Transatlantic Carriers

[phil_2405]

I am thinking of travelling from the UK to the US in April/May 2005. There are some excellent fares available on www.expedia.co.uk at the moment. I probably want to fly outbound to Washinton D.C, returning to the UK from Los Angeles. Can anyone recommend any other good booking websites?

Also any recommendations on airlines? Which is the best transatlantic airline in terms of seat pitch, meals, inflight entertainment?? I've never travelled with Virgin Atlantic before, are they worth the extra £100 or so to travel with them?

Cheers

[newarksmells]

having said that, to go cross-country within the U.S, you might want to check out WWW.AMERICAWEST.COM

They're based in Phoenix but fly to all the East Coast airports and you now now fly BOSTON, NY, WASHINGTON to LA, SF non-stop for a fraction of the prices other US carriers charge.

I've used Expedia before and received what I percieved to be a good deal until my last trip where I booked on America West from Newark to Las Vegas (return) and hotel for 7 nights for just under $1,220 for 3 people. This was $300 cheaper than Expedia for the exact same flights and accomodations.

Hope this helps;

Newarksmells

[Wannabe Flyboy]

Transat wise, BA and VS are basically the same. Seat pitch is identical, meals are the standard fare though VS's IFE is possibly slightly better (depending which aircraft type you get). Personally I'd go with BA but that's just me - both are superb on good days and dreadful on bad ones.

American carriers, AA have their 'more room throughout coach' policy on this route if space is an issue. You have to pay for booze onboard though.
UA and DL etc. seem to have assorted silly 'don't stand near the toilets' rules.

Should you have a little money to spare you may want to consider doing Premier Economy (VS) or World Traveller Plus (BA) for more space, especially to LAX.

[phil_2405]

I've heard Virgin's IFE on the A340-600 is excellent, which routes does this aircraft fly regularly?

[Wannabe Flyboy]

I'm fairly sure that VS don't fly the A346 into LAX often - mainly 744s. Can't speak for Washington though.

The A346 IFE is indeed excellent, though it reduced to average on other aircraft.

[phreegreens]

I gotta agree with Wannabee. I do the North Atlantic 3/4 times a year and BA WT+ is my choice, the 37'ish inches of seat pitch is excellent., IFE is good as well.

Couple of times I have done American in their "more room" economy class and it was OK to the East Coast, might be a bit tougher on the longer West Coast routes. Only problem with AA is the often unpleasant, rude and ignorant cabin crew, they are the pits.

[phil_2405]

Unfortunately I cant afford to fly Premium Economy or World Traveller Plus, trying to do the trip on a budget! At the min American Airlines seems most appealing due to the extra legroom (I am 6ft tall), all the other features > entertainment, food etc probably doesnt bother me as much, I can cope if they arent that good but dont fancy coming back from LAX with 31" legroom or whatever BA/VS offer in Economy.

[phreegreens]

I'm 6' 2" and found AA OK, certainly didn't need a tyre wrench and a large tin of Vaseline to get me out the seat.

If the pennies are tight then AA would get my vote...

[fescalised portion]

I regularly fly across the pond and I always use AA. I am 6'1" and the leg room in economy is really the best that you'll get. I've never had any problems with the service on board. The food is of a good standard and the IFE is equally as pleasing

[Wannabe Flyboy]

AA legroom is 34" - about that of a European business class.

[radeng]

I used to fly AA a lot, and still use them once a year when I have enough miles to go Business Class. I agree with phreegreens, the CC attitude leaves an awful lot to be desired, even in Bus. class. It seems to be the case that in general, the CC are all long service people who feel that AA have screwed them ( which I guess is pretty well correct) and just hanging on for the pension. I like BA myself.......

[bizflyer]

BA every time. WT+ if you can afford it, but even in WT the seat pitch isn't that big (excuse the pun) an issue. I'm 6'2 but if you adopt the correct posture in the seat, i.e don't slouch, which if you are tall you shouldn't be doing anyway, then the WT pitch isn't a serious problem. Look on the updside, it's cosy and you're 3 inches closer to your ptv. Is it me, or haven't I read anything good about AA, ever?

[phil_2405]

Thanks for the info everyone. It seems choice of transatlantic carrier is very much down to personal choice, with no one carrier being able to claim they are the best above all the rest. I am flying LHR - JFK with United in Jan so I'll see what they are like.

[USA_flyer]

My girl lives in the US so I get to fly to the US once a month and have done so for about a year. As a result I've had the opportunity to test out most of the transatlantic carriers...

