BritishAirways

British Airways Creates New Luxurious First Class Cabin

Filed under: Wings

British Airways is showing off their new first class cabin. Simply named First, the new cabin includes a personal wardrobe, a bed which is almost half again as wide as the previous one, leather-bound writing table and personal electronic blinds and is being installed on a B777 which flies from London Heathrow to Chicago O' Hare. Seats are 60 percent wider at the shoulder and the lighting system is designed to recreate the subtlety of natural light throughout the day to help you feel more relaxed.

When you are ready to sleep you can don cotton pajamas and request turndown service in which the seat is made into a fully flat bed with a single–piece quilted mattress, white 400–thread Egyptian cotton duvet and pillow. The First cabin also comes with products including eye gel, lip balm and moisturizer from D.R. Harris, one of London's longest established traditional pharmacies that uses only natural ingredients. Products are all tucked into an Anya Hindmarch bag which was exclusively designed for First.

[via Breaking Travel News]

Tags: british airways, BritishAirways, first class, first class cabin, FirstClass, FirstClassCabin, flying first class, FlyingFirstClass

British Airways Challenges Virgin Atlantic Over London-Vegas Nonstops

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

You wouldn't think that the Las Vegas to London route would be a popular flight but it seems that rivals British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are in a battle for Vegas supremacy. The first nonstop British Airways flight from London to Las Vegas landed Sunday night at McCarran International Airport. Passengers on the inaugural flight included Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and British Airways CEO Willie Walsh, who was making his first trip to Las Vegas. The picture above shows the water arch used to honor maiden flights.

British Airways plans to run flights on twin-engine Boeing 777s from London to Las Vegas and they are offering some pretty tempting rates. BNET reports that it costs just $276 for roundtrip economy flights from November 2 to December 20 and December 24 to March 28 if tickets are purchased this week. British Airways' London-Las Vegas flights will have 36 business seats, 24 economy plus seats and 212 regular economy seats. Virgin Atlantic has been doing this run since 2006 but British Airways has the advantage of flying out of Heathrow International Airport while Virgin flies out of the less-centrally-located Gatwick International Airport.

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Tags: british airways, BritishAirways, las vegas, LasVegas, london, nonstop flight, NonstopFlight, travel deals, TravelDeals, virgin atlantic, VirginAtlantic

British Airways To Launch Luxury NYC-London Flights

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

It was an idea that flopped phenomenally in the past (see Silverjet, MaxJet and EOS, three business-only London to NYC flight companies which all folded) but now British Airways is giving luxury all-business service between London and New York a shot. However the fact that the airline will fly just 32 passengers on an aircraft normally fitted for 100 people doesn't sit well with some environmental groups. The Guardian reports that environmental group Plane Stupid will stage a protest at London City Airport tomorrow as the maiden flight launches, angered by the fact that recently British Airways CEO Willie Walsh had pledged that the airline would do its part to fight climate change. The layout of the plane means that each passenger is basically responsible for three times the emissions of a regular flight.

British Airways will offer twice daily service on Airbus A318s with flat beds and access to the internet. Round-trip fares will start at around $3,00 but go up to nearly $8,000 for more flexible tickets. Flights leaving from London will be forced to make a brief refuelling stop at Shannon airport in the west of Ireland because the London City airport's runway is too short to handle an A318 aircraft with a full fuel load. In order to ease the journey, BA is arranging for passengers to use the Shannon stop to clear US customs and immigration.

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Tags: airlines, british airways, BritishAirways, business class, BusinessClass, flights

Virgin Atlantic And British Airways In Price Wars

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

The heat is on between rival European airlines Virgin Atlantic and British Airways and it's the business class passenger who is benefiting. Virgin Atlantic has reduced business class fares by as much as 40% from London to destinations like New York, Dubai, Tokyo and Washington D.C. from now until the end of January on flights as far ahead as September. British Airways is also cutting their prices to keep pace. Both are hoping for a temporary boost to help prop up what have been some dismal travel statistics that have been eating away at the lucrative premium market. The discounts are aimed at the business travelers who may be paring back their travel budgets.

