Mallory

DH and I are flying American Charleston to Charlotte and then to LHR on July 4th. Mine paid with points. His $1,570.00. Economy. Flying to Porto for a week from LHR on BA, before coming back. Paid half with points and half cash. Our fingers are crossed. Going to a twice cancelled wedding.

Pollyana

Sneaky gits!

PetrifiedExPat

I am surprised at your experience, Virgin is usually my go-to (Econ and Prem Econ)

scrubbedexpat142

But he was (is) the tallest guy on the aircraft!

MidAtlantic

My experience also. Atlanta/Manchester. The seat was so bad I had backache for the next week. I couldn't change seats because the flight was full. Never again! It is normally Delta for me.

Mallory

We went on Virgin from Orlando to Manchester once. Paid extra for the seats with no one in front of you. Seats were so narrow could hardly move, and I’m not very big.

postbox134

All of these sound to be the old 747 aircraft which they no longer fly. Virgin's newer fleet of A350s etc are great.

robtuck

I usually try to fly Virgin, simply for the cabin crew who are much more fun to engage with and seem to be very supportive of my need to have some alcohol in me to fly. The prices for Premium are much higher right now, from ATL - LHR. Using Delta on the same trip is usually a good match on seat these days, but Delta's service is very BA. I always feel I am getting in their way by being a passenger. Two recent experiences with Delta have been shocking, with flights cancelled and then a general disdain for the passenger left stranded, plus they just sent my suitcases to the wrong airport on a flight to NYC.

I do feel a little sorry for the airline staff, it seems like the industry as a whole is being hamstrung by the Execs need to take bookings.

civilservant

If you care to look at CPI data, flights are one of the larger pulling factors for the rise in core inflation. The last time I looked they were up 10% in a single month.

BackHomeInTexas

We have flown Singapore Houston to Manchester a few times. Always excellent service but I think prices have gone up as well.

petitefrancaise

I was just having a look at these flights for christmas. Very reasonable $987 return.

Steerpike

Presumably due to underlying fule prices?

Steerpike

Yikes, these are some scary numbers. I'm still contemplating a trip to UK later this year. I just hopped on Expedia and plugged in SFO and LHR, and used their 'flexible dates' feature to find the cheapest non-stop prices for 2 weeks in September.

Looks like I can get a nonstop, SFO-LHR with United for $981. With seat choice and luggage, $1,070. That would be the most I've ever paid for such a flight, though it doesn't sound nearly as bad as most of the prices discussed in this thread!

A quick look on 'Kayak' suggests I can do about the same.

Edit To Add: Right before Covid (late 2019) I had to make a last-minute change to a flight to UK, and also a car rental. I called 'Auto Europe' to cancel the car rental, and the person I spoke to told me they had a 'flight' division that sold combined flight+car deals that were better than anything I could put together myself, and that were not available on the internet - only by phone - and they had to be a 'package' - no 'flights only' deals. With some degree of suspicion, I called the number, and to my amazement I got a fantastic flight+car deal that was better than anything I'd ever seen, plus was last minute - less than 10 days out. The flight portion was $753, round-trip, on BA, non-stop, 7 day advance purchase!

I haven't travelled since then, but I guess I should give them a call this time! Has anyone else heard of this setup? I just looked at the confirmations, and it was with 'Fly International - a division of Auto Europe'. The flight was on BA, too - not some off-brand carrier!

chattscot

I'm flying from Atlanta to Glasgow via Heathrow in October with BA - round trip is $699. That includes taxes but not baggage, which is $65 each way for 23kg, or choosing a seat, which is $42 upwards. Still, not too bad.

newadventure

Norse Air starting low cost flights JFK-LGW: https://thepointsguy.com/news/norse-...ondon-gatwick/