Which leg of flight should we travel in business class for honeymoon to Europe?

When I first started looking I was going off of the website Kayak, which was only mentioning business class, but when I went to look at the actual websites of the airlines they say first class so I’m not really sure it was a bit confusing. The prices do seem low, but they are saying first class so I think they are? The economy seats on the flights are really cheap too so maybe it’s just off season?

Please use SeatGuru to see what you are actually purchasing. Depending on the airline and how they name their seat product, you can have vast differences between the airlines in a seat similarly named, or you can have almost no differences between the airlines in a seat with a completely different name. Also, look at the airline's web site, many of them have little videos or photos, with descriptions, of each class of service they are offering.

What you want are lie flat seats, for the most part. Once you have this, you will also have varying perks that come with this class that are all above the Economy and Premium Economy perks.

Please use SeatGuru to see what you are actually purchasing. Depending on the airline and how they name their seat product, you can have vast differences between the airlines in a seat similarly named, or you can have almost no differences between the airlines in a seat with a completely different name. Also, look at the airline's web site, many of them have little videos or photos, with descriptions, of each class of service they are offering.

What you want are lie flat seats, for the most part. Once you have this, you will also have varying perks that come with this class that are all above the Economy and Premium Economy perks.

Very true. Another thing to consider is how long you will be waiting at the airport each way. Research the lounge offerings for the various airlines and what you get if in business or first. Not all lounges are equal. For example, Qantas first class lounges in Oz have complimentary spa services, sit down high quality meals and high quality drinks etc. BA Galleries Lounges have similar and a very nice champagne bar. Many other airlines have great lounges as well. (Unless it has changed recently US airline lounges don't compare well)

For example, Qantas first class lounges in Oz have complimentary spa services, sit down high quality meals and high quality drinks etc. BA Galleries Lounges have similar and a very nice champagne bar

Where have you been in BA Galleries lounges with sit down high quality meals and Champagne bar? (For business class.)

I'm only interested to know because I have not seen that.

Where have you been in BA Galleries lounges with sit down high quality meals and Champagne bar? (For business class.)

 

 

 

I'm only interested to know because I have not seen that.

Here it is - probably my favourite place in Heathrow [emoji16] https://www.ausbt.com.au/where-to-find-british-airways-secret-champagne-at-london-heathrow

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Here it is - probably my favourite place in Heathrow [emoji16] https://www.ausbt.com.au/where-to-find-british-airways-secret-champagne-at-london-heathrow

And the article is misleading as it suggests that you can only get champagne in the South Lounge. It should actually be available on request in all three of the Galleries Club lounges at T5, and also in the Galleries Club lounge at T3.

The Galleries First lounges - and the Concorde Room, of course - are a different kettle of fish.

It's not quite a champagne bar in Galleries Club.

 

 

 

And the article is misleading as it suggests that you can only get champagne in the South Lounge. It should actually be available on request in all three of the Galleries Club lounges at T5, and also in the Galleries Club lounge at T3.

 

 

 

The Galleries First lounges - and the Concorde Room, of course - are a different kettle of fish.

Yes you are correct - I usually go to galleries first which does have the champagne bar and sit down meals but I have not been to concorde because that is restricted to ba first class pax

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It should actually be available on request in all three of the Galleries Club lounges at T5, and also in the Galleries Club lounge at T3.

But not Taittinger, right?

I'm going to be a contrarian on this.

From the east coast, the flights to Europe (especially to London or Dublin) are quite short due to prevailing tailwinds. Those same winds become headwinds flying east-to-west, i.e. coming back, so the westbound flights are longer - up to an hour or even more.

A typical overnight flight will go something like this - one hour to reach altitude and do a drinks round, then dinner takes an hour, followed by cleanup and another drinks round, then some time for duty-free pitching, and then it's lights out. Around 90 minutes before landing, the lights will come on, people will start heading to the loos, the airline will distribute landing and customs cards, then they'll serve breakfast (which is likely to be pretty minimal depending on the airline) then they'll come around and collect headsets, and then you'll be in the London "stack," (the big circular pattern that planes fly around waiting for their landing slot) and then you'll land.

