Wife and I are flying to London this April for her birthday, and there is a significant discrepancy in flight prices.

I can take United or British Airways and pay:

$800pp for economy
$1900pp for economy plus
$3400 pp for business

I just don't think I can justify business, so I am really asking myself is economy plus worth a total of $4k between the two of us for two flights? And any advantage between United and British (I am united silver fwiw).

As far as I'm concerned it isn't. (The $4k upgrade to economy plus). $2200 per person to be slightly more comfortable for 18 hours?

Those are good prices fwiw.

See if you can upgrade to business with points and what that conversion rate is.

Okay, the story changes as I start clicking through to checkout.

$1000pp for economy
$1500 pp for economy plus

So it's only $1000 total for both of us. That feels much more reasonable to me. Business still absurd, btw.

If you have Silver can't you upgrade to economy plus for free within a day of the flight or something like that?

I need to confirm, but I think so. I guess it's just a roll of the dice on seat availability.

Looks like it's a mix of 787 and 777 on those routes and about 9 hours each way.
I'd spring for an extra $1,000 for 18 hours of flight time for 2 people (36 man hours if you think about it that way)

The 787 is pressurized to a lower altitude so you'll arrive more rested.
I dislike the window dimming on the 787 and I prefer the larger size of the 777 but really, you'll be fine either way.

Get on seatguru and see if you can figure out where the Premium Economy seat are. When I've flow in those on a 787 or 777, they've usually only got about 3 rows of Premium Economy but the extra seat comfort and service would definitely be worth it for an average of ~ $30/hr

Enjoy your trip!

Thank you! It looks like I am eligible for a complimentary upgrade from economy to economy plus at check in (24 hours before flight). Would you risk them all being sold out for $1000 total?

Premium economy is not the same as economy plus. The prices that you quoted are for premium economy seats. Those are not complimentary for people regardless of status. Personally I think the additional comfort is worth it but to each their own.

United premier plus, assuming it's available on the flight you want, is worth the upgrade, IMO (assuming it's not crazy expensive).

Better food, more leg room, seats that recline without banging into the person behind you, smaller cabin (separate from economy), and better service.

We recently flew this class on a 787 and it was well worth the $. Also, it was only about $40 more than upgrading to economy seats with extra leg room. But we upgraded the night before, and there were not two seats together in premium plus. My son was happy to sit next to a stranger for the extra legroom.

I would fly business to London on a late-departure flight to get some good sleep and premium economy back on the daytime flight to save a few bucks, but those prices are actually pretty reasonable.

Really appreciate the feedback. It looks like that $1500pp is economy plus and $1900pp is the premium economy. So now I just need to do some research and see if the difference between those two is worth it.

British airways charges for advanced seat selection no matter what class. Years ago it was an Ezra's. $200 for my clients in business class. So stupid.

I had bulkhead on premium plus on United last year. More legroom than the other rows. Have to put bags at takeoff and landing overhead but worth it for me. I have a blowup foot rest so that made it much better.

chrisfield said:

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Really appreciate the feedback. It looks like that $1500pp is economy plus and $1900pp is the premium economy. So now I just need to do some research and see if the difference between those two is worth it.

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Ouch. I misread earlier and didn't realize you were talking about $500pp to upgrade from Economy to Economy Plus. That's definitely not worth it for a 9 hour flight.

If you've got the money, I guess you could spend the extra $900pp to upgrade to Premium Economy but that's not really worth it in my opinion. You're talking about spending $1,800 extra for 36 man hours of travel time so about $50/hr to have the nicer seats and extra service. During which, you'll be asleep part of the time anyway.

Frankly, I'd keep the $1,800 and upgrade your hotel or meals or buy some extra souvenirs.

Be sure to look at the seating charts on seatguru. I'm guessing the seating will be 3-3-3 on the 787 in economy.
https://seatguru.com/airlines/United_Airlines/United_Airlines_UA_Boeing_787-10.php
Also, now I see that United calls their Premium Economy - Premium Plus

My hack for 787 Economy Class is to get both aisle seats (D & F) in the center section. Middle seat in the center section is least likely to be filled. That way you've got a seat between you and the missus. And if somebody does sit in the middle, I bet they'd gladly trade for an aisle seat so you can still sit together. This strategy also gives you access to more overhead bin space because you've got access to both aisles.

