I’m in the midst of planning my trip to the United Kingdom for early in 2024 and I’m starting to have information paralysis. I was able to find a non-stop flight in Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic from Orlando to London using Flying Blue Miles. However, I’m not having any luck finding a flight home.
For the daytime TATL flight, it’s not as crucial for me to have a lie-flat seat as I’m probably going to be awake for most of the flight. For example, I didn’t sleep at all on our flight from HNL-MCO because I knew I’d be arriving at my own bed and I’d have time to catch up on sleep when I got home.
First things first, I need you to talk me out of taking the non-stop flight on Norse Airlines. They have a 2:00 PM departure from London which arrives in Orlando at 6:25 PM. I’m thinking that I can deal with the 9 1/2 hour flight on a 787 Dreamliner if I pay extra for premium economy.
I can’t be much different from when we flew on Premium Economy on Virgin Atlantic.
But if I want to pay for first class using miles, I have several options with connecting flights home:
- Several options with Air Canada connecting to Air Canada Rouge
- British Airways Business Class connecting to American Airlines via Philadelphia
- American Airlines Business Class connecting to American via Miami
- Virgin Atlantic Upper Class connecting to Delta Air Lines via Miami
- United Airlines connecting to United via Dulles or Newark
- JetBlue connecting in JFK or Boston
I’ve gotten to the point where I’m not willing to fly across the country for a better seat so flights on Alaska Airlines to Seattle are out of the question.
I have enough miles with any program to make these flights happen. I’ve already flown Virgin Atlantic Upper Class so I’d like to try a different carrier if possible. Are any of these worth the effort or should I just pay for an angle-flat seat on Norse, pre-pay for my meal and be done with it?
My gut really wants to go for JetBlue Mint Class as it seems to be the one that is better than the rest. Or am I just buying all of the hype?
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6 comments
Take One for the Team – Go Norse
“But if I want to pay for first class using miles, I have several options…” Uh… all the products you listed are business class and not first class. If you choose B6, you’ll be in Y for the domestic segment. AFAIK, they don’t fly Mint to Florida. Also, at first glance, Norse seems to have a fairly typical PY product with an above-average pitch and recline (ex-Norwegian planes?). There’s no way it’s an angled lie-flat seat. F&B seems to be included as well.
You’re correct that none of these flights are true “first class” but are business class. Also true that I’ll be in Y for the domestic flight on B6 but I’m used of that flying to the NE from FL. Norse’s seat in premium is a recliner but looks to have decent legroom.
Your buying all the hype. Go on Norse premium economy nonstop.
Here’s how we left London for the US in April….
Hoped the Eurostar to Brussels (a 2 hr trip), spent some time in the city then flew home from BRU. All less expensive than flying directly out of LHR and at 184 mph, Eurostar was quite the experience!
When I saw the headline, I thought “Flying”.
Puerile humor aside I’d take the nonstop in PE. It should be comfortable enough and no change of planes is a big plus. The new experience is a smaller plus but still sounds good.