Flights from Arizona or California to London area.

We will be cruising the Baltic on RCL next June, 2016. I have been looking for air lines, air fare and schedules and the high prices blow me away. The schedules are not out yet for next June.

Can anyone help me with air line information about who flies from US?

What do the various classes of fare mean (confused about various economy & business clsss)?

Trying to budget and still be comfortable on flights to & from.

Norine

If you do some research on the Cruise Air board, you will find lots of info about air lines and fares.

MANY airlines fly from SFO and LAX to London.

We will be cruising the Baltic on RCL next June, 2016. I have been looking for air lines, air fare and schedules and the high prices blow me away.

Question, for curiosity's sake: what kind of pricing are you finding? And, what in turn did you expect?

Can anyone help me with air line information about who flies from US?

This is rather a broad question, and to be fair, one that you don't necessarily need the answer to. What you do need is to know what flight options you have between your home airport and your destination airport (which I assume is any of the London ones?) So, give us your possible departure airport(s), and I'm sure folks here will be happy to help :).

What do the various classes of fare mean (confused about various economy & business clsss)?

Ah, now that is an interesting question. I will focus specifically on classes of service, rather than fare classes (which are much more complex and for which there are several per class of service). Broadly, airlines usually offer the following classes of service:

-Economy: the most basic. Most travellers aspire to upgrade to something better.

-Economy Plus, or whatever your chosen airline calls it: this is the same as basic economy with a little extra legroom, and sometimes a bit more recline. Not to be confused with...

-Premium Economy: a different class of service altogether, with usually larger seats, more space, more recline, and upgraded meal service (for instance, British Airways I believe provides business class meals to their PE passengers). The number of airlines who offer this is limited.

Business Class: a big upgrade. Most now have seats that turn into fully-flat beds. Indeed, on some airlines, this is their top class of service. Others however still offer...

-First Class: the best of the best. Never managed it myself, but did walk past it on Swiss on my way to slumming it in business... :D

Now, obviously the key is to get into one of the better cabins without paying an exorbitant amount of cash. Without specifics on your dates and airports, it's hard to counsel you, however one possibility is to look into what frequent-flyer mile options you have. And for this, you'll need to look into credit-card sign-up bonuses. You'd be amazed how much is out there.

Thanks for the comments so far.

We do not want to fly cheap Economy as the on most planes are only 17-1/2 to 18 inches wide. I prefer a seat that is 19-20 inches. I am not over weight but have arthritis in my hips and don't want to be in pain while flying.

I am using Seat Guru to get details on the various brand and model of planes.

When we flew to Istanbul we went Delta economy with transfer in NY. Their planes have the narrow seats and that is when my arthritis started to flair up.

A lot of the British Air fights are operated by American Airlines and vice versa. I have been researching for several months already. Phoenix has a direct flights daily on BA. If Los Angeles we would have to get there which would be about $300 RT for each of us (2 adults) so that flight would have to be considerably cheaper than the PHX flight.

We are booked on a Baltic cruise but our arrival and departure can be flexible due to hotels.

I will search the CC for the Air Board.

I will contact RCL to see if they have any kind of air program.

I do appreciate all the information.

Norine

BA flight schedules are available up to mid June 2016 [go to the BA web site] and as each day passes availability increases by a day.

So, if you book Premium Economy [wider seat, more leg room, and a slightly better meal than economy] taking the random dates of flying from Phoenix to Heathrow on June 1st, returning June 15th, you will pay $2565.80 per person. The price does not alter much whichever day of the week you fly - it is slightly more expensive on a Sunday

No economy seat on a standard European/US carrier will give you the seat width you are looking for. You need Premium Economy just to get 18.5 inch width, and even club will only give you 20 inches..

The advantage of flying with BA is that you get free drinks, and you get to fly in a 747 rather than the 777 !

Thank you Wowzz. I will wait about 3 weeks before I check any more flights. It is very confusing with the plane configuration listing one name for seats and the ticket web site listing another name. I will have to call to understand the differences.

We plan to Fly June 8 to arrive London June 9. We will spend a week in London then board the ship on June 16. We will return to Southampton on June 28 and fly home then. Our return date is not listed yet.

Norine

Norine, if it helps any, Premium Economy on British Airways is called World Traveller Plus.

