Flying New York-London In Style -- For Less
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New British all-premium-class airline Silverjet has its own private terminal at Luton Airport (about 40 miles north of London) that reduces advance check-in time to 30 minutes. Like other new all-premium-class airlines flying between New York and London, Silverjet's fares are far cheaper than the full business-class fares charged by network carriers such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. CREDIT: Silverjet Business Class Flights |
British Airways' and Virgin Atlantic Airways' flexible roundtrip Business Class fare between New York and London now tops $10,300 roundtrip, including taxes and fees.
Despite this all-time-high fare price, the International Air Transport Association says nearly 700,000 travelers bought premium-class tickets to travel between the United States and Europe in May.
Thankfully for the more than 4 million economy fliers who will cross the Atlantic each month this summer, there is an increasing number of ways to travel transatlantic in comfort for very much less.
At $800 roundtrip, Zoom Airlines' Premium Economy class between JFK and Gatwick has a standard Economy seat with an extra 5 inches of legroom, free drinks, and priority boarding and baggage delivery.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic offer Premium Economy classes between JFK and Newark to Heathrow from $1,200 roundtrip. Although both cabins offer wider seats, extra recline and 7 inches more legroom than economy class, Virgin is in many ways closer to business class than BA with a 3-inch-wider seat and nice touches like welcome-aboard champagne, meals on china, after-dinner liqueurs and dedicated flight attendants.
Better still, a spate of airline start-ups with all-premium-seat planes has trimmed the price of flying business class between New York and London, using secondary airports north and east of the UK capital.
MAXjet?s fully-flexible round-trip fare between JFK and Stansted is $3,500, but book ahead and you?ll cut this in half and enjoy sleeper seats and in-flight service that is superior to premium economy.
Flying from Newark, Silverjet has its own private terminal at Luton airport that reduces advance check-in time to a mere 30 minutes. Onboard, it swanks seats that recline to 6-foot-3-inch flat beds, women?s only bathrooms, and sleep zones with dimmed lights and no announcements.? Roundtrip flexible fares of $3,800 fall to $2,500 when booked ahead -- and for August travel, you can even bid for a round-trip from $600 at www.skyauction.com!
With just 48 seats on each plane, Eos pampers passengers even more with 6-foot-6-inch beds and gourmet meals. Fully flexible fares between JFK and Stansted are higher than MAXjet or Silverjet at $8,300, but drop to $3,800 with advance purchase.
Finally, number one for lasting value and complete flexibility is Delta?s Global Business Pass. Available to Bermudian and European-based businesses and organizations, travelers can fly Delta between any North American city and the UK or 11 other European countries at fixed, inflation-proof fares (except taxes and fees) for the next 5 years until 2013.
For example, roundtrip Business Class fares between JFK and Gatwick (and Heathrow from April 2008) are $4,100 when booked 2 weeks in advance, and $5,440 when booked within two weeks of travel. These prices include all fees. Tickets are flexible, fully refundable and earn mileage credits in Delta?s frequent flyer program.
(Note: All fares quoted include taxes and fees and are approximate.)
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