Business Class Fares & Offers

[davidge]

On my last trip back I was lucky enough to get upgraded to business class with Thai ( long and short of it was a problem on board and working in public transport I knew how to complain about it and how not to).

 

Anyway I'm 6ft6 (2m for our metric cousins) and about 125 kg. So seat size and leg room is a big issue for me. I enjoyed the flight and would probably pay double ( so about £1100) to fly that way ( im not bothered about the poncy service and food im only interested in the seat) but not the amount extra they want ( about 5 times the normal fair)

 

If an airline every introduces a class with business class seat but economy class service at a sensible price and I'll be there

BA and EVA both have premium Economy , bigger seats , more legroom , same food as Economy

Ten years ago, I always managed to find Business for about double Economy. They offer more in Business now but it's usually 3 or 4 times Economy.

 

I briefly considered Premium Economy, but the seats are nowhere near Business Class. On BA, 18.5 width and 38 legroom compared to 20 and 72 in Business. On EVA, 19.5 and 40 compared to 26 and 81.

Basically, 'a bit better than Economy' rather than 'almost as good as Business'.

Edited January 5, 2015 by davidge

[apter]

apter: How were Egypt?

 

I am very reluctant to consider them but fares of just over £1300 have been showing up on some dates.

The £600 I'd save compared to EVA would pay for most of the Condo/hotel!

 

The flight - not bad from Cairo to Bangkok. If memory serves it was an A330, so nothing specials as far as long-haul business class seats go. Cyprus to Cairo leg was on an Embraer. Only an hour so no biggie. The flight attendant managed to get orange juice all over me. She did give me a wet-wipe though to mop it up. Luckily I always carry a change of clothes so I was able to change when we got to Cairo.

 

Cairo airport is dire to say the least so I'd be very reluctant to use them again. There is no business class for the Cairo - Larnaca leg and the terminal is a pit. I had to pay $40 for three hours in a very sub-standard lounge and could only pay in USD. You would think they would accept the equivalent in Euro. Not in Cairo. Had to change Euro to Egyptian Pounds, then back to Dollars.

 

On the Larnaca / Cairo leg I was allowed to use the business class lounge. Very run of the mill.

 

Overall:

Flight 7/10

Terminal: 2/10 and that's only for the shop selling nuts.

Edited January 5, 2015 by apter

[magic69]

BA and EVA both have premium Economy , bigger seats , more legroom , same food as Economy

They do but they are nothing like the seats in business,

[davidge]

The flight - not bad from Cairo to Bangkok. If memory serves it was an A330, so nothing specials as far as long-haul business class seats go. Cyprus to Cairo leg was on an Embraer. Only an hour so no biggie. The flight attendant managed to get orange juice all over me. She did give me a wet-wipe though to mop it up. Luckily I always carry a change of clothes so I was able to change when we got to Cairo.

 

Cairo airport is dire to say the least so I'd be very reluctant to use them again. There is no business class for the Cairo - Larnaca leg and the terminal is a pit. I had to pay $40 for three hours in a very sub-standard lounge and could only pay in USD. You would think they would accept the equivalent in Euro. Not in Cairo. Had to change Euro to Egyptian Pounds, then back to Dollars.

 

On the Larnaca / Cairo leg I was allowed to use the business class lounge. Very run of the mill.

 

Overall:

Flight 7/10

Terminal: 2/10 and that's only for the shop selling nuts.

Thanks for that. It's a few years since I was in Cairo Airport, but I remember it as the second worst airport I've ever been in (after Jeddah!).

The London leg is an A330, with angle-flat rather than fully-flat.

As I said, don't think I'd be tempted to use them, but the £1300 fare caught my eye :-)

[davidge]

EVA are great , choose the Single windows seats , you also have Aisle access , you can also preorder your meal , with some selections not available on the flight

Thanks again for the info. I hadn't thought of looking at my booking on EVA yet. I entered my Frequent Flyer and chose seat 6A on both flights.

 

Meals can be ordered from 3 weeks in advance, so I'll have to remember to do that then!

 

The EVA 'Manage my Booking' did show Royal Laurel for my flights so it's SeatGuru that's out of date. Pleased about that :-)

Edited January 5, 2015 by davidge

[davidge]

Just noticed Qatar down again. Found under £1650 on some dates June/July.

