rahjmh,
The BA Visa companion ticket offer is only valid in conjunction with the purchase of a full fare Club World or First ticket. That $3800 fare wouldn't quality, otherwise people would be jumping all over that offer. A full fare Club World ticket ex-TPA should be around $8000.

I agree with Gardyloo that your best might be World Traveller Plus on BA - slightly wider seats, more legroom and recline, leg/foot rest - located between Club World and World Traveller (economy) classes. Around $1000pp if discounted fares are available on your dates.

Sorry 'qualify' not quality.

Well I'm not sure if these lines are available from Tampa but I've flown via SAS, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways and my all time favorite is Singapore Airlines.

I travelled by BA to orlando (non stop) from london. Coach was quite good but i must say, they have the most rude employees. the food was good but the service was horrible.
Therefore, i prefer singapure airlines, the best.

When the OP posts a question about the best way to fly from TPA to CDG, s/he does not need the hear about Cathay Pacific (just voted the best airline in the world) or Singapore Airlines. These answers are useless to the OP.

I also don't understand the OP's following statement <b>One advantage to BAirways - nonstop flights making travel time less.</b>. TPA does not have any non-stops to Paris. BA would involve a connection in LGW and the other US based airlines flying out of TPA would connect somewhere in US. No difference.

Another suggestion. On occasion most of the US based international airlines offer a deeply discounted business fares. Paris is a very competative market, so when these special business fares are offered on this route the are ~$2000. The are restricted, usually non-refundable tickets, but the seat and service is the same as the full fare business ticket holder gets. A good travel agent should be able to find these deeply discounted business fares if they are availble for the flights you want.

Have a great vacation!


BTW: To all the people that think a flight is just a flight, maybe they should fly in F on Cathay or Singapore. Ir is a vacation on it's own. Just recently I flew in F on Cathay from HKG to LAX. The flight is scheduled for just over 13 hours. I felt cheated as we had some strong tailwinds and the flight lasted only a bit over 11 hours. I do not want to get off flight like these. So NO, not all flights are just a mean of getting from A to B. In the front cabin on the right airline it becomes a very memorable experience and just as important as the rest of the vacation.

I just checked AAs flight from TPA to CDG. They do have a business fare of $2241 (all in) in November. There are many flights available for that fare but I think the 2 best options is to connect on the outbound in Miami, from where it's a non-stop to Paris and on the return connecting from a Paris-Chicago non-stop to a non-stop service to TPA. Both connections are 1.5 hours so it's perfect and both airports have Admirals Clubs that as a business ticket holder you are invited to use.

I'm sure other US based airlines offer similar fares.

AAFF,
I think the OP wants to fly open jaw TPA-LGW/CDG-TPA, hence the comment about nonstop flights (well one direction at least). I also feel that the flight experience is an important part of the overall vacation. Hopefully something to look forward to instead of dreading

Only fly coach, unfortunately. I flew BA from San Francisco to London in coach and thought I was going to throw a clot. The seats had no room at all to move around. Delta is a little better in coach, but not much. My favorite is American Airlines and that's what I choose when I fly for personal reasons. There is more legroom - I'm 5'9&quot; - and I am much more comfortable.

Sue - enjoy it while you can; AA is removing the extra legroom from all its planes - all but the 777s are to be re-stuffed by the end of June, the 777s by the end of the year. Seat pitch will be 32&quot; just like everyone else's.

Faced with the poor choices in basic economy (not premier economy like BA WT+) and traveling from the east coast, I would look for daytime flights rather than overnights; sitting up for 6 hours during the day is easier than trying to sleep (just IMO.)

From the west coast, I still think Air New Zealand's LAX-LHR service is the most comfortable (34&quot; pitch IIRC) but usually priced slightly higher than the others.

Desert Sue, unfortunately Gardyloo is correct about AA. I flew AA to Paris in January and my plane had already been reconfigured to take out the legroom. I am a vertically challenged person of 5'3 and even I felt the squeeze.

I am supposed to fly United From DC to London on Sunday. United was my 1st choice for an airline since I can earn the frequent flyer miles toward my existing account with USAIR. However, I am a little concerned about the possible strike and so am also holding a reservation on British Airways. Do any of you have any thoughts on the strike and/or would encourage me to forgo the miles if you think BA is a much better airline to fly transatlantic? I need to make my decision ASAP since my travel agent needs to ticket me today. Thanks!

How unfortunate. Thanks for the heads up. Now all the airlines suck in Coach.

On Delta, I was stuck once in a seat that didn't recline. Also, the lights wouldn't turn off over my seat. I stayed up all night drinking my free red wine and chatting with the person sitting next to me. I grabbed a technician at one point to ask him about the lights. He was running back and forth fixing things as it was the plane's first flight apparently, and he told me he would reset the master switch to fix the lights. I about came out of my skin at the mention of a &quot;master switch.&quot; But I made it to Germany, but was uncomfortable the entire way.

On another Delta trip, I was in a row that had an aisle in front of it. The flight attendent told us that no one was allowed to stand in front of us or walk through the aisle. We could do whatever we wanted in that space. One lady had her baby and bags there. I stretched out my legs. Of course all the passengers made me move my legs so they could cut across so what the flight attendent told us was not correct and she did nothing to help us out. I had to fly Delta for business in Coach, but would never fly them out of choice.

BA all the way. The business class seats (club) are fully reclining beds and the first is much better. I would take BA for the most comfortable ride.

I really believe that there is no comfortable airline when you are stuck in the coach (aka cattle class) section.