Questions and Answers

Reviews and comments on First Class Travel:

So much of your blog reviews and comments on F Class as though its a “sport”… what I mean by that is the comments and reviews compare various aspects of service and product without much attention on cost or value for money!

I have commented from time to time – but my biggest gripe is that not enough attention is given to what x amount of $$ buys you.

I have been an LH HON for 8+ years and hesitated to go elsehwere as I was caught up in the whole hype of how good LH and LX were in F

This yearI started to look at costs (I buy my F class tickets) and found that BA is incredibly less expensive. So I have switched to them and after 8 R/T flights would suggest
– yes their hard product is not as good as others
– yes their soft product is not as good either
– their lounges are good but crowded

BUT…..when one can buy an F Class ticket with them for 60% or less of what other airlines charge what becomes valuable to a PAYING passenger who travels often
– a comfortablel cabin with lay flat seats and comfort
– decent attention to the client if not over the top
– facility in boarding
– decent (if not over the top) lounge service (efficiency, connectivity, decent food)
– good attention when flights get delayed and /or cancled

BA ticks off all those boxes

One can bitch and moan all one wants on how EK does this and Quatar does that – but considering Value for Monty is BA all that bad?

As someone who spends his own $$ to fly F – NO IT DOES NOT

Too much focus on the Bling (EK, SQ etc)
And not enough on value for money

Thats all

Hi there,

You make some very good points. Hard to argue that British First is one of the most easily attainable first class products out there. But, the beauty of points and miles is that products such as Lufthansa, Emirates, etc can actually become affordable.

If all of us flew these products by paying cash, then this would be a very different blog and forum!

[QUOTE=”rickyw, post: 66409, member: 1436″]Hi there,

You make some very good points. Hard to argue that British First is one of the most easily attainable first class products out there. But, the beauty of points and miles is that products such as Lufthansa, Emirates, etc can actually become affordable.

If all of us flew these products by paying cash, then this would be a very different blog and forum![/QUOTE]

When comparing “apples to apples” it is clear (at least IMO 😉 ) that BA F is not as good other airlines’ F (including, shockingly, I would argue AA’s F. AA F > BA F > AA J hard > BA hard). But when comparing “apples to oranges”, i.e. factoring in paying $, perhaps BA is better. But on awards, BA surcharges on F and J tilt the equation. Would rather fly AA J with no surcharges than BA F.

And I think it may depend on where you are based. While it has nothing to do with the actual flights themselves, I go out of my way to avoid having to transit LHR. I’ve flown BA first and yes, it was much nicer than the Iberia J I flew via Madrid…but I didn’t have to deal with Heathrow when changing planes and that made it worth it to me.

I’m often in a camp by myself around here because I don’t take aspirational trips on Qatar or Emirates or any of the other fabulous F products out there because they don’t get me to where I need or want to go as quickly as possible. For me, it’s not about the “best” product but rather the best value for the things I want, like the extra real estate and a lie flat seat. The food and wine don’t interest me and I couldn’t care less if the FA knows my name or wants to chat me up. To answer your question, I’ve flown BA First and I found it a very good value, but unfortunately I can’t say the same about their business class product, although they are starting to modernize their fleet so hopefully BA will get competitive again in J class. The same can be said about the LH, AF and KLM Business Class products – not as good as other options.

I agree with Gia.
The Business on BA (Club World) is unacceptable. Not worth paying the money plus the fuel tax costs for a sub-par product. The entire experience of paying thousands of dollars for a nice lay-flat seat is not a value when they cancel your paid-for seat….. I can rant on and on……..
First is (possibly) a different arena.
BA in my book is a “no-go”.