Take Advantage of the Raging Fare War
By slashing its Business Class fares to the U.K., British Airways has incited a skirmish with eight other carriers, all of them intent on getting the business of leisure travelers in 2004.
BA, which offers arguably the best Business Class seats on the North Atlantic right now (seats recline a full 180°), is offering fares to both London and Manchester in the $2,699 to $3,200 range. Bookings must be made 42 days in advance to qualify.
Match Game
The effect of BA’s move has been to drive down fares across the board. American, Continental, Delta, Lufthansa, Northwest/KLM, United, US Airways and Virgin Atlantic have published similar fares in most of the markets BA is targeting, and then some.
American and Delta are offering some of the lowest fares — perhaps having to compete more aggressively on price due to an inferior Business Class product. American has slashed fares to as low as $2,408 (reg. $7,000+) from Los Angeles, for example, while BA is holding its ground. Other carriers are somewhere in the middle.
Sleepers
Virgin Atlantic is the only other carrier with a completely lie-flat Biz Class seat to Europe — for the moment only available from New York. But the carrier says it has plans to install new sleeper seats on routes like San Francisco and Los Angeles soon.
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Look Beyond London
While these fares are some of the best we’ve seen to London, lower fares can be found for travel all over Europe in the $1,700 to $2,300 range. If ultimate comfort is your priority, or you have to make a connection anyway, flying BA or Virgin via London and buying a separate ticket onward might be worth considering. BA and Virgin are winning the value battle (best seat), American the fare war.
Find plenty more special fares to Europe in FCF’s Archive’s here.
Take Advantage of the Raging Fare War
By slashing its Business Class fares to the U.K., British Airways has incited a skirmish with eight other carriers, all of them intent on getting the business of leisure travelers in 2004.
BA, which offers arguably the best Business Class seats on the North Atlantic right now (seats recline a full 180°), is offering fares to both London and Manchester in the $2,699 to $3,200 range. Bookings must be made 42 days in advance to qualify.
Match Game
The effect of BA’s move has been to drive down fares across the board. American, Continental, Delta, Lufthansa, Northwest/KLM, United, US Airways and Virgin Atlantic have published similar fares in most of the markets BA is targeting, and then some.
American and Delta are offering some of the lowest fares — perhaps having to compete more aggressively on price due to an inferior Business Class product. American has slashed fares to as low as $2,408 (reg. $7,000+) from Los Angeles, for example, while BA is holding its ground. Other carriers are somewhere in the middle.
Sleepers
Virgin Atlantic is the only other carrier with a completely lie-flat Biz Class seat to Europe — for the moment only available from New York. But the carrier says it has plans to install new sleeper seats on routes like San...