OvertheCascades

Hello all -

Questions on AA's LHR flights to all you savvy travelers. Need to book a trip for August this year from SEA to LHR, and thinking about booking all on AA operated flights, but I wasn't sure about the seating on aircraft between AA hubs and LHR. I have a lowly GLD status so I think MCE will open up within 24 hours to choose from? Do these MCE seats tend to fill up quick? Also to upgrade to either business class or Premium Economy, I can't use my 500-mile upgrades, correct, as this is long haul? Any other tips?@:-)@:-)

Thanks in advance!!
OC

arollins

You can not use the 500-miles to upgrade Int'l flights. It clearly says so on AA, however, you can use the 500-miles on your connection SEA-AA hub to LHR.
As for MCE, yes, they do open up at T24, however, dont be surprised if they are full, depending on HUB, it might be lots of elites that have already booked and are waiting on upgrades.

Here are a few things to consider, and this is just my opinion.

JFK, it will be a short flight, about 7hrs or so, with very minimal chance of sleep. Plane will be a 77W, with a 3 4 3 seating UGH, unless it swaps and you get an older 777

CLT or PHL will be about 7.5-8hr, it will be a 330 plane with 2 4 2 seating in main cabin, best to get something on the 2 side, and if lucky, you might have an empty seat next to you. These planes seats have their own IFE on the back of the headrest and are fairly comfortable in my opinion.

ORD, its about 8hrs flight, it is a mixed bag of planes, I would prefer a 767, which has a 2 3 2 seating in main cabin. No individual IFE

MIA/DFW about 8.5-9hrs on 77W, plane like JFK

LAX, about 11hr, on a 77W, or older 777

I myself have done all, except MIA and LAX on AA metal. With all things considered, being that you are GLD, so your chances of MCE at T24 will be ???, I would prefer either CLT/PHL on an airbus 330 where you can get a seat with your IFE on the 2 side, have a decent chance of sleep, maybe an empty seat next to you and minimal chances of aircraft swap.

Enjoy.

SeattleDavid

500-mile upgrades are domestic only (by some definition of domestic!) - but you can use miles (+ copay) to upgrade.

As for MCE seats, they certainly can easily fill up well before the flight - but these people are also top of the upgrade list normally, so they also clear out at the last minute.

And as for which hub to use - A330's (from PHL and CLT mainly) do not have any MCE; some MCE seats are a fraction wider (9 across rather than 10) and some exit row seats are best of all. But it all depends on your particular dates and the planes flying those routes that day.

Its a chore, but you simply have to review the seat maps for the various options on the day you intend to travel and make a judgement about what looks best right now. That said, I've avoided flights that seemed full in MCE and J and then seen upgrades become available, while I have booked flights in empty MCE and empty-looking J, only to have them fill up 2 weeks before the trip and end up missing an upgrade.

dkc192

Slight edits...:

As of now only one out of four daily JFK flights is operated by the 77W. The rest are operated (mostly) by the 45J version of the 772 (the "older" 772s with angled J seats no longer operate any flights to LHR), which has 3-3-3 in the forward cabin of Y (forward of door 3) and 3-4-3 in the rear cabin. The non-MCE seats in the 3-3-3 cabin are marked as preferred, and GLDs should be able to select them free of charge. If OP does end up on this plane, IMHO it won't nearly be as bad non-MCE Y on the 77W or the 37J 772, which is 3-4-3 across all rows.

DFW has some 772s mixed in here and there--not sure if it's the 37J version with 3-4-3 throughout Y or the 45J with a section of 3-3-3 Y. Same for LAX--one of the two daily flights is a 77W and the other is a 772.

OP, I would also consider what the domestic equipment would be, especially if you're going halfway across the country to connect (basically everywhere except LAX). As much bad press as the LUS 321s to PHL and CLT get, they're a decent ride in the back, and the TATL 330s from those hubs are my second favorite Y configuration to the 763s.

