Return flight options from LHR to IAD

I would have thought that a big factor would be how long it takes you to get home from the airport. The shorter that journey is the later a departure makes sense and vice versa.

We have a couple options for getting home. It’s just over two hours from the airport if we are picked up by my husband or we could do as we did this last trip and drive ourselves there, park the car for a week, then spend the night in a hotel after we land, driving home home early the next day. That’s a more expensive proposition, and I don’t look forward to driving home in NOVA on a Monday morning. The last trip when we did this we drove home early on a Sunday and it was pretty easy.

For those of you who have taken an evening departure, are you able to enjoy seeing the sights, or does your inner clock cause you to have the sightseeing experience interrupted somewhat because you’re thinking about getting to the airport?

For those of you who have taken an evening departure, are you able to enjoy seeing the sights,

Not really. It is getaway day, and that dominates my day. I like to get to LHR up to 4 hours ahead of time, enjoy a meal, linger in the shopping area, have a coffee or drink...so even for a 5:05 pm departure, that will start boarding around 4:15 PM, I am leaving for LHR around 1 pm. How much actual sightseeing do you think you can do that morning without ultimately feeling rushed? And when you arrive at 8:20 PM on the east coast, your body clock is telling you it is well after midnight. The thought of additional couple hours of ground travel, in the dark, is a no go for me...

Personally, I can hear the clock loudly ticking down for my departure starting the evening before we actually fly, and I remain pretty focused (obsessed?) with the passage of time until I am at the airport, checked-in, with a confirmed seat assignment and boarding pass, and on my way to the gate or lounge. I would not be enjoying very much any sightseeing or other non-critical tasks on the day of my flight home: for me, that days is 100% consumed with critical getting-outta-there-cleanly and getting-home tasks.

There's also the question (thus-far unanswered, unless I missed it) about your "day after." Do you have to go to work the morning after your arrival? Got other important tasks to accomplish that day? Or do you get to sleep in, start doing laundry, and slowly begin getting back to your at-home routine? That would be a large determining factor for me - what do you need to get done on the day following your return, what time is your first hard commitment, and what kind of shape will you be in when that alarm goes off? Personally, I like to try and ease into life at home gently, rather than waking up early to an overloaded, potentially stressful day. But I know it's tempting to try and make every hour in Europe count (we start getting more aggressive about that in the last few days of our trip, not so much on our actual return day).

That’s kind of what I was thinking Jojo Rabbit regarding the arrival time. We’ve never gotten back that late, but I always wondered if we should have considered it. David, I am trying to be more “chill” about the transportation aspect of travel especially. Making sure about boarding passes, arriving on time, etc. It’s good to hear I am not alone! My two travel companions will probably take off Monday, so that’s helpful, but it does take all of us awhile to get back into the groove.

I usually fly United from LHR to IAD and I always take United’s 4:40 pm flight so I would choose the 5:05 pm BA flight. It lets me have a leisurely morning in London; I almost always go for a long walk and have an early lunch before picking up my bags and taking the tube to LHR . I live about 20 minutes from iAD and getting home around 8pm is not an issue for me. I prefer it as you can pretty much just have an early bedtime after you get home and it helps for getting back on schedule.

That being said, I wouldn’t choose this if I had a 2 hour drive back home.

One more thing. If you book a park, sleep, fly package at one of the hotels near Dulles, it might not be that expensive. Also, I often wake up really early (around 4am) on the day after I fly home; you could drive home early in the morning avoiding the rush hour traffic.

I also typically fly United from LHR to IAD and do the 4:40 pm flight, so I would opt for the 5 pm BA flight. It's nice to not have to wake up early the last morning of vacation. Last time we did that flight we popped into a pub near the hotel after check out and had one final pint before getting on the tube to head to the airport.

Dulles also felt less busy that time of evening when the flight landed as opposed to mid afternoon when lots of other flights are coming in. I live in DC so getting back into the city via an Uber or Lyft is much easier at night as well (a lot less traffic).

Unless you are getting picked up, I would probably plan to stay the night at a hotel near the airport after you land. A two hour drive after a long flight sounds less than fun. The roads on a Monday morning shouldn't be too bad.

Interesting that there are two of you that choose the United flights. We flew over on United our first trip back in 2022. Regular economy seats. I felt the seats were less comfortable than those on BA, but it will be over 4 years until this next trip. Maybe I should reconsider and look into their options again and compare them as well.

The one thing that came to my mind was that an earlier flight provides more options in case of irregular operations. If I know that there are still two flights the same day I feel a bit of security in terms of knowing that same day back up exists.

I just returned to IAD from LHR a week ago