eponymous_coward

I'm noodling over some options I have on an award redemption for returning home from a holiday and figured I'd ask some fellow FTers.

Option 1:
LHR-ORD(12 hour overnight)-SEA on the A380, BA F + AS (Alaska Airlines) F

Upsides:
The A380 is nice as you'll get, T5 experience, can use public transport to get home from the airport when I get home. Guaranteed F on the connecting flight (Alaska domestic F ~= AA domestic F not on the transcon routes, near enough.)

Downsides:
Staying overnight (I'm blowing Hyatt points on a redemption for the Hyatt Regency ORD at the moment as a placeholder, otherwise it would be $80-100ish for an ORD-area hotel). Longer AS flight (not that an F seat is bad, just still, 4 hours vs. 2).

Option 2:
LHR-LAS(3.5 hour connection, the PP lounge at LAS might be my hangout, though I don't have PP yet)-SEA, BAF + AS Y (but an excellent chance to get the upgrade to F). If I really wanted to I could overnight in a suite near LAS for about the same (and guarantee an F seat, call this option 2a, though it has most of the downsides of Options 1 and 2 and not as many of the upsides, so I'm sort of "meh" on that, leaning no).

Upsides:

Get all the flying done in one go. Sleep in my own bed at the end of the very long day. The connecting flight (LAS-SEA) is shorter. No need to do an overnight stay at a hotel. Not having to deal with ORD (not a fun airport).

Downsides:
T3 instead of T5 (though the T3 lounges aren't too shabby). By the time I get in, I'm paying for an Uber/Lyft to get home. Pay for lounge at LAS + Uber = a hotel room at ORD or LAS (and 3.5 hours is barely enough time to leave an airport and come back, so probably not going to do that- if I wanted to visit Vegas I'd do the overnight). A380 > Mid-J 744 by quite a bit (no WiFi, 744 IFE has good chance of being dodgy and not updated, cabin is smaller, A380 is just kind of nicer overall). Not 100% guaranteed to get upgrade on AS (though I've done SO many Y flights SEA-LAS-SEA it's not a huge deal, and the odds of an upgrade are very good).

So what would you do? They are both daytime/evening flights and I'm going to be trying hard to adjust my body to West Coast time, so no real sleeping on the plane (at most a short 30-60 minute nap, but not if I can avoid it), so on plane experience is important.

highpeaklad

eponymous_coward

I am indeed not in a hurry, the day after my return is a "get back on West Coast time and do the laundry, catch up on work email while not officially working" day.

Geordie405

I assume that flying direct LHR - SEA isn't an option, nor is LHR - JFK - LAX / SFO - SEA so you have the A321-T on the JFK - LAX / SFO part of the journey?

The other benefit to flying in to LAS would be the better immigration experience. I have no idea if you have Global Entry but even without it Las Vegas as an entry point would probably be better than O'Hare.

If you have an Amex Platinum card then you would also be able to use the Centurion lounge at Las Vegas during your layover. That would be a better option than "The Club at LAS" which is the PP offering (there's a smaller one at the D gates as well as the larger one at the E gates).

The lounges at LHR T3 are very good, especially the Cathay one. I wouldn't be overly concerned about spending an hour or two there before my flight from T3.

Personally, I would probably go for the Las Vegas option - the thought of getting home the same evening and sleeping in my own bed is very attractive. The IFE on the A380 will be better than the Mid-J 747 on the Las Vegas flight but there's nothing to stop you either loading up your own tablet with films etc. or reading, gazing out the window, or having an extended wine-tasting session

eponymous_coward

It's an AS award for BA flights (ex-AMS, so AMS-LHR(stop)-XXX-SEA, all on the same award), so mixing AA and BA is a no-no by AS program rules. If the LHR-SEA F flight was available in F I'd spring for it (it isn't), since it would be a high-J 744 (in that case it would be worth ditching the A380 to get a nonstop).

