Originally Posted by rpjs

Right now I fly exclusively BA TATL and AA domestic as I did so much TATL flying over the last year (dying family member sadly) that I achieved BA Gold status. I do tend to prefer BA over the other options for daytime UK flights from New York (Virgin, United) as on balance I think their service is better. I've also got the BA Chase card which gets me 10% off all bookings that are wholly on BA metal, plus 3 Avios per dollar spent with BA.

The IFE on their un-refurbed 747s is pretty dreadful, but the four-class 777s that usually share the JFK run have decent IFE, and the newly refurbed "super-hi J" 747s (with 86 business class seats) which frequently appear on that run now have the best IFE of all.

Originally Posted by TimFountain

That was almost me 6 years ago, except it was AA TATL and domestic and BA from LHR to points east. I've flown over 3.6 million miles with AA, but sadly, when I moved to Portland, OR, I had to change to UA, which has been pretty frustrating.... Still, I'm lifetime EXP on AA and 1K on UA for the last 4 years, so it's not as bad as it could be!

Originally Posted by tom169

Googling the code (DL4355) did show a codeshare with Virgin... Just not sure who's actually operating.

Originally Posted by AndFinally

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a captive to MileagePlus/Star Alliance and United but recently I've started to really question the condition of their aircraft.

The newer 737s and Airbuses are nice but the 757/767s are typically a mess, especially the ones in transatlantic service. They are dirty, beat up, old and have that unique "mature plane" smell. I've flown Delta back to the UK on several occasions and it's the same story. Even Virgin's product is looking a little dated now.

Who flies what here?

Originally Posted by tonrob

I'm assuming you mean AMEX Membership Rewards. Be careful before you transfer them to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club to book an economy return as it might easily be one of the worst value options available to you because of the high fuel surcharges.

If you want to see if it's possible to save yourself hundreds of dollars, familiarize yourself with which airline programmes MR transfer into, and which of those programmes' miles can be used to book Virgin Atlantic or United with no (or just lower) taxes and fees.

I haven't got time to look into the detailed permutations for you (on holiday with the family at the minute), but if you spend an hour or two Googling and reading there's quite a fair chance to can do this much more cheaply. Pay particular attention to using Delta miles on Virgin (and Virgin miles on Delta, for that matter) and using other Star Alliance partners on United.

Originally Posted by cheers

You know of course Delta owns Virgin.

Originally Posted by Boiler

Also explains global warming.