Cheap Business Class Fares from the UK to North America & Caribbean

June 08, 2012

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4 min read

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Following the British Airways Queen's Jubilee fare sale from mid-May where all the other carriers matched BA's amazing business class pricing for flights from the US to United Kingdon, the airline announced another business class fare sale. However, this time for flights originating in the UK and coming to North America. Many others seemed to have matched as well, including Delta, United, American and Virgin Atlantic.

Reservations must be made by June 14, 2012, and though the special fares are supposedly good until mid-May of next year, most of the special fares seem to be for travel between the end of July and the beginning of September. Tickets must be purchased at least 14 days in advance and include a Sunday stayover and the sale is only valid for itineraries of six weeks or less. Here are a few highlights from the sale destinations:

London-Boston £1,280 ($1,975) for Business Class.
London-Chicago £1,430 ($2,207) for Business Class.
London-Dallas £1,270 ($1,959) for Business Class.
London-Los Angeles £1,590 ($2,452) for Business Class.
London-Miami £955 ($1,473) for Business Class.
London-Montreal £1,019 ($1,571) for Business Class.
London-New York £1,200 ($1,850) for Business Class.
London-Philadelphia £1,070 ($1,650) for Business Class.
London-Phoenix £1,190 ($1,835) for Business Class.

For instance, London to Boston in business class for 1,280 GBP ($1,980), or about half what this fare usually goes for.

The sale fare from LHR-BOS was just under $2,000.

Delta is matching the Boston fare as well.

London to Los Angeles comes in at $2,458, which is less than half of what these tickets normally cost, and what competitors including United and Virgin Atlantic are charging for the same dates (though stay tuned for updates in case the other airlines decide to match the fare).

The fare on BA from London to Los Angeles in August was just $2,458, less than half the normal price.

Delta is already matching this fare as well, though you'd have to connect in Minneapolis.

Other airlines are matching the fares out of LA as well.

However, United and Virgin Atlantic are sticking to their normal pricing for the time being.

Tickets on competitors United, BMI and Virgin Atlantic are the same as usual - over twice the cost of the sale fare.

While these fares still aren't "cheap," they're a whole lot better than the normal fares BA and its competitors charge for these routes - in some cases by half. You might be concerned if you live in the US, but if you have a couple trips to London or Europe coming up, it might be worth purchasing one of these fares and setting the return far in the future around the time of your second trip, and then purchasing a cheap roundtrip ticket from North America to London in the meantime with the outbound taking place before your sale fare segment from London, and the return scheduled for after your sale fare return from the UK to North America, and then you can use Avios to upgrade your cheap ticket.

A great perk of the British Airways Visa is the 10% off British Airways flights, but I was not able to stack that with this promotion because it's only for flights priced in US dollars, and I couldn't get britishairways.com to do that for these flights. If anyone has been able to get around that, please share your experience!
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