Heathrow to San Francisco - Iberia Airlines??? Yay or Nay?

[adstz]

We are booked thru Princess EZ Air from Heathrow to San Francisco. The flight is Iberia Airlines (code share with British Airways). We are flying business class.

Anyone done this flight? Worried about service, cleanliness, etc.

 

[BRScity]

If its a direct flight, it would be a BA Aircraft & crew.  There was a very recent review  on youtube on BA's business class which suggested a real improvement in the standard of Business class.  If your flight is via say, Madrid, then I have no experience of Iberia so cannot help.

 

Rob

[fishywood]

Unless there is another leg coming from elsewhere in Europe, your flight will almost certainly be ticketed as American Airlines.  Cannot be ticketed as Iberia if there is no travel through Spain. 

British Airways operates two daily nonstops LHR-SFO during the summer. I have flown both main cabin and Premium Economy on BA--though for a bit shorter than 11 hours--and service was fine. Meals were bland but more than edible. But unless you are a good daysleeper, a westbound flight over eight time zones will be unavoidably tedious. 

 

The numerous "experts" on the Cruise Air board (where this thread will likely be moved) can give you better answers if you tell us what aircraft you flight is expected to be using; BA uses both Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 for this route. Let us know which, and time of day, for a more thorough reply.

[jondfk]

This will certainly be BA hardware and crew.  I've flown BA repeatedly here are a few observations.

 

* As another writer noted, BA operate both an A380 and a B747 on this route daily.  There is some novelty in flying the giant Airbus though I would point out that the seats themselves are basically identical regardless of airframe.  

* BA are highly restrictive with seat assignments for passengers without status, I'm unsure whether Princess has any special privileges to assign seats at time of purchase (I doubt it) if you were booking directly with BA you'd find that a 'seat reservation' costs extra something they only tell you AFTER you've purchased the ticket.  Otherwise, you get a seat on the day of the flight.  You should expect to be separated from your travel partner - BA are the worst in the business in my experience on this.  I can't name another airline that sells a business class ticket without allowing a reserved seat - but that's BA.

* Crew will be efficient and pleasant.  Throughly British which may strike you as a bit cold.

* Quality of C cabin meals will be at a bit higher standard than you'd expect from American or United (IMHO).

* Quality of C cabin seats lags the leaders in the class.  BA have been using this basic seat design for more than a decade, there are much better products out there.  But it is fully lie flat and reasonably private.  Far better than most UA C cabins though their new Polaris seats are far better than anything BA has to offer.

 

BA flies from SFO terminal A.  Their business class lounge has been closed for renovation (much needed) for a while, I'm uncertain whether it's back open yet or not.

 

Final point.  Realize that these two flights are the only two flights BA operates from SFO.  If things go wrong (which they very rarely do) in the worst case they'd have to ferry a replacement aircraft all the way from London which would make for a day delay.  This is nothing special about BA but something I always suggest people consider when they absolutely have to be somewhere at a particular day & time (like to catch a cruise).  The minimum I'd suggest safety wise is taking the earlier in the day BA flight - god forbid something goes wrong you have time to get on the second flight as a backup or arrange a connecting flight with their U.S. partner A.A.

 

Sorry for all the feedback and hopefully somewhere in there I hit on your actual questions. . .

[Husky61]

1 hour ago, adstz said:

We are booked thru Princess EZ Air from Heathrow to San Francisco. The flight is Iberia Airlines (code share with British Airways). We are flying business class.

Anyone done this flight? Worried about service, cleanliness, etc.

 

Why are you worried about service and cleanliness? Do you have a reason to worry?

[adstz]

The flight leaves Heathrow at 11:20 am, arrives San Francisco 2:25 pm.

It shows as being a 747-400.

[Globaliser]

10 hours ago, fishywood said:

Cannot be ticketed as Iberia if there is no travel through Spain.

 

Yes it can.

 

[Globaliser]

6 hours ago, adstz said:

The flight leaves Heathrow at 11:20 am, arrives San Francisco 2:25 pm.

It shows as being a 747-400.

 

Then it's a British Airways non-stop flight. Presumably this is BA285 sold as IB7443 on 29 August 2019 (or another day soon afterwards)?

 

For higher chances of a better experience, I have two words of advice: upper deck. However, if your flight is that soon and you haven't yet done anything about it, then it may now be too late.

[wowzz]

"if you were booking directly with BA you'd find that a 'seat reservation' costs extra something they only tell you AFTER you've purchased the ticket."