I don't think I'd want a LHR-JFK-SFO/LAX-SEA routing anyway even if it were possible. Yes, I know, AA Flagship Lounge/Dining (I hit the LAX FL up for a meal by flying AA F from HKG, it was very nice), but adding two stops, and I'd still get a AA domestic seat for the last leg, and the AA 321T F seat is ~= BA F? All told it's not worth adding extra stops.

The other catch is BA connecting to AS gets you no lounge access on the connection in the USA (unless it's a city with an Alaska Lounge and you're in AS F) since AS isn't in oneworld. Too bad, so sad.

I'm a US citizen with NEXUS/GE/Precheck. Last time I came through O'Hare CBP it went like greased lightning. It's more the airport experience that's not great.

Extremely unlikely for Reasons™ that I prefer not to discuss. TBH having a card with PP is not a gimme either (the most likely outcome is I pay cash for the T3 LAS lounge if I go that route).

This is indeed true, though I am going to try and pack light (this is a 2+ week RTW with stops in Tokyo, Bangkok, Berlin, Köln, Amsterdam and London). Curating some films for the flight home is an option. I'll have watched a few on NH J, TG J, AY J on the way (but I have Amazon Prime so that would work).

ryan182

I would go the LHR-LAS-SEA route as that maximizes the time in the superior product, AS F is fine for 1-2 hours but I find their F seats not great for longer flights and obviously the catering options in BA F will be much better than AS. 3.5 hours at LAS isn't terrible if you don't have lounge access, obviously its better with but I'm just saying LAS is a decent airport and its not like your spending 3 hours at LGA for example. Also there are no PP lounges in the AS terminal (the SEA flight will leave gate E15) but they are reachable by train and after deplaning, going through customs/immigration and re-clearing security you're probably down to 2:45-3 hours (with GE+TSAPre) so you have just over 2 hours to kill before boarding. If you end up having PP access then there's certainly time to head over to D gates and The Club @LAS but if trying to minimize costs that's not a terribly long period to spend in the terminal. Getting home late-ish also helps for readjustment for timezones on LHR-West Coast flights IME. You do miss out on First Wing and CCR but the CX F lounge is nice.

SQTraveller

I've never flown BA out of T3 and then gone to the CX lounge, but it's definitely a decent lounge

corporate-wage-slave

I wouldn't go to any effort to get into The Club as LAS, it's not much more than a broom cupboard, with a refreshment service to match the locale. I guess YVR wasn't showing anything? I certainly see the upside to doing the trip in one day, and yes CBP at LAS is good - there again ORD is a lot better than it used to be. I'd just be looking for a better routing than this. JFK?

LCY8737

If stopping at ORD/LAS was something you'd be keen on it itself, I would go for it. If not, I'd take the most direct/fast routing home. F on the 380 may be nicer than on the 747, but the 747 - especially if you can get row 2, is more than adequate in my book.

eponymous_coward

Geordie405

Which one are you referring to, as there are now two at Las Vegas? There's one at the D gates (Terminal 1) which you reach by going up the smaller bank of escalators (i.e. the ones directly opposite the blue line tram / immediately to the left of the red line tram) and then there's the one at Terminal 3 which BA uses for its flights. I wouldn't describe the latter one as being a broom cupboard. It's relatively spacious and the offerings aren't that bad, all things considered. I haven't been to the one at the D gates as of yet (but I will take one for the team on a future visit to LAS and visit) but I do get the impression that is a lot smaller and may be the broom cupboard you're thinking of?

Geordie405

As per my other post, there are two of "The Club" lounges at LAS. There is one at Terminal 3 / E gates. It's down towards gate E2. It is a PP lounge as I used it last time I flew AS from LAS to SEA. It's pretty decent as far as domestic lounges go.

corporate-wage-slave

Indeed I was referring to the D gate lounge, assuming that AS goes from there alongside AA, but actually now I've looked it up, AS departs from E.

eponymous_coward

Correct. I helpfully linked to this lounge in my initial post starting the thread.

https://www.prioritypass.com/en/loun...he-club-at-las

eponymous_coward

To tie this up in a bow, I kept the ORD flight and the LAS flight got booked away (unless I want to add a day of vacation).