LHR - JFK - BA Price Difference

Can anyone help here?

I'm off to New York again on the 17th Oct but am provisionally booked into BA because the price difference is too great. The company's writing the cheque and although they'll pay a little more for personal choice of airline the difference at the moment for VS is £300 on a £1400 Flexible PE ticket (BA comes in at just over £1100 for WT+).

I know from the MIA thread that they have spare capacity but this is setting a dangerous precedant and I would much rather fly VS.

Any ideas?

Phil (Buffy TVS)

P.S. I'm provisionally flying back on 22Oct but this may be delayed or I may be diverted and return from LAX.

Help as in explain the discrepancy, or find a chepaer ticket or persuade your company to fork out the extra?

As was said in relation to MIA, given the recent bad press BA have been getting, they might be using lower fares to entice people back, or they might just have more space because people are choosing not to fly with them. (Disclaimer, I don't know enough about pricing structures to know if either of these are realistic.)

For getting a cheaper ticket, have you tried calling VS to check that there's nothing chepaer that would give you sufficient flexibility (or where potential penalties would be less than the extra cost of a fully flexible ticket)?

For persuading the company, would the benefits that come with VS AU (eg being able to work in the lounges at both ends, having Revivals to kick-start you back into the office etc.) help to justify the extra cost (assuming you're not *A Gold as well)?

Good luck!

If it was me i would do a deal with your company and split the difference. £150 from you and £150 from your company. Have flown WT+ and its pants[V]

I have been caught by this a lot recenlty, as I normally only fly PE, and as you have noticed VA has consistantly been 30% more.

What I have done is make use of the star Alliance double miles on United, if you book and H class you get econ+ which is not too bad, but if you did the status match you can also use your upgrade vouchers.

Or see if you can get work to do the BA CIA/ATH/LIS business fares on BA - two flights you are silver. Generall less than Virgin PE on the key routes. Plus the flights are full flex!!

Or do continental or delta econ one way business the other through a consolidator like dial aflight about the same price, plus you can credit miles and tier points to VA.

Hope this helps
bluefish

I've bitten the bullet and am flying Y on the outbound - I figure 5 TP and 10K miles on Virgin is better than flying BA - the service is still better and I might get an OpUG - or UG myself if I'm feeling generous.

Thanks for the advice.

Phil (Buffy)