That's been my strategy over the years as well.

Pick the best seat you can when you buy the ticket and be prepared to switch at check in to whatever aisle seat is next to a seat least likely to be filled.

If I got 4 across and see two seats together already filled, that middle aisle is least likely to be filled. I'll give up any seat I picked to gamble on having no one next to me. Prefer to have an open seat on the right side.

But I've had this backfire spectacularly. But if seems to work probably 3/4s of the time.

But Op should upgrade to business. As soon as I saw wife's b-day its a no brainer.

JMac03 said:

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I had bulkhead on premium plus on United last year. More legroom than the other rows. Have to put bags at takeoff and landing overhead but worth it for me. I have a blowup foot rest so that made it much better.

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That's the seat I had. It was so nice. Son had the seat with the bulkhead behind him. Seat didn't recline as much, but he was still really comfortable. Since I paid, I took the better seat!

I paid $299 per seat for premium plus. The upgrade in economy was $249, and it was just a standard seat with more legroom. Basically the seats at the bulkhead.

Premium plus was a no-brainer, but like I said above, since it was the night before, we couldn't sit together. Not a big deal for mother and son who have just spent the last 12 days together. But I would probably be annoyed if my BF ditched me on a long haul for a last minute upgrade instead of just booking it at ticket purchase.

Another option is to sit in economy and pop an ambien two hours after take off. You wake up 8 hours later and wonder where the time went.

Premium Plus is worth it just to avoid sitting next anyone other than your wife. I have no desire to spend 9+ hours trapped in a 3/4 person row.

I flew Polaris to Europe for the first time this year and did not think the delta in cost was worth it over Premium Plus. Maybe I just had a bad experience, but I didn't sleep much better primarily because the flight attendants made a ton of noise stomping up and down the aisle and in the galley the entire flight.

Aggie71013 said:

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Premium Plus is worth it just to avoid sitting next anyone other than your wife. I have no desire to spend 9+ hours trapped in a 3/4 person row.

I flew Polaris to Europe for the first time this year and did not think the delta in cost was worth it over Premium Plus. Maybe I just had a bad experience, but I didn't sleep much better primarily because the flight attendants made a ton of noise stomping up and down the aisle and in the galley the entire flight.

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The key is to get the seat where you head is next to the window instead of the table or you will be exposed to the aisle. I've slept like a baby in Polaris but don't think I would pay for just to LHR personally as I've only done it on work trips.

If you get the seat with nothing in front of you, make sure you have a foot rest as mentioned earlier. Not having anything to prop your feet on really sucks and you will end up using your carry on bag and that is kinda gross.

One thing with United is that it flies out of a different terminal at LHR than BA. Our experience this summer was it was very quick going through the terminal that United flies out of. I've hear the BA terminal is a pain in the ass.

That said, United to London and back is just a long domestic flight....

This is exactly what I do

The United international premium plus product has a feel that's comparable-ish to domestic first class.

For a flight to LHR or other Western European destination, we book economy outbound with an upgrade to Polaris (overnight flight) and then premium plus on the return (functionally a day flight where I can get a recliner nap). Guaranteeing the Polaris upgrade lately has seemed more difficult because United is getting more stingy (?) with upgrades like that.

No input on seating that hasn't been covered already, but I personally would fly United over British 10 times out of 10, and I'm not a big United lover.

I flew from Bangkok to Buenos Aires on British a few years ago, and my experience was not good. Plane, lounge, and service were all below average to bad, and it was the worst overall carrier experience I've had on an international flight, by far.

My single experience may not be representative of British overall, but I've had several colleagues tell me that British is their least favorite airline to fly internationally.

Just my two cents.

Best bit of advice I have received in many years I got a few years back from a deer camp buddy, who told me "If you don't fly first class, your children will."

I have flown BA from AUS to LHR a number of times and business class is awesome on this flight. We did it three weeks ago and hit London running at 10 am as we had slept about 5+ hours on the plane.

February flights are down to $650ish…when should expect beginning of April to drop (currently $1300)? Is February too cold to visit and catch an EPL game?