Today and tomorrow (10/16), British Airways is having a big sale in business class to London for travel until August 31, 2016.. Join AARP and get an additional $400 off. Here is a link...
I checked on tickets from Charlotte to London and found prices a shade over $1200 round trip in business class.
Oh my goodness! Many thanks to the person who posted this. I msigned on to look up a tech question, but upon seeing this immediately signed in to AARP. Round-trip NONSTOP SFO $1500 for a week in April. For comparison, I'm flying BA First Class in December non-stop RT PHX-LHR using miles; the TAX and FEES alone for this flight are $1300.
After reading this earlier I signed in via the link to AARP which went to the BA booking site. In the two hours I debated on whether or not to go ahead and buy it on impulse, the non-stop from SFO or PHX to LHR went up about $175 each way. There were still many options with connections, but I much prefer non-stop flights.
I decided to go PHX-LHR-PHX in late April, 2016. Thinking it might just be too good to be true, and before entering my credit card # called BA. On the phone for 47 minutes, the operator stated that, yes, it was the actual fare including taxes/fees, and it was non-refundable, however, as stated on the payment page, you can cancel for a full refund within 24 hours of booking.
While on hold with BA, I signed on to our other computer and, just for fun, typed in the same itinerary, business class: $15,700. Of course, I'd never pay full price for such a ticket, but my final payment was $1600 + $226 for choosing my seat assignment.
I look forward to the research and planning as it's been years since I visited London.
I decided to roll the dice on the seat assignments but booked for next May. Could have gotten it cheaper if I had not wanted Memorial Day weekend, but I am happy.
Not planning to stay in London long. Probably heading to Paris and....? Working on ? :)
Delta is having the sale also. I booked Jacksonville-Zurich r/t business class for $1,900 for next summer. This fare has not been less than $4,300 in the last 2 months that I have been watching. I also checked FRA $2,000 and MAD $1,500, both business class R/t fares. For you in the Seattle area Delta was also offering similar fares to Europe yesterday. I don't know when the sale ends. Happy travels.
NOTE: When I booked my flight, they wanted to charge me $113 for each of the BA flight segments to choose seats. I declined to pay that. Once I booked it and my AAdvantage number (I am Platinum on American) was entered, I could select seat without paying any money. If you have status on any OneWorld airline, i think you can select the seats now without paying.
I am old enough that I got Stephen's AARP discount so the Delta fare was still $400 more. :(
Since I don't have status on AA or BAA I am just rolling the dice on the seats. IT's business class how bad can it be LOL!
Carol - it is my understanding that ANYONE can join AARP. You don't have to be of that certain age! Haha!
Stephen, thank you for letting us all know about this. We're flying business class for only about $300 more than coach! I may try choosing seats through American, although I don't think I have a membership with them. Who else is OneWorld?
Stephen -
Cannot thank you enough for posting about this sale. i joined AARP for $16 and am so excited for our April 2016 trip. Business class from St Louis to Heathrow and back for only a few hundred more than the United tickets we were eying up (and of course were not Business class). My 6-5 husband may be more excited than me! We knew we were flying to Europe but had bought tickets yet so this was great timing. We hadn't planning on flying to London but we are connecting with some old friends so it will be great.
Again, THANKS!!
Safe Travels!
Amy
And, as a side note, we have an AA Gold card and using that we were able to select seats. However, I did pay to select the Business class seats on the upper level of BA 747 on the way home. Have never flown a 747 and wanted the upper level!! I may have been able to choose those for free with my AA info - who knows?? I paid for those seats prior to entering in our AA information. Either way, I'm content!
Jane - American is the only US based airline in OneWorld. Here is the complete list.
https://www.oneworld.com/member-airlines/overview
AK - I am flying on the 747 on my return trip as well and chose upper deck, exit row seats! I am on the 787 outbound and am pretty excited about that as well. I have never flown either of those planes. Once I complete this trip, I will have flown all of the Boeing jets!
Thanks, Stephen. I don't have any membership with AA; it's been many years since I've flown them. I do have cards with several European airlines, but none of them is on the list. Thanks again for you help. I'm really looking forward to flying business class - we always fly coach. We did go to Italy once first class, many years ago, but someone else was paying for it. :-)
Stephen---your 747 return flight may morph into a 777 at some point. BA has been replacing the 777's at a pretty good clip. This has happened to us with our last two BA flights to/from London. We booked a 747 and paid for seats in Club World on the upper deck. Before the flight time the plane changed.
I hope you have better luck. I miss those big Boeing birds.
