Transatlantic Y - AA or BA

[Shano]

I am looking at my first RTW ticket, albeit in Y. Looking at the LONEx rules I need to be away for 10 days, which I just manage to do - leave on 18th and arrive back on 28th.

No time (or desire in Y) to try and miximise mileage for this trip.

I am looking at AA (777) or BA (747) for the TA leg - JFK to LHR. I thought I might be able to bypass LHR, but need to get to Krakow (KRK), which is not well served by Oneworld. So I will make do with LHR (at least they have revoked the 1 carry-on rule).

What would you recommend in Y for the JFK - LHR flight. Both leave within an hour of each other so timing is not an issue. BA departs form Terminal 7 whereas AA departs from Terminal 8. My onward connection from LHR is from Terminal 1.

Comments?

 

[NM]

I am looking at my first RTW ticket, albeit in Y. Looking at the LONEx rules I need to be away for 10 days, which I just manage to do - leave on 18th and arrive back on 28th.

The min 10 days rule is worded as:

Travel on the last international sector must commence no earlier than 10 days after commencement of the first international sector

So it is not determined by the date you arrive back home, but the date you depart your last international sector. So if that last flight home is something like QF108 LAX-SYD, you would be departing LAX in 26th in order to arrive back on the 28th.

now it looks like you are planning to travel eastwards (you note JFK-LHR), so its likely your final return to Australia may involve an overnight flight from Asia to Australia. So check that your last international departure is not on the 27th and hence less than 10 days from the first international departure.

I am looking at AA (777) or BA (747) for the TA leg - JFK to LHR. I thought I might be able to bypass LHR, but need to get to Krakow (KRK), which is not well served by Oneworld. So I will make do with LHR (at least they have revoked the 1 carry-on rule).

What would you recommend in Y for the JFK - LHR flight. Both leave within an hour of each other so timing is not an issue. BA departs form Terminal 7 whereas AA departs from Terminal 8. My onward connection from LHR is from Terminal 1.

Comments?

If all else is equal (FF program earning etc), I would probably tend to use BA to make it a BA-BA connection. However, BA will arrive into T4 requiring a bus to the FCC. AA will arrive at T3, which is a walk to FCC.

AA will require you to purchase alcohol whole BA is quite generous in service booze even in Y.

 

[Dave Noble]

I would tend to use AA for it since the connection is easier from T3 ; also if that sort of thing bothers you, you will get more FF miles on AA than BA

Also I prefer the 2-5-2 layout of the 777 compared to the 3-4-3 layout of the 747

If wanting to use a laptop inflight, the AA flight does have empower power ports at some economy seats whilst BA only has laptop power in W/J/F

Where BA would have a benefit is if you have status; BA only allows full fare and those with Sapphire/Emerald status to pre-select seats whilst AA has the benefit for those with Ruby or lower status in that pre-selection is available to all

Drawback of AA is that you would have to pay for alcohol

Either way though, personally I would change the JFK-LHR flight to a daytime flight rather than the evil overnight service

Dave

 

[dajop]

My onward connection from LHR is from Terminal 1.

Just curious, but how are you getting to Krakow? The oneworld timetable shows BA flights from London to Krakow orginating at LGW.

 

[Shano]

Just curious, but how are you getting to Krakow? The oneworld timetable shows BA flights from London to Krakow orginating at LGW.

I considered the LGW-KRK direct flight, but was not overly keen on the LHR - LGW transfer. I have read here though that it is not too bad - allow about 90 minutes - so perhaps I am worrying about nothing.

I am flying (booked at least) LHR-MUC on BA, with a cheap MUC-KRK flight on LH.

 

[Shano]

now it looks like you are planning to travel eastwards (you note JFK-LHR), so its likely your final return to Australia may involve an overnight flight from Asia to Australia. So check that your last international departure is not on the 27th and hence less than 10 days from the first international departure.

Hmm, I did misinterpret that, although it is worded pretty clearly. The TA assured me it was OK, but.....

