@GMTplus7, thanks for the info. I’m trying to see Austria this summer. But that’s good to know.
So I’m trying to book to Heathrow and the fare is cheap but not $690. Can I book to Copenhagen with 3 hours in London but not follow through the second part from London to Copenhagen? Will the Airline let me go on the return part of the trip like from Copenhagen to USA or in my case it’s LAX.
@DrGoogle, to “jump off” at the stopover in London did cross my mind when we booked our tickets to Copenhagen. :). But I’ve read that some airlines can cancel the rest of your itinerary (return flight) although I haven’t read about anyone actually experiencing that.
My understanding is that airlines typically cancel returns if you don’t show on earlier leg. That info was actually printed on my recent Asia itineries and “rules” from the airlines. I wouldn’t risk it. You could call the airline.
So I’m trying to book higher class than economy for my next trip to Europe. Anybody can give me a rating, which is better? Any personal opinion is fine too.
Delta Airline business class, British Airways business class, or Virgin Airways business class. I was planning as a last resort the Economy plus for Air New Zealand.
If no one chimes in with a definitive experience - have you checked Seat guru? I’ve also found FlyTalk forum posters to have good opinions on these comparisons.
Not all bz class seats are created equal. Make sure you get LAYFLAT BEDS that go entirely horizontal.
Delta offers layflat beds on all its int’l flights (Business Elite). Other airlines have some int’l routes that have recliner seats or tilted flat seats. You have to check very carefully what type of seat is being offered.
I hate tilted flat seats!!! What invariably happens on tilted flat seats is you tend to slide downward-- my kids call them “wedgie seats”.
Another thing to look at for business bz class seats is how the seats are arranged. There’s “herring bone” where all the seats have aisle access (my preference when I’m traveling alone). There’s the conventional pairing of window or aisle (ok if you’re travelling w a partner). There’s also the reviled yin/yang, where you face the adjacent pax-- how awkward! I think it’s B.A. that does yin yang.
Then there’s bedding. Some airlines make out their bz seats w sheets and gives u pajamas. I’ve never worn the pajamas, but have observed other pax going into the lav to change into them. But I’ll pass on pajamas & sheets for a layflat bed any day. Many airlines offer down pillows & down duvets. I’ve got a whole collection of blankets from different airlines, so if there’s details about a particular airline’s blanket you’re curious about, just ask. :-"
FYI
http://www.seatguru.com/charts/longhaul_business_class.php
Gmt is 100% right. You’ll slide downward on the tilted flat seats and be annoyed the whole time unless you McGyvrr some way of stopping the slide.
“@DrGoogle, to “jump off” at the stopover in London did cross my mind when we booked our tickets to Copenhagen. .But I’ve read that some airlines can cancel the rest of your itinerary (return flight) although I haven’t read about anyone actually experiencing that.”
It absolutely happens. Absolutely do not try this. They WILL cancel the rest of your itinerary.
I often find international fares where it’s appreciably cheaper (like thousands of dollars) to fly A-B-C-A-B than to fly A-C-A (where C is my international destination). So I’ll fly A-B-C-A, pick up my bags at customs/immigration since it’s my first port of entry, and walk out and forego the last leg. In fact there was a thread some time ago in which we advised a CC member that it was “safe” for her college student to do this (I think his plans had changed and he wanted to stay at his first port of entry back). But only the last leg.
I was thinking of Delta Airlines because from my research both British Airways and Virgin Airways charge fees fly in and out of London. My frequent miles will give me the first leg, business class for economy price.
I will be traveling without a lot of stuff, just handbag. I will buy stuff over in Europe.
The UK has high airport taxes so that is probably the additional cost you are seeing (if you do a dummy booking on the BA website, just before you get to the paying part it will tell you how much the taxes are). Try flying into Dublin. There are a million flight per day from there to the UK, so it’s easy to get a second flight (plus time wise, you are landing in the same time zone and going forward, rather than flying over the UK into a different time zone and going backwards, which makes the journey longer and complicates things).
Avoid changing planes in Heathrow at all costs. Even a 2 hour connection is cutting it very tight, even for experienced travelers who know what they are doing and hustle like I do. I will not route through there at all.
Never thought about Dublin. Thanks for the tip. I might pass that to my daughter and her friend. But does that mean we have to go back to Dublin to fly back to USA?
No. You could route through lots of locations.
But the new airport has to be closer to London right? I’m still confused about your post #48. I normally book and go through the same airport to go back, as I’ve always booked round trip.
I book round trip too. Here’s an example from last year- I wanted to go round trip from Chicago to GRU (Sao Paulo). A straight round trip business class ORD-GRU was prohibitively expensive. I played around on Kayak and found that if I pretended I was based in Charlotte, a CLT-GRU round trip was far cheaper. But the return was actually GRU-ORD-CLT - and I wanted GRU-ORD! So I booked CLT-GRU-ORD-CLT. Then I bought a one way economy ORD-CLT to start my trip - I didn’t care that it was economy since it’s a short flight. So I flew ORD-CLT-GRU, then on the way back GRU-ORD-CLT - except I “walked off” at ORD and didn’t take the last leg. Even buying the separate ORD -CLT was still way cheaper than ORD-GRU direct.
It’s common for an international round trip to be at different airports / routes. Three weeks ago I was in Tokyo- I flew ORD to Tokyo (Narita) but my return was Tokyo (Haneda)-SFO-ORD. Both of these trips were straight bookings through United, nothing fancy.
We most often book one way. Especially, domestic. Often different airlines. It is all about the times for us and then the costs.
Domestic we have for the last 15 years found that doing one ways can be very cost effective.
It’s worth checking one way strategies because they can add flexibility to your plans and possibly save cost. We did that sometimes when DS was traveling between Denver and his college in Boston. JetBlue worked especially well since their booking method makes it very easy to see 1 way cost combos.
When DS went to Singapore for semester abroad, we found round trip was better. We did not know his exact return plans 5 months later. But even if we had needed to pay $300 return date change fee (which we didn’t need) it would have RT would have still been cheaper than dual one ways.