ConradMZ

While AA only flies directly between ORD and FRA on an overnight basis, it is possible to do ORD-LHR (I think that is AA90, leaving at around 9 am, getting in to London at 10:30 pm), sleep there in a real bed, and then take a BA flight on to FRA the next day without having it count as a stopover for fare rules.

Are there other ways of getting to Frankfurt from Chicago on AA flights or AA codeshares (Oneworld partners) without spending the night on a plane? Or if not to Frankfurt, what about anywhere on continental Europe by taking something other than the morning Heathrow flight from O'Hare?

zman

All OW flights from the U.S. get into LHR too late for conection to FRA.
There are no other OW day flights to Europe (other then LHR).
Most fares allow u to do <24 hour stop over so u can take the day flight to LHR and over night at London and a morning flight to FRA. There may be an xtra security free for the stop over.

3Cforme

I hate redeye flights, too. LHR is AA's only daytime European destination. The extra hour of time change, longer flight times, and weaker origin and destination traffic (since most connections late evening won't work), mean no continental destinations during the day.

bbkenney

I do this all the time going to continental Europe. As others have said, too late to connect but I stay at the Marriott when going out of Term 3, the Hilton for Term 4 and the Sofitel for 5. When I am going into central Paris I stay at the Hilton Euston and take Eurostar in the morning (or whenever I wake up). No second Heathrow Hassle, no CDG hassle, just a fun ride into Gare du Nord.

I should add that ORD-LHR-XXX on continental Europe is usually less money than ORD-LHR and sometimes less than ORD-XXX direct, YMMV.

VillageFlyer

TWA had a day flight from JFK to Paris in the 90s (I think), but (I think) it lasted only a short time. I am surprised, though, that Air France hasn't tried it again for the Skyteam people -- I also often take the dayflight to LHR and a next-day connection, and presumably Skyteamers would as well.

VF

HNL

AF has tried and dropped a daytime flight from JFK to CDG.

jkirsch

I seem to remember that AF ran morning JFK-CDG flights for a while last year, apparently no more.

ESpen36

Wirelessly posted (Apple iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

I used to loathe the idea of a redeye longhaul, but I've since come to the realization that they are okay. Basically, you just have to accept the reality that you will be exhausted on the first day. The return is much easier because it's westbound and it's daytime.

gemac

AA has daytime flights to LHR from JFK, BOS, and ORD, but I think it is impossible to get from ORD to BOS or JFK in time for those flights, so you are better off with ORD. I always go to continental Europe this way, Priceline a hotel room at LHR and continue on the next day. It is much more restful for me than that overnight flight.

zman

AA even had an AM JFK-Paris for a short time.
Just did not work financially as it took two planes to cover the route
(the plane over nighted in Paris) and there was NOT enough premium traffic and cargo to justfy. The plane also had to leave so early in the AM AA could not feed much traffic into JFK to catch the flight.

billgrates3

I think the LAX, DFW, or MIA flights to LHR are long enough that it's possible to get some decent sleep, assuming of course, that you score the upgrade or can afford J or F fares. Personally, I find sleeping in Y hopeless, even drugged.
;-)

Spiff

AA90 (ORD-LHR, daytime) is usually a pretty easy Y -> C upgrade too. Add about US$75 for a night at one of the airport Sheratons.

miles_navigator

If the LHR stop over and the extra $$ for the LHR airport hotel doesn't work; I have found it easier to get sleep on AA116 out of JFK --> LHR (AA98 ORD --> LHR would probably also work). Both are the last flights out to LHR.

Usually, I eat dinner at the airport (even if in J) and try to sleep as best as possible on the flight. AA116 and AA98 arrive close to what time you may normally wake up. You are still tired the next day but better than the earlier flights.

My concerns about trying the day flight to LHR have always been:
1. not sleeping well the night before to make it to the airport so early for a 8am intl departure. (JFK in my case requires a little more buffer time for travel due to the unperdicable NYC traffic delays).
2. not being able to sleep once in LHR airport hotel since body clock thinks it is late afternoon.

gemac

Hi, Miles. Here is what works for me - might work for you, maybe not:
I fly STL-ORD-LHR. STL flight leaves at 6:55. It is about a half hour from my home to the airport in normal traffic. I leave home about 5, arrive at the airport about 5:30 unless traffic problems. If traffic problems, I have extra time built in, so not stressed. I get up about 4 A.M. (which is still 10 A.M. in London).

My normal time of getting up is about 6:30. Starting 5 days before the flight, I get up a half hour earlier each day. My body has a chance to get used to this gradually. During that extra time each morning, I do what I would have done the night before, but didn't, because I keep going to bed earlier each night. By the night before the flight, I go to bed around 8:30, get up at 4:00 well rested.

I stay awake on both segments, the STL-ORD shortie and the long flight ORD-LHR. The flight lands at 10:30 London time, I clear customs and immigration, get a bit of money from the ATM, and take a cab to the hotel. I am in my room by 12:30. By about 2 A.M., I am asleep (note, this is 15 hours after I got up, so pretty much a full day). I get up around 9, shower, dress, take the free bus back to the airport for a flight leaving around 12-1 for Europe. This puts me into Europe at around 3, so my hotel room is ready for me.

Hope this helps. You are lucky - one less hour of time change.

ConradMZ

Thanks for confirming that this would be my only option. I did this once back a couple years ago, and it was ok. Having gotten up so early and spent so long awake on the plane, I was tired enough to go to sleep when I got to London, so it all worked very nicely. But I do generally find Heathrow a pain and getting from there into the city and back is also not so efficient. I stayed with a friend last time so no additional hotel costs (and a chance to see how my friend lived in London--he has moved in the meantime to another place in London).

Taking the train instead of a connecting flight is also an interesting option. I did that from CDG once, which is only a four hour train trip, which drops me a ten-minute walk from my home, rather than at the Frankfurt airport. I think the Eurostar doesn't have as good a special fare deal as the Paris route, but it is worth looking into, particularly if there is a decent connection (I could sleep better on a night train than on an economy flight, and I'd rather not use miles for upgrades when I am travelling solo).