AA vs VS to Miami over Christmas

Anyone flown AA from LHR to MIA and can give a good comparison against VS?

Done a price comparison for 3 weeks over Xmas, AA is 2738.60 and VS is 5170.80 for economy seats for 6 people.

I've travelled for the last 14/5 years with VS and watched the service go downhill. In the past was happy to pay a premium for VS over other airlines.

So would I really be doing a bad thing flying AA to MIA. Its on a 777 with inflight entertainment. When VS inflight is working it probably beats everyone hands down. But I have been on far too many flights where there have been technical issues.

A saving of nearly £2,500? Both for economy.One heck of a premium to pay for travelling VS and IMO not worth it. Not a big fan of AA but that's a nice Christmas present for yourself with the saving.

[Nottingham Nick]

Economy is economy. Unless you badly need the tier points on VS, then it is a no-brainer.

Nick

You get an extra inch of seat pitch in Economy on AA & quite a few of the seats are fitted with power ports for laptops/DVD's - so this can make up for the lack of V:Port.

As others have said - for £2.5k saving, it's a no brainer - book AA.

Oh - don't leave the outbound travel date too close to Christmas, it can take a while to clear US immigration at MIA [:D]

James

I've just booked it. When booking seats, flight looks very empty both directions! I havent been able to fly this cheaply at xmas for a long time. A lot of bad reviews about AA for internal US flights so was a bit concerned what the international journey would be like.

I still cannot believe that VS is almost double in price?

Odd config on AA though 2-5-2. Gone for 3 rows of 2.

[Scrooge]

I just did an internal flight, in first though, not bad, not great.

A savings of 2500...well you made the right choice.

We used to fly a lot with AA to the states and went to Miami with them a couple of times. Their product was pretty good but at the time but not as good as VS (which is why we changed).

Since I haven't flown with them recently I can't comment on what they are like now but for the saving you have made they would have to be worse than Ryanair for you to have lost out and I suspect that this is highly unlikely.

Miopyk[8D]

[Decker]

AA used to be my international airline of choice, flew 500,000 miles with them - so shouldn't be too bad [:)]

quote:Originally posted by sickbag
I still cannot believe that VS is almost double in price?

Odd config on AA though 2-5-2. Gone for 3 rows of 2.


Well - see other comments on this forum about VS pricing - it's constantly higher ... so yes, you have a choice - book AA!

BTW you did absolutely the right thing in booking the pairs of seats on the outsides.

Here's the rub: AA is crap compared to VS, crap IFE, crap seats, crap FAs (absolutely crap actually), crap drinks (paid for too), etc. But, for two and a half grand difference surprisingly it's all good! I used to fly AA all the time, for six years, as a top tier member, then they did the complete downhill which made me switch to VS, now they seem to be doing the same.

Thought I'd check the price again to see if I'd timed my seat purchases correctly (as you do!). The price has now gone up by £700. Thought they were remarkably cheap for xmas and new year! Checked VS price and thats actually gone down by £400.

Never flow AA from the UK to anywhere but in January had to fly from Santiago in Chile to Miami in economy, we were supposed to be on a LAN flight but got bumped to the later AA flight. In all honesty they were nothing special, no seat back tv, dont remember being offered any alcohol, none of us ate the food. The only saving grace for the whole flight was the fact that the seats my kids were in were broken so fully reclined as in FLAT, so they had thier own economy flat beds and slept the entire way which was terrific. Hubby and I had a pretty uncomfy time of it but seeing as we were not paying for the flight there was not a lot of point in grumbling.

If I was making the saving you are then I would fly with them again, just make sure you eat well before you get on the plane and bring an ipod or something to pass the time [:)]

ptarmigan - the plane is a 777 with seat back tvs. Seats are bigger than VS economy aswell.

The only concern I have is if the level of service is going to be the same as VS. I hope it isn't!

quote:Originally posted by sickbag
ptarmigan - the plane is a 777 with seat back tvs. Seats are bigger than VS economy aswell.

The only concern I have is if the level of service is going to be the same as VS. I hope it isn't!


So even with the price changes you're still £1500 better off?

The seats IIRC are not actually bigger and don't forget they may have seat back TVs but the channels number about 15 with 4 or 6 movies compared to VPort which has ... a lot more. Then each drink is going to cost you $5 and woe betide you if you don't have the right money, those AA FAs can be fierce!

Just checked to see if I could have got my AA flights cheaper. They are now dearer than the VS flights. Paid £2700 for 6 seats now charging £5900! VS come in at £5000

Just shows you have to get your timing right.

The vast majority of VS Miami flights over Xmas are totally rammed so the few remaining seats are selling at a premium which is maybe why they are dearer and others with plenty remaining are cheaper

Thought I'd provide an update;
Flew out a week ago on AA and must say I was impressed, compared to recent VS trips.

The economy seats were actually very good and you could stretch your legs under the seat infront without even touching anything in front. My fatherinlaw commented, that he thought these were better than all the seats he'd ever flown in and he usually upgrades to the next cabin.

I agree the IFE wasnt up to VS standards (although it didnt fail once and was touch screen). But I have to say I slept most of the flight as the seat was very good. (Never been able to sleep in economy on VS).

Service was very good and crew very tentative.

Another big bonus that I guess gets overlooked is the fact with AA they appear to have their own customs area and gates closer to the runway. I'm sure we usually end up taxi'ing around the whole airport! This time we were through customs in less than 15 minutes after landing.

We'll know if this was a one off in the new year on our return. If the return flight is anything like the outbound I think I have found myself a new preferred carrier.

quote:Originally posted by slinky09

and woe betide you if you don't have the right money, those AA FAs can be fierce!


Which is precisely the reason that I will NEVER fly AA again. On a flight back from Miami, I gave the flight attendant my last $20 bill(and only bill) for a beer and he gave me change from $10 [:0]

When I calmly pointed out that he had short changed me, you would have thought I'd have just told him to go and slip his granny a crippler [:(!] To cut a long heated argument short, I gave up in the end due to the thought of the possibilty of a blue light taxi waiting for me when we landed in Blighty.

What ever happened to the customer is always right?? like I said, never again[:(!] Oh and AA customer services weren't interested either, suprise, surprise.

NOC