Senior Ponds' Dilema: VS or BA?

My parents, the Senior Ponds, are mulling and musing over the dilemma of who to fly out to BGI with next spring. Their dates are pretty fixed (mainly thanks to the holidaying exploits of the younger mdviponds) and the options are:

VS - 19 day holiday, Z out, D back, MAN to LGW (BA), VS to LGW-BGI - £4800
BA - 19 or 21 day holiday, MAN-LGW-BGI - £3750

In VS's favour, they like to accrue miles and pre-select seats; they like the smaller UC cabin, and they do like to stick with what they know.

In BA's favour, the idea of saving over a grand between them is rather appealing. Now, I would be a very foolish No. 1 son to make their minds up for them, but what advice would you offer them to swing it either way?

Well I work for VS so I would say VS and the J cabin is special on LGW A/C. They will be well looked after and feel special. They could also use the check in chill out facilty in BGI save them having to trail bags around in BGI.

[preiffer]

£1,000 of your own money buys a hell of an hotel upgrade when you get there...

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by preiffer
£1,000 of your own money buys a hell of an hotel upgrade when you get there...

Yep

And they could always join the exec club [:0]

Come on guys help me out. Some good points on VS

[RichardMannion]

Would be BA if it were me, £1k is £1k.

Definitely BA given the savings and I'm sure they'll have a good time either way.

45.

Originally posted by RichardMannion
Would be BA if it were me, £1k is £1k.

Agreed...

I think that BA has a very good business class product (descent lounge at Gatwick, descent flat-bed seats, better onboard food than VS (IMHO), consistently professional service and a reasonable entertainment system).

VS's seats are better (certainly roomier as a bed). I assume that you don't get vport to BGI anyway? Yes, their Clubhouse is better than the BA lounge at LGW. Virgin's onboard food is currently worse than BA's...

I don't think it is worth the extra £1k to fly VS over BA in Business Class, but MANY think that paying for Business Class is mad in the first place . Also it can be nice to try "other" Business Class products - just for a bit of variety.... I think it is worth them giving BA "a go", for the savings, this time around. So next time they can judge for themselves whether it is worth paying the extra to fly VS.

Boo

BA. £1000 per person difference *is* a lot of money.

Mike

[Decker]

A grand per person - so £500 each. Still at that level I'd probably go BA. As people have pointed out, no v:port, no IFBT. There's loyalty and there's throwing away money. BA have a good product in Club World and the service whilst never as good as VS at its best is at least consistent.

Isn't a LHR 747 doing the BGI route at the moment, so there is a chance VPort will be available at the moment - of course thats not to say it will still be there next year.


David

(oh ... but that cancels out the lgw cabin ambiance)

Food: BA easily
Seat: VS better inbound but BA better outbound given day vs. night flight
IFE: Currently equal IMO but BA is refitting fairly quickly so it could be much better by next year
Lounge: VS
Service: Difficult to say given VS' variation. If VS do perform badly (which is a very real possibility), the senior mdviponds will definitely regret spending the extra money so it may be safer to go with BA.

Plus 1K spending money with BA...

45.

Originally posted by virgin is the best
Come on guys help me out. Some good points on VS

Well, you got some, VS should be worth the extra if everything works, fantastic crew, IFE that doesn't fail, food and wine up to the standard of the competition and the usual comments ... but when it's not, the price differential (commented on yet again) exposes the flaws and makes it difficult to argue VS at any cost.

Even I am considering trying new Club World on my next holiday to the US.

[honey lamb]

And remember, mdvipond, it's your inheritance they will be spending if they go VS [:w]

Ladies. Gentlemen. Thank you as ever for your sterling efforts at proffering such worthwhile advice. I've passed much of it on to the Senior Ponds and, unless they change their minds overnight, it looks like BA has it. Which is a shame, considering I would have been booking their flights on my AMEX, which means I'm out of pocket to the tune of nearly 20K miles. Bugger.

However, the Grande Dame herself...

Originally posted by honey lamb
And remember, mdvipond, it's your inheritance they will be spending if they go VS [:w]

...has one hell of a point. BA it is.

[RichardMannion]

Remember mdvipond, there is loyalty, and then there is stupidity.

Originally posted by RichardMannion
Would be BA if it were me, £1k is £1k.

Yeah, me too. There's also the tiny issue of the seemingly endless threat of strikes with BA, wildcat or otherwise. Have only flown BA a couple of times in recent years, but it seems as if, each time, there were doubts over whether there would be a flight at all....which isn't a happy way to start a break....