Business Class Question

[pchivvy]

Its a big birthday next year and my dad has kindly gifted us his BA Avios account (or use of anyway) to use as we wish. This means that we can book business class out/return with BA and similar with VA on my own account.

Would you have a preference which way to do it?

Also, is business class worth it on the return? It seems like it would still be a fair amount of money just to sleep! (which I probably won't do anyway, although hubby would) Or would i be better just going PE on the way back?

Interested in your thoughts.

Thanks

[ERICSMUM]

I’ve only ever travelled BA Club (business) because it’s always been several hundred pounds cheaper than VA. I know lots of Dibbers say VA Upper is better than BA but I struggle to think of any additional services that would be worth that much to me.

To be honest I fly business only for the extra space and extra baggage allowance.

[Wordsworth]

I’ve never flown VA upper class but on the assumption it’s possibly between Club World and FIRST in standard, I’d go out for the daytime, longer flight in upper class. I’d then come back CW on BA.

I love overnight flights in CW because the flat bed is necessary for me to have any hope of sleeping, I just can’t sleep sitting up!

[munmun]

Originally Posted by ERICSMUM

I’ve only ever travelled BA Club (business) because it’s always been several hundred pounds cheaper than VA. I know lots of Dibbers say VA Upper is better than BA but I struggle to think of any additional services that would be worth that much to me.

To be honest I fly business only for the extra space and extra baggage allowance.

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I agree with Ericsmum.

Dont fly Club at the moment for the food or drink as that element is severely restricted, I believe they throw a box of sandwiches at you at the moment though of course that may change.

It interests me that you dont feel it's worth it on the way home just to sleep because that is exactly what I do. Get on, seldom eat, flatten the bed and sleep, wake up to a light breakfast and I'm good to go, no jetlag.

We fly Club for the space and comfort, I dont drink alcohol my husband has a couple of glasses of wine but I like to be able to put my feet up and relax.

I think you need to review what you want from the journey and whether club is the way to go at the moment

[PoohBears#1fan]

We've flown both UC with Virgin and Business with BA and enjoyed both, I'd probably say we prefer Virgin slightly more than BA but that's just from being very picky, nothing at all wrong with BA business.

Personally if we were doing just 1 way I'd choose inbound as we sleep, the lessening of jet lag is invaluable to us, plus we'll stay an extra day, fly home on a Sunday and DH will work from home on the Monday as it's enough sleep for him.

If it was purely about enjoying & making the most of the experience, then I'd do the UC / Business flight during the day outbound.

[snowbelle]

We have flown a few different combinations out business/back PE , business both ways a couple of times with mostly BA and one both ways with Delta , never flown business with VA though
This year we are booked to go business both ways with AA via the BA site still waiting on what will happen as we are due to go in late October

We went PE last year from LGW to MCO with BA on the new refurbed planes, the flight out was brilliant but the flight home was an absolute horror, noisy and so hot as the air comes from a central vent not overhead, neither of us slept the whole way and we had a five hour journey home we both vowed that if we could we would fly business home if we could as its not the first night flight home in PE we haven't slept and have been exhausted for days afterwards

[KarenG]

We’ve only done VA, not BA but we do it for the experience so prefer outbound for:
Private drop off check in thingy
The amazing lounge at LHR (is it operational though at the moment? Maybe not as the terminals have changed I think?)
Fabulous onboard service, food and drink
Ability to sit at the bar
Arrive at destination refreshed relaxed and ready to go for first evening (because... mid flight nap &#128564

On the way home the flight is shorter and as the cabin is mostly asleep you don’t get the same service offerings (and we have found the food to be a LOT less good).

So for us, the reason we do it is for the experience and we’d stick to outbound only if I had to choose one way. We find PE home bound enables us to arrive more or less rested enough to function albeit slowly for a week or so!

Enjoy (and I suspect some of the above is not relevant in a post COVID world &#128546

[Peko]

As you can already see from the replies, even without the BA vs Virgin debate, it’s still highly subjective about the direction of travel if you plan to do a split cabin return.

The main pro of business class outbound is more time to enjoy the experience while awake, though as munmun notes, the current onboard food and beverage experience is somewhat underwhelming. Lounges are still ok, and you will still have the extra space.

The main pro of business class on the return is having the flat bed for sleeping, plus potentially a larger baggage allowance and depending on airport, maybe use of arrivals lounge on return.

Obviously unless you have status, you only get lounge access in the direction of travel which is business class

If you are going to do split cabin, it really comes down to which things are more important to you.

[pchivvy]

Thanks for the replies so far.

I say I won't sleep but to be fair I have never tried business class to know if I COULD sleep... I certainly can't in economy or PE. My husband definitely would though because he could sleep standing up!

It's more about the experience and the additional luggage allowance for me although we probably wouldn't need 2 x 32 either. The PE allowance would be enough.

Thanks for the heads up on the CV19 affect on the offering... that hadn't even entered my head and is definitely something for me to think about before booking. I would feel very short-changed if I didn't get the full experience on something that is almost guaranteed to be a one off experience.

Thanks everyone that replied.

[Warkman58]

We always fly buisness class for various reasons.
In normal circumstances, the use of the lounge, the priority security, the seat space and bed and better food are so much better and both ways we arrive refreshed not a walking zombie.


However, at this moment, any travel us going to be rubbish.
Virtually no lounge, virgins upper class check in and clubhouse are closed, BAs have a very minimal service in their open lounges,which isn’t nany.

The onboard offerings are poor food wise, yes, you get one hot meal in Business similar to normal economy meals in normal tines instead of the boxed sandwich.
This I don’t believe gas anything to do with Covid, rather airlines temporarily cutting costs.

When are you looking to go?
I can’t see any change for at least six months