[stevescoots]

LHR to PRG 79 each way ET, 339 each way CE, thats a diffrence of £519

18/7-20/7 from the BA website, lowest fees

[HappytobeSilver]

Last Saturday I flew to Istanbul in CE on a new BA A320. The seats in club did not expand in width as compared to economy and there was no inflight entertainment- an altogether poor show. Coming back yesterday I was sat in the middle 2 seats of the often criticsed 767 however there was on that flight IFE and the CE seat was a bit wider than the economy one. Ceratinly not worth the fare difference on the outward journey given that the only benefit was an upgraded meal (I have a silver card so lounge access was not an issue).

[NTarrant]

Steve, yes agree you can get the price down if you travel regularly and top and tail to take advantage of the Saturday night stay, but you do have to stick to dates. Interestingly if you put in flexiable economy it is also £339. I thought it was only northern Europe

[RichHI1]

For me CE is just about legroom and for me it is vital and worth every penny. Many European carriers now offer no additional legroom and focus on fripperies.So I for one praise BA for the legroom.
Maybe as DME and ATH ex LHR uses some 763 in CE config they could substitute 763 CW config particualrly on night flights? More comfort is higher up my hierarchy of needs than better meals, finer wines or lounges.

[stevescoots]

Exactly, no way is EC worth £500+ over EC on a 1.45 hour flight to PRG

by another twist..its almost the same price to pay cash for the ET fare as it is to Use BAEC points + pay the fees!

[InfiniteFlyer]

rferguson, thanks for the info on invol upgs.

I shall be found sobbing disconsolately into my free champagne/Glenlivet in the nearest lounge, eating my free food, using my free wireless, and complaining that despite my Gold EC card, I only get what I pay for.

(That was tongue-in-cheek of course – I always appreciate any invol upg, and treat each one like an unexpected gift 🙂

Interesting comment about CE buyers, too.
I have 2 very specific reasons:
1. (subsidiary) if I need to top up points to keep Gold (doesn’t happen much)
2. NAP-LGW sector. I don’t know if you’ve ever flown that sector. I’ve been doing it for 17 years now. It’s not really changed for the better in that time – and nothing to do with BA. It’s the airport, despite being owned by BAA for 5 or 6 y at least.

It’s bus boarded, check-in often opens late (once we departed an hour late as check-in only opened 60m before boarding). There’s little or no carry-on size/number checking. And did I mention the bus boarding?

Bus boarding leads to an EZY-style fight for the stairs (despite guaranteed seats), motivated mainly by the lack of carry-on controls, and so lack of bin space.

So, travelling NAP-LGW, except off-season and mid-week, I tend to go for CE if I can afford it, i.e. when it’s “not much” more than ET.

Re the burning question of hot towels (ta-da!) – I couldn’t care less. I *would* like an anti-bacterial napkin pre-meal/drinks though. Perhaps that’s just a personal foible.

And a spot-on post from Bill_Hants – lots of people seem far more fussed about the in-flight service than the purpose of the trip itself.

(I see a lot of that service-focussed discontent on my NAP-LGW/return trips, with Telegraph/Mail-reading linen-suit and panama-hat wearing late-middle-aged tourists off to the Amalfi coast. I’d love to have a chat with the cabin crew about those customers, but I’ve never dared, in case one of them heard me, and tutted and “well, REALLY”-ed me to death!)

Apologies to anyone I may have offended in the last paragraph. Feel free to write to the Telegraph or Mail and complain about me.

[NTarrant]

“lots of people seem far more fussed about the in-flight service than the purpose of the trip itself” an interesting comment Infinateflyer. The inflight service is part of the trip as a whole so why should one accept a lower standard.

If a component of the trip is say an executive room at a Hilton and you go the lounge and are only offered a coffee and a bag of crisps, that would not be acceptable would it?

[InfiniteFlyer]

Hi NTarrant,
you’re right, and my initial problem at the beginning of the thread was about the “single muffin for breakfast” controversy!

I should have been clearer. I meant something more along the lines of travel class, and the nuances thereof, becoming meaningful status symbols, as opposed to the things we pay for (or our companies pay for) and we either get good service on or not.

