Originally Posted by GadgetFreak
If it were two hours I wouldnt mind as much. But given the schedules, delays and availability on that route it is typically more like 3-5 hours added. It really is not infrequent when I was doing some of those that the flights (they are only RJs) were sold out and so I had to take much earlier ones. It basically means you need to take off all or almost all day from work then fly overnight while on AA you can catch a flight after work.
I tentatively put 2 hrs as a bare minimum...
956 JFK/LHR last Monday left the gate around 615pm, and flight time announced of 5hrs55mins. I'm thinking hmmm, 5h55 + 5hrs time change ~515am arrival @ LHR which is not allowed as the 777 can't land until 6am - as it happens we then spent 1 HOUR on the ground queuing for takeoff. We were #23 for t/off when we joined the queue... so 1hr+delays+actual flight+arrival delays = not happening...!
UA Flyer: re: LHR-Devon... What part of Devon are you going, what day and what time? You'll probably have to do M4 westbound from Heathrow and then connect to the M5 south at Bristol... one long boring trip - also very tiring after a redeye! You have the M25 anti/clockwise from LHR, round to the M3 and then the A303/A30 towards Exeter and southern devon, but only at certain times of day as it is a single carriage road at some points (A303).