Flights to New York

Semple

Semple

Semple

Soldato
Joined
5 Mar 2010
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Heading to New York later on in the year. Prices between a number of the airlines are very similar, had a brief look at what to expect on board. Curious to see what facilities other people had on board, i.e. electrical outlets, food/drink, screens in back of seats, travel packs etc.

The airlines in question are Delta, Air France, KLM, British Airways, American Airlines, Finnair and Virgin.
 
Virgin premium in economy was ok, more room slightly better food, IFE was good but could be a little better as its quite dated now
 
Only flew BA economy.

No plugs (unlike in Cathay to the far east)
Meals are okay (they are never great are they?)
Entertainment's control on right side of arm rest, undetachable, on the way out the passenger next to me keep pressing on it with his elbow and pausing my movie.
Screen is not as good as Cathay but LOTS of choices, I was spoiled for choice.
You fly from Terminal 5 though which is nicer than Terminal 3 if going from Heathrow.

To be honest, it is economy, and it is "only" 7 hours, so I just suck it up and watch a few movies and you are there. I didn't even eat, sleep or get out of my chair on the way back.
 
In economy, I'd go with the cheapest airline with the most convenient times/airport. They're all pretty crappy.
 
Virgin from my experiences.

I'm flying BA to San Fran in October, not really looking forward to it especially as no plugs!
 
Virgin or BA, both are great, worth paying that little extra for. BA have a sale on at the moment so give that a go for starters, also try kayak.com to compare prices with flexible dates.
 
I tend to stick to BA when I fly back to the UK but if you can get on one of the newer American Airlines planes (shows up as 77w when booking) then book them for sure!
 
MrMoonX said:
Virgin premium in economy was ok, more room slightly better food, IFE was good but could be a little better as its quite dated now
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Depends on the plane, most have been updated now, I always check the planes I fly with and pick the newest for the best experience after being caught out before (and also flying with a partner airline, so annoying).
 
mjt said:
Avoid AA, Air France and Delta would be my advice.
The rest are probably all the same in the back, read up on www.airlinequality.com and www.seatguru.com for tips and reviews.
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Bad experience with Delta?

Delta is currently the cheapest, but BA is only £15 more per person which I don't mind paying extra, but trying to justify that extra £15 for what you get.

I'll take a look at those review sites, cheers.
 
If you fly BA, I highly recommend upgrading to economy plus.

I recently flew to the states and back with BA. Went out economy, came back economy plus. My understanding was additional cost was minimal.

Benefits however were great for a long haul flight. Economy plus got business class food. Which was a 'three course' meal, but the food was great. Detachable remotes on the touch screen displays (which economy has, but doesn't have the detaching remotes). They also had larger leg space, by a decent amount, and the chairs had raising foot rests and greater space leaning back. I'd certainly upgrade to economy plus on any long haul flight now I think (although would probably do it on avios if I'm honest)

Regarding economy however:
Both were good, economy was actually manageable. It was a ten hour flight (slightly longer than New York) and I just watched four films. The film choice was truly fantastic. Django, jack the giant slayer, jack reacher, les mis, robot and frank, the hobbit are just a small selection of the films I could choose from when I flew out probably close to a month ago now.

The only issue I have with BA is the plugs, but that doesn't bother me as the in flight entertainment is so good it doesn't matter.

Think they're also refurbished all their old planes for long haul already (the 747 we flew out on was refurbed), but the 737 I flew to Spain on wasn't.

Pretty sure BA have also just added a bunch of the new airbus and boeings to their fleet as well if my fb feed is to be believed.

As a small extra positive for BA, flying BA from heathrow pretty much guarantees T5, which I found to be a top notch terminal.

kd
 
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PaulyJay said:
I tend to stick to BA when I fly back to the UK but if you can get on one of the newer American Airlines planes (shows up as 77w when booking) then book them for sure!
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I did a trip on these to new york a few weeks ago, They do have very nice IFE but I just read a book.

Terrible food though in economy, honestly you should take a packed lunch or eat before the flight.
 
Semple said:
Bad experience with Delta?

Delta is currently the cheapest, but BA is only £15 more per person which I don't mind paying extra, but trying to justify that extra £15 for what you get.

I'll take a look at those review sites, cheers.
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If you're tall then Delta all the way. They do a £60 upgrade on transatlantic flights where you get 38" of legroom and I think another few bits and pieces. You need to ask at the desk when checking in and they seem to go quickly but if you can get the seat it's great. (And no it's not just exit seats, they have a dedicated couple of rows when I did it.

Terminal 5 is much nicer than Terminal 3 though and if you collect miles from one group over the other then maybe that's better. In reality though they are all much of a muchness, uncomfortable and to hot/cold.

Edit: Having said that I've been told BA do something similar with their Premium Economy on some long haul flights. Book economy and ask at the desk and pay a supplement (£100-150 each way). Delta is much cheaper though.
 
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