picture. How many crashes have these 3 airlines had in the last 10 years or so?
I think you are over analysing random bits of information, which may be part of a fear of flying (please correct me if I'm wrong)

 

[lipari]

Re: planning to fly to london

sure am a bit edgy its a long flight and thats a wee bit scary. but its the only way to get there.

re qantas the premium is too costly.

 

[proskyneo]

Re: planning to fly to london

Not sure about how narrow your choices are, but my sister has booked a trip to LHR in May as well. She booked MH for a very decent price (asian travel agent haha) and they fly the A380 between KUL and some parts of Europe e.g. Frankfurt and London I believe.

I am just unsure of the planes they use between Australia and KUL, that could vary based on your exit port I guess.

MH also have regular sales I would have thought, although they might not credit into QFF depending on the fare bucket. YMMV I guess.

 

[Deleted member]

Re: planning to fly to london

ok well my profile is im not a flying person. flew once to brisbane, not great. would love to see london and hop over to paris.

so before i book i did all this research and found this scary stuff about major work on the virgin atlantic planes something to do with wing spars.

then researched more on the other choice which is british but shocked to see how old their planes are.

this is a bigmove for little me and maybe i am going into it too much . was even thinking qantas to hong kong and then british to london. would prefer a jumbo and have saved for premium.

Ok fair enough. In simple terms buy the best seat for the best price going via your preferred route.

Not sure that I would do too much research either, I am likely to worry too much, I do prefer the big names rather than low cost carriers though.

I like HK it's a great stopover , sounds like you really know what you want. Enjoy the trip

 

[onlycopunk]

Re: planning to fly to london

Sounds like you have a lot on your mind!

1) Go to skyscanner.com and search for your flights to see all available flights within that time period.
2) Write down which flights interested you based on times, days, prices, etc
3) Research airlines and passenger experiences .
4) Make purchase based on best informed decision.

In the end it's a flight, a means to an end. Perhaps visit your doctor and discuss your anxiety concerns before flying.

 

[RB]

Re: planning to fly to london

As mentioned by docjames, I believe BA are starting to use 777-300ER from Sydney from March. Supposed to be new seats & they were certainly providing sharp pricing recently-not sure if they will be comparable to QF yet though

 

[simongr]

Re: planning to fly to london

Having read this I wouldn't be flying anyone if you are concerned about spar issues

Welcome to Lufthansa Technik Philippines

However more rationally I would fly CX of about $3600 per person, great airline, new PE product and less chance of the wings falling off than VS.

 

[Fruitcake]

Re: planning to fly to london

If you are looking at age of planes, maintenance etc - look at the bigger picture. How many crashes have these 3 airlines had in the last 10 years or so?

Well, British Airways has had one, and it was a ~7 year old 777, not a 20 year old jumbo .

 

[mannej]

Re: planning to fly to london

Well, British Airways has had one, and it was a ~7 year old 777, not a 20 year old jumbo .

With no fatalities - there are so many more factors to aircraft safety apart from age

 

[drewbles]

Re: planning to fly to london

As mentioned by docjames, I believe BA are starting to use 777-300ER from Sydney from March. Supposed to be new seats & they were certainly providing sharp pricing recently-not sure if they will be comparable to QF yet though

BA's premium economy on the 777's is near identical to QF's:
British Airways - World Traveller Plus: Preview our new cabin

I sat in it at Waterside (their headquarters) last year and it was definitely comfortable. I flew to LHR last year in their old Premium product, and did not rate it at all well, in fact, it was less comfortable than QF Economy, just with better legroom (fortunately I got upgraded on the long haul).

I'm not aware of any problems with Virgin Atlantic's aircraft at all, and would happily fly them.

As for Cathay, they still run a lot of 747's on the HKG-LHR run, so your Premium Economy options will be limited (and i've heard their product is not that wonderful).

 

[alieninperth]

Re: planning to fly to london

1) Go to skyscanner.com and search for your flights to see all available flights within that time period.
2) Write down which flights interested you based on times, days, prices, etc
3) Research airlines and passenger experiences .
4) Make purchase based on best informed decision.

I would add to this, check out ita matrix (Matrix - ITA Software) for the cheapest flights on the cheapest dates and then skyscanner to actually book.

 

[casanovawa]

Re: planning to fly to london

Are you interested in points or status credits?? Doesn't sound like you fly a great deal so I am assuming not??? And how did your options narrow down to just BA, Qantas or Virgin??? Plenty more options out there than those three and if your not locked into OW will give you a lot more options (does Virgin Atlantic credit to QFF??)

Also not sure how much you fly but for the price of PE you could buy miles in AA or USDMs frequent flyer program and fly business or first class to either London or Paris for less than $3500 if you can find seats available on the days you want... All that extra room and attentive flight attendants might lessen your anxiety even more...

But as a newbie, you might find the process of reading up and calling over to the US a little daunting, but plenty of people round here to give you advice... There is a special with AA till the end of the month to buy miles at a promo rate...

 

[lipari]

wow you people know your stuff.

thanks for the advice.

have been thinking today about who i feel comfortable flying and came up with this

- food on the flight isnt important
- i have no points or status so that doesnt come into it.


the important things to me are
- 4 engines just a mental thing
-premium economy but a budget version
-legroom and a smaller cabin
-a newish plane

really wanted virgin atlantic but the major structural work on the wing spars well i dont want to go there.

all of these neurotic things limits my choices.

one option i found was qantas premium to hong kong. then wait there for british airways flight to london on a 747. that way if british premium isnt great then its only for half the trip,

 

[mannej]

Why is 4 engines important? The 777 and 330 are both very safe aircraft.