Sprodo

I wonder if anyone can help me. I need to travel back from LAS to LHR in July and want to take a connecting flight as the direct one leaves to late / gets me back later than I'd like.

Booked as 1 ticket the earliest AA flight it offers me is at 12.58 and connects onto BA0280 at LAX, which is operated by a 787 and not being a fan of torture I'd rather avoid this.

If I look at this separately there is an AA flight at 11.00 that lands at 12.28 which should be enough time to connect to BA0282 at 15.30 and operated by an A380 but for some reason I cannot find this offered as 1 ticket. Does anyone have any pointers or tips?

Or better routings that ideally get me back to LHR before mid-day the next day and avoids a 787.

corporate-wage-slave

If you want specific advice, it's generally best to put in a specific date. For example on 12 July I can see the 11:00 hrs AA service connecting to the BA A380 at LAX, so it may be a fare bucket or codeshare mismatch or fare rule limitation or BA.com mismatch or - well you get the story. There is also DFW connecting to a 747 (again depending on dates), leaving 11:00 hrs and getting to London at 09:00 hrs. If you go via JFK there are a number of options that get you into LHR before 07:00 hrs (and yes, depending on dates)

flatlander

I assume you're travelling in economy class due to your reference to the discomfort of the 787.

You could go via DFW which puts you on a BA 777.

I think your problem with trying to find this on the BA website is that BA strongly prefers BA codeshares and there is no BA codeshare for the 11:00 AA1366 LAS-LAX. There are only codeshares for the later 12:58 BA (AA) 4792, 14:40 BA (AA) 4839 and 19:00 BA (AA) 4439.

BA can ticket this but their website won't offer it. Try either phoning BA or using the AA website (though that may be too keen on AA codeshares, denying you some Avios compared to a BA code on the transatlantic flight).

UKtravelbear

If you book this as two separate tickets then remember your bags will not be tagged through and you would need to collect them after you land at LAX on AA and recheck them with BA for the leg to LHR

Neither airline check through bags on separate tickets (even AA to AA and BA to BA) so you need to factor in extra time to do that.

Sprodo

Often1

Have you checked with your corporate TA to determine whether the connection you prefer is bookable and what it would cost? This is not leg work you need or ought to be doing. It is entirely possibly a glitch in BA's software and if it is, you will have avoided a problem.

If you are going for a shortish trip, just don't check luggage and the rest of the issues go away. If you need to book two tickets, remember that AA will rebook you under its own unique COC provision if it delivers you late to LAX, even though you do not have a connection.

Not worth worrying about which option until you have the various prices in hand from your TA.

HarryHolden68

I did this with an 8am departure to JFK and arrived into LHR at 06:30, Was preferable to the afternoon arrival of the direct flight.

corporate-wage-slave

If you are going on a 787 you may well be on either a 001 ticket, or multicode flights (AA then BA) and both of those would rule out a POUG anyway. Your better bet may be to UuA to WTP if that's possible on your particular combination, and WTP on a 787 is good.

I can't imagine this is a single ticket so it's difficult to give fare advice, and my system says the cheapest is via México City! After that there is an interesting connection on Delta / Virgin via Salt Lake City allowing a 14:00 departure and a 10:00 hrs arrival into LHR (that only works due to the fact that a 1 hour connecting at SLC is both allowed and very viable). DTW and MSP are other leftfield options from that stable. The cheapest oneworld option - due to Q fare basis - appears to be a BA routing via CLT, even though it would be purely AA metal, but the JFK routing is also available in Q. Q isn't UuA enabled.

Cymro

You say that the direct flight arrives later than you'd like, but does that mean you need to be in London for the start of the working day (in which case the best option for timings was to route through DFW when I needed to do this, though my trip got changed)? Or is it good enough to be in central London by lunchtime, for instance?

Sprodo

EsherFlyer

Nor sure if you want / have to be on BA, OW, or any carrier code / metal...

AA168-ORD-AA98 or AA454-CLT-AA732 (aka BA4953+BA1597) look like they are an efficient way to arrive @LHR before 12pm. BA5056-DFW-BA192 looks like the best choice for TATL on BA metal (B744). BA5551-JFK-BA2272-LGW might also be of interest depending which way you're trying to avoid on M25.


You can explore more yourself by setting up ITA something like this:

UKtravelbear

Where in the South because LGW might be an option.

Samaras

Sprodo

Thanks all. No LGW on Oneworld seems to work without 2 stops.

I've suggested my original routing or a route via DFW that gets me back at pretty much the same time. JFK looked appealing (just for a Shake Shack !) but I'm not sure I could risk a 09.00 departure from LAS...

EsherFlyer

Based on what? LAS-JFK-LGW comes up easily on BA.com. Into LGW by 10am sounds ideal if you want to be on the south side of things.