British Airways

I've flown British Airways and have nothing negative to report. The service was good, we were on time and all the staff (even security!) were friendly and helpful. I don't know if that is the exception!

When BA flew out of Charlotte, we used them alot. I enjoyed their service. Now we fly USAir and they are good too. Check their rates- being a US carrier doesn't necessarily mean higher prices.

It's not so much the cost of the tickets. We've found that American carriers don't have the same level of service (at least they are way below Virgin Atlantic). I've had several people tell me that BA is on par with Virgin. Does anyone have experience with both and e ability to compare the two?

To be honest, I consider it to be a good flight if I get an aisle seat, I arrive on time, and my luggage arrives on the same flight that I do :). I tend to choose flights based on time, route, connecting airports, and such things.

I've flown BA many times. If you want to reserve a seat more than 24 hours in advance, they now allow you to do that but charge an extra fee. On the other hand, unless things have changed, they do allow you to check a bag free. While they are partners with AA, you don't earn AA FF miles on transatlantic routes.

I've never had any major problem with BA (save the time the flight attendant kept serving the slobbering drunk in front of me).

Are you flying to London or just connecting there? Some people hate connecting at Heathrow, but I don't have any particular problem (other than it is a big airport and it takes a while) with changing there. I've missed my connection twice at LHR (I think I was on BA one of those times). Both times it was due to a delayed departure from the States; I knew before we landed that I was going to miss my connection. Both times I was put on the next flight out and I was only a couple of hours late.

I've only flown Virgin Atlantic once and I have to say that I was sadly disappointed ... didn't find them to be anything special ... the fact that it was a packed flight over the Christmas holidays probably didn't help.

I have flown BA many times and have no real complaints, although my first choice is Virgin Atlantic.
I will be traveling in three weeks on BA. Yes, I paid $90 additional per person to choose seats. I was not happy about the extra cost but it had nothing to do being a "budget traveler",as stated above. It has to do with feeling ripped off! I think an additional $20 is a fair price for picking seats early!
Happy Travels!

We've flown BA non-stop Seattle/LHR and Rome/LHR w/ no probs. When continuing on BA to Paris, the BA info about how to transfer for the Paris flight was accurate and the map from one area to another was a big help. The service has always been good at the check-in counters as well as on the flights.

BA has a lot of connections to continental destinations connecting in London. I long ago rejected these connections as they get you to the continent in the afternoon instead of the morning. I prefer to get to my destination airport with sufficient time to get to where I am eventually going. Remember, noon CET will feel like 4 AM, US time (depending on where you are coming from). You'll feel like S.. all day.

We debated and we decided to go with Virgin. For the past few days, the difference has only been about $200 combined for both our tickets. When you take into account the fact that we would probably want to pay the extra to pick our seats, then it is essentially the same cost. So we decided to go with what we know :) Now all we have to do is figure out our connections in London! :P

I bought 2 BA tickets (one way London/NY) for end of May 2010 through a third party, then went to BA site, entered my confiration # and was able to select seats at no extra charge.

We've flown BA nearly every year for the past decade. We like BA because they fly non-stop, Seattle to London -- avoiding the East coast delays (and potential to miss a connection). I find the service attentive (but my comparison is US carriers and budget airlines in Europe, so perhaps not a good benchmark). Civilized -- they offer wine with the meal!

The additional charges will bump up the advertised ticket price a LOT. For example, my ticket was $773 and the "Tax/Fee/Charge" amount was another $400.22 on top of that.

And, yes, I am one of those grumbling because I 'had to' pay extra to select a seat in advance ... and I'm glad that I was able to book a seat in advance.