American Airlines vs. British Airways

you should probably go to Flyertalk and get a sense of which airline people like better. I watch airline vlogs and unfortunately AA is no longer highly thought of, then again people have issues with BA.

If two airlines have the same flight times, they are a codeshare so it's the same plane. But you have to figure out which airline operates the flight.

It sounds like you don't fly often, Google Flights is where you should be searching it has all the info. Set up price alerts for a few itineraries and you'll see how the numbers vary, and you'll soon recognize what a "good" price is. You might also be working too far ahead, if you're getting fares they are placeholder numbers that are going to vary wildly.

And ultimately, if you're not comfortable, find a travel agent! They're hard to find but they do exist.

American and BA and partner airlines. So what you are seeing is as you mention, the same flight. It will also show you who is operating the flight. So you may book the American Airlines flight (perhaps you are American Advantage member) but the flight may still be operated by British Airways. That happens with lots of flights and lots of airlines who are partners.

You said you used google, but did you use google flights for your search. You can put in non-stop and see all the airlines that flight Chicago to LHR.

Congrats on your BOE tour. Enjoy!

At this stage google flights is probably the best research option. We’ve flown United, American and British Air. I really don’t prefer one over the other although we lean more toward United because we go out of San Francisco a lot to Europe. The price, well it just depends….

I am a reasonably frequent traveler ORD - LHR. I only book non-stops.

I generally fly United, but sometimes American is less and I go that way. I do not fly British Airways or do code-shares with American (this explains the same flight times you noted). Others may have had better experiences with BA, but over the years, I have dropped them from my US - LHR route. I do fly BA out of LHR to other European locations. My experience out of Chicago has just not been as good as with United or American. Others experience may well differ.

I have no idea what the price differences might be on flights/airlines with 1 stop (or more). If price is the primary determiner, you could explore that option.

I tend toward United due to frequent flyer miles/status. If that isn't a concern, I would probably go with the cheapest. There are longer flights out of ORD, for instance to Asia, where I would have many more opinions on comfort, service, and class before choosing my airline. LHR is not so far that those thoughts factor as much into my personal criteria for booking. (Money where mouth is - For what it is worth, I have two separate United round-trip ORD - LHR trips booked in the next 6 months. )

Make use of Google Flights and look at various flight scenarios besides non-stop flight to LHR. You may be able to find some one stop options that are much cheaper. Also, take a look at Icelandair with a transfer through Reykjavik to both LHR and LGW. Please comeback with more questions or thoughts.

British Air charges for advance seat selection. Exception is made for those who have status on AA/BA or another one world alliance member or if flying in first class. Seats can be selected for free when online check in opens.

Edit. BA seat selection fee applies on BA operated flights even if booked by way of AA or another partner airline.

Here's a direct link to Google Flights: https://www.google.com/travel/flights. There are some nice features. Play around with the website a bit.

One thing to be very careful about is the distinction between Basic Economy fares and regular Economy fares. Basic Economy will probably give you nothing except one of the least desirable seats on the plane; you will either be unable to check a bag or have to pay a lot of money to do so. Be sure you understand the difference and know what type of ticket you're about to buy.

I think we'd all urge you to fly to London at least one day before the tour begins. If all goes well, you'll have a bit of time to start recovering from jetlag and the likely sleep deprivation on the overnight flight. If things don't go well (flights occasionally get cancelled or rescheduled), you'll still have a shot at being in the right place for the beginning of the tour. If I were paying for a tour, I'd fly in at least two days early, but I have a very hard time recovering from the overnight flight.

I have had multiple bad experiences with canceled flights on British Airways, will never fly them again. I do like AA on the same routes, I won't fly on the BA planes, though. I have no preference of airline RE FF status, I look for the best connections and times, and I consider price, too, but that consideration is secondary. So for me, AA, Delta, and United all serve my podunk regional airport from which I connect on nonstop flights to Europe via Dallas, Houston, Charlotte, and Atlanta, so I typically have lots of choices and can avoid BA.

Given the these 3 choices with no blatant disparity in price, all non-stop, all departing from SFO, my choice is British Airways

United is all right, just satisfactory, nothing special. British Airways is nice, more than merely satisfactory, it's my favourite trans-Atlantic carrier. I don't fly American Airlines.

