British Airways Business Class - Worth Extra $?
 

I took advantage of the recent B.A. sale from SFO to London and currently have a ticket on hold (have til tomorrow to decide) for travel in March. From SFO I fly economy and on the return from LHR I fly business. My question - is it worth the extra $ to fly business on the return leg? Total cost of ticket is $1200. I can get a ticket for about $800 flying economy both ways.

I'm leaning towards the business ticket. Any info helpful - thanks!

If I could fly business only one direction, I'd choose to fly it SFO -> LHR since it's a night flight. The return is daylight the whole way.

Worth it? For $400 extra? For me, definitely yes; I dislike coach and avoid it whenever possible. I'd take business both ways for $800 extra in a heartbeat... but again, if I could choose only one direction, I'd strongly recommend to make it business on the night flight.

Have a great trip!

I 100% agree w/ Trophywife. I fly from the west coast to the UK several times a year and if I'm only doing business one way it would <B>ALWAYS</B> be for the eastbound leg. That is the overnight journey and you want the lie flat beds and better dinner/beverages etc.

Flying home is a day time flight and sitting up in a coach seat much would be more bearable.

In fact my last three trips and another coming up in December are all booked that way -- business over and coach back. (Paid tix, not ff)

Don't waste your Business travel on the return flight . . . $1200 is a steal - just do it smarter and sleep on your way to London.

I actually find myself disagreeing with the direction issue. San Francisco to London is a long way, but because of prevailing winds, the LHR-SFO flight is at least an hour longer - sometimes more - than the eastbound flight, and since it's during the day, you have more time to enjoy the perks of business class. And as a practical note, BA always turns off the lights westbound anyway, so if you want to flat-bed nap, you'll have your chance.

I didn't follow the BA sale closely, but that's a surprisingly narrow spread between economy and business class. What about premium economy aka "World Traveller Plus?" Upping the coach seat to WTP would be a good compromise on the SFO-LHR leg, although frankly given the costs you cited, going in business both ways would be - to me at least - a no brainer.

Yes it is usually 45 mins to 70 minutes longer but it is daytime (Me personally - If I sleep on the way home my body clock gets even more messed up doesn't get back to normal for 3 or 4 days - but that is just me.) I can see your point - but coach or economy+ is more bearable for me on a daytime flight.

I used to mange sleeping in crunched up coach seats but no more. In Business, even if I don't get a full night's sleep I still arrive semi-refreshed because I've been able to stretch out and am never interrupted by others climbing over me to get to the aisle.

Thanks for the tips. Unfortunately I couldn't get a business class ticket on the way to London for my departure date - unless I wanted to shell out an extra $3100. Yikes. Think I'm going to book the ticket and enjoy business back to San Francisco.

In that case -- enjoy your flight home :)

Yes, it's nice to have something to look forward to at the end of a trip!