Flying to America

[wellinghall]

We've been looking at flights from London to Philadelphia, or possibly New York.

(1) It's cheaper to fly from London to New York via Philadelphia, with United Airlines, than it is to fly from London to Philadelphia, with United Airlines.

(2) It's cheaper to fly direct from London to New York direct in business class than it is in premium economy.

Comments

[crazyscot.livejournal.com]

Finding good air fares is a Hard Problem. Here's a paper by an ITA Software chap going into details.

Fare quotes are only good at the time of quoting. Look again next week and they might have changed.

(1) LON-NYC is a more popular route than LON-PHL, so I'd expect that one to attract more promotional fares. Even though it's longer, it's the route that counts.

(2) Business class is intrinsically more expensive than premium economy. In the current climate, biz isn't selling well, but premium probably is, so I'd suspect that what you're seeing is deeply discounted biz against probably full-fare economy. For a fair fare (ho ho) comparison you might want to tick the box on the website to give you the full fare (often worded as "fully flexible" or similar).

IMLE paying for premium economy on an intercontinental flight doesn't get you much; a little more legroom, sometimes better in-flight service, sometimes a shorter check-in line; also slightly better chances of an involuntary upgrade to biz. (I've been lucky - more than half of my 5? premium economy sectors have been invol upgraded.)

If you can get a good business class fare, I'd say jump on it; priority check-in, priority security and immigration at some airports, departure lounge, better in-flight service (fully flat beds on many airlines!), usually prioritised baggage loading (so yours appears on the conveyor first), and (at some airports) arrivals lounges. (9ish am, I staggered off the 'plane at LHR, got my bag, cleared passport control, then trotted off to the BA arrivals lounge to enjoy a proper cooked breakfast, the morning paper and BBC News on in the background. I could even have taken a shower and had my hypothetical suit pressed...)