I haven't flown it myself since about 10 years ago, so to get an idea what to expect in terms of seating and meal service these days, listen to the good advice of folks here and read up at the BA website too.

What you're describing is now called World Traveler Plus on BA, and that's really the only airline with it. But, at that point, you have to really price out business on other airlines as well. BUT, if that's what you're looking for, be sure the BA flight from Phoenix is actually operated by BA as AA doesn't have that class of service.

Yes, the airlines have renamed their premium cabins. For instance, on United, on two cabin service, domestically, you have Economy, Economy Plus (extra legroom, but not extra seatroom) and First. From Honolulu to Guam, the exact same configuration (777) is Economy, Economy Plus, and Business. Most international flights are Economy, Economy Plus, BusinessFirst, and GlobalFirst. I think Delta now only has Economy and Business, and has dropped international first, but their business is what used to be first. Etc.

Have you considered flying to Denver and then flying Icelandair? I don't know how much you would expect to pay for PHX-DEN RT for 2 people but Icelandair has consistently been one of the cheapest options of getting to Europe...might not work for you but wouldn't hurt to check.

Since PHX is my home airport, I can help with some thoughts. British Airways has a non-stop from AZ to London Heathrow. However, they use an old plane for that route.

Most of the U.S. carriers fly that same route but require a change of planes. You might want to check out Air New Zealand. They fly non-stop from Los Angeles and offer a cool version of Premium Economy.

I generally pay extra for economy plus which gives a bit extra legroom but doesn't give extra width to the seats.

If the OP really wants seat width, the best option would be to 'bite the bullet' and fly to LAX, and then fly Premium Economy on Virgin Atlantic with seats that are 21 inches wide.

Air New Zealand have a great reputation for service, but, their Premium Economy seats are nowhere near as wide as those on Virgin.

I am not familiar with US flight, but it does sound like Premium Economy product is the minimum that OP can tolerate.

Thank you all for the information. I am taking a few weeks off from checking as waiting for schedules for next June to be posted. I am making note of the air lines and seat types to know what I am looking for. I want to find flights that won't cost more than our cruise (book a grand suite).

Norine

we used air new zealand non stop in 2013 - suffered the entire trip

both ways with their 17 inch seat width - plus carry on limit was 15 pounds !!

so I used totebag with 14 pounds & a large purse which they did not weigh -

it weighed about 35 !!! plus checked 48 pound bag !! :D

am going to check out BA

but think for next year one way london gatwick to lax we are going to use

norwegian air - it is very cheap (like 300) for thin people with 3 narrow seats

but they offer a 2 seat larger width for quite a bit more (900+) but let you

check 2 bags each - i think this higher price is what many of the other airlines

are charging for their narrow seats

there was a concern last year they might not get to fly here -

the other lines did not like the competition - but believe it is

not a concern now as i see they have added many more non stop

connections to/from various cities on certain days -

you might have to stay an extra day but it is worth

it to be comfortable non stop for us !! good luck !!;)

Make sure you check out all the extra charges for Norwegian (meal costs, water etc) when doing the price comparison

Also, Norwegian land in Gatwick not Heathrow.

To the OP - you are looking, as are we all, for space and a good price. The two are not possible on an aircraft which has a finite amount of space

If you want a spacious seat, you will have to pay for it?

What you're describing is now called World Traveler Plus on BA, and that's really the only airline with it.

However, one thing is worth remembering: no US airline offers a true premium economy product. So however much a US airline's marketing names are dressed up to sound like premium economy, they aren't.

Strange that US airlines have not seen this profit opportunity. Having flown a few times on US carriers, I wonder if Americans do not realise how dated their airlines are compared to European, and more especially Mid-Eastern and Far-Eastern airlines.

I want to thank all of you for your input.

I have decided we will book with British Air in the Economy Plus. These seats seem to have enough seat room and leg room and cost less than you cruise cabin. I still have to wait about another month for them to post their full schedule for next June.

Norine

There are now lots of airlines with true premium economy products, not just BA. Some of them are named below.

 

However, one thing is worth remembering: no US airline offers a true premium economy product. So however much a US airline's marketing names are dressed up to sound like premium economy, they aren't.

Yeah. Thinking US carriers, and have only flown BA with it, although in steerage...

The U.S. carriers are moving to lay flat premium service, and aren't offering anything intermediate.