If you do the numbers, you'll see that on a 6 hour flight you'll have something less than four hours (maybe closer to three) in which to "sleep," even though it's likely that your body will be somewhat unhappy with the time - with a 7 PM takeoff you'll be telling yourself it's time to sleep around 8:30 or 9 on your body clock, which at least for me is often pretty pointless, and I end up just watching movies.

On the other hand, the flights back are almost all in daylight the whole way, so all the perks - the lounges before departure, the inflight entertainment, the comfy seat/bed, the meal and beverage service, the views out the windows - are available for longer (since the flight is longer) and - to me at least - delivers a bigger bang for the buck.

There are daytime flights to London from Washington, New York, Boston and Chicago. These are terrific because you fly during the daytime and arrive at Heathrow in the evening, typically between 7:30 and 10 PM local time. Sleep in a real bed at a Heathrow hotel, and the next day you're ready to rock and roll. From South Florida that would probably mean you'd have to fly up to one of those cities the night before, since you wouldn't be able to connect at the international gateway early enough to make the London flight, so that's probably a non-starter. But for people in the northeast or Chicago area, it's a terrific option. Coach for six or seven hours in the daytime isn't a terrible thing, when you know clean sheets await at the end, rather than a day of dragging around like a jetlagged zombie waiting for the sun to go down. Just my view.

Unless it has changed recently US airline lounges don't compare well

It has changed lately.

United and American Airlines have both upgraded their lounges at hubs greatly in the past few years.

American Airlines even have separate dining rooms in their Flagship Lounges exclusively for international first class passengers (and those on the premium transcon flights) that serve Krug. Not even the best airlines in the world serve Krug on the ground. If you're only in business class then the rest of the lounge is still very good indeed, a huge upgraded on previous incarnations of Flagship Lounges and Admirals Clubs.

AA have these lounges at MIA, JFK, ORD and LAX currently. United have upgraded to Polaris lounges for international business class passengers and they are currently at EWR, IAH, ORD and SFO.

When I first started looking I was going off of the website Kayak, which was only mentioning business class, but when I went to look at the actual websites of the airlines they say first class so I’m not really sure it was a bit confusing. The prices do seem low, but they are saying first class so I think they are? The economy seats on the flights are really cheap too so maybe it’s just off season?

Out of curiosity, what exact airline, flight dates and routing are you seeing international first class for $2000? Or $5000?

On the other hand, the flights back are almost all in daylight the whole way, so all the perks - the lounges before departure, the inflight entertainment, the comfy seat/bed, the meal and beverage service, the views out the windows - are available for longer (since the flight is longer) and - to me at least - delivers a bigger bang for the buck.

 

There are daytime flights to London from Washington, New York, Boston and Chicago. These are terrific because you fly during the daytime and arrive at Heathrow in the evening, typically between 7:30 and 10 PM local time. Sleep in a real bed at a Heathrow hotel, and the next day you're ready to rock and roll. From South Florida that would probably mean you'd have to fly up to one of those cities the night before, since you wouldn't be able to connect at the international gateway early enough to make the London flight, so that's probably a non-starter. But for people in the northeast or Chicago area, it's a terrific option. Coach for six or seven hours in the daytime isn't a terrible thing, when you know clean sheets await at the end, rather than a day of dragging around like a jetlagged zombie waiting for the sun to go down. Just my view.

I'm in complete agreement with you on all counts. Short, eastbound redeyes are going to be painful no matter what, and you're not going to get much sleep no matter if your seat has 80" of legroom or 30" of legroom. The flight back, however, is a great way to "get your moneys worth" out of First or Business (or Premium Economy) class.