Not in my experience.

[Globaliser]

14 hours ago, jondfk said:

if you were booking directly with BA you'd find that a 'seat reservation' costs extra something they only tell you AFTER you've purchased the ticket.

 

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Not in my experience.

 

Indeed - that assertion is not true.

 

14 hours ago, jondfk said:

I can't name another airline that sells a business class ticket without allowing a reserved seat - but that's BA.

 

And, of course, for some of us that's a good reason for choosing BA rather than some other airline.

[Zach1213]

4 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

Then it's a British Airways non-stop flight. Presumably this is BA285 sold as IB7443 on 29 August 2019 (or another day soon afterwards)?

 

For higher chances of a better experience, I have two words of advice: upper deck. However, if your flight is that soon and you haven't yet done anything about it, then it may now be too late.

 

Yes, if upper deck is available, do grab it! I fly BA quite often, in Business Class, and they're...fine. Rather inconsistent, honestly. If they're good, they can be really quite good (as is the case with my LHR-DFW flight about six weeks ago), but if they're bad they can be quite mediocre (as is the case with the ABV-LHR flight that connected to the one above). I've never had a really bad experience on BA, to be honest...they've always gotten me to my destination safely, but crews can be all over the board and food can as well.

 

That being said, Iberia crews are quite consistent in my case...consistently blah. So, personally, I do choose BA over Iberia.

[jondfk]

Well it looks like quite a few folks choose to flame me for pointing out that British Airways charge seat selection fees, even in business class.  Perhaps I could have been clearer.  

 

BA indeed do not charge for seat selection if you are a premium member of the BA mileage club (I'm assuming OP is not, perhaps others who responded are).  Furthermore BA do not charge for a seat reservation if you are paying for a full fare business class ticket, but again as OP seems to be looking at low fare I'm guessing a full fare ticket is not the plan.  

 

Otherwise, BA absolutely DO charge for seat reservations in business class on discounted tickets.  I've flown BA well more than most ever will in a lifetime, I like the airline, but I do not like this policy.  Airline policies change all of the time and BA may have backed away from this practice since my last flight last fall.  A bit of web sleuthing though suggests the policy remains in place.

 

Here's a link to their own page:

https://www.britishairways.com/en-de/information/atom/seating/choosing-your-seat

 

Here are two others on the topic the first of which also lists other airlines who charge for this privilege. 

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/10/seat-selection-fees-intl-flights/

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/british-airways-seat-selection-fees/

 

So, dear OP, make an informed decision.  You'll be flying BA and, depending on what rules apply to the ticket you purchase, you may or may not be asked to pay an additional fee to book an actual seat before the day of travel.  In my experience the fee on the SFO - LHR routes runs about US$200 each way.  It was worth the extra few dollars to me to be in a seat of my choosing, rest assured that even if you don't pay you will get a seat at checkin.

 

Oh, and I do agree that the upper deck of the A380 is preferable if that's the flight you ultimately choose.

 

Hope this helps, and for those eager to flame, have at it. 

[Globaliser]

8 minutes ago, jondfk said:

Otherwise, BA absolutely DO charge for seat reservations in business class on discounted tickets.

 

That wasn't the inaccurate part of your assertion.

 

You said that if you book directly with BA, this is "something they only tell you AFTER you've purchased the ticket". That is incorrect.

 

8 minutes ago, jondfk said:

Oh, and I do agree that the upper deck of the A380 is preferable if that's the flight you ultimately choose.

 

That's not what the OP's option is, nor us the 380 UD that special (although I do prefer it myself).

 

The OP is on a 744, and it is the 744 UD that is special.

[newport dave]

3 hours ago, jondfk said:

Well it looks like quite a few folks choose to flame me for pointing out that British Airways charge seat selection fees, even in business class.  Perhaps I could have been clearer.  

 

BA indeed do not charge for seat selection if you are a premium member of the BA mileage club (I'm assuming OP is not, perhaps others who responded are).  Furthermore BA do not charge for a seat reservation if you are paying for a full fare business class ticket, but again as OP seems to be looking at low fare I'm guessing a full fare ticket is not the plan.  

 

Otherwise, BA absolutely DO charge for seat reservations in business class on discounted tickets.  I've flown BA well more than most ever will in a lifetime, I like the airline, but I do not like this policy.  Airline policies change all of the time and BA may have backed away from this practice since my last flight last fall.  A bit of web sleuthing though suggests the policy remains in place.

