Excellent British Airways & American Airlines Business Class Fares UK – USA

March 16, 2018

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British Airways & American Airlines are currently offering some excellent Business Class fares for travel from the UK to various cities in the US (including the West Coast). There doesn’t appear to be a set closing date for these fares so, technically, they could disappear at any time – if you see a fare that works for you don’t take too long deciding whether or not to book.

The Fare Rules

Valid for outbound flights departing Tue/Wed/Thu
Valid for inbound flights departing Mon/Tue/Wed
Reservations are required at least 6 months before departure
A Saturday night stay is required
Maximum stay is 12 months from departure
Stopovers permitted at £300 each

The fare rules also offer up these dates for when the fares are valid but I’ve seen good deals outside of these dates too.

The fare rules do specify certain validity dates but, based on my searches, the good Business Class fares are available outside of these date too so I’m not going to confuse matters by posting meaningless dates.

Booking The Fares

These fares are available through British Airways or American Airlines but there are times where the same flights are cheaper on one airline than the other (make sure you check both).

For the sake of simplicity (and because it was the airline I checked first) I’m going to concentrate on the fares British Airways is offering across the Atlantic but be sure you understand what you’ll earn in your loyalty program of choice before you decide whether to book through BA or American.

The Fares

Three things to bear in mind:

Because the rules state that the fares have to be purchased an incredible 6 months ahead of time the earliest you’ll find these fares appearing in September 2018 and they’re available (for some destinations) into 2019.
The fares I’m going to post are for departures from London. You may be able to save up to $200/fare if you can start your journey in Inverness.
I haven’t checked every route offered by British Airways and American so if you don’t see the route you’d like to book in the examples below don’t assume that there isn’t a good fare on offer that would work for you.

Selecting Aircraft

Ok, this may sound boring but it’s actually incredibly important if you want to get the most out of your Business Class flight.

On some routes the fares I’ve listed out above will be available for flights on British Airways and American airlines and the fact is that, in almost all cases, American Airlines will offer the better seats.

Actually, they’re not just better…they’re a lot better.

American Airlines’ 777 aircraft will offer all-aisle access Business Class in a spacious 1-2-1 layout and will look something like this….

American Airlines 777 Business Class Version 1

….or this….

American Airlines 777 Business Class Version 2

…and I cannot overstate how much better these seats are than the seats you’ll find in British Airways Club World:

British Airways A380 Club World

Service on American Airlines can be patchy so I’ll give BA the advantage here but, if you’re flying long-haul, the seat and cabin are usually the most important aspect of the flights (from a comfort point of view) so I would urge you to bear that in mind.

Avoid American Airlines narrow-body aircraft if possible (you’ll find that some routes may offer a Boeing 757) and, if you absolutely have to fly with British Airways, I would choose the aircraft in the following order:

Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (reviewed here)
Boeing 747 upper deck
Airbus A380 (reviewed here)
Boeing 747 lower deck
Boeing 777

Personally speaking I HATE the 777 Club World cabin so I’d only book it if there really wasn’t an alternative….but I didn’t mind the Dreamliner I flew back in January. It may have been the luck of the draw that I got a new-ish aircraft and a friendly crew but, for BA Business Class, it was a pretty good experience.

Inverness Will Be Cheaper

I didn’t post the prices between Inverness and the US because the majority of TFMs readership won’t live anywhere near Inverness….but it’s only right that I point out this potential cost saving.

If getting to Inverness isn’t too much of an issue for you (it may actually be easier than getting to London) then you could save a decent sum on every fare you book.

Here, as an example, are the fares to LA in December:

If you compare these fares to the fares out of London that I posted earlier you’ll see that they’re around $200/£143 cheaper.

Even if you live in London it may be worth considering a positioning flight to Inverness as, if you’re selective with the flights you book, it’s possible to terminate your trip in London on the way back (so you only need to spend cash/Avios on a one way flight to Inverness).

Book online at BA.com

Bottom Line

On the basis that I get pretty excited when I see sub-$2,000 Business Class fares to the US out of continental Europe I’m sure you can imagine how I feel about some of these fares considering they’re available out of an expensive departure point like the UK.

Yes, I have occasionally seen cheaper transatlantic fares between the UK and the US but that doesn’t happen very often so these are a very nice find indeed (and I may be making a booking myself).

Don’t forget to think about which loyalty program you’d like to earn miles/elite credit in before you book with either BA or AA as the earnings vary depending on which airline you book through.

If anyone finds notably better fares please let me know so that I can update this post.