My opinions for what they are worth:
Don't even think about US Airways - surly crew, appaling food, and timekeeping is terrible. The only positive is the seat back IFE and that the planes, usually A330 are new.
Delta, these guys are still running 767s out of LGW and they really do look and feel old. Their food has also taken a nose dive recently, also you may well need to connect at ATL or CIN, connections are worth avoiding if at all possible. Crew tend to be friendly, lousy entertainment tho.
Northwest, about to switch to A330 out of London which will be nice with the new seatback IFEs, otherwise food is edible, crew friendly enough, although again you'll probably need to connect via DTW or MSP.
AmericanA, the extra leg room is very nice, the food equal to BA and has seatback IFE. Cabin crew are efficient and friendly enough. Best thing though is you'll be able to do both legs on a single a/c if you book right.
BA - very similar to American but with less seat pitch in WT. Crew are some of the very best though and thinking about it the food is the best in economy transatlantic that I've experienced. Again, you should be able to avoid connections.

Again, this is just an opinion, if I were to do that route I would choose American or BA. Both are currently solvent and have nice a/c, IFE, and crew, I suspect American will be a few pounds cheaper.

For internal US have a look at Southwest and Jetblue.

[Globaliser]

Sorry, just need to add something to the last post: You can't fly non-stop on AA to WAS. The only non-stop flights from LON are BA, UA and VS. So if you want to do non-stops in both directions, it'll be a choice between those three - all of them fly LAX-LON non-stop. (This is assuming that your best originating point is London.)

As between them, UA is an also-ran. VS is more brash and superficially friendly than BA, but tends to attract a bigger bucket-and-spade crowd and the service panders to them. It's irritated me when I've flown them. But other people find BA more cold, stiff and formal.

[USA_flyer]

Ooops. My mistake, I was thinking of JFK.

[phil_2405]

If i want to go to IAD with AA, I have to transfer at ORD. I've never transferred before in the states, does anyone have any advice/experiences on US transfers? Should I get a direct flight with another carrier or are US transfers ok?

[Globaliser]

For the usual reasons, you must clear immigration, collect your bags and clear customs at your first arrival point in the US. Then you hand your bag back to the airline (although this part is usually quite easy because there are normally check-in desks just beyond customs), go back through security and then head off to the domestic departure gate.

However, the immigration queues can now be extraordinarily long - and many people are now missing connecting flights because of being held up at immigration when things are bad. For this reason alone, transferring in the US is more of a pain than it used to be. (I regularly do the identical procedure in Australia, which is an absolute dream compared to the US.) Obviously you'd have to clear immigration at some point whether you're transferring or not, but if you're on a non-stop at least you know that once you're through it, you're there.

The other thing is that if you end up hanging around waiting for your domestic flight, you could get very bored. Few US airport departure areas are inspiring. If you can somehow get access to a lounge, of course, that makes things much easier.

One other thing specific to ORD: You may well have to change terminals when transferring from international to domestic. Check with AA's website and the airport's website. There's a train that connects the terminals so it's not hugely troublesome, but again it's one more step which you could avoid with a non-stop flight.

[USA_flyer]

Globaliser said it all. And to make it all even more unpleasant ALL visa waiver country citizens are going to need to give a fingerprint scan and digital photograph at immigration from 26th October. Connecting for flights as a non US citizen is only going to get worse.

[phil_2405]

Sounds like its definitely not as easy as it used to be to transfer in the US, I think I will definitely try to get a direct flight from the UK...probably easier/more convient anyway.

[airsmiles]

I've transferred many a time at ORD and I've only ever had a problem once and that was due to a genuine security alert post 9/11.

Try and get an early flight that gets in before 2pm and you shouldn't have too much trouble with immigration.

Both American and United have domestic check-in areas immediately after the baggage collection area in T5 (International). The process to tranfser to T3 (American) or T2 (United) can be done in 10 minutes, but thats AFTER clearing immigration and collecting your bags.

Certainly with American , if you connect back to ORD before going onto LHR/LGW you DON'T need to transfer to T5 (International), as their int. flights depart from T3 and normally pier K where there's a small duty free shop. I presume United have a similar arrangement for their international flights.

airsmiles

[DistantRumble]

Rumour has it AA are putting back in the seats they took out to make economy have more legroom.

[phil_2405]

Rumour has it AA are putting back in the seats they took out to make economy have more legroom.

Surely this will remove one of there most distinct competitive advantages??? or has it turned out to be a commercial flop??