I was originally flying overnight SIN-MEL, departing SIN on the 27th. Looks like I will have to change to the daytime QF32 SIN-SYD-MEL, or QF30 via HKG, departing on the 28th.

 

[NM]

I considered the LGW-KRK direct flight, but was not overly keen on the LHR - LGW transfer. I have read here though that it is not too bad - allow about 90 minutes - so perhaps I am worrying about nothing.

Where will you be in the USA. It may be a lot easier to arrive into LGW instead of LHR. AA and BA both fly 777s DFW-LGW. Even if you are in the New York area, it may be easier to route LGA-DFW-LGW-KRK, thus avoiding LHR altogether.

BA flies to LGW from ATL, IAH, MCO and TPA.

 

[Shano]

Where will you be in the USA. It may be a lot easier to arrive into LGW instead of LHR. AA and BA both fly 777s DFW-LGW. Even if you are in the New York area, it may be easier to route LGA-DFW-LGW-KRK, thus avoiding LHR altogether.

BA flies to LGW from ATL, IAH, MCO and TPA.

I will be in PIT before leaving for Europe. I had considered RDU and ORD, but no oneworld flights PIT-RDU and I believe flights from both ORD and RDU also arrive at LHR.

Itinerary so far is MEL-LAX-DFW-LIT-DFW-PIT-...-KRK-...MEL

It would be possible to backtrack (PIT-ORD-DFW-LGW) and pick up the connection to KRK.

The difficuly I am faced with at the moment is the final segment, departing on the 28th. I would like this to be a short segment so that I arrive reasonably early on the 28th back in MEL. Ideally this would be AKL-MEL, so need to look at possible connections from Europe to AKL, arriving in AKL early on the morning of the 28th.

I would be departing KRK on the 26th.

 

[Dave Noble]

I will be in PIT before leaving for Europe. I had considered RDU and ORD, but no oneworld flights PIT-RDU and I believe flights from both ORD and RDU also arrive at LHR.

From JFk , I wouldn't backtrack to places like DFW or RDU just to get to LGW. Take the flight to LHR and hop on the coach to LGW. The journey time is around an hour. The MCT LHR-LGW is, unless it has changed, 3 hours

It is a pretty painless connection and the coaches run frequently. If doing this, then the BA arrival would be slightly better since it is 10 minutes quicker from T4 to LGW than from T123

Dave

 

[simongr]

Depending on the ticket the other option to avoid the Bus around London would be via BGI...

 

[NM]

I will be in PIT before leaving for Europe. I had considered RDU and ORD, but no oneworld flights PIT-RDU and I believe flights from both ORD and RDU also arrive at LHR.

RDU used to go to LGW a few years ago, but does seem to have been moved to LHR now. I did LGW-RDU back in 2000 with BA as part of a LONE4.

The difficuly I am faced with at the moment is the final segment, departing on the 28th. I would like this to be a short segment so that I arrive reasonably early on the 28th back in MEL. Ideally this would be AKL-MEL, so need to look at possible connections from Europe to AKL, arriving in AKL early on the morning of the 28th.

The only way to include AKL would be to take CX HKG-AKL. CX117 arrives into AKL at 7:40am, so could connect with QF164 to arrive into SYD at 10:25am.

 

[Dave Noble]

Depending on the ticket the other option to avoid the Bus around London would be via BGI...

Riiiiiiight. Fly an extra 2835 miles rather than take a coach for 40 miles around the M25; hardly seems a worthwhile approach since I suspect that the journey time would be quite a bit longer
Dave

 

[NM]

Riiiiiiight. Fly an extra 2835 miles rather than take a coach for 40 miles around the M25; hardly seems a worthwhile approach since I suspect that the journey time would be quite a bit longer
Dave

But just think of the extra fun he could have chasing his lost bags if they don't make the BGI connection :shock:.

If starting in PIT and therefore needing to make one connection to get to London, I suggest using DFW and going direct to LGW.

 

[Shano]

Hopefully travelling with just carry-on, so don't need to worry about lost luggage.

