Los Angeles to London City Airport

[cove]

Have been looking at going from LAX (Los Angeles Intl) to LCY (London City Airport) which on AA and BA takes 16 hours including stops.
Is there a better combination based on points I have with Qantas,Kris Flyer and Velocity?
Any experiences would be appreciated.
We could stop in Dallas or New York City and we are looking at February.
If anyone has experience going the return way from LCY to LAX that could be helpful.

 

[maninblack]

Have been looking at going from LAX (Los Angeles Intl) to LCY (London City Airport) which on AA and BA takes 16 hours including stops.
Is there a better combination based on points I have with Qantas,Kris Flyer and Velocity?
Any experiences would be appreciated.
We could stop in Dallas or New York City and we are looking at February.
If anyone has experience going the return way from LCY to LAX that could be helpful.

Do you want to go to LCY just for the experience? LAX-LHR is only 10-11 hours non stop. Saving 5 hours and a change of aircraft in NY makes up for the slight hassle of a Heathrow arrival I would think. Plus I think you will struggle to get this flight on points.

 

[Kendall Roy]

Presume you're looking at J/Business?

LAX-JFK-LCY would be the way to go....

For AA, domestic legs are treated as first (except the odd TransCon leg such as LAX-JFK), therefore any additional routing such as LAX-DFW-JFK-LCY would see you fined points for travelling in First

 

[wilco]

you actually have a lot of options but im not sure they are going to be cost or time effective.

LX via ZRH and GVA (Krisflyer)
BA via JFK (only in J) (Qantas)
LH via FRA and MUC (Krisflyer)
and
KL via AMS. (nothing)

 

[cove]

Yes I am thinking of J or First and I was hoping to get into London City Airport to pick up the light rail to our accommodation rather than spend ages at Heathrow. We are less than 20 minutes from London City
I have a 256,000 points AA and BA for two one way in First then J.
11 hours LAX to LHR is easy but it can take 2 to 3 hours to get to Canary Wharf from landing time at Heathrow.

 

[wilco]

Yes I am thinking of J or First and I was hoping to get into London City Airport to pick up the light rail to our accommodation rather than spend ages at Heathrow. We are less than 20 minutes from London City
I have a 256,000 points AA and BA for two one way in First then J.
11 hours LAX to LHR is easy but it can take 2 to 3 hours to get to Canary Wharf from landing time at Heathrow.

The only way your going to save time is the all J transatlantic A318 flights direct to LCY and the only way to do this is with BA/AA via JFK. But TBH, youd still be better off on the direct LAX-LHR as the time you save from flying directly into LCY you lose in transit in JFK. But it could be fun flying on the mini private jet with the old Concorde flight numbers.

If you're returning the same way, you will have a tech stop in SNN for fuel and pre arrival clearance into the US which would also add to the JFK transit.

 

[cove]

Yes I have been looking at it a bit more and I can go LAX-LHR in less than 11 hours but I am very attracted to the JFK and then LCY on what appears to be a 32 seat all business class BA A318 Airbus.
Maybe we should stop in New York for a couple of days to see some shows as the flight linkages were not crash hot and the best time was still over 16 hours with the 2.5 hour layover at JFK.
It still does sound pretty good going this different way but the availability for going to Heathrow is so much easier on points.

 

[elbarto]

View my trip report in the trip report forum and then decide


Sent from my iPhone

 

[cove]

I had an inkling LCY was a pretty good idea and Mrscove likes good ideas.
It looks like First LAX-JFK then this BA flight a couple of days later after some New York shows.
I think we can get home to Perth on Kris points ex LHR without too much of a struggle.
Am I on the right track now??

 

[elbarto]

I had an inkling LCY was a pretty good idea and Mrscove likes good ideas.
It looks like First LAX-JFK then this BA flight a couple of days later after some New York shows.
I think we can get home to Perth on Kris points ex LHR without too much of a struggle.
Am I on the right track now??

Yes. Going in to LCY is a substantially nicer experience than LHR. Immigration is quick, since most of the people coming in are EU passport holders and the officers are nicer. Not sure what baggage reclaim is like, but I'd suggest it's fairly quick since most people, like myself, come in with hand luggage only.

Be warned, you will deplane using stairs and since you're looking at February, it will be cold.

 

[wilco]

I like the novelty value of the private jet feel, but think that the longhaul club world experience is far superior to the A318.

If I was flying between LHR and JFK, id definitely consider it, but I wouldnt be going out of my way to get this flight, unlike Concorde which I took many times, despite losing the time gained in the JFK connection.

But Im sure you'll enjoy whatever you choose.