Anyone fly British Airways?

I can get a nonstop flight from London to Baltimore on British Airways. Do they charge for luggage? Anything I should beware of? I need to book this tomorrow. Thanks for any help.

It depends on the class of service and the ticket you buy. Read the fine print.

Economy. I saw it on Princess EZair so I don't know all the fine print. I see from their website that they charge for seat assignment unless it is 24 hours before flight when you do check in online. Two of us traveling together so I don't think I want to do this. It is a non stop flight. My other option is flying into NYC to JFK and then take a small plane down to Baltimore. This is on Delta. Small plane means only personal item that fits under seat. I have my choice of either a 2 hour or 3 hour layover. Not sure what to pick on that one.

Or you can take one of the 3 nonstops to/from Washington (IAD) on United.

And a quick look at BA's website says you get 1 free checked bag (regular econ) of up to 51lbs.

Yes, flown BA hundreds of times including on the BWI routing, albeit not in economy though.

BA do not charge for luggage on their longhaul flights in any class of travel. There are some shorthaul "Hand Baggage Only" fares but this doesn't apply to you.

BWI is pretty great to fly from on BA (ordinarily I flew from Dulles but one time it was about $1800 cheaper from BWI), I had no line to wait for check-in or security and the concourse is so very quiet. Coming back through immigration was a doddle, I have Global Entry but it was pretty clear there were no lines. Ordinarily I'd say that immigration, security etc. times vary but BWI handles so few international flights.

I think you'd be completely nuts to fly via JFK on Delta in protest of paying the seat assignment fee!

As far as I know, no airline currently operating TATL flight charge for the first piece of standard lugage below within their weight limit. If you can avoid the transit in NYC, please do so. Unless there is a huge difference in price, I think you should go with the non stop flight.

If working in aviation has learned me 1 thing is to get to your destination with as few stops as possible.

Apart from that, BA is a reputable airline but in economy you can't really expect a big difference between most of the airlines.

In an industry that is seeking to invent all new kind of things to charge you, I'm amazed more airlines haven't followed the seat assignment seat, specially on medium haul routes. But that should not be an argument to fly through JFK. That's one hell of a place to transit.

Is there a reason you want to book this through the cruise line as opposed to on your own? Doing it on your own will possibly save money and give a lot more options in the case of ir ops.

I'd look at the non-stops from IAD to LHR as well. They appear to be a ~$200 less than the ones from BWI. There is a Virgin flight, and they are supposed to ahve one of the better economy products.

I fly BA very often between the US and London - many times each year. Sometimes in business, sometimes in premium economy. If you can, take a look in to premium economy - BA often has reasonable rates for that. It's nothing spectacular, but you get more legroom, a slightly better meal, and one or two other small perks. That being said - not all versions of the BA 767-300 (which flies BWI) offer premium economy, so it would be necessary to check (a simple flight search on BA.com would tell you)

As a whole, BA is a fine airline. They get a lot of complaints, and by no means are they outstanding, but I really have very, very few complaints in my many, many flights with them. Perhaps I just have low expectations ;)

I just checked BA website. If I booked myself instead of through Princess I would be paying DOUBLE so in this case it is less expensive to go through Princess. I must have missed it. How much does it cost to get a seat assignment in advance? My DH is 6' tall and likes aisle seats.

I just checked BA website. If I booked myself instead of through Princess I would be paying DOUBLE so in this case it is less expensive to go through Princess. I must have missed it. How much does it cost to get a seat assignment in advance? My DH is 6' tall and likes aisle seats.

Just be aware that with a price that significantly lower, you are almost certainly getting a consolidator ticket. If everything goes smoothly, you'll never know. If things go wrong, you may be in for a world of hurt. Just do a bit of homework and read the sticky at the top of this forum.

I am not quite sure how expensive seat assignments are (never had to pay for one, thankfully), but I would guess $40-$60 each seat, give or take. You might want to look at exit rows too, but again I am not sure the price. I also think that, even if you're willing to pay, exit rows don't become available for non-elite flyers until much closer to the departure date. That may have changed, but I believe it used to be that way.