Or in other words, the most important part of the business trip is the “business” not the trip. It’s nice to travel nicely of course, but the distinction between discussions about appropriate service level for money (which I hope was what I kicked off with) had drifted.

Hence my remark about holidaymaker travellers. Very fussed about the 2.5h flight to Naples and the exact quantity of red wine in ET, as opposed to the 2 weeks they’re going to spend on the Amalfi coast.

Maybe it’s just another of my little fixations:)

[NTarrant]

Thanks InfiniteFlyer, I see where you are coming from. If you are relaxed on the journey then the “business” part of the trip should be easier, or at least that is what I find.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

“Sorry, but wrong again, Disgusted. VK enjoys the delights of UK Domestic fairly regularly….”

The maybe Vintage Krug should say he does not mind the food being removed from UK Domestic, as there is no economy or business class on such flights.

Tut tut.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

Just taken my first KM/EY trip to the middle east, here are my opinions

Check in – could not check in online as the flight is a code share, so BA is better.

European flights. On KM, 3 x 3 leather seats, middle seat blocked, pre take off drinks, three course hot meal, hot towels before and after dinner. KM/EY better.

Middle East flghts.

Seat – BA bed slightly wider, EY bed slightly harder, BA slightly better.

Service – EY CC tried very hard, nice attitude, not as polished as BA crew. Draw

Food – dining on demand, 2 main meal choices, several lighter options. KM/EY significantly better.

Drinks – Good wine list, Mumm cordon rouge etc. Draw.

In flight entertainment – I seldom use this, so cannot compare the two fairly.

Price – KM/EY significantly cheaper.

Verdict – I will be staying with KM/EY until I find better value.

[Capetonian]

I gave up on BA several years ago after they screwed up big time, were arrogant and unhelpful about their errors, and then as a result of a complaint about the two people concerned, we were treated in a spiteful and malicious manner next time we travelled.

Their ‘customer’ ‘services’ (both words in inverted commas as they don’t know the meaning of either) compounded the whole matter by lying about what had happened.

[VintageKrug]

Sorry Sweiqi, but you’re not correct to state there’s no business class on BA Domestic.

UK Business is what your ticket states if you fly fully flex Domestic, and it also entitles you to lounge access regardless of your status with oneworld.

The on board offering is broadly the same (apart from being seated further forward, where available).

[rferguson]

RichHi1 you are likely to snare the same amount of legroom in eurotraveller as the new ‘space saver’ seats are the same seat pitch throughout on the airbus fleet which is the mainstay of short haul. There are an extra two inches of legroom on the shorthaul 767 in CE but as these are converter seats that can be placed in either CE or ET configuration if you are sat anywhere forward of doors three you will have the CE leg room anyway even though you are in ET.

Infinitetraveller I really wish you luck in your endeavours. Why not give the competition a go? And if it is better then great for you. And if not then i’m sure we’d love to have you back at BA. Hopefully by then the dreaded WTP muffin will have been replaced. And hot towels will most definitely be back on the NAP-LGW flights. BTW I think its shocking that BA has no lounge at NAP for CE passengers. I would not be happy with that either.

I’m not sure about that VintageKrug. There is absolutely no Business Class per se on BA domestic flights. The service is identincal throughout the aircraft.

In fact if you search a domestic flight on ba.com and select ‘fully flexible’ options and ‘club/business class’ at the search stage the results state that the requested class is not available and displays the next highest available class ‘domestic’. Its the same class if you select the ‘lowest fare’ and ‘economy’ options.

Both flexible and non flexible fares have the same service listed, baggage alllowances etc. Both fares can also check in online at ba.com 24hrs before departure and there is no set seats or ‘zone’ blocked off for those on the fully flex tickets. Which is a shame as it would be a nice to have for those extra ££ shelled out. Though of course silver/gold exec card holders can snare the better seats up front by checking in earlier online.

[NTarrant]

It has been a while since I was last in the BA lounge at MAN but I recall seeing the “eligability” notice to Gold and Silver Exec, nothing about BA Business which it used to say

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