Flight to New York - British Airways vs Aer Lingus vs American Airlines

jesus_thats_gre

Howeya,

I am booking flights to New York and have a few options:

Aer Lingus direct from Dublin to JFK for €670

BA from London Heathrow to JFK for €760

AA from London Heathrow to JFK for €700

I have a feeling that dispite the stop over and Heathrow being a complete nightmare that the BA flight might be worth the extra few quid.

Anyone have any opinions?

Cheers

blah

Well I live in London and a few months ago I flew BA to Chicago and then Aer Lingus back via Dublin.

BA don't charge for drinks, so you can order a couple of beers at the same time, they give you a blanket, pillow, headphones, socks and sleep mask. The IFE is a small seat back screen in front of you, there's a selection of channels showing different movies which is good.

Flying on Aer Lingus meant paying for alcoholic drinks, no socks and sleep mask and the IFE was one of those overhead televisions that lowers during the flight, with each one being watched by about 20 people. There's no choices, you have to watch whatever they show.

So I'd definitely prefer BA (just don't arrive too late to check in, that's why I had to return with aer lingus)

Also a friend of mine flew BA last week and said they had replaced the IFE from flat seat back screens controlled from the armrest to touchscreens. So the kid behind him spent the whole 9 hours poking the back of his head :mad:

Also I don't see how the "nightmare" that is heathrow could be any worse than Dublin Airport (and its portacabin pier D :rolleyes:) but stopovers are a pain in the ass and there's a lot to be said for direct flights

neacy69

I flew BA to new york 2 years ago and AA to new york 3 years ago both from london
Much prefered BA because as mentioned there is no charge for drinks, headphone you get inflights socks pillow and blankets. Only advantage that AA had was that it had a little more room than BA (i think) but i dont tink it gave free drinks

I'm flying AA direct from dublin to chicago in november so will know better then. Also i think aer lingus is the cheaper fare because it is the cheaper airline and i never had any problems with the stopover in london

cold_filter

Heading to NY in October via heathrow. This is my 4th time. The first time i flew direct with Aer ****lingus.... teriible check in staff, terrible plane (found the seats very uncomfortable) rude flight staff and crap films and if you dotn have a good seat you'll pull a muscle trying to watch the film!!

Last 2 times have went via heathrow, yes itadds a few hours on to the journey but i think the extra comfort is worth it. Though coming home i think i migth prefer a direct flight as id be sleeping!

blah

I think I noticed a difference between the comfort of the seats as well. BA was more comfortable than aer lingus. I think the Aer lingus planes are starting to get old. Also I got stuck in the last row (beware of this), the seat doesn't recline

cold_filter

neacy69 wrote:

I flew BA to new york 2 years ago and AA to new york 3 years ago both from london
Much prefered BA because as mentioned there is no charge for drinks, headphone you get inflights socks pillow and blankets. Only advantage that AA had was that it had a little more room than BA (i think) but i dont tink it gave free drinks

I'm flying AA direct from dublin to chicago in november so will know better then. Also i think aer lingus is the cheaper fare because it is the cheaper airline and i never had any problems with the stopover in london

Have flown with virgin to NY and AA to NY tbh theres not much of a difference, you get blanket, headphones etc... in a little bag. And if you want a drink or snack just call one of the attendants.

Flew with unite airlines to LA and found them to be fantastic

cold_filter

blah wrote:

I think I noticed a difference between the comfort of the seats as well. BA was more comfortable than aer lingus. I think the Aer lingus planes are starting to get old. Also I got stuck in the last row (beware of this), the seat doesn't recline

What? thats the best seat to have! On a flight from singapore to CDG i got the very last seat on the plane and it pretty much went horizontal, i had a great sleep!

blah

Don't know what kind of plane you were on!

The seats didn't recline because the exit was behind it. You'll find that on the rows in front of the emergency exit rows too.

cold_filter

blah wrote:

Don't know what kind of plane you were on!

The seats didn't recline because the exit was behind it. You'll find that on the rows in front of the emergency exit rows too.

maybe the 4 seats at the back were broke all i know is i put it back and no body said a thing... dreamland followed shortly after!

folkface

What about American airways?

I found they were the cheapest of all mentioned?

www.usairways.com

I don't know if they are a subsidiary of American Airlines but they are cheaper. Well for the flights i selected anyhow.