Other companies are also offering deals. US Airways has a January fare sale going on that offers deep discounts on some international travel. And Portfolio's Joe Brancatelli reports on deals from Jet Blue, Virgin America, Quantas and more. If you are interested in traveling, especially internationally, any time soon now is the time to book.

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Tags: british airways, BritishAirways, business class, BusinessClass, virgin atlantic, VirginAtlantic

British Airways Buys L'Avion

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

The three business-class-only airlines that flew out of the U.K. to New York (MaxJet, Eos and Silverjet) are all now history but the last outlier, Paris-based L'Avion is still around. For now. British Airways has snapped up the French all-business airline l'Avion for 54 million pounds ($107 million). The privately owned airline flies two Boeing 757 aircraft with 90 seats each between Paris and New York.

Once the deal is done, l'Avion will become a subsidiary of British airways and become part of Open Skies, their transatlantic airline. Open Skies operates with its own crew and pilots (there is only one aircraft so far). Open Skies planes have 24 seats that convert into beds, 28 in premium economy and 30 in economy making it closer to the l'Avion model than traditional British Airways flights.

Marketwatch speculates that it may be possible that l'Avion, like the other business-class airlines was hardly a moneymaker and may have never turned a profit.

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Tags: airline, airlne, british airways, BritishAirways, business jet, BusinessJet, lavion, open skies, OpenSkies

Naomi Campbell Banned From British Airways

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings, Celebrity Shopping

Well folks, she's at it again. 37 yr old supermodel Naomi Campbell was arrested at the airport last week in London and has been banned from ever again flying British Airways. Apparently she became aggressive and abusive with some of the airline staff and eventually ended up assaulting a police officer -- all before the plane had even taken off. What could have possibly been so wrong as to warrant all that anger? Was somebody sitting in her window seat?

British Airlines wouldn't comment on the specific incident, but they did say that they take all incidents of violence and disruptive behavior "very seriously" and that "it will not be tolerated."

She needs serious help, seriously.

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Tags: airline, airlines, banned, british airways, BritishAirways, campbell, celebrities, celebrity, expire-images2009-4-8, flying, naomi campbell, NaomiCampbell

Duty-Free Shopping Without the Flight

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

English consumers now have the option to shop a duty-free shop without going to the airport. British Airways has launched the High Life Shop, an online duty-free shopping service that will deliver jewelry, perfume, watches and more to customers all around England whether they have been on a British Airways flight or not. The full range of the shop, with the exception of cigarettes and alcohol will be available and British Airways will pay the VAT on the goods. There are currently around 370 products on offer and the company plans to add luggage, eye masks and other things associated with travel.

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Tags: british airways, BritishAirways, duty-free, expire-images:2009-3-22, online shopping, vat

British Airways Announces London to New York Business Class Flights

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

British Airways has made some big moves lately. They have created a new airline, OpenSkies, which will begin service to either Brussels or Paris using a single Boeing 757 in June with plans to have a second aircraft will start flying to the other European city later this year. The carrier has also announced that they are launching a new business-class service from London to New York. The airline has two Airbus A318 to service the new route, fitting them with lie flat beds for 31 passengers.

The move isn't entirely unexpected. When MAXJet, one of three airlines specializing in the London to New York business-class flight, folded in December it was mentioned that the remaining smaller airlines, Eos and SIlverjet would be competing with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Now with these new dedicated planes, the battle is about to get serious.

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Tags: british airways, BritishAirways, business class, london, new york

Flying High: The Best First Class

by Matthew Collins (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Wings

Those of us unfortunate enough to travel on commercial airlines know the unrestrained joy that occurs when we get an upgrade. For the most part, this means leaving the cattle barn for leather clad chairs and free booze. But there are several airlines that take the experience to the next level. From gadget filled seats that coddle you in comfort to bars and massages, the world of premium class has gotten very competitive and one-upmanship is the name of the game.

Our list is after the jump.

Tags: british airways, BritishAirways, emirates, first class, FirstClass, virgin atlantic, VirginAtlantic

Continue reading “Flying High: The Best First Class”

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