LGW to USA - which airline

[smallpilot]

I have narrowed my choice down to Virgin, Delta, AA. Anyone have any thoughts on who is the best to choose? - important factors are seat comfort/legroom, punctuality, food/service and the chance of the flight not being full.

[manintheback]

At the front Virgin.

In the middle or up top, if the budget is available - Virgin Premium eco is excellent value for money.

At the back AA if you can still get the extra legroom.

Transatlantic reliability good on all 3.

Of course if your are going to NY, then consider a taxi to Stansted where the new services on MaxJet and Eos look rather tempting - as little as £600 odd quid for top of the range service so its claimed.

[The_Banking_Scot]

Hi,

Where in the US are you going? Depending on your destination you may have to take an internal flight after landing in the US and clearing customs /immmigration at your first port of entry where as another airline may have a non stop flight to your destination.

Regards

TBS

[slim_slag]

Unless you fly enough to get silver/gold in their frequent flier plan take the cheapest, and even if you do fly enough, you are probably still better off taking the cheapest.

If the choice is driving to Heathrow or changing in a US hub, I'd change in the US.

[Carnage Matey!]

If the choice is driving to Heathrow or changing in a US hub I'd drive to Heathrow. Once you've arrived in the US, collected your bags and queued for an hour to get past the immigration nazis the last thing you want to do is face the TSA while you proceed to your next flight.

What is the purpose of your flight?

DO NOT PROCEED BEYOND THE LINE SIR!

Oh you're into stage 2 now. Step aside and wait for an inspector.

Remove your shoes, belt, watch, jacket and anything in your pockets.

etc etc

[slim_slag]

The traveller can hugely influence the way he is treated by the various arms of the TSA. I can easily make it smooth and efficient, or difficult and time consuming. Less easy to influence the M25 or LHR.

[Middle Seat]

(must...insert...civics lesson).
While bashing agencies of the United States Department of Homeland Security, please keep in mind that not all of them are TSA.

What is the purpose of your flight? - that's asked at boarding prior to departuer from the UK, right? In this case, its likely an airline employee...not TSA. You'll rarely found this asked by a TSA employee. That's not their job. Customs and Border Protection includes this on the landing card.

DO NOT PROCEED BEYOND THE LINE SIR! -
On arrival, that's Customs and Border Protection (www.cbp.gov), they're the ones checking your passport and making sure that you get your fingerprints taken (smile for the camera!)

Oh you're into stage 2 now. Step aside and wait for an inspector.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (www.ice.gov) will be there with you as you pass through the luggage carrousel. Some of them will have sniffer beagles. Cute things, but they're working. Still not TSA.

Remove your shoes, belt, watch, jacket and anything in your pockets.
THAT'S TSA! The only time you're sure to encounter TSA personnel entering into the US is when you recheck your bags for an onward journey. Of course, when you return, you'll get the whole screening thing again, but once you're past that, you won't see them again.

[Carnage Matey!]

Not quite....

What is the purpose of your flight? - that's asked at boarding prior to departuer from the UK, right?

No, they don't ask you that in the UK.

DO NOT PROCEED BEYOND THE LINE SIR! -
On arrival, that's Customs and Border Protection

True, but on departure its the TSA worried you might try to sneak through the metal detector behind Grandma.

Oh you're into stage 2 now. Step aside and wait for an inspector.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Nope, TSA again. Stage 2 is what you enter if you set the metal detector off twice. You go into stage 2 and get shuffled off to the side to await an inspector. Don't try to remove any offending items of clothing metal you might have forgotten unless you like getting yelled at.

Remove your shoes, belt, watch, jacket and anything in your pockets.
THAT'S TSA! The only time you're sure to encounter TSA personnel entering into the US is when you recheck your bags for an onward journey

Correct! Thats why I'd rather drive to LHR than connect through a US hub. One encounter with the TSA is one encounter too many.

[Rupert369]

Flew LGW - DFW on AA at Christmas time last year, and it was pretty awful. 767 was cramped in economy, but I could have coped with that had there been any personal televisions, decent refreshments or even polite crew. In the end, got none of these three and had one of the worst days of my life - although to be fair return on AA ORD - LHR was very good.

[cjhants]

smallpilot: having read about your problems with virgin on saturday, i guess they are now off your list.
i have flown to the USA lots of times, both direct and via US hubs.
delta, continental, AA all very much the same. went to MCO via detroit a couple of weeks ago, on northwest A330. the kids loved the on demand entertainment system, you can start/pause/change a large choice of films at any time. like having your own dvd player. same with the music, you can chose the tracks you want in the order you want.
clearing immigration/ rechecking for onward flight can be a pain, but it breaks up the journey, and when you get to your destination, you can exit the airport without going throgh customs/immigration.
the main reason for going this way is the cost, in the last half term it was half what BA/Virgin wanted, and for a family of four it was the difference between going and not going.

[slim_slag]

I realise it's cool to attack the TSA on this site, but advising people who are flying to the US to base their travel plans on minimising their contact with them is just plain daft.