And the daytime flights from US/Canada to Europe are wonderful...I really do love them. Get to my hotel, grab a couple of drinks, and doze off by around 12am or 1am London time.

Out of curiosity, what exact airline, flight dates and routing are you seeing international first class for $2000? Or $5000?

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The flight is on British Airways. We ended up booking first class for both legs of the trip really excited about that. 

1 hour ago, FSU Girl said:

The flight is on British Airways. We ended up booking first class for both legs of the trip really excited about that. 

Nicely done, and $5k per person return isn't half bad for paid First on BA across the Atlantic. I've paid a fair percentage above that! 

Whilst BA First isn't as industry leading as it once was it's still a very nice way to fly and I'm sure you'll have a decent set of flights. If you're looking to maximise the experience feel free to post your flight routing and myself and the few other BA regulars that we have on here would be happy to share some tips.  

1 hour ago, fbgd said:

 

Nicely done, and $5k per person return isn't half bad for paid First on BA across the Atlantic. I've paid a fair percentage above that! 

 

Whilst BA First isn't as industry leading as it once was it's still a very nice way to fly and I'm sure you'll have a decent set of flights. If you're looking to maximise the experience feel free to post your flight routing and myself and the few other BA regulars that we have on here would be happy to share some tips.  

We are flying direct from Miami to London Heathrow. I'm happy it wasn't higher it wouldn't have been possible then.

1 hour ago, fbgd said:

If you're looking to maximise the experience feel free to post your flight routing and myself and the few other BA regulars that we have on here would be happy to share some tips.

I'll echo that! Depending on how much information you're prepared to post about your actual flights, there are suggestions we can make for all sorts of things. For example, if you know which aircraft types you'll be flying on, we can make suggestions about preferred seats and so on.

14 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

I'll echo that! Depending on how much information you're prepared to post about your actual flights, there are suggestions we can make for all sorts of things. For example, if you know which aircraft types you'll be flying on, we can make suggestions about preferred seats and so on.

It's a boeing 747 jet 🙂 

At MIA you will be directed to a lounge that BA use (it's currently closed for renovation). Don't, instead head to American's Flagship Lounge by gate D30. As AA are oneworld partners they honour tickets on BA for lounge access. It is ENORMOUS and usually fairly quiet, or big enough that it doesn't matter how busy it is. Full bar setup with food that is not bad at all. There is a separate Flagship Dining lounge that technically you don't have access to when flying BA (although if you're on an AA codeshare flight number you might) that has upgraded sit down dining and much better drinks too. AA have starting serving Krug in these mini lounges in the last couple of months! You could plead ignorance and you might be allowed in. Technically it is for AA international FC passengers but some other partner airlines, such as Cathay Pacific at JFK, have arrangements for their First passengers so you can always try. Give yourself plenty of time to get back to your gate though.

In terms of seat selection onboard you'll be in the nose on the 747. Unless you both have oneworld Emerald status (AA Executive Platinum or equivalent) you won't be able to pre-assign row 1 more than 72hrs before the flight, no great loss IMO. I personally would avoid selecting 4E/F or 5E/F which are traditionally viewed as the couple seats, they don't have much personal space. Instead I would pick 2A/K. You have loads of space and are just about close enough that you can reach across for a quiet word. 

The BA First seat does have a footstool area and a large table that allows you to dine with your companion. The crew may ask if you want to dine together but I would mention it when they take your first drink order after takeoff if they do not. The further forward you are the less room there is for the buddy because of the way the fuselage curves. Row 1 would be nigh on impossible unless you're about 4ft tall, row 2 is manageable unless your other half is on the tall side.

Miami flights at Heathrow use Terminal 3. AA have an Arrivals Lounge in the landside area upstairs just after customs where you can get a shower and surprisingly good breakfast (last time I was there they had splits of Moet champagne which was a nice touch). Having a decent shower and breakfast after an overnight flight makes a huge difference for me. 

