Long Haul Airlines

[Andyboy]

Travelling to Vegas in the spring and was wondering who is considered to be the best long haul airline, always been impressed with Virgin in terms of in flight entertainment but I'm open to other options.

Thanks

[Puggit]

For direct flights, you're only real options for a decent airline are BA and Virgin. If you fly BA you need to weigh up the odds of you and/or your luggage arriving.

Avoid the US carriers - many don't even serve booze on TATL flights and you'll need to transfer somewhere.

[XJSJohn]

KLM go LHR - Detroit - Las Vegas.

Probably the best option on the carriers going to Vegas ....

United, American and Delta are the dominant ones and i would rather walk there over brokeon glass than fly them ... would be more comfortable too!!!

Not a big fan of BA either so yup ... KLM and a stop over would be my choice!

[sparkypups]

XJSJohn said:

KLM go LHR - Detroit - Las Vegas.

Probably the best option on the carriers going to Vegas ....

United, American and Delta are the dominant ones and i would rather walk there over brokeon glass than fly them ... would be more comfortable too!!!

Not a big fan of BA either so yup ... KLM and a stop over would be my choice!

and that KLM flight is a codeshare operated by Delta

[cjs]

Virgin or BA direct, no contest, why would you want to take two flights when there is a direct. The US carriers are awful.

[Iain328]

XJSJohn said:

KLM go LHR - Detroit - Las Vegas.

Probably the best option on the carriers going to Vegas ....

United, American and Delta are the dominant ones and i would rather walk there over brokeon glass than fly them ... would be more comfortable too!!!

Not a big fan of BA either so yup ... KLM and a stop over would be my choice!

Don't much like American, but flown a lot on United over the last 20 years. Service has been pretty consistent, its unremarkable, but neither has it ever been a problem. There is plenty of booze on United TA flights if you want to buy it. Almost without exception they fly "on time" (unlike BA ) and price-wise they are consistently competitive.

If you just want to get there on time in reasonable comfort & pay a half sensible price for it then they'll do that. If you are looking for your journey to be a bit more of an "event" then a) fly Business class and b) probably on Virgin.

Edited by Iain328 on Tuesday 16th November 14:47

[jfrf]

the virgin direct plane to that destination was an absolute pile of ****. old and battered with rubbish entertainment (eg to watch a film you had to wait for the loop to restart rather than watch at your convenience. sound was alos poor)
This was a 747 about 2.5 years ago

Just have to hope it was refurbished or a newer plane is in use.

On the other hand a virgin flight to NY was great as the plane was quite new

[Stu R]

I wasn't impressed with Virgin flying to Vegas. I have been everywhere else I flew with them so perhaps it's just that route. That was 18 months ago.
I quite like Delta, use them a lot. Last time I flew to Vegas (July) it was with KLM / Delta and I'll be flying out there again in a few weeks with them. Not bad at all IMO. Personally I won't even use BA for an internal flight any more after their strike nonsense.

My only complaint with Delta is they tend to solely employ the most knackered looking middle aged women they can find, but they're certainly the best of the US carriers IMO. Cheap enough to escape from cattle class, and I've nothing to complain about. Good enough for me.

Edited by Stu R on Tuesday 16th November 10:09

[beanbag]

Try Lufthansa. I'm not sure they fly from London but you can get a connection from somewhere in Germany.

Cracking service too.

I avoid BA like the plague. I used to love them and would go out of my way to use them but now they are down the bottom of my list. Crap service. Delays. Bad food. Always on strike. Bad customer service attitude and no appreciation for loyalty. That and they ditched Concorde.

[cottonfoo]

beanbag said:

Try Lufthansa. I'm not sure they fly from London but you can get a connection from somewhere in Germany.

Cracking service too.

I avoid BA like the plague. I used to love them and would go out of my way to use them but now they are down the bottom of my list. Crap service. Delays. Bad food. Always on strike. Bad customer service attitude and no appreciation for loyalty. That and they ditched Concorde.

Damn you beat me to it I think LH are probably the best bet. Really do try and avoid all US carriers, and BA purely for the risk of strike.

[XJSJohn]

sparkypups said:

XJSJohn said:

KLM go LHR - Detroit - Las Vegas.

Probably the best option on the carriers going to Vegas ....