I just checked BA website. If I booked myself instead of through Princess I would be paying DOUBLE so in this case it is less expensive to go through Princess. I must have missed it. How much does it cost to get a seat assignment in advance? My DH is 6' tall and likes aisle seats.

It's possible that you won't be able to get an advance seat assignment at any cost due to the cheap fares the cruise lines get. You might be limited to center seats.

My opinion is that I pay a huge amount of money for a European/Asian/etc. vacation. I'm going to do anything I can to arrive there as rested as possible--which usually means shelling out the cash for at least premium economy, but more likely business (or when feasible) first class.

My dh said he would rather fly on a non stop which is BA than change planes in JFK which puts us on a small plane where the only carry on is what fits under the seat. He realizes he will probably not get an aisle seat. I'm not tall so I don't really care unless a person of size is sitting next to me and taking up part of my space. (This happened once and the flight attendant moved him to first class!!!! I was so stunned I didn't say anything. Should have been me moving to first class not someone who should have paid for 2 seats).

More info about seat assignments:

http://www.britishairways.com/en-us/information/seating/choosing-your-seat

That being said - not all versions of the BA 767-300 (which flies BWI) offer premium economy, so it would be necessary to check (a simple flight search on BA.com would tell you)

The 767s that BA fly to BWI all have premium economy. It's only within Europe that your BA 767 would be in configuration without it and even then you can sometimes get longhaul 767s in Europe, I had one going to ATH. You'd be very unlucky indeed to have a longhaul 767 swap out for a shorthaul one.

My dh said he would rather fly on a non stop which is BA than change planes in JFK which puts us on a small plane where the only carry on is what fits under the seat. He realizes he will probably not get an aisle seat. I'm not tall so I don't really care unless a person of size is sitting next to me and taking up part of my space. (This happened once and the flight attendant moved him to first class!!!! I was so stunned I didn't say anything. Should have been me moving to first class not someone who should have paid for 2 seats).

Just in my personal opinion, my choices would be (in descending order):

1) Nonstop from BWI (pay a bit to choose seats if you can, or even bump up to premium economy if you can afford it)

2) Drive to Dulles and fly nonstop from there on BA, Virgin or United

3) Connect in any city other than JFK

4) Connect via Antarctica, Neptune and the Gates of Hell (yes, all three layovers)

5) Connect via jFK

Honestly, there's just no point in going via JFK. Pretty much any other city would be better to connect through, should you really want to connect. Philly, Boston, even backtracking to Atlanta or Charlotte would be better, in my opinion, than going through JFK. The two airports I actively avoid in the US are JFK and MIA. Not always possible, but I try my best.

More info about seat assignments:

http://www.britishairways.com/en-us/information/seating/choosing-your-seat

 

 

 

The 767s that BA fly to BWI all have premium economy. It's only within Europe that your BA 767 would be in configuration without it and even then you can sometimes get longhaul 767s in Europe, I had one going to ATH. You'd be very unlucky indeed to have a longhaul 767 swap out for a shorthaul one.

Thanks for clarifying. I assumed, but didn't want to make an assumption.

I too got a longhaul 767 within Europe last year, LHR-IST. But three years ago on the same route, it was a shorthaul 767. Not sure if the longhaul was the norm or the exception last year.

Just in my personal opinion, my choices would be (in descending order):

1) Nonstop from BWI (pay a bit to choose seats if you can, or even bump up to premium economy if you can afford it)

 

2) Drive to Dulles and fly nonstop from there on BA, Virgin or United

 

3) Connect in any city other than JFK

 

4) Connect via Antarctica, Neptune and the Gates of Hell (yes, all three layovers)

 

5) Connect via jFK

 

 

Honestly, there's just no point in going via JFK. Pretty much any other city would be better to connect through, should you really want to connect. Philly, Boston, even backtracking to Atlanta or Charlotte would be better, in my opinion, than going through JFK. The two airports I actively avoid in the US are JFK and MIA. Not always possible, but I try my best.

Thanks however I think you missed an important detail in my OP. This is a flight FROM London back to Baltimore. After stressing a lot , calling my sister who works for Delta and has been to JFK (although not in the Intl term) I booked the change of planes in JFK. She said Delta is in a brand new terminal. She has been there. We have a 3 hour layover so hopefully that is enough to clear customs. I felt pressured to pick a flight because while on the Princess air site and changing some of the parameters some of the flights disappeared and/or I was now getting only x seats left.

Thanks everyone for your help. I have another cruise coming up a few months later (this one is in 37 days which I booked today last minute at a great price) and will need to work on airfare for that one. OY.

Thanks however I think you missed an important detail in my OP. This is a flight FROM London back to Baltimore. After stressing a lot , calling my sister who works for Delta and has been to JFK (although not in the Intl term) I booked the change of planes in JFK.

Seat pre-allocation is nothing to get stressed about on BA. Even if you don't want to pay and therefore don't pay, but you check-in online 24 hours before the flight (or ask someone to do it for you), your chances of not sitting together are pretty remote.

I did miss that it was LHR-BWI, my apologies. If I had realized that, I would have put JFK even further down on the list ;)

That's even worse if you're doing it on the way home. That means that you fly to JFK, get off, clear immigration, collect your bags, clear customs, give your bags back to the airline, and then wait for your connecting flight. And you have to allow enough time to get all that done on a bad day, so most of the time you'll be hanging around JFK wasting time just waiting for your onward flight.

Yeah, I agree. JFK is not fun to clear immigration at.

That's even worse if you're doing it on the way home. That means that you fly to JFK, get off, clear immigration, collect your bags, clear customs, give your bags back to the airline, and then wait for your connecting flight. And you have to allow enough time to get all that done on a bad day, so most of the time you'll be hanging around JFK wasting time just waiting for your onward flight.

 

Seat pre-allocation is nothing to get stressed about on BA. Even if you don't want to pay and therefore don't pay, but you check-in online 24 hours before the flight (or ask someone to do it for you), your chances of not sitting together are pretty remote.

Thanks but it is now a done deal. I'll know for next time. Hard to pick something that is not ideal and your choices are between last place and next to last place. We have never been to Europe and are not familiar with lots of things.

I see you are from London. My next step is picking a hotel in London to spend 1.5 days (day we get off ship we have Princess transfers and the next day). Any suggestions about where is a centrally located area for us to start looking into? We don't mind walking lots of places. Also we will check into tours or HOHO buses. Not being familiar with a city means lots of research to pick the right area to stay in. The princess transfer drops us at Victoria Station so a cab from there is probably what we will do to get to hotel. TIA.

Thanks but it is now a done deal. I'll know for next time. Hard to pick something that is not ideal and your choices are between last place and next to last place.

My next step is picking a hotel in London to spend 1.5 days (day we get off ship we have Princess transfers and the next day). Any suggestions about where is a centrally located area for us to start looking into? We don't mind walking lots of places. Also we will check into tours or HOHO buses. Not being familiar with a city means lots of research to pick the right area to stay in. The princess transfer drops us at Victoria Station so a cab from there is probably what we will do to get to hotel.

FWIW, I wouldn't take a Princess transfer to Victoria; I'd go on a fast train to Waterloo and get a cab to the hotel. No hotel in London will be "centrally located" for everything, so you're going to have to use public transport for quite a lot of things anyway, wherever you end up. If you have some idea of what you want to see, and most or many of those places are clustered in one area, then that would be a good indication. Otherwise, any of the usual touristy areas would be fine because you're never going find anywhere that's convenient for everything.

And you'll probably see that if I were mayor of London, my first act in office would be to ban HOHO buses. But I have to content myself with trying to run them off the road instead.

Thanks but it is now a done deal. I'll know for next time. Hard to pick something that is not ideal and your choices are between last place and next to last place. We have never been to Europe and are not familiar with lots of things.

