BA First - looking for a taste of the dark side

I love virgin of course but...it's always good to check out the competition. After reading some very mixed reviews from you guys on here of BA First and seeing that there are some potentially great fares out there, I have started looking for a couple of first tickets on an A380. It doesn't really matter where or when but around June-Aug next year.

The best I can come up with so far is a DUB-LHR-SFO rtn for about £2300 per ticket. In your valid opinion, is this a good price or does anyone have any other route/date suggestions that may better this?

I know I should probably go on the BA site for this but I don't know them yet!!

Thanks everyone.

Sounds like a good price to me

[honey lamb]

Yes, it's a good price but the LHR-SFO flights are on 747s and not the A380

Thanks very much for your replies Blacky and Honeylamb. You guys are great! I do get all sorts of things wrong so please do say so, if so..but I think BA are starting to use the A380 early next year for this route. Just checked on expedia again and it shows airbus A380-800? PS why is this so 'cheap'?

Lol no problem ,v-flyer is great for tips and advice isn't it
Expedia does throw up some great prices and a lot of people on here book flights leaving from other places in Europe like Amsterdam ,Brussels and Dublin as the savings on the fares can be significant even though you are taking another flight .

[honey lamb]

Thanks very much for your replies Blacky and Honeylamb. You guys are great! I do get all sorts of things wrong so please do say so, if so..but I think BA are starting to use the A380 early next year for this route. Just checked on expedia again and it shows airbus A380-800? PS why is this so 'cheap'?

The price is the same on the BA website - albeit in euros but it converts to just over £2300. As for the aircraft, on the BA website it is showing as 747s for both flights to SFO.

The reason the price is so cheap is because of several factors. First of all, there is a fare sale on in First and CW and these are the prices on both Expedia and BA sites; secondly because the journey is commencing outside the UK, you are not paying the UK APD and Ireland abolished APD a couple of years ago; finally BA and VS offer cheaper fares from ex-EU destinations to attract customers from their national airlines especially on markets in which they compete. EI recently opened a route to SFO and BA is targeting that.

Interestingly, I was searching recently for fares to Durban on BA from Cork. OK, so that's not really a competing market, except that Emirates flies out from Dublin with an onward connection in Dubai to Durban. What I found was that ORK-LHR-JNB-DUR was €300 cheaper than ORK-LHR-JNB.

From BA:

Introducing our new A380. The world’s largest passenger aircraft has now entered into service for British Airways and is flying between London Heathrow, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Singapore, Washington and from March 2015, San Francisco.

BA do swap aircraft around though, so you might not get the A380, it's not guaranteed.

From BA:

Introducing our new A380. The world’s largest passenger aircraft has now entered into service for British Airways and is flying between London Heathrow, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Singapore, Washington and from March 2015, San Francisco.

BA do swap aircraft around though, so you might not get the A380, it's not guaranteed.

On the routes above you will get a A380 unless the aircraft goes tech and if this does unfortunately occur recent history shows that your flight will be re-scheduled as soon as a replacement A380 is available. BA now have 8 A380's and this has improved flexibility. The chance of an aircraft substitution is less because of the sheer load factors I.e. 97 CW seats etc

Great stuff, very helpful indeed everyone, thank you. Honey Lamb that is an astonishingly low fare..Do we have a low fare/deals section on here where folks can share their finds or does that defeat the object of the game!?

Have just re-turned from Barbados in BA first you will love it

Yes, it's a good price but the LHR-SFO flights are on 747s and not the A380

Sounds like a fantastic price to me, Well Done!, I have recently paid just £100 less for Club Class returns to Vancouver in April & thought I had done well.

oldboy

Just out of interest BA have announced gat both daily rotations to Miami will be operated by A380 aircraft from winter 15

Just out of interest BA have announced that both daily rotations to Miami will be operated by A380 aircraft from winter 2015

In the past BA Miami flights, like VS, have been more expensive than to other Florida locations but hopefully the extra capacity will allow reductions. Flights are from Heathrow so easier connections.

Just out of interest BA have announced that both daily rotations to Miami will be operated by A380 aircraft from winter 2015

Yes but won't have access to the Concorde Room when in F as MIA flights will move to T3 from T5 at LHR.

The first class lounge is perfectly adequate, plus there is the option to flit between the other one world lounges of AA or Cathay Pacific. Also as part of the expansion into T3 BA are going to invest in the airport experience so you can expect an enhancement of the lounge facilities. There is also the possibility of F passengers checking in a T5 and being bussed direct to the aircraft from the Concorde room via gate 10. The good news is that these aircraft have 97 CW seats on so pricing should be competitive and reward availability up on current levels

There is also the possibility of F passengers checking in a T5 and being bussed direct to the aircraft from the Concorde room via gate 10.

That's what it should be! Just like EK first on some flights

Will this mean an increased availability of Avios rewards seats on the MIA flights? I do hope so as I am potentially looking for F flights here in January.

I can easily live without visiting the CCR if I can go to the CX lounge.

Will this mean an increased availability of Avios rewards seats on the MIA flights? I do hope so as I am potentially looking for F flights here in January.

I can easily live without visiting the CCR if I can go to the CX lounge.

I wouldn't of thought it would change the number of F class reward seats much, as still the same number of seats.

BA25 & 26 booked in first for 14 January and 25 January on the A380 so good to see how things compare. am sure will be good and if anyone wants to share a glass in Concorde Room shout out.

I've just booked 2 seats on the BA0209 to MIA in Feb and it's showing a 747. Had to defect as there was no UC availability on the direct service to MBJ so BA and AA through MIA. Good price for F on the Pond and C to MBJ, £2219 each. Amyone have experience of the AA First Class lounge at MIA?

It's the Admirals lounge near gate D30. Was not impressed at all. As I was on BA code share I got vouchers for drinks, but actually walked over to the BA lounge which is much better. It might have been because it was the new year period and they were busy but I found the whole AA customer experience appalling.

Well that's just fine and dandy: checked my Executive Club last night to find that they erased all of my Avios 2 days after I booked, and paid in full, for the flights due to "inactivity". Wouldn't get that sort of treatment from VS !!

Did you book the flights with Avios? If not, it's exactly what Virgin would do, as there needs to be reward activity (you get this after the flights have been flown), both schemes have pretty much the same rules on expiry.

It might be worth a tweet or phone call to see if you can get them to re-instate them as a gesture of good will?

It's very easy to keep an account live, either buy the smallest amount of points, or do some online shopping through the Executive Club links.

AA does not, sadly, have anything remotely like an F lounge in MIA. They used to, but their position is so dominant at the airport (almost as bad as DFW) that keeping a so-called Flagship Lounge has been deemed unnecessary for competitive reasons.

That said, what's referred to as the BA Lounge is in fact a OW-shared Premium Lounge. AA peeps who would normally have access to a Flagship Lounge at JFK, ORD or LAX can access this lounge at MIA. Its main disadvantage is the sheer distance from the low D gates, where Caribbean flights tend to leave from most of the time. The place is not as good as the JFK Flagship Lounge, let alone any BA F lounge at LHR, but is miles ahead of either AA lounge at MIA.

FWIW, one of the two BA SFO flights is going to an A380, last time I checked, so watch what you book!