I'm flying from San Francisco to London to Johannesburg on British Air. I have done this trip before and it is crowded!! I was considering upgrading to the World Traveler Plus, which is an additional $1400. Is it that much better than coach?

thanks

On four 10-12 hour segments?? Hell yes. Plus with that many miles in WT+ you can join the BA FF club and get some ways toward a free ticket on BA. If you travel domestically on American you can add AA miles to your BA account and maybe even make elite status - lounge access, easier upgrades, all that.

Just curious, what's the total fare that you're getting for this route in WT+?

Patty,

The roundtrip fare is $3497 (ouch!)...

Oops, Patty...forgot to mention that my final destination is Lusaka (Zambia), so I'm not sure what the price is for only going as far as Jo'burg.

Ouch is right, I've been pricing WT+ for a possible trip to NBO late this year and am getting fares of about $2400 from LAX. I hadn't realized that fares to southern Africa were that much higher. For us the $700-800 difference is worth it but I don't know if I would spend an additional $1400. On the other hand we probably wouldn't go if we had to fly regular economy. Tough decision. We used ff miles to fly business class earlier this year but won't have enough for the next trip.

With those prices you ought to consider a round-the-world ticket, which is around US$4000 if bought in N. America, $2200 if bought in the UK, that would allow you (a) lots more flexibility and options in your routing and (b) would allow a segment-by-segment upgrade to WT+ if it's offered on the flight (e.g., transatlantic, South Africa-Europe-Australia-US, etc.)

Look at www.oneworld.com for pointers.

If you'd like to try out Virgin transatlantic and to SA, then come back to the US via Singapore, look at Singapore Airlines' website under the "promotions" heading for their "Escapade" RTW product (Singapore, Virgin, Air New Zealand.)

Thanks for the tip, Gardyloo...I'll check into it.