janiekins

Planning a trip to London in March - getting ready to book flights - do most people prefer flying American Airlines or Virgin Atlantic?

rkkwan

What class, and from where?

xyz123

Well I'll tell you...understanding of course there can be variations due to flight crew composition flight delays etc.

I prefer to fly Virgin on the JFK-LHR route in coach class because

1. they are not cheap and have not stooped to charging $4 for a class of wine with dinner.

2. their entertainment system with the little screens gives a far far greater variety of programming than American.

Now American at least in the past gave a little bit more leg room in coach but as I understand it their planes on the JFk LHR route are being retrofitted back to the 10 across same as Virgin.

So I vote for Virgin....

Joanne28

We took Thomas Cook Airline from Toronto to Edinburgh & there was TONS of legroom for my 6'3" husband and that was regular coach. Plus the food was good.

Don't know if they operate out of the U.S. but it's worth looking up.

janiekins

Hi - sorry - flying from Boston to London - economy

rkkwan

AA's 777 has always been 2-5-2. No change in seat width or the seats themselves. They just don't have the extra legroom of the past 2-3 years. That's all.

Seriously, this is a short flight. I'd choose the flight based on price and FF miles. Won't be a huge difference in experience.

Gardyloo

Coupla thoughts -

AA is indeed putting seats back into their aircraft, but their 777s ex-BOS have two seats at the windows and 5 in the middle, so if there are two of you it might be more comfortable (no middle seats.)

AA offers a morning departure from BOS and I don't think VS does. It gets into London at dinnertime and I think it really helps with jetlag, plus most people find daytime flights in coach easier on the system than overnights. I don't think in-flight service on AA or VS in coach will make a lot of difference.

That all said, note that British Airways is currently offering some pretty good prices on World Traveler Plus, or "premium economy" from BOS - around $150 more than VS or AA coach. Much more comfortable seats, even a chance (remote but it's happened to us a couple of times) for "operational upgrades" to business class if WT- and/or WT+ are oversold. BA also have a morning BOS-LHR flight, BTW.

janiekins

American Airlines no longer offers morining flights from Boston to London

Gardyloo

AA156 BOSLHR dep 0900 arr 2025. Still going...

karenpg

I took virgin in January this year and thought they were great but, not much room in the seats even by coach standards and even in bulkhead. The staff is very pleasant, we had our own movie screen and could watch movies/t.v. when we wanted to. You couldn't beat the price. I had air/hotel package and they listed the r/t at $139. Say hello to London for me.

kamahinaohoku

Another vote for Virgin.

janiekins

I called American Airlines yesterday - morning flight #156 BOSTON - LONDON HEATHROW dep 0900 arr 2025 will be discontinued at the end of 2005.

rkkwan

Call back, or better yet, don't call back.

AA155/156 is bookable for Jan, Feb, Mar and probably beyond, on aa.com.

nonnafelice

Before you book on Virgin out of Boston, you might want to read about our experience on the same route last March:

http://rozault.com/london-not/virginletter.html

I would never fly Virgin again from Boston -- if anything goes wrong, their customer service is non-existent, and they do not have any backup facilities since they have so few flights from Logan.

walkinaround

i would like to say virgin because american really annoys me but i can't recommend virgin. if you peel away the "cool", they really are lacking in the basics. i find the staff poorly organised and there really is far too little leg room on the planes. after years of flying virgin and wanting to like them, i now avoid. i generally fly economy. i would not hesitate to fly virgin if it made more sense, it's just that all things being equal i would probably choose american.

Ocnmeg

Just flew from JFK to LHR on American (economy) then on to Dublin on BMI. While I have never liked AA domestically, their service was exceptional on this trip. When we got on the very long line at JFK to check in, we were waved over to First Class to check in (I think bc we only had one bag to check but I'm not sure). On the way home, there were a few very difficult passengers on the flight, and the FA's were textbook perfect. We flew on the 777 and sat in row 41. It's the middle row where the seats go to the 2-4-2. The TV screens are in the armrest as is the tray so you basically get a double armrest (one for TV, one for tray)). Also more under seat room in front since there are 5 seats in front of you.
I cannot say enough good things about the FA's on both flights - coming and going. I've been in customer service/retail for 15 ys so I'm a pretty tough critic

jody

Funny, we had the opposite experience flying business class from Orlando to London and economy from Paris to Orlando.

Service was MINIMAL on both segments, the food in business on a par with the economy coming home, it was like the whole trip was a big bother to the attendants.I certainly don't demand extra service but a bit of politess would have been appreciated. Also there is no Admiral's club in Orlando, and Miami was under renovation and the only thing on offer for a 4 hr layover were some dried out carrot sticks and processed cheese. If you wanted more than 1 drink you had to ask for an extra ticket! I'll go delta or BA next time!

ginny

Just putting in my two cents!!!! I have been flying Virgin from Logan to London since 1993 (with the exception of 1 Continental flight out of Newark)....economy...and I think they are great. Have never had a problem...they are always very courteous and I am always very comfortable!!! In fact, I'll be going again in MAY! Obviously, this is a vote for Virgin!!

DCJones

You might want to consider flying British Airways. They are currently having a sale with round trip from the US to London for $368 through March. You have to sign up to receive their Exclusive Offers, but it's the cheapest flights I have found. Tickets must be purchased by November 14, 2005.

aschie30

I agree completely with nonnafelice.

If something goes wrong with Virgin, no matter how small, it goes radically wrong because their poorly-trained and <b>rude </b>&quot;customer service&quot; people make it worse by failing to accommodate you. I had a horrific experience flying from LHR-BOS a couple years ago- mechanical problems with the plane - and they strung us along for many hours before, at about 11:00 p.m., giving up and accommodating us in a hotel, where we could get a whole 4-5 hours of sleep before they picked us up again in the morning to bring us to our flight.

If you're still willing to risk Virgin, I would also advise that their seats are incredibly uncomfortable- not just their pitch, but the seats themselves are hard as a rock. And the in-seat TVs? I believe American has those on their 777s. In any case, our TVs weren't working on my Virgin flight anyway.

Go with American- better FF program and customer service.