Originally Posted by
oysterhead43
You could consider miles + copay to upgrade to business.
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.