My top three combos would be:

1. 738 to ORD and 763 to LHR (avoid the 788 at all costs--worse than 3-4-3 Y on the 772/77W!)
2. 321 to PHL/CLT and 330 to LHR
3. 319/E75 to LAX and 45J 772 with 3-3-3 Y (not 37J 772 or 77W with 3-4-3 Y!) to LHR

rwoman

Avoid any of the 777s with 3-4-3 if possible. MCE and the regular exit row (row 31) are okay IME, but regular Y is terrible.

oysterhead43

You could consider miles + copay to upgrade to business.

bchandler02

Agree. If you can swing the 25k miles & $350 copay, it is well worth it. However, since you can't count on the upgrade for sure, the advice given above is pretty good. Stay away from anything 3-4-3 on the 777 flights. 3-3-3 in MCE isn't a horrible ride. You could probably do SEA-LAX-LHR with AA136 on the 77W for your long haul, MCE there is decent.

Alternatively, I believe BA has a direct SEA/LHR flight that could be worth it given not having to connect anywhere. BA Y is..Y, the bulkhead rows are manageable. But, often for the price of AA Y + miles/copay upgrade, you could probably get in BA WT+ which is a fair compromise cost wise, and earns decent AA miles. Unless you can't fly BA, this may be worth looking into and would probably be my personal preference in your case.

CG17

Not a hub, but there is a legacy AA RDU-LHR flight that uses a 763

arollins

True, however, SEA-RDU will require a connection either in LAX/DFW/PHX/ORD, thus adding another stop.

GunsOfNavarone

I believe RDU LHR is now serviced by a 772.

teemuflyer

An option the OP could consider is to fly BA over to LHR in PE for the overnight flight. Often just a few hundred dollars more, with much more comfort and some ability to sleep.

brc757rr

To the original post. Just to make you decision easier here is the hub to LHR breakdown.

ORD - 4X all 788
JFK - 1X 77W 3X 772 (all 45j and 3 3 3 economy)
PHL - 2X A333
CLT - 2X A333
RDU - 1X 772 (45j and 3 3 3 economy)
MIA - 1X 77W 1X 772 (37j and 3 4 3 economy)
DFW - 3X 77W
LAX - 1X 77W 1X 772 (45j and 3 3 3 economy)

OvertheCascades

Thanks so much all. If I do take BA non-stop SEA/LHR, will I only earn 0.5 mile per mile flown, except when I fly Y and B fare classes? Looks like a sh*tty deal on EQM qualification, no?

This year I will barely fly 25K miles to qualify GLD, so I was hoping to fly through DFW to get some extra EQM - is it worth it?

Thanks,^^

bchandler02

This is where traveling in WT+ on BA can be helpful since it earns 1.5 EQM per mile flown. I used this benefit last year to make gold as well.
Example DFW/LHR flight is 4750 miles. On BA WT+ (W, E, or T class) you earn 1.5EQM so you would earn 7125EQM. As I said above, often the cost of WT+ is the same as AA Y + the copay if you were trying to upgrade.

But yes, back to your original question, if you stay in regular Y, you earn .5 unless you are in Y or B class tickets.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...sh-airways.jsp

wayfarer613

I'll second this, heartily. BA puts out some decent deals for WT+, you get the 1.5 EQM, and you can also add in the AARP discount to get a bit more of the cash cost lopped off the top.

My wife and I did LHR-JFK in WT+ on one of their 744s and extra space and smaller "mini-cabin" feel was worth the added cost on that flight, not to mention it helped me requalify for Platinum for this year. Service and food aren't better, but the space was.

Out of SEA, BA is on 777 and 744, and is 2-4-2 in WT+ on both. If you can snag one of those 2-wide AB/JK seats, I'd take it. Only caveat is that BA is stingy on pre-flight seat assignments. I think you have to be OW Sapphire or higher to get it for free... otherwise, they charge.