Coming back there are several lounges you can use in Terminal 3. BA have a First and Business class lounge, Qantas have a business class lounge with a very nice gin bar (by all accounts I'm yet to try it), American have a first class and business class lounge but my favourite are the Cathay Pacific lounges. They have both a first and business class side and it's excellent. Great views of the southern runway and a mini restaurant inside with table service. The Dan Dan noodles are one of my favourite lounge dishes anywhere in the world. Besides that the decor is just superb and it's a very relaxing place to hang....unless it's rammed around the time that one of their numerous flights to Hong Kong departs. They have superb showers too.

If there are any specific questions you have let me know. Globaliser and myself probably have in the hundreds of BA First flights between us and are happy to share the knowledge.

1 hour ago, fbgd said:

At MIA you will be directed to a lounge that BA use (it's currently closed for renovation). Don't, instead head to American's Flagship Lounge by gate D30. As AA are oneworld partners they honour tickets on BA for lounge access. It is ENORMOUS and usually fairly quiet, or big enough that it doesn't matter how busy it is. Full bar setup with food that is not bad at all. There is a separate Flagship Dining lounge that technically you don't have access to when flying BA (although if you're on an AA codeshare flight number you might) that has upgraded sit down dining and much better drinks too. AA have starting serving Krug in these mini lounges in the last couple of months! You could plead ignorance and you might be allowed in. Technically it is for AA international FC passengers but some other partner airlines, such as Cathay Pacific at JFK, have arrangements for their First passengers so you can always try. Give yourself plenty of time to get back to your gate though.

 

In terms of seat selection onboard you'll be in the nose on the 747. Unless you both have oneworld Emerald status (AA Executive Platinum or equivalent) you won't be able to pre-assign row 1 more than 72hrs before the flight, no great loss IMO. I personally would avoid selecting 4E/F or 5E/F which are traditionally viewed as the couple seats, they don't have much personal space. Instead I would pick 2A/K. You have loads of space and are just about close enough that you can reach across for a quiet word. 

 

The BA First seat does have a footstool area and a large table that allows you to dine with your companion. The crew may ask if you want to dine together but I would mention it when they take your first drink order after takeoff if they do not. The further forward you are the less room there is for the buddy because of the way the fuselage curves. Row 1 would be nigh on impossible unless you're about 4ft tall, row 2 is manageable unless your other half is on the tall side.

 

Miami flights at Heathrow use Terminal 3. AA have an Arrivals Lounge in the landside area upstairs just after customs where you can get a shower and surprisingly good breakfast (last time I was there they had splits of Moet champagne which was a nice touch). Having a decent shower and breakfast after an overnight flight makes a huge difference for me. 

 

Coming back there are several lounges you can use in Terminal 3. BA have a First and Business class lounge, Qantas have a business class lounge with a very nice gin bar (by all accounts I'm yet to try it), American have a first class and business class lounge but my favourite are the Cathay Pacific lounges. They have both a first and business class side and it's excellent. Great views of the southern runway and a mini restaurant inside with table service. The Dan Dan noodles are one of my favourite lounge dishes anywhere in the world. Besides that the decor is just superb and it's a very relaxing place to hang....unless it's rammed around the time that one of their numerous flights to Hong Kong departs. They have superb showers too.

 

If there are any specific questions you have let me know. Globaliser and myself probably have in the hundreds of BA First flights between us and are happy to share the knowledge.

Thank you this is really helpful! If we go to the American Airline lounge will we be far from our gate or are they near each other in the airport? I've never taken a shower at an airport before. That sounds like a fun adventure lol. I'll share all this with my Fiance, it is going to be so helpful!!

