If you’ve got a hankering to check out London before, during or after the Olympics, get this: British Airways launched a sale last week with fares of just $2012 ROUND TRIP (all in) on nonstops between ATL (plus all other US gateways) and London Heathrow. Delta and other US carriers serving London have matched this astoundingly low business class fare.
How astounding, you may ask? Well, get this: Economy class nonstop round trips between ATL and LHR during July and August now run about $1,200 round trip. So why not pay the $800 premium for business class (which normally runs in the $5,000 to $8,000 range)?
Not only do you get the nice business class deal (and a big seat), but you get the bonus miles for flying up front. For example, in business class on Delta, you earn a whopping 12,630 SkyMiles for the ATL-LHR roundtrip, plus the additional bonus based on your medallion status. When flying coach, you earn 8,420 SkyMiles miles roundtrip.
When I checked today, Delta was slightly undercutting BA with a $2007.10 roundtrip fare.
These are some of the lowest roundtrip business class fares I may have ever seen between ATL and London. It makes me wonder if the Olympics are going to be a boom or a bust for the travel industry. What do you think? Is $2008 round trip business class enough to make you jump for a last minute trip to London?
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Alan says “last Friday June 29, the queue for immigration arrivals in Terminal 4, home to Delta and some United flights amongst others had delays averaging 1 and a half hours with the longest reported as 3 hours.”
What was Delta thinking cutting out all flights to London/Gatwick? I long for the ease of getting in and out of London that is characteristic of London Gatwick. LHR is chaotic. Logistically, I think it was a very bad idea for Delta to leave Gatwick. I guess it was all about connections to other parts of Europe via Heathrow without a care for customers’ ease of travel.
Chris,
I’ve been back and forth quite a bit this year and as recently as 10 days ago and the hotels are dumping rooms as another post noted. The city is waking up to the realization that for one of the biggest summer tourist destinations in the world, the Olympics have scared away the average tourist and the number of unique vistiors for the 2 week Olympic period, cannot possibly make up for the volume of normal tourism. Many restaurants, also fearing problems getting their daily deliveries, are also closing during the Olympics.
I’m taking advantage of the deals and decided to head back opening week.
Cheers
London will clearly not be full this summer, many hotels have reduced prices by 25% in the last two weeks alone having realized too late that the millions are not going to come. However LHR is beginning to become more than just a joke, last Friday June 29, the queue for immigration arrivals in Terminal 4, home to Delta and some United flights amongst others had delays averaging 1 and a half hours with the longest reported as 3 hours. This is before the visitors for the Olympics have begun to arrive.
The fares are great to London, and Terminal 5 which is home to BA is generally better than Terminal 4, but if you are planning to transit to somewhere better, which this summer may be anywhere else in Europe, allow plenty of transit time.
That first class fares initially offered from MIA to LHR when Delta started that route were the lowest I’ve seen, but this isn’t bad at all.
Hotel rates in London still aren’t low enough to entice us to use this rate to attend the Olympics though. No points rooms avail thru my programs.
Great rate for moving on thru LHR.
Just as it was in ATL in 1996, I’m sure that many are deferring non-Olympic travel to London meaning that many flights have wide open availability.
I remember in ATL in 1996 that, despite the predictions of gloom, doom and perpetual gridlock, travel through Hartsfield was the easiest I’d ever experienced. The city itself, outside of the immediate Olympic venues, was totally dead because everyone else stayed away. I have a feeling that London is going through the same thing.