Fly United or British Airways??

[starbuck123]

Hi

Booking flights for San fran for Heathrow. United is £200 cheaper than BA. Never flown with United before, what are peoples views on this airline? Pros and cons please?

Thanks

[Final 3 Greens]

No brainer - BA.

[Michael SWS]

I agree with Final 3 Greens, in that BA is in a completely different league to United, but ultimately it depends just how much £200 means to you. I mean, it's only a 10-hour flight: you'll have a seat and will get fed and that may be all you demand from an airline.

[starbuck123]

Thanks folks, the £200 sounds best spent with BA! Cheers

[Avman]

Good for you starbuck123. If more pax thought like you a lot of crappy airlines might be forced to start thinking about providing their customers a half decent product again. I gave up flying United several years ago when they went from average to cr@p!

[manintheback]

From personal experience I would pay an awful lot more than £200 to fly BA rather than United on longhaul. In fact I have - many times.

[PAXboy]

I have only once travelled UA (SFO~HKG down the back) and that was about 1994, I think. I have not yet had the opportunity to make the choice between UA and any other long haul carrier, so I have not had to make the easy decision not to use UA.

That might seem unfair after just one sector but any supplier of any services has to realise that they only get one-shot to impress.

[needles]

no brainer - Virgin

[Andy_S]

Starbuck,

You don't say whether you are travelling economy.

If you are, £200 is a LOT of money to spend for what is a modest difference in the quality of service for a short period of time.

I don't know how important it is to you, but BA will only allow you to check in 1 bag.

[starbuck123]

Hi

It will be economy class for me. Bearing in mind these flights are for over the new year celebrations coming up i was expecting them to be quite pricey! I have checked Virgin and they are cheaper than BA also. Think i my have to toss a coin as ive flown both BA and Virgin and thought they were great! Thanks for all the input so far!

[Avman]

I know that the last time I flew VS, which was last century, I found their Y class very tight. But this was in their earlier B747s and perhaps their Y seat pitch is better now. Check it out though.

[RJ100]

Andy S,

BA still allow 2 checked bags (World Traveller and WT Plus)on flights to USA, Canada, Caribbean, Ghana, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria & South America. Details are on the website.

RJ.

[Andy_S]

Correction acknowledged.

[Scumbag O'Riley]

Despite what people say, for the occasional traveller, there isn't a real difference anymore in their services, used to be, but no longer. I have hundreds of thousands of transatlantic miles in economy on both carriers to be able to say this. Service wise as an infrequent flier it's really hit and miss on both carriers. Getting an empty seat next to you is what matters so you need to work out which is the fuller cabin. That's where you might toss your coin :)

If you want to give an extra £200 to an airline when you don't need to, you might look into how much it would cost to upgrade to a united economy plus seat. Still economy service but with a bit more legroom and closer to the front so a better ride and not as noisy. They used to sell upgrades reasonably cheap, not sure nowadays.

If you are going to fly to SFO on a regular basis then United has a much better frequent flier plan and you should select on that basis alone. If you are one of their tier members, which is not too hard on UA, you will get better looked after usually. Not always though. I certainly used to get better service as a 1k on UA than the mrs did when gold on BA, though BA lounges are better.

Pretty sure UA allow two checked bags on transatlantic, no free booze but BA aren't exactly generous nowadays so not worth considering, IMO. Whoever you go with pay with a credit card.

[Hartington]

BA/VS and UA all fly non-stop Heathrow/San Francisco. However, UA also offer service via either Washington or Chicago (where you change planes and do immigration customs etc). It's some time since I looked, and the difference wasn't GBP200 per person but changing versus non stop did make a quite significant difference to price. Make sure you are comparing like with like.

If the GBP200 is the difference between non-stops that suggests to me that the BA flights that day are already much fuller than UA. If it wasn't a peak period I'd suggest taking the risk on UA (my normal preference would be BA) but I suspect as we approach departure, even in the current climate, UA will fill.

What might be worth trying is playing with dates if you have any flexibility.

[Scumbag O'Riley]

Yes, that is a good point, flights via o'hare and washington IAD tend to be cheaper than non-stop. They are also not as full so more likely to get that empty seat next to you which really makes all the difference. I used to like an occasional stopoff as I had an old friend lived near ORD so could get a 'free' visit. If you departed ORD within 24 hours of arriving it isn't considered a break of journey, so same fare as taking the next flight out. All depends on what you want, though I would say non-stops are generally preferable.

[smala01]

I did this route regularly a couple of years ago.

I must say that whilst BA service is "better" it is certainly not worth a £200 premium!

I always opted for United as
1) economy plus was available to silver card holders
2) full FF points were awarded regardless of flying a cheap ticket.
3) Channel 9 (full ATC radio comms via the inflight entertainment channel) useful as i was learning to fly at the time!

Does anyone know if economy-plus is still available to Star Alliance silver card holders? This was a great perk giving an extra 6 inches of legroom on a standard cheap ticket.

Smala01

[lexxity]

As far as I know UA will dish out economy plus to base level star frequent flyers if the flight is quiet enough. Happend to Mr L a couple of times. :ok:

[paulc]

Have used United to get to ORD for the simple reason that they fly to where I want to go (appleton WI) and have an early departure from LHR. AA have an early departure but for some reason do not fly to Appleton from ORD.

