Flying with British Airways?

[avalanching]

We go to Florida next May, I want flights to come in under £500pp but currently Virgin is over that. BA is only £1500, we have had a big car bill that I've had to pinch from the holiday fund so a saving here would be much appreciated! I'm nervous BA won't feel as relaxing as Virgin, as well as strike concerns! How is BA to fly economy? Personal TV with lots of entertainment?

Just flown BA long haul and experience was good but we had to pay quite alot ontop to book seats together and kids too old to guarantee we'd be sat together. So check that when comparing prices.

We flew to Florida with BA and they were rubbish, I consider them on a par with Ryan Air these days. Having said that they were more than 50% cheaper than Virgin so I would fly with them again on price alone.

My Maths is rubbish - it's late and I've had wine! They were 100% cheaper than virgin. Cost £3k with BA would've been £6K with Virgin.

Yes, agree with @Stripyhoglets - we got a good deal on our BA flights to Australia, but then discovered that if we wanted to guarantee good seats, that we would really have to pay for them. Ended up costing us almost £300 extra.

If we'd left it to choose our seats till we checked in online, 24 hours before the flight, we wouldn't necessarily have been able to sit together either! As happened to a young couple who were on their way to get married - I moved (from my paid-for seat!) so that they could sit together. Decided that after being married for almost 30 years, DH and I could bear to be apart for 12 hours .

I would always choose Virgin over BA Longhaul any day of the week

BA used to be a great airline but has gone hugely downhill generally - both longhaul and shorthaul. The rot set in around the time of that new CEO who was cost cutting and introduced having to pay for M& S Sandwiches.

Virgin is much much better - better on plane service, better attitude better customer service. I know you are asking about economy but Virgin's upper Class and Premium economy are LIGHT YEARS better than BA - especially BA business class.

I used to fly BA all the time and had a loyalty card with lots of airmiles/avios. I now avoid it if I can. It's basically become an inferior budget airline with very poor customer service but still charging premium prices.

I could write about 3 pages of bad experiences I've had with BA - my view is totally avoid them. The most infuriating thing is a complete unwillingness to admit when they have given bad service and offer an apology or any kind of goodwill compensation.

I haven't flown virgin in a few years but fly BA a lot, including to Orlando last year. They are fine. The entertainment is pretty good. The service can be so so. For a substantial saving I wouldn't hesitate tbh.

Having only flown shorthaul in the last few years where you now pay for everything - we were very impressed with the service in standard class on BA - not flown Ryanair though but don't think the two can be compared when flying long haul.

Haven’t flown with BA in a long time. Went to visit my mum in England on Virgin last year - awful. And I was in premium economy. Flight attendants totally clueless about anything and even said that because I have a green card I’m no longer British so have to have a landing card! I’m still British! Food was bland and stodgy. The safety demo and all announcements were patronizing. I know they want to appear fun and cool but it was irritating to me to be spoken to like I was a teenager by people young enough to be my child.

Try American Airlines - we just came back from the states with them and it was good. No charge to reserve seats either. BA ran out of food on the way out and that was in world traveller plus

BA business is not good. They really don’t compare with even the cheaper European airlines. They don’t offer single flatbed seats which as a lone female traveller is an absolute essential for me. I don’t want to be sleeping with a stranger. I like my own space.
BA short haul has been fine, if uninspiring.

I don’t think there’s any difference between BA & Virgin. When I was young, flying on Virgin was a huge treat, with their backpacks and menus and ice creams etc. Now it’s all been scaled down and they’re all the same level of basic.