Etihad a little more than this.

 

Qatar also showing at £1700 for next Christmas, if you depart on or before December 10. Only returns up to Jan 1 showing at the moment.

 

Augurs well for Christmas fares!

Edited January 6, 2015 by davidge

[apter]

Thanks for that. It's a few years since I was in Cairo Airport, but I remember it as the second worst airport I've ever been in (after Jeddah!).

The London leg is an A330, with angle-flat rather than fully-flat.

As I said, don't think I'd be tempted to use them, but the £1300 fare caught my eye :-)

 

Glad I could help.

 

Royal Jordanian is worth a look. Used them a few times till the layovers got silly (10 plus hours). Had a quick glance on the the website and it looks like LHR - BKK business class would be around £1900. Depends on our travel dates of course and RJ prices tend to be very seasonal.

 

Edit:

Wrong info on aircraft type

Edited January 6, 2015 by apter

[Luv2Phuket]

I don't know boo about the route that you are looking at, but I can confirm that EVA Royal Laurel seating is EXCELLENT!  It's comparable to Cathay's business class, with individual, lie flat seats/pods in a reverse herringbone set up.  All seats have individual aisle access, so no chance of anyone crawling over you.

 

I love SeatGuru, but find that it is only about 75% accurate. The individual airline's website and seat selection process is much more reliable in my experience, although I "supplement" that by checking SeatGuru to see what the downsides are the particular seat(s) that I am considering.

[davidge]

Thanks. Even though it's months away I'm looking forward to it :-)

 

I'd read an EVA announcement that their London flights were changing to Royal Laurel, but when I saw SeatGuru I wondered if it was only some days and not all.

 

Choosing the seat on the EVA website confirmed it IS Royal Laurel, so I'm very pleased!

[Luv2Phuket]

Here are a couple of photos I snapped of my Royal Laurel seat on an EVA flight from Taipei to LAX last June.

 

 

 

[davidge]

:-)

 

Either 1K or 8K

 

Row 1 was unavailable when I looked so opted for 6A.

Edited January 6, 2015 by davidge

[davidge]

Turkish now showing at £1400 for many dates. Not the best stopover times.

[not at home]

if you have around 30,000 miles look to book premium and upgrade with miles with BA ( You can also purchase the miles you need , and collect them through the BA Amex card , sometimes they have offers on )

 

last trip i paid £1,180 to travel Business , booked during one of their sales

 

you didn't mention Etihad , they sometimes have good deals on and the service is fantastic

 

Thai , when I last flew with them , didn't have proper flat beds

Yes I did like Etihad then they went in with KLM and Air France 2 Airlines I dislike a lot,will not travel with Etihad now.

[Bitchslap]

You guys make me sick!

When I am walking to cattle class through business class I often spit in the seats......Only to get to my economy seat where someone has taken a dump!

[boxershrimp]

I got two trips with BA for around £1000-£1100 each, last year. And that's ARN-LHR-BKK, so there's even an extra 2 hour flight included in that. On the long haul lines, BA is okay.

 

But short haul, the contrast was even more remarkable on my last trip home, as I went BKK-HKG-LHR-ARN (have to maximise those TPs). Cathay Pacific first, then BA and BA again. Let's just say I feel sorry for our british friends sometimes, the staff on that Heathrow-Arlanda line, oh my Buddha...

[davidge]

It's quite often cheaper to book BA from a connection in Europe via LHR than actually starting in LHR!

 

BA is not good. Doesn't help having that Poison Irish dwarf in charge.

 

Business Class on short-haul within Europe is a con. At best they give you slightly more room than in Economy, at worse the same seat with slightly better food, and luggage allowance.

 

If I consider not flying direct from LHR to BKK then don't even look at the European airlines. To get a full size Business Class seat it has to be one of the Middle Eastern or Far Eastern airlines (or Turkish!). Just hope EVA keep being competitive on price and I find them good. Thai is just too expensive.

[magic69]

I wouldn't fly BA if you threaten to cut my nuts off with a rusty knife If i didn't, 

 

Miserable stewardesses, cramped seats ( compared to other airlines, although business maybe better i accept) and that idiot in charge screwing his staff over ( probably why they are so miserable).

