BA Business Class - worth it?

[EddieHowesShithousingMags]

Hoping to go to NYC for a short break in September, wanting to book in the BA sale, for three people (adults).

Using avíos we can fly from our regional airport via LHR, economy outbound and business on the way home for £3153 total.

Flying economy each way we’d save about £1500 and could get our hotel included for a similar price to what we’d pay for flight only with business class inbound seats.

For context the flight home would be a night flight.

Is it worth it? That additional £1500 we would pay is affordable but we’re not so aFfluent that we wouldn’t notice it. Plenty of other things we could spend it on!!

I did business class with BA to Tokyo and it was nice being able to sit in the fancy lounge beforehand and have champagne etc. we had the reclining seats that can turn into beds and the food was really nice on board. Economy is horrible for a really long flight such as Tokyo but more manageable for 6-7 hours to somewhere like NY. If you can afford it then go for it but if it will leave money a bit tight then could you maybe go for the inbetween one which is economy plus I think? It gives you more leg room and I think the food is slightly better

Flying with BA to NY not worth it, but go premium maybe. Flying Virgin to NY I’d go Upper every time, it’s amazing and well worth the money.

Not unless you have a lot of avios to burn
The return flight is only a few hours depending on the time of year and you wont get any sleep. (6 ish sometimes). Much better to have business on a day flight out- also a longer flight. Club food back from the USA is really poor as well.

You can get BA economy return to NYC - typically from Gatwick for about £300 across the year- bit more from Heathrow. I got premium economy (WTplus) from LHR for the marathon for less that £600 (the marathon is an expensive weekend usually)

If you book BA holiday with 5 nights accommodation or car hire you get double their points in 2024.

Regional connections can sometimes (often) make the flight cheaper than flying straight from London.

Yes it's lovely to go Business. Nice lounge before you go. Much more room. But I would probably use it on the way out.
Coming back on a night flight it's easier to rough it in economy.

Business prices double for the outbound flight which takes it from an affordable but expensive treat to ‘nah, not paying that I can get another holiday for that cash’ 😂.

For additional context the trip is a surprise for DC’s 21st birthday. Does it make it that bit more special?

I thought about premium a coming but tbh extra leg room for a family of shortarses is neither here nor there 🤣

It's such a short flight I wouldn't bother to be honest. Australia Singapore anything over 10 hours then if I could afford it I would. New York is a very quick flight you don't really get time to sleep

I suggest Business on the way out.. you can really enjoy the experience, food, drink, comfort etc. The return is shorter so not much time to sleep.. by the time you have your meal , sleep for a couple of hours it's time for breakfast.

Not really worth it for such a short flight. The new BA business class on the A350s is really nice and I always book business on those ones but the old ones are really not worth it for the prices they charge. I don't think there are any A350s going to NY.

How do you get avios points?

I have a BA Amex that I do all my usual spending on and pay off each month. Plus do shopping through the BA shopping portal when I can (money I’m going to spend anyway) and pick them up through them.

I have about 75000 currently so not masses but enough to get a few hundred quid discount.

Look on the website headforpoints

Lots of advice on points collecting

Given your circumstances, I don't think it's worth it. Since there are 3 of you travelling, you should be able to get a window row of 3 to yourselves in Economy anyway. And if you're all shorties, it's not like you need the leg room. I'd save the £1500 and use some of it to go for a fabulous dinner in NYC to celebrate your DC's birthday instead.

The new BA Club Suites are on ALL their flights to/from NYC (so not just on A350s). This was the first route they were rolled out on.

Bit of a mixed bag but I’m sensing most leaving towards it not being worth the extra cash.

It’s definitely worth it OP but not on such a short flight. Get a day time flight back from New York and fly economy instead.

We’re wanting to maximise our time in NYC so don’t really want to spend our whole last day travelling. Flying O/N in economy doesn’t really bother us. If we fly its economy and this would be a treat that would ordinarily be out of reach, it was only the relatively ‘cheap’ price that has made me consider it. Must admit the idea of the lounge at JFK did seem like a nice bonus after leaving our hotel early and most likely a long day sightseeing (only going for 4 nights).

We flew Premium with BA to Orlando so similar flight time.
It was fantastic and the time just flew by ...so to speak.
Seats very roomy, glass of bubbles on take off, a menu, having flown twice in economy it was loads better and not too spendy.

What about premium economy.

Bigger seats, legroom and nicer good. But cheaper than business.

I've flown business class and yes of course it's nice but I'm happy either way really

I think if you're very overweight then I'd suggest business class otherwise it doesn't really matter

I just sleep or read or watch a film so time goes quickly

Lounges are lovely, but you can pay a pretty small fee and access one anyway regardless of how you are flying - maybe that would be something to consider?

Also if you get aches and pains then I'd go business class.

I wouldn’t pay THAT much extra for BA Business on a shortish flight. We went to Montreal and back BA business but paid less than £1.5k for both of us, both ways!

Now Premium on BA I DO think would be worth it on that flight- it’s way more than extra leg room- big armchair style seat, bigger better TV and you get the food from Business!

It's too short a flight - by the time you are up in the air, get a drink then something to eat you are lucky to get 3 hours shut eye before they wake you to land.

Now Premium on BA I DO think would be worth it on that flight- it’s way more than extra leg room- big armchair style seat, bigger better TV and you get the food from Business!

Now this is overselling World Traveller Plus!! It's a slightly wider/more solid seat with more legroom. I would never call it a 'big armchair style seat'! That's hilarious! Maybe if you're a 5 year old you'll think it's a big armchair. The TV screens are built into the arms (hence the more solid seat) but this means you can't lift the arm between yourself and the person next to you to share spaces if you're travelling together. The TV screens are a little bigger but not huge and it's the same entertainment selection (which when I flew with BA in Nov was so bad that I can't find ONE thing I wanted to watch).

😂The cabin is much smaller so that's a win - although maybe not great when travelling as a 3 as if they want to sit together, they will have to sit in the middle row as the window rows are in pairs so someone will be left on their own across the aisle or behind. You get a small glass of prosecco usually before take-off. The only food from Business is you get a choice of one of main courses offered in Club World. Same starter, dessert, wine as Economy/WT. You still have to use the Economy/WT toilets so that means going back in that cabin and joining the queue with everyone else. Occasionally people will try and sneak into the Club toilets but they're usually roped off now and staff will stop anyone they catch as Club passengers have got (understandably given they're paying £000s for a ticket) fed up with it.

The lounges you can pay for are usually pretty shitty these days to be honest. Full of people trying to get their moneys worth in free alcohol before their flight, the standards have really gone down since covid, dirty tables, kids running around and noisy.