Looking at leaving MEL now at 23:59 on the 17th to make the return a bit easier. Problem is that going via HKG gets me to DFW at 15:35 on the 18th, with the connection to LIT departing at 16:45. I doubt that 1:10 is a legal connection time considering that I will have clear immigration at DFW.

I am also travelling with some colleagues who are doing AU-US return, so need to be on the 16:45 flight to LIT with them.

Looks like I will have to stick with the departure on the 18th.

If only I cold talk them into paying for a DONE4, then the 10 day rule would not be a consideration........

 

[simongr]

Riiiiiiight. Fly an extra 2835 miles rather than take a coach for 40 miles around the M25; hardly seems a worthwhile approach since I suspect that the journey time would be quite a bit longer
Dave

Actually in all seriousness if connecting with bags and depending on time constraints it might be easier to go via BGI - no collecting of bags at LHR, droping off bags at LGW, checking in again at LGW etc - I would avoid the front of LGW and the back of LHR if I at all could.

 

[Shano]

OK, I can depart the night of the 17th, MEL-SYD-NRT, followed by NRT-DFW which gets me to DFW at 9:25am on the 18th.

Just means a long wait for my colleagues arriving at 3pm from LAX.

This now allows the final segment SIN-MEL on the night of the 27th, arriving MEL early morning of the 28th.

Not ideal, but fits a little better with my desire to be home a little earlier.

So final itinerary looks like being:

MEL-SYD-NRT-DFW-LIT-DFW-PIT-ORD-DFW-LGW-KRK//FRA-SIN-MEL

5 QF flights
7 AA/AE flights
1 BA flight

And the mighty sum of 260 SC :shock: At least that gets me to LTS....

 

[Dave Noble]

Actually in all seriousness if connecting with bags and depending on time constraints it might be easier to go via BGI - no collecting of bags at LHR, droping off bags at LGW, checking in again at LGW etc - I would avoid the front of LGW and the back of LHR if I at all could.

In all seriousness, flying 2800 miles to avoid the connection is madness imo. The effort involved in collecting at LHR , hopping on a coach and dropping them off at LGW is minor. The coaches run about every 15 minutes and are quite capable of taking luggage

Dave

 

[NM]

OK, I can depart the night of the 17th, MEL-SYD-NRT, followed by NRT-DFW which gets me to DFW at 9:25am on the 18th.

That is probably a better option. Plenty of time to recover in the DFW lounge. At least you can now move between terminals airside at DFW. So your NRT-DFW flight will arrive into Terminal D. After immigration and customs, head up to the departures level and clear security back airside. Then hand out at the Terminal D lounge, which is by far the best of the DFW lounges. It has shower facilities. There are lots of good food places in Terminal D, so find somewhere for a nice lunch. Then head to whatever terminal your LIT flights is departing.

A 1:10 at DFW should be ok. I assume your routing would have been MEL-HKG-LAX-DFW, in which case the immigration and customs is done at LAX and not at DFW. Its just a domestic to domestic connection there.

 

[Shano]

That is probably a better option. Plenty of time to recover in the DFW lounge. At least you can now move between terminals airside at DFW. So your NRT-DFW flight will arrive into Terminal D. After immigration and customs, head up to the departures level and clear security back airside. Then hand out at the Terminal D lounge, which is by far the best of the DFW lounges. It has shower facilities. There are lots of good food places in Terminal D, so find somewhere for a nice lunch. Then head to whatever terminal your LIT flights is departing.

A 1:10 at DFW should be ok. I assume your routing would have been MEL-HKG-LAX-DFW, in which case the immigration and customs is done at LAX and not at DFW. Its just a domestic to domestic connection there.

Routing was HKG-NRT-DFW which is why I was a bit concerned about connection time and clearing immigration.

NRT-DFW now has L0 so looks like NRT-ORD-DFW. Gets me to DFW at 14:20 so not so long a wait for my colleagues.

 

[NM]

Routing was HKG-NRT-DFW which is why I was a bit concerned about connection time and clearing immigration.

Ahh, the 1:10 is not enough time at DFW.