BA or American or a mix
 

I'm looking at RT flights ORD to LHR to ACC with a return layover in London. As far as getting AAdvantage miles and just general service, which would be best: All BA, all American, or a mix using codeshare flights? We'll likely fly coach. The BA flights are a bit more expensive but not so much so it tips the scales. It's been a long time since I've flown BA internationally so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

You will get full AAdvantage miles regardless of your choice (provided of course you put your frequent flyer information in when booking.)

By choosing BA for the transatlantic portions you won't have to change terminals at Heathrow - you'll arrive and depart from Terminal 5 for both sectors, vs. having to transfer from Terminal 3 (AA) to T5 if you choose American.

As for in-flight service, both are decent. Depending on when this trip takes place, you might still get an AA 777-200 airplane with an inch or more legroom in coach compared to BA's pitch in coach; however if it's one of AA's newer 777-300s by then, the seat comfort will be comparable to BA's. If you have AA status and/or are prepared to pay for "Main Cabin Extra" seats - more legroom, that might also be a good option. AA will also allow free seat selection on its segments; BA will make you pay to choose seats before 24h pre-flight.

Otherwise, aside from a wider selection of complimentary alcoholic beverages on BA, there won't be much of a difference.

The main difference for me would be like Gardyloo says -- having to change terminals or not. T5 to T5 would be easier/faster than T3 to T5 or vice versa.

On your return flight w/ a London stop over that wouldn't be an issue.

I also have a preference of NON codeshare - in case anything goes wrong. WORST experiences I have had have been when codeshare flights have a problem and the two airlines fight out whose responsibility it is.

Nothing the matter with BA..Have had the experience of being upgraded 3 times when the plane was "overbooked in back" (BA's words not mine). Have flown both Econ. and Bus. Both were just fine in all respects. I do find their booking of ff miles a bit confusing but that is no big deterrent. Better to stick to 1 line than code share if at all possible as newtome states.

Thanks for all the info and input! I usually try to book the most convenient flights with a decent price point, which would be a BA/AA mix for this trip, but will need to give this more thought. Lots to factor in!

<i>however if it's one of AA's newer 777-300s by then, the seat comfort will be comparable to BA's.</i>

I would class it worse due to the fact that coach on the AA 77W is 3-4-3 vs 3-3-3 on BA.

AA's MCE option, though, is a nice enough product and would be better than a BA coach seat. If the cost of the AA/BA ticket saved enough vs the BA ticket to pay for the MCE upgrade, then I would go that route.

<i>I would class it worse due to the fact that coach on the AA 77W is 3-4-3 vs 3-3-3 on BA.</i>

Unless it's a BA 744 in which case it's also 3-4-3.

While I'm not crazy about 3-4-3 on the 747 either, the cabin is something like 7 or 8 inches wider than on the 777, so it does work a little better on the 747.

Gardyloo,

Is there a tax or "fee" difference flying into LHR?

<I>Gardyloo,

Is there a tax or "fee" difference flying into LHR?</I>

In what context? Are taxes higher if you stop at LHR, rather than connecting? Yes. Are taxes or fees higher if flying BA vs AA? Not for cash purchases.

AA and BA have antitrust immunity for their transatlantic flights, meaning that they set prices for both carriers jointly and so fares will be similar, though with some differences due to fluctuations in demand, particularly driven by departure times.

There may be some difference in fare construction (though I don't believe there is in this case), with one carrier pushing fuel surcharges to the "fees" section and others keeping it in the fare, but this is a meaningless distinction for the 99.99% of passengers that aren't trying to construct a fuel dump fare.

<i>Is there a tax or "fee" difference flying into LHR?</i>

No difference in taxes; and as TG says, not anything that you'd notice in purchased fares, <i>provided the fare basis is comparable.</i>

As you know, there can be numerous fare buckets sold on any given flight, so the price to the end user between flights on AA or BA on a given day can and do vary considerably.

Leaving LHR, of course, you're subject to UK Air Passenger Duty unless you've just transited the UK, and that too is applied regardless of the airline(s) used.

The big (and it's really big) difference between AA and BA comes in when you try to redeem AA miles for flights. In those cases, AA passes through BA's fuel surcharges (listed as "YQ" on the fare table) to the user, while AA doesn't <i>on its own metal</i> or on some partners' flights (e.g. Air Berlin.)

Gardyloo,

Thanks. Just checking to see what's changed or remained the same between BA and AA.

You're like a travel agent that really knows his stuff.

I'd call that a classic oxymoron.

Why aren't you flying an airline nonstop from the US to ACC?

Two reasons: we want to spend some time in the UK on our return and we want to get AA miles.

As far as I can tell, Delta is the only non-stop from the US (JFK) to ACC.

Just remember that the departure tax out of LHR back to the USA is hefty-usually around $180 USD a person.

dutyfree, thanks for the heads up but I do't think we have a choice if we want to spend some time in the UK.

The UK Air Passenger Duty (APD) has different tiers depending on your initial destination upon departing from the UK. If your return route was, say, London-Paris-Chicago, you'd pay the lower tier APD since you're only traveling to Paris from the UK perspective. Even if you took the train to Paris, then flew to Chicago <i>via Heathrow</i>, e.g. CDG-xLHR-ORD, you wouldn't pay any APD, since you'd only be connecting through Heathrow as a transit passenger.

Now of course the numbers matter - the cost of getting to Paris (or Amsterdam, often even cheaper) has to be added in, plus any differential in ticket price by flying AMS/CDG-ORD vs. the higher frequency LHR-ORD flights. You might save a few bucks, might not, but it IS conceivable to avoid the APD.

The same goes if you're stopping in London en route to Ghana. The APD on UK-Africa flights will be the same as on flights across the Atlantic. Not everybody wants to turn themselves into pretzels to avoid some taxes, but some people do.

Gardyloo, thanks for the detailed info re APD. We generally fly coach and prefer to take the most direct connecting flights with reasonably timed layovers. We end up spending a bit more for tickets but less time in airports and coach seats. Sometimes convenience is priceless.

I misspoke in my original post...we are doing a stopover (5 days) not a layover in the UK on the return to ORD.

I think we've decided to go with BA through LHR. Doing a transfer within the same terminal sounds very good to us. But I can't seem to find any pay-per-day lounges in Terminal 5. Are there any or will we need to just find somewhere in Terminal 5 to camp out between flights?