We flew American to LHR out of Miami a few months ago. It was perfectly fine. I would pick them over British airways both because you can choose your seat and because I find the websites of US airlines easier to navigate. That says, I haven’t ever flown British Airways except in Europe.

We bought regular economy (not basic) fares which allows you to pick your seat and check luggage (we still didn’t). Important to me, it also allows you to change your airfare without penalty. This time I played the game well and ended up changing my flight and getting a much cheaper fare. We used the credits to visit our sons in Denver.

Sounds like the AA and BA flights are code share. You want to know which airline is actually operating the flight. If AA is operating the flight then I would go directly to their website to book. If BA is, then you can weigh pros and cons of booking directly with BA vs code share with AA (additional fees, seat selection, who to contact if problems with flight, etc). Good luck!

You might also look at Virgin Atlantic's flights out of O'Hare

When I have an option between an American carrier and a European one for the same flight, I go with the European one. If there are delays or other issues with the flight, European carriers are obligated to compensate passengers in ways U.S. carriers are not.

I’m also in Chicago (well, near Chicago) and 2 months ago I flew to London on British Airways. It was fine. No better, no worse than any other airline (United, TAP, Swiss, Austrian, KLM) I have used to get to Europe in the last few years. So, I would go with British Airways and book on their website.

To give you an idea of price, my ticket was $921.40 including seat reservation in economy. I thought that was a bargain. I have paid as much as $1500 to get to Europe.

I would never opt for a connecting flight to save money. We have so many great nonstop options from Chicago. For me, the convenience of a nonstop flight is worth any cost savings for a flight with connections.

Any airline can have delays or cancellations. If we avoided all those airlines (all of them) we would never go anywhere. :-)

Enjoy the tour!!

P.S. If you need transportation to and from O’hare, I always use Echo.

https://echolimousine.com/

They are expensive, but very reliable. The drivers all have chauffeur licenses, so they are able to pick you up right in that first lane right outside the airport. Plus, as I often travel solo, I feel safer using them as opposed to some random uber driver.

Virgin Atlantic does not fly out of Chicago.

You might be interested in knowing something about how codeshares work. This is a good explanation:
https://thepointsguy.com/airline/what-are-codeshare-flights-and-how-do-they-work/

Codeshares can be helpful to travelers who want to maximize points or use status perks accumulated on the codeshare partner or traveling multiple stops. I'm not sure that applies in your situation. If it was me - which it is not, unless there is a large difference in price, if AA is operating the plane, I would book through AA not the codeshare partner BA. It just simplifies matters a bit.

This article explains the potential disadvantages of having booked a codeshare - especially if your plans change:
https://simpleflying.com/codeshare-flights-disadvantages-analysis/

(Yes, I have had difficulties changing arrangements when a code-share itinerary went belly-up. I've also had other instances of flying a codeshare with no difficulties.)

Here are a couple of things that send me to American over BA. I fly from Philadelphia. In otherwise comparably priced flights, in economy basic seats on American cost around $12-$13, while on BA they run upwards of $90 or so, and the left-overs at check-in may not be together. On the same routes from here, BA is flying either old B-777s or a crowded Airbus 350, while American uses Boeing Dreamliners for their service, and my body manages much better on the Dreamliners pressurizing to a lower altitude. Plus I have now had issues on the last 4 trips on BA either to or through Heathrow (flying American and connecting to elsewhere in London (since the second flight had to be BA, even though sold by American we had to be on a BA flight out of here) and problems with BA added to the problems of Heathrow.

FWIW, American generally has newer planes than BA, though BA are slowly updating their fleet.

In the (hopefully) unlikely event that an outbound flight is delayed, on
BA you would be eligible for UK261 compensation. But not on UA or
AA. On a flight leaving the UK, UK261 applies for any flight.

We’ve used American/British Airlines codeshares because it’s usually the best option out of our home airport (Pittsburgh). On one trip we found out that if you book Basic Economy with AA, BA doesn’t allow you to select a seat (even for a fee) until checkin. On the other hand, if you book with BA, you can pay for your seat upon booking.