United, American and Delta are the dominant ones and i would rather walk there over brokeon glass than fly them ... would be more comfortable too!!!

Not a big fan of BA either so yup ... KLM and a stop over would be my choice!

and that KLM flight is a codeshare operated by Delta

Shudder.... Didn't realize, rarely travel in americas these days, mostly APAC su usually safe!

[wobert]

beanbag said:

Try Lufthansa. I'm not sure they fly from London but you can get a connection from somewhere in Germany.

Cracking service too.

I avoid BA like the plague. I used to love them and would go out of my way to use them but now they are down the bottom of my list. Crap service. Delays. Bad food. Always on strike. Bad customer service attitude and no appreciation for loyalty. That and they ditched Concorde.

Thing is LH requires two changes to get to Las Vegas.

Swiss are consistently voted a good long-haul airline, I found them average when I went to Chicago earlier this year, although they did upgrade me from MAN to ZCH.

Personally I would avoid American Airlines like the plague, have used Continental before and would recommend them highly - you can connect through Houston or Newark.

HTH

Robert

(72 flights this year!)

[Spudler]

jfrf said:

the virgin direct plane to that destination was an absolute pile of ****. old and battered with rubbish entertainment (eg to watch a film you had to wait for the loop to restart rather than watch at your convenience. sound was alos poor)
This was a 747 about 2.5 years ago

Just have to hope it was refurbished or a newer plane is in use.

On the other hand a virgin flight to NY was great as the plane was quite new

I can tell you its the same old pile of st.
Five times i've been, five times its the same old bus. Delayed by 8 hours due to breaking down in August.
I'll still use Virgin to the East coast but wont be using them to the west coast anymore.

[Puggit]

euroboy said:

I personally think LH longhaul is terrible (in economy anyway!)

They are pretty good in First

[BigS]

euroboy said:

Again I vote direct.

If not Air New Zealand are my current LH fav.

They fly LHR to LAX and then its only a short connection or 4hr drive to Vegas.

ANZ are really, really seriously good in my experience. And they are usually dirt cheap. We paid 350GBP LHR-LAX return P.P. last year and it was great, even in economy.

Another vote for Air New Zealand if not going direct, flew with them in cattle class to LAX in June and was impressed.

[Hub]

Spudler said:

jfrf said:

the virgin direct plane to that destination was an absolute pile of ****. old and battered with rubbish entertainment (eg to watch a film you had to wait for the loop to restart rather than watch at your convenience. sound was alos poor)
This was a 747 about 2.5 years ago

Just have to hope it was refurbished or a newer plane is in use.

On the other hand a virgin flight to NY was great as the plane was quite new

I can tell you its the same old pile of st.
Five times i've been, five times its the same old bus. Delayed by 8 hours due to breaking down in August.
I'll still use Virgin to the East coast but wont be using them to the west coast anymore.

I went with Virgin into Vegas from Gatwick, and then home San Francisco to Heathrow. The return 747 to Heathrow was a lot nicer than the one out of Gatwick (less tired with better entertainment system etc). So it isn't all the west coast that use tired 747s. I'd still go with Virgin regardless though.

[Puggit]

Virgin fly the tired old 747s on the holiday routes (ie Vegas, Cuba, Orlando). Business routes like SF or LA get the proper planes.

[Ynox]

I always fly LHR->LAX then connect with Southwest for LAX->LAS.

Takes a bit longer but it avoids the stag party special (aka the aforementioned VS 747).

As for carriers, I quite like United. If I'm in cattle class I get economy plus for free (as I'm star alliance silver) and I've never had a real bad delay. Least favourite would have to be KLM, did AMS->LAX once in a 747 combi (so half freight, half pax). Nightmare of a journey but at least I only paid £150 for my return LHR->LAX flights.

[Puggit]

• S gets bumped up on UA?

[Tallow]

I guess it depends on if you are flying economy or business, but personally, I'd go BA. As mentioned before, you get free booze (unlike cruddy American carriers) and even in economy they're only reasonably condescending...
If you do go down that route though, don't forget to also check prices with American Airlines, as they now have a full transatlantic code sharing agreement with BA, and might also be cheaper for the same flight, but just codesharing with BA.


Oh, and this is my first post after many years of lurking, so hello everyone!