BA, Virgin or United to Washington

ringo747

ringo747

ringo747

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1 Feb 2006
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Will be flying with work to Washington later this year but no business class. I can go with any airline out of Heathrow.

How does cattle class compare with the options above? Anyone else I could fly with that are decent?

It isn't terribly long flight but when all options are available I might as well select the best.
 
I spent months agonizing over this and eventually went Virgin. It was fine.

There are no truly great airlines on the transat route bar Air New Zealand who only fly to LA.
 
Virgin, solely because they own Virgin Media which in turn means you get loads of in flight entertainment and some good movies :-) I flew with them to NY, and enjoyed it!
 
United economy is pretty poor if you are one of the older 772's. They do have a sizeable Economy Plus cabin which gives a bit more legroom for not a lot more so if you can get your company to pay for this it would make things a bit more comfortable. The newer 777 is a lot better inside although giving the same legroom as before but the advantage is that is it 3-3-3 instead of 2-5-2. The entertainment system on the older aircraft is crap whereas the new aircraft are equipped with a decent enough on-demand system.

That's if you choose United though. I fly with United over the atlantic quite a lot and they're my least favourite if I'm in the back but I hold Premier Executive status so I always get upgraded. Out of your choices I would go with Virgin every time. They're a cut above BA in pretty much every aspect of their service.
 
BTW are you the guy who got bmi Diamond Club silver membership? If so, with this on United you get priority check in, priority boarding, preferential seating (often if you don't choose a seat assignment at booking, they will put you in E+) and an extra hold bag.

Something to consider!
 
Will try and go Virgin then. Do they have a decent FF scheme? Our work booking system doesn't allow anything other than economy so I'm probably stuck. Is it the A340 from Heathrow? Do they still have the 747 - was a lovely livery on it.

Scuzi said:
BTW are you the guy who got bmi Diamond Club silver membership?
Click to expand...

Yep that's me.
 
I do the UK to NYC slot quite a lot and have been via numerous airlines. Now, I try not to fly anything other than Virgin.

BA doesn't come close, and United in Economy is a squeeze - I'm hardly gigantor at 5ft 8.

If you could wangle an upgrade to Premium Economy it's definitely worth it. Great service and very similar to bus class of even 5 years ago.

I'm fortunate enough to get shipped upper (it's not as expensive as it sounds if you buy enough slots/seats) which is awesome - but I'd be quite happy going prem. economy.
 
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