Originally Posted by
mxlondon
I'm a big fan of the daytime JFK-LHR flight (AA142). I don't sleep well on planes and would rather spend a day reading, working, or watching movies than a day forcing myself to stay awake once I get home as I didn't sleep on the flight the night before.
An extra bonus is that in my experience this flight is often empty. For example last time I took it Y was only 25% occupied - so many people had the 5 middle seats to themselves and could move the armrests up to sleep.
Of course it depends on where you need to get to from LHR: I'm only a 20 minute cab journey away.
Oh, and as for them being 'pensioners' flights -- I'm 32 and didn't feel particularly young last time I took this.
I also prefer the daytime flight eastbound. I note that the OP does not specify which cabin (s)he will be flying in - if it is coach, the daytime flight is vastly preferable, IMO, unless the OP is quite small. I find it is most convenient to stay the night before at one of the airport hotels, and they are available at reasonable rates via Priceline.
For the westbound flight, I would allow three hours to clear immigration, wait (and wait some more) for bags, clear customs, take transport into the city, and check into a hotel. If the OP takes AA 131, this puts them into a hotel room at about 2300 (0500 London time). Whether that is a good idea or not depends on how OP deals with westbound time change.
If arriving on a flight at this time, we would again stay at one of the airport hotels - it shaves an hour off. The next morning, we would be up early (of course), have a leisurely breakfast, check out and take a car service into the city, drop our bags at our hotel there, and start enjoying our day.