 

Here's a link to their own page:

https://www.britishairways.com/en-de/information/atom/seating/choosing-your-seat

 

Here are two others on the topic the first of which also lists other airlines who charge for this privilege. 

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/10/seat-selection-fees-intl-flights/

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/british-airways-seat-selection-fees/

 

So, dear OP, make an informed decision.  You'll be flying BA and, depending on what rules apply to the ticket you purchase, you may or may not be asked to pay an additional fee to book an actual seat before the day of travel.  In my experience the fee on the SFO - LHR routes runs about US$200 each way.  It was worth the extra few dollars to me to be in a seat of my choosing, rest assured that even if you don't pay you will get a seat at checkin.

 

Oh, and I do agree that the upper deck of the A380 is preferable if that's the flight you ultimately choose.

 

Hope this helps, and for those eager to flame, have at it. 

If you do online checkin 24hrs before, you can choose your seat then.  So no waiting for checkin at the airport. All the times we've flown with BA, we've never been seated apart when choosing our seat at the online checkin 24hrs before flight.

[Alaskanb]

A few years ago we flew on BA in a 747 from ELP to DFW to LHR in business class using AA points and paid for taxes etc. We also paid to book seats -- we were adjacent to each other but I had to climb over a passengers legs to get in and out when his seat was flat. 

We are doing the same thing this Fall but this time have selected a window and aisle seat that are not adjacent -- so I will climb over DH instead of a stranger. If you look at  the seat map you will see it better. 

We had a good experience with pleasant attendants and good food. 

[fbgd]

42 minutes ago, Alaskanb said:

A few years ago we flew on BA in a 747 from ELP to DFW to LHR in business class using AA points and paid for taxes etc. We also paid to book seats -- we were adjacent to each other but I had to climb over a passengers legs to get in and out when his seat was flat. 

We are doing the same thing this Fall but this time have selected a window and aisle seat that are not adjacent -- so I will climb over DH instead of a stranger.

 

You'll just end up sitting right next to a stranger for the 9hrs instead! 😃

 

The privacy screen only needs to be down for the safety demonstration but a lot of the FAs will drop it to do meal service if they're lazy or don't take the hunt to serve around the back of the seat by your feet. I've flown these Club World ying-yang seats as a solo passenger since I was a teenager and on one awkward occasion around that time the FA kept dropping the screen because they assumed the middle aged lady next to me was my mother and I didn't know I had purposefully put the screen up! 

 

 

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, Alaskanb said:

We are doing the same thing this Fall but this time have selected a window and aisle seat that are not adjacent -- so I will climb over DH instead of a stranger.

 

I'm not quite sure why you'd do this. One of the greatest pleasures of the yin-yang arrangement is the ability to face and have a natural conversation with one's travelling companion, including while eating. Once you separate yourselves in the way that you have done, you might as well be flying alone.

 

I can't see what the difference is between stepping out over your DH instead of over a stranger, and certainly not why such a big difference that you'd choose to isolate yourself for the entire duration of the flight. As fbgd says, with what you've organised, you'll spend far more time looking into a stranger's face than you would spend stepping over a stranger's legs if you sat next to your DH.

 

32 minutes ago, fbgd said:

ying-yang seats

 

Oi! You should know better than this! 

[fbgd]

10 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

Oi! You should know better than this! 

 

Damn it!

 

Well, with Club Suites I won't be able to embarrass myself similarly again! 

[Alaskanb]

46 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

I'm not quite sure why you'd do this. One of the greatest pleasures of the yin-yang arrangement is the ability to face and have a natural conversation with one's travelling companion, including while eating. Once you separate yourselves in the way that you have done, you might as well be flying alone.

 

I can't see what the difference is between stepping out over your DH instead of over a stranger, and certainly not why such a big difference that you'd choose to isolate yourself for the entire duration of the flight. As fbgd says, with what you've organised, you'll spend far more time looking into a stranger's face than you would spend stepping over a stranger's legs if you sat next to your DH.

 

 

Oi! You should know better than this! 

As it's an 11 pm to 1:15 pm overnight flight I hope to be happily asleep in my window seat cocoon for several hrs. The last gentleman I tried to step over was none to happy with me in the middle of the night. DH is quite happy to help me that way as I have had joint replacements and a balance issue. It's no big deal for either of us to fly alone. Saying that if the twin seats in the middle by the bulkhead with no stepping over anyone are available at the 24 hr mark then I will grab them!