It is also possible to upgrade to economy + when checking in.

[WHBM]

I know that the last time I flew VS, which was last century, I found their Y class very tight. But this was in their earlier B747s and perhaps their Y seat pitch is better now.
Actually it's now worse in some Y seats. Virgn have bolted some new and significantly large AVOD (Video-on-Demand) control boxes under the seat units which impinge very substantially on the legroom available to the seat behind. They are not under each seat, but one per row. It is as if they think that legroom for passengers behind is somehow optional.

[blbl8326]

But just remember that if you are flying UA and having a stop in Chicago or Washington, you will have to pay luggage fee per bag for the domestic sector, and is quite pricy if you are not elites with UA

[ZFT]

I flew United from LHR to SFO last month (I tend to stick to Star Alliance carriers) and was pleasantly surprised with very attentive CC.

The cabin on this particular 777 was 'old style' but that was my only real criticism.

One benefit of UAL is LHR Terminal 1 is so pleasantly quiet now.

[nivsy]

In response to blbl8326 comment earlier,

I have used UA twice in the last 6 weeks -both on transit via IAD and no price payed for onward domestic flight baggage (unless of course it is included in the price of the overall ticket).

From memory I think it states on the UA website that domestic flights used as connections from International flight do not have to pay for baggage - no?

Also I dont really mind using UA. Agree that T1 at LHR is a bonus in respect of crowd reductions etc. Sure BA give me a free beer or two but frankly apart from that I dont notice any significant difference in service - CC from both airlines hide down the back!!


Nivsy

[blbl8326]

I have used UA twice in the last 6 weeks -both on transit via IAD and no price payed for onward domestic flight baggage (unless of course it is included in the price of the overall ticket).

From memory I think it states on the UA website that domestic flights used as connections from International flight do not have to pay for baggage - no?

well...according to the website it doesnt say so

Baggage fee exceptions
You are exempt from the above fees for checking your first two bags if you are:

traveling in United First® or United Business®;
a Global ServicesSM, Mileage Plus 1K®, Premier Executive®, Premier® or Premier Associate® member;
a Star Alliance® Gold or Silver member; or
active military personnel and/or a dependant with ID and traveling on ordersit could be that the baggage fee was already included in your ticket

[gdiphil]

They are having a laugh. Now if it was a choice in business you were talking about then yes take BA, but with both carriers it is grim in economy these days. I would take UA, better frequent flyer points and cheaper.

[nivsy]

Found this on the web site regarding international flights originating outside USA

United Airlines - International checked baggage (http://www.unitedairlines.co.uk/core/english/SI/baggage/checkedbaggage/other_checked.html#international)


Nivsy

[Eboy]

I have flown both United and BA between Washington DC and LHR. I am also a United frequent flyer.

In my view, United is OK, and is not bad. But BA specifically, and many other non-US carriers, will have nicer service and food, even in economy. You have to decide if it is worth it.

Hoping for an empty seat next to you? The United flight will likely be full. I have seen more empty seats on BA.

[VictorWatcher]

I did Taipei-> SFO -> IAD and back last year with United, it was one of the most horrible experiences I have ever had.
Check in a TPE I was told I might not get a seat (been booked for 6 weeks).
SFO transfer was okay

Waited at the 'right' carosel for the flight in IAD for 30 mins and didn't see my bag, after everyone else from the flight had left I used the machines to discover my bag had been sent to a different carosel to everyone else.

Coming back the auto check in machines took my wifes details and checked in two light bags for her but barfed at mine. After waiting in 3 different queues for 30+ mins I finally found someone who would check me in but now I had both 'heavy' bags and so even thou our total was 20kg less than the limit we got hit with excess baggage fees. After getting to the terminal 2hrs before the flight I still only made it to the plane after everyone else had boarded. On top of that I got flagged for the 'extra security' checks and was separated from the missus who got quite upset.

Transfer at SFO was stressful, only a mini bus to move people from terminal to terminal and if you walked you had to leave air side and then be checked back via security.

I will never travel United again unless there are no other options. Never had any trouble with BA, may not be the nicest but their people seem much more helpful.

[Scumbag O'Riley]

Probably none of those are really the airline's fault.

Though flying out of TPE on united also sticks in my mind as it was one of only two occasions where I genuinely couldn't force the airline food past my teeth. The other time was, funnily enough, on a BA flight out of LHR.

[raejones]

BA gets my vote...!

[blbl8326]

but that chart does not include domestic flights, it only applies for direct flight

[Globaliser]

I have used UA twice in the last 6 weeks -both on transit via IAD and no price payed for onward domestic flight baggage (unless of course it is included in the price of the overall ticket).This would be consistent with the position one would normally expect with a through ticket: the baggage allowance should cover the entire journey, across both sides of the connection.

As I understand it, a passenger who buys two separate tickets is technically not making a "connection" but is making two separate journeys. Then they would have to pay the appropriate baggage fees associated with each journey.

[Kelly Smunt]

BA because the flight attendants are more polite and more pleasing on the eye :ok: