AA, BA or Delta? LHR-MIA

[MattOsprey]

Hi all,

We are doing a TA on Crown Princess in May. I have just spoken to the Princess flights department who have said I can travel with either AA, BA or Delta. The flights are all direct from LHR to MIA and the seats are economy. Does anyone have an opinion of which might be best?

Thanks.

Matthew

[RMM75]

BA has got complimentary spirits in economy, others only offer free beer and wine :)

[MattOsprey]

RMM75,

That is a true Brit answer!

But as this will be a morning or lunchtime flight, I probably won't drink too much. And I usually drink the wine anyway.

Cheers.

Matthew

[FlyerTalker]

Where do you want to earn FF miles??

 

Any TATL flight will get you enough that it can be a consideration (as opposed to JAX-MIA, for example).

 

Secondly, I'd look at the equipment being used on the flights - compare with the info at both SeatGuru and the airline website. See if that makes a difference. AA flies a 777 on that route, which is 2-5-2 in coach. Great if you get the 2, lousy if you are in the middle of 5. BA is a 747, DL a 767.

 

What's important to you?? "Best" is a VERY subjective term, and means different things to different people.

[Gardyloo]

With AA and Delta you can select your seats at booking. With BA you can't do so until 24h before departure, unless you're willing to pay (I think £20 per seat per direction) for advance seat selection. AA's 777 has wider seats and an inch more legroom in coach than BA.

[fbgd]

I can travel with either AA, BA or Delta. The flights are all direct from LHR to MIA

 

I was going to warn you that whilst the DL flight may be direct it isn't non-stop...but then it turns out DL are going to start MIA-LHR non-stop in March. What a bizarre choice!

[Globaliser]

Secondly, I'd look at the equipment being used on the flights - compare with the info at both SeatGuru and the airline website. See if that makes a difference. AA flies a 777 on that route, which is 2-5-2 in coach. Great if you get the 2, lousy if you are in the middle of 5. BA is a 747, DL a 767.

One other thing to look for in equipment: what is the inflight entertainment like? This is relatively important for a day flight, as LHR-MIA will be.

 

BA's system is on-demand, which means that you can start any channel any time you want and pause it etc. The selection is reasonable, but not as good as some of the Asian/Middle Eastern whizz-bang systems. And as with all AVOD systems, it can be a bit temperamental sometimes.

With AA and Delta you can select your seats at booking. With BA you can't do so until 24h before departure, unless you're willing to pay (I think £20 per seat per direction) for advance seat selection.

IME, unless there are some very specific seats that you like, if you check-in online at exactly 24 hours before the flight you will have a pretty decent selection to choose from. A significant proportion of passengers is paying to pre-allocatge seats, but the vast majority still don't.

[Gardyloo]

IME, unless there are some very specific seats that you like, if you check-in online at exactly 24 hours before the flight you will have a pretty decent selection to choose from. A significant proportion of passengers is paying to pre-allocatge seats, but the vast majority still don't.

I had said that OLCI might be hard if one is on a cruise at the time, but then I noted that the OP is flying from LHR to MIA, not the reverse, so never mind.

[Globaliser]

I had said that OLCI might be hard if one is on a cruise at the time ...

That's a very good point, even though (as you rightly say) it's not applicable to the OP.

 

One thing you can do in that situation is to get a trusted family member or friend to do the OLCI for you; I'm often asked to do it. So there are possible ways around it if it's a difficulty. Alternatively, pre-allocate seats only on the sector that will present an OLCI difficulty - a bit like paying the extra fee to Southwest for Early Bird when in the same situation.

[MattOsprey]

Thanks for the tips guys,

I have spoken to Princess again and they are being great, even telling me I can go United, Continental or Virgin also. I asked about the Virgin flight and it is £50pp more. This seems fine, but I have choosen BA as it is a later flight and we will arrive in MIA at 17:45 and then straight to the airport hotel. That means a little longer in bed in my London hotel and breakfast and very little time to kill at the Miami Intercontinental Airport hotel.

Thanks.

Matthew