1 hour ago, fbgd said:

In terms of seat selection onboard you'll be in the nose on the 747. Unless you both have oneworld Emerald status (AA Executive Platinum or equivalent) you won't be able to pre-assign row 1 more than 72hrs before the flight, no great loss IMO. I personally would avoid selecting 4E/F or 5E/F which are traditionally viewed as the couple seats, they don't have much personal space. Instead I would pick 2A/K. You have loads of space and are just about close enough that you can reach across for a quiet word. 

If you can't get 2A and 2K, then other decent options include 2A and 3A, or 2K and 3K. You'll be one behind the other like this, not far away from each other. And although none of these options allow you to hold hands, you can buddy dine as fbgd describes. Having tried 4EF more than once, I would agree with trying to avoid these - the downsides of these seats on a 747 are not worth the advantages of being side-by-side.

One interesting thing about being in the nose of a 747: you are very close to a lot of very grunty engineering. When you taxi and take off, you will hear a lot of mechanical noise. Similarly, just before landing it will get very noisy when the landing gear is lowered, and on touchdown there are also other noises from above like the automatic spoiler deployment being triggered. In between - from as soon as the gear doors are shut after take-off - it is blissfully quiet. So don't be put off by the noise levels at the beginning, or be frightened when the noise comes back at the end. The aircraft is a fabulous piece of engineering and for those few minutes at each end of the flight, you're almost taking part in it.

10 minutes ago, FSU Girl said:

The BA First seat does have a footstool area and a large table that allows you to dine with your companion. The crew may ask if you want to dine together but I would mention it when they take your first drink order after takeoff if they do not. The further forward you are the less room there is for the buddy because of the way the fuselage curves. Row 1 would be nigh on impossible unless you're about 4ft tall, row 2 is manageable unless your other half is on the tall side.

One more thing about dining in First: it's dine-on-demand, so you can eat what you like from the menu, whenever you like. Most passengers will take the conventional approach of having the main meal at the beginning of the flight, and then something lighter near the end. But you can do it however you like. The only thing to be aware of is to let the crew know if you'd like to do something unusual, so that they can plan around that. If there is something that you particularly want to eat, but later, tell them this too so that they can save one for you rather than having it eaten by someone else on the basis that it's left over and unwanted.

On the flight from Miami, you may well want to stick with the conventional approach as it will be dinner time (and beyond) at the start of the flight. But this is definitely something to bear in mind for the flight back to the US. When I've flown back to London from Hong Kong or Singapore, I've often asked to have my dinner at 3 am after I've slept and woken up. What is served for dinner - on any airline, in any cabin, on any route - is usually rather better than breakfast. And flying to London, you can undoubtedly get a better breakfast in the arrivals lounge before you head into the city.

Don't hesitate to ask the crew about how to use the seat, and what facilities are built into it. For example, each seat has a small wardrobe with a hanger, so if you change into the pyjamas (supplied at the beginning of the flight) there is somewhere to hang up your clothes overnight. And space for shoes or other things as well. You will also be given an amenity kit at the beginning of the flight. Some things you might want to use during the flight, but there will almost certainly be unused content you can take away with you to use up during the rest of your holiday or even later.

17 minutes ago, FSU Girl said:

I've never taken a shower at an airport before. That sounds like a fun adventure lol.

You can of course make it as fun as you like - it is your honeymoon, after all! But in all seriousness, there is nothing quite like getting onto a flight feeling clean, refreshed and relaxed, especially if it's an overnight flight. It makes the rest of it much more enjoyable.

23 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

One interesting thing about being in the nose of a 747: you are very close to a lot of very grunty engineering. When you taxi and take off, you will hear a lot of mechanical noise. Similarly, just before landing it will get very noisy when the landing gear is lowered, and on touchdown there are also other noises from above like the automatic spoiler deployment being triggered. In between - from as soon as the gear doors are shut after take-off - it is blissfully quiet. So don't be put off by the noise levels at the beginning, or be frightened when the noise comes back at the end. The aircraft is a fabulous piece of engineering and for those few minutes at each end of the flight, you're almost taking part in it.

