A few years back the Philadelphia Eagles were just one loss away from earning a trip to London. All they had to do was lose the final game of their 2015 season against the NY Giants; the loser of that game would go on to play the St. Louis Rams at London’s Twickenham Stadium the following season.
I had been sitting on a handful of British Airways miles (properly referred to as Avios) for some time and had been looking for a reason to use them. I had wondered where I would like to go; preferably somewhere I hadn’t been before. I didn’t think I’d go back to London, a place I had already been, until news that the Eagles may be headed there. Then it hit me, this is how I’ll be spending my Avios!
This would be the perfect trip. I had been in London before, but only for a few days. I saw everything on the fly. This would be an opportunity to go over for a full week, taking in the sights, visiting places of interest, and attending a possible once-in-a-lifetime Eagles game in a foreign land. I had begun to plan it out. I was dropping pins in Google Earth of the places I wanted to visit (that’s what I do). Places I hadn’t seen during my previous visit to London. I became excited for this planned trip and hoped it would become a reality. Now all that needed to happen was for the Eagles to lose their final game.
There are very few times during the life of an Eagles fan that we actually root for our team to lose. Week #17 of the 2015 season was one of those moments for me. They had nothing to play for. They were 6-9 going into their final game and they would not be going to the playoffs. They had just fired their head coach. A loss would have been very beneficial for the Birds (that’s what we call the Eagles in Philly). The loser was going to London to face the not so tough Rams the following season; the winner would go on the road to Seattle and face a very tough Seahawks team. I should also mention the losing team would get a better draft pick, something that seemed critical to a team that had just been massacred by Chip Kelly. So for once in my life, two things happened I never thought would happen: I rooted against the Eagles… and I rooted for a NY team.
So… this amazing trip to London depended on an Eagles loss. I spent my whole life being let down by Eagles’ losses. This time I truly believed they wouldn’t let me down. I knew with all my heart a loss was something I could count on. And would you believe… they won. Yes, the Birds had even let me down by winning.
Going to London
Fast forward a couple years: towards the end of the 2017 season, it was announced the Eagles would be heading to London in 2018. This time they wouldn’t have to lose to get there. In fact, they were heading over as Super Bowl Champions. I may have been disappointed a few years back—but I have to admit—this scenario couldn’t have been any better.
News that the Eagles were headed across the pond meant I would have to begin planning a trip of my own. In anticipation of my upcoming London trip, I opened my trusty Google Earth only to find the pins I had placed a few years back were still in place. I had forgotten this was a trip I had already planned for. This certainly made things easier. Now I just had to spend some of my British Airways Avios.
I had enough Avios saved up to cover two round trip flights to the United Kingdom with British Airways in their World Traveller (coach) class. When redeeming Avios towards a rewards flight, a consumer is required to pay a cash amount to cover tax, fees, and carrier charges. I don’t remember the exact amount, but the cash value I was required to pay for a World Traveller rewards flight was roughly 70% of the cost of a non-rewards flight. This would have used up a majority of the Avios I had saved up for what amounted to be a very small discount after taxes and fees. I felt like I was wasting my Avios. I opted to use my Avios towards an upgrade rather than a full rewards flight, and booked in the World Traveller Plus (premium economy) section.
The original intention was to fly out of Philly; however, we encountered a hurdle regarding the return flight. I’m not sure if this was due to a large number of travelers flying back to Philly the day after the game (Eagles fans come out in force), but the return flight was roughly four times the price of the outgoing flight. This made us rethink our game plan, and we ended up flying out of JFK in NYC.
The Flight: British Airways World Traveller Plus
Immediately I was happy with our decision to upgrade to World Traveller Plus. Though we would not be enjoying the luxury of the full flat beds in the Club World cabin (business class) in which we boarded, it was clear that we would be a lot more comfortable than in coach.
Shortly after being seated, we were offered a choice of champagne, juice, or water. Of course, I opted for the champagne.
Sitting with my champagne I settled into the spacious seat. The seats are wider than in coach, providing more space between the two seats, and enough legroom to cross your legs. The configuration on the Boeing 747 was 2x4x2 compared to the 3x4x3 in coach. Traveling as a duo, we had a window and aisle seat. I must say it is so nice not having that third seat.
On a long haul flight, the extra space provided in World Traveller Plus goes a long way. An unexpected discovery of World Traveller Plus is the cabin size. With roughly five to six rows, there was very little activity in the cabin. I’m used to sitting in an aisle seat in coach, constantly being bumped into as people make their way to the restrooms. Aisle’s that are narrow with plenty of passengers moving about. In premium economy the aisle’s are wider. Even when the flight attendants made their rounds there was plenty of room. We only had a few rows ahead of us so it was rare to have people walking by. It was quiet, and that was nice.
Now for the food: a hearty three course meal. I learned from the movie Airplane, never eat the fish! I went with the chicken. I’ve been on six-plus hour flights to the west coast in which you get a tiny bag of peanuts to hold you over. They definitely made sure we were well fed, and I will tell you, it wasn’t all that bad.
Overall the flight was quite enjoyable. The extra comfort in World Traveller Plus made quite a difference on an overnight flight of that distance. Fortunately I have some Avios leftover and you can bet I’ll be looking to redeem them towards an upgrade on my next transatlantic flight.