 

Ive flown Thai once and they were great, and Etihad/Emirites the rest of the time, their staff are great although they are a little "computer says no" if you ask for something out of the ordinary.

[heathcliff81]

If you can depart from outside the UK, you will find much better business class fairs. For instance, I booked a return from Stockholm to Bangkok on BA for GBP 1205. It isn't too expensive to buy a London-Stockholm return separately. There are sometimes good deals to be had from Amsterdam, Brussels or Dublin. There is a risk with this strategy though. You have to make sure that there is enough time for you to catch the plane in a different city. You won't technically have any protection if your positioning flight is delayed or cancelled. Therefore, I don't do this often. But once a year, I don't mind flying the night before and staying in a cheap airport Ibis if I can get a business class flight to Bangkok or such long distances.

[Flimflam]

I think both etihad and emirates are best bets at the moment,fares LHR-BKK  17-1800 pounds in the sale,even cheaper if you shop around on other websites,

with both airlines you have a car included up to 100 miles from LHR and 60 kilo meters from BKK.

on my next trip im with BA direct 120.000 avios+£400 ish taxes!

Etihad have now stopped the chauffeur service for business class passengers purchasing the cheapest tier fares.

[davidge]

Update: Turkish are still showing at around £1400 for most dates right through to the end of November. It goes up to £1700 from December 1st.

 

Very early yet, but many airlines are showing at around £500 more from Dec 11 onwards.

If you are looking at that time, Qatar seem to be staying around £1700 and BA (for any masochists out there) around £1950.

 

Hopefully, lower fares will begin to show up from the UK once all Agents start showing flights in a couple of weeks.

 

I know it can vary, but I've been following prices for my June dates both before and after booking and the fare I booked in October is the lowest I've seen a direct flight before or since. IF this means anything, then 8/9 months before seems a good time to book. Know it depends on how many seats are sold though! I'll keep checking to see what happens as the date gets closer.

 

Edited for my brain addling and being unable to understand the calendar any more!

Edited January 28, 2015 by davidge

[boxershrimp]

Score one for Finnair. I'm sitting in their premium lounge at HEL (no, it's not the airport of Hell), and they have wines, champagne, beer, hard booze of many kinds, but no fucking diet sodas. Leave it to our Finnish friends to do away with the unnecessary

 

(Cost for this particular business ticket, a little over £1000. 1050, maybe. ARN-HEL-BKK and back.)

[davidge]

Update:

 

Already keeping an eye on next Christmas though won't book for a while!

 

Flights via AMS connecting with China Air now showing up at around £1400 for some dates inc. staying over Xmas & New Year (eg 13/12-3/1).

 

Fare is available from LHR and CWL so may well be available from other regional airports. Long waits in AMS both ways (4-8 hrs).

 

These fares show up quite regularly but tend not to be available for very long.

[SpankTheLing]

I pretty sure you could get a train to reading & get their car to meet you there ?

 

Emigrates charge you 2000 bht to get to pattaya, I've booked it for necpxt week, will be interested to see the quality of their limo compared to the other ones I've had in Thailand !

 

I tried to get the Emirates limo pickup from Pattaya and they also tried to charge me 2000 baht for the excess km. I told them to get stuffed and got a taxi for 1000baht.

 

How was the service NWS?

[davidge]

Not really an update to the thread, more like a moan:-)

 

I've been checking Xmas fares regularly for a few months now and I'm getting bloody depressed at how high Business fares are.

 

IF I can get away, it won't be until after December 12th. Direct fares are above £2500 and indirect fares with what I consider to be 'good' airlines are above £2000.

 

The only slightly cheaper fares so far have been with airlines I'd really rather avoid.

 

I'm only likely to be able to get away once a year over Xmas & New Year for the next couple of years at least so the fares are a real downer!

[deathlay]

It's Emirates all the way for me, I book from Barcelona & paid 1500 for my flight next Tuesday with a couple of hour stop over in Dubai, fingpd their FF scheme gets you up the levels quicker & more choice on flights than the likes of BA

1500 pounds or euros?