Thank you for warning me about this. I'm afraid of flying and knowing ahead of time that this noise is normal will definitely help me. 

24 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

On the flight from Miami, you may well want to stick with the conventional approach as it will be dinner time (and beyond) at the start of the flight. But this is definitely something to bear in mind for the flight back to the US. When I've flown back to London from Hong Kong or Singapore, I've often asked to have my dinner at 3 am after I've slept and woken up. What is served for dinner - on any airline, in any cabin, on any route - is usually rather better than breakfast. And flying to London, you can undoubtedly get a better breakfast in the arrivals lounge before you head into the city.

Is dinner guaranteed on the flight? Ours takes off close to 9pm so it's a bit past the dinner time. 

2 minutes ago, FSU Girl said:

Is dinner guaranteed on the flight? Ours takes off close to 9pm so it's a bit past the dinner time.

Oh yes, there will be dinner. You can make quite a meal of it if you want: starter, soup, salad, main, dessert, cheese. And plenty of decent wine - including a dessert wine which IME is seldom taken advantage of by others.

Here's an example menu, from a Miami-Heathrow flight in September (taken from FlyerTalk):-

STARTERS

• Seared scallops with carrot and ginger purée, aubergine caviar and Espelette spiced courgette
• Artichoke, truffle and potato salad with quail egg and pickled mushroom
• Spiced butternut squash soup with roasted pumpkin seeds and a light curry oil
• Fresh salad leaves with your choice of creamy pesto dressing or balsamic vinaigrette

MAIN COURSES

• Seared fillet of Midwestern grass-fed beef with mushroom ragoût, creamed potato, garlic confit and Bordelaise sauce
• Herb roasted monkfish with baby leeks, tagliatelle and lemon and ginger sauce
• Chicken and mushroom pie, roasted fingerling potatoes, roasted parsnips and chicken jus
• Orecchiette pasta with pea, tomato fricassée and Parmesan and rocket salad
• Main course salad featuring smoked salmon with poached hen’s egg, warm buttered new potatoes and Hollandaise sauce

DESSERTS

• Belgian chocolate cheesecake with mascarpone cream
• Hot lemon pudding with lemon syrup
• Ice cream

CHEESE PLATE

• Buttermilk Blue
• Bucheron
• Reading

BREAKFAST

• Traditional English breakfast
• Mushroom, cheese, and sausage frittata
• Sweet mascarpone Fresh toast with berry compote

6 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

Oh yes, there will be dinner. You can make quite a meal of it if you want: starter, soup, salad, main, dessert, cheese. And plenty of decent wine - including a dessert wine which IME is seldom taken advantage of by others.

 

Here's an example menu, from a Miami-Heathrow flight in September (taken from FlyerTalk):-

 

 

 

That menu looks delicious! Is it one item under each category or could we order more than one? 

2 minutes ago, FSU Girl said:

Is it one item under each category or could we order more than one?

I have certainly managed to have starter, soup and salad in one meal without any issue, and I think that enough of the items in the "starters" section are loaded so that you're not expected necessarily to limit yourself to one from that section. And the cheese plate can definitely have all three cheeses. For main courses, I think it's good manners to be sensitive to the need to make sure that everyone who wants one gets one that they like, but if there are spares left over there's no reason why you couldn't have more than one. Ditto for desserts.

3 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

I have certainly managed to have starter, soup and salad in one meal without any issue, and I think that enough of the items in the "starters" section are loaded so that you're not expected necessarily to limit yourself to one from that section. And the cheese plate can definitely have all three cheeses. For main courses, I think it's good manners to be sensitive to the need to make sure that everyone who wants one gets one that they like, but if there are spares left over there's no reason why you couldn't have more than one. Ditto for desserts.

Good to know! I was mostly talking about the starters since I'd like a soup and a salad. I don't think I'd want to main meals. And I love cheese so that's great that I can have them all lol