Let us know how you get on with them.

lady_j

I flew AA last year to Boston, and a couple of friends flew with Aer Lingus at the same time. While I had to pay for alcholic drinks, everthing else was free . Everyone had individual screens and headphones. Really good staff- attentive but not annoying! In comparison on aer lingus there was one tv for every 9 rows which means everyone was subjected to PG movies... they also said everything was v expensive and the staff were of usual aer lingus callibre.

Tom Dunne

descry wrote:

they also said everything was v expensive and the staff were of usual aer lingus callibre.

Yeah, I would avoid Aer Lingus where possible.

You are at best an inconvenience to the staff. Having flown with US based airlines before, their staff make the journey much more pleasurable, as do BA staff.

Avns1s

Have you considered Flyglobespan (www.flyglobespan.com) from Ireland West Airport Knock from about €190 each way. Bit of a drive to to the airport but much cheaper. Parking is cheaper too!.

cold_filter

Avns1s wrote:

Have you considered Flyglobespan (www.flyglobespan.com) from Ireland West Airport Knock from about €190 each way. Bit of a drive to to the airport but much cheaper. Parking is cheaper too!.

didnt they leave people stranded in NY there about a month ago for over a week due to a "technical fault"??

neacy69

think id prefer someone else than globespan:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0702/globespan.html

Kurumba

Maybe try Continental Airlines, i'm heading to New York and found them the cheapest when I was booking.

Beelzebub

No one is cheaper than Aerlingus, correct me if I'm wrong.

Tabnabs

I flew BA to NY a few years ago. Our flight from Dublin to Heathrow was delayed due to technical problems with the plane (British Midland). When we arrived in London, we had missed our flight. The BA staff had seen this problem already and booked us onto the next flight to NY. Fantastic service.

The plane they normally use is a Boeing 777, a much superior plane to Aer Lingus Airbus A330.

Was in Heathrow connecting from a long haul back to Dublin last April. It was a very miserable experience with the security checks and lack of air conditioning in the area where hundreds of people were queuing. Dublin's bad, but heathrow's much worse.

jesus_thats_gre

Beelzebub wrote:

No one is cheaper than Aerlingus, correct me if I'm wrong.

Bang on to be honest.


Regarding my comment about Heathrow being a nightmare. It is one of the biggest and busiest airports in the world. Transatlantic flights (this will be my 4th now) out of Dublin are very straight forward.


I actually ended up booking Aer Lingus as the BA flights went up quite sharply from when I last checked. I am actually flying out next Thursday and managed to get flights for €670.

Thanks everybody for the comments though. Used to regularly fly BA when I was a kid but have not done so in ages so wasn't sure what they were like these days. Will certainly keep this thread in mind the next time I am booking.

folkface

Beelzebub wrote:

No one is cheaper than Aerlingus, correct me if I'm wrong.

Your wrong.
Price wise they can be consistantly beaten.
Service wise, your right no one is cheaper . (apart from ryanair now they are the cheapest of the cheap - in more ways than one.)

Just wait until ryanair start flying Trans-atlantic :eek:
Lord bless us and save us!

hot fuss

I think you were right. The transfer through Heathrow, not to mention the added time to flight, isn't worth it in my opion.

Direct is always a lot handier. Have had to run through Heathrow both times I've transfered through their and missed my connecting flight once. Also both times the transfer desk going out was a total mare...

Benedict XVI

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Howeya,

I am booking flights to New York and have a few options:

Aer Lingus direct from Dublin to JFK for €670

BA from London Heathrow to JFK for €760

AA from London Heathrow to JFK for €700

I have a feeling that dispite the stop over and Heathrow being a complete nightmare that the BA flight might be worth the extra few quid.

Anyone have any opinions?

Cheers

This should be a no brainer.

The direct flight is cheaper.
Why bother with the hassle of a transfer easy way in Heathrow, probably changing terminals also.

It's about 8 hours over and about 6 back so it's not a long flight either.

GO DIRECT

Tom Dunne

folkface wrote:

Your wrong.
Price wise they can be consistantly beaten.

A quick scoot around Aer Lingus and Continental websites shows the latter is cheaper for 2 adults going to New York in November.

BuffyBot

For a east-coast USA flight, I'd prefer to go direct. It's not overly long, and it certainly isn't worth the hassle of a transfer through Heathrow to be honest.

I found Aer Lingus to NY basic, but comfortable enough for a short-ish flight. Brought a book and an iPod and it was pretty much done quickly enough.

You also have Delta flying (www.delta.com) to JFK and Continential from Dublin to Newark directly. Whatever their respective downsides, a direct flight from Dublin makes more sense.