 

I see you are from London. My next step is picking a hotel in London to spend 1.5 days (day we get off ship we have Princess transfers and the next day). Any suggestions about where is a centrally located area for us to start looking into? We don't mind walking lots of places. Also we will check into tours or HOHO buses. Not being familiar with a city means lots of research to pick the right area to stay in. The princess transfer drops us at Victoria Station so a cab from there is probably what we will do to get to hotel. TIA.

I'm not a London native, but have spent a lot of time in London. There are so many great things to see in London, spread out all over, that it's hard to go wrong choosing a neighborhood.

I've stayed near Victoria Station a couple of times and like it because of the transit links to get around to the rest of the city. My wife and I rented an AirBNB flat recently, about a 10 minute walk from Victoria. About 10 years ago, back in college, I stayed at Cherry Court Hotel, a small and basic (but cheap by London standards) hotel about 5 minute walk from Victoria. Still seems to have pretty decent reviews.

Also stayed at a Premier Inn Leicester Square, which tends to be affordable and is well located near Piccadilly Circus station, near Trafalgar Square.

Of course, if your budget is high, I can also recommend some really, really, really nice hotels that I haven't paid for but work has ;)

I booked the change of planes in JFK.

I have another cruise coming up a few months later (this one is in 37 days which I booked today last minute at a great price) and will need to work on airfare for that one. OY.

Another chance to ignore the advice here then? ;)

Thanks but it is now a done deal. I'll know for next time. Hard to pick something that is not ideal and your choices are between last place and next to last place. We have never been to Europe and are not familiar with lots of things.

 

I see you are from London. My next step is picking a hotel in London to spend 1.5 days (day we get off ship we have Princess transfers and the next day). Any suggestions about where is a centrally located area for us to start looking into? We don't mind walking lots of places. Also we will check into tours or HOHO buses. Not being familiar with a city means lots of research to pick the right area to stay in. The princess transfer drops us at Victoria Station so a cab from there is probably what we will do to get to hotel. TIA.

You don't need a day room, you should be well rested and ready to hit the sights. All respectable hotels will happily hold your bags until check in time. You don't need a HoHo. To be honest, with only half of the first day and then the next you can't do it all. I'd choose the three or four most important things and do those. My list would probably be the Churchill War Rooms, St. Paul's Cathedral, the British Museum, and the Tower of London. Maybe hit the TKTS booth for discounted show tickets the first night.

The Doubletree is only a few blocks from Victoria Station, and is reasonable--for London where everything is outrageously expensive. (Expect to spend 150-200% of what you think you will there) You can walk from there to Buckingham Palace, Westminster, CWR's, and the British Museum. I would take the tube to St. Paul's and the Tower of London.

One thing to note: Cabs in London are ridiculously expensive and drivers surly and beyond rude. Download the Uber app and use them. Drivers are courteous and safe.

If you can manage your luggage, take the tube to LHR. It's 5 pounds 30 per person from Zone 1. Take the District or Circle line and change for the Picadilly line to LHR (make sure you get on the train for the correct terminal) at So Kensington or Gloucester Road.

Is there a reason you want to book this through the cruise line as opposed to on your own? Doing it on your own will possibly save money and give a lot more options in the case of ir ops.

 

I'd look at the non-stops from IAD to LHR as well. They appear to be a ~$200 less than the ones from BWI. There is a Virgin flight, and they are supposed to ahve one of the better economy products.

I realize that OP has booked and is flying from LHR, but just for general info, United Airlines has a nonstop IAD-LHR which is a day flight. You can't beat that.

I realize that OP has booked and is flying from LHR, but just for general info, United Airlines has a nonstop IAD-LHR which is a day flight. You can't beat that.

I really don't like the dayflights because they're a waste of a day. I've done UA's several times and BA's dayflight from IAD as well (before they canned it) when I was between jobs and had plenty of time to mess with though.

Then there's the joke about you being able to beat it because, well, it's United...