Another thing we noticed is that the actual BA plane (long haul nonstop PGH to Heathrow) is very uncomfortable in economy. More so than the AA planes we’ve taken internationally. I think it’s mainly because BA has these metal boxes under each that, at least to me, cut down on foot space. We now try to book (and pay extra for) a bulkhead or exit row if we take BA to Europe.

There's a new Entry Fee to fly to England
https://iasservices.org.uk/the-uk-announces-new-fee-to-enter-the-country/

Not expensive, but one more thing to do.

If you or anyone traveling with you has any kind of disability, they have a special lanyard to wear at Heathrow that many staff members will offer to help and will get your entire party through immigration in the priority line (more like 20 people in line instead of 400):
https://www.heathrow.com/at-the-airport/assistance-and-accessibility/non-visible-disabilities

I follow the Points Guy on instagram and that's how I found British Airways is having a BIG sale. Don't book your flight this early, if you don't really need to, unless you find a price that's fabulous. Learning your options is the right thing to be doing this early, good job :)

No matter what search engines you use, go onto the actual airline's website, and book directly with them. Don't book through search sites, that leads only to misery and woe if you have to make a change.

I like British Airways, and also have a points credit card for American Airlines. With them in partnership with each other, it's probably a throw of the dice who has had a flight cancel from one or the other of them. No one's perfect. But yes, find out who is the real carrier for those flights that they both sell tickets to. That gave me trouble once, but I managed. There are good YouTube videos that address the BA vs AA thing as well.

I suggest to go from Heathrow right to Windsor to get the small town recharging/get over jetlag time, it's literally 10-15 minutes away by taxi, sometimes bus. But no one ever listens to me :) There are really Nice places to walk, nice shops, Travelodge was close to the castle and the river and one of the 2 train stations.
Or a hotel in Paddington, to use the Heathrow Express, when booked way early so the price is good. Takes a good amount of homework, but a nice area overall.

Good luck with all your planning!
-Alison

To add to what Aly is saying (just above), Windsor is a lovely town in which to spend a night or two.

However, the Rick Steves BOE (Best Of England) tour begins in Bath, so I would take the coach straight from Heathrow coach station (connected to Heathrow airport by hallways; just follow the signs).
The coach (bus) gets into Bath right near the train station, an easy walk to downtown (3 to 4 blocks). It's possible your tour hotel will be walking distance from the coach/train station.
It's been a couple of years since we took that tour, and RS uses a different hotel now, which is much closer to the station.

Go to Bath a day early before your tour begins, or two days before, if you can. There is absolutely no need to go from Heathrow into London and out again to Bath, unless you have your heart set on traveling by train.

About Windsor....if you have one or two days after the tour is over, Windsor is an excellent place to spend that. Lots of good hotels, restaurants, and you can take a taxi right to your terminal at Heathrow for you flight home. It's a very short distance....Windsor is right at the end of one of the runways.

About your flights....given your choices my own preference would be to take a short flight to Dulles airport (serving Washington D.C./Northern Virginia)--IAD--and book Virgin Atlantic leaving there to Heathrow. IMHO, best I've ever experienced.

Leave yourself adequate time in between flights, in case your flight Chicago to Dulles is running late.

Regarding acraven's post above with the Google Flights link.....that's a good place to look around and compare prices, etc.
However, always book directly with the airline you've chosen.
Never any third-party website.
You want to be able to communicate directly with the airline if you need to make changes, cancel, or if your flight is canceled by the airline & the airline sends you a text with your new flight information.

Do you belong to Triple A? AAA....They have offices in all major cities with travel agents ready to help you.
They can book your flights for you, if you wish.

If it was impossible for me to fly Virgin Atlantic to Heathrow, I would choose either American or United....in that order.

As to the better airline, regardless how that is defined or explained, I would choose British Airways any day over American.

True, I have hardly flown with American, which contributes to explaining my partiality for British Airways, with whom I've flown several times, always in the summer, always a satisfactory if not a down right pleasant experience, always out of SFO or OAK to LHR or London Gatwick , always in Basic Economy.

The best airline for the trip will be the one with the most convenient schedule for the price. Beyond that the odds of quality differences are pretty low. After all you are flying to be in Europe, not for the flight experience. Savey the money for Europe. Dont seat it. You can not do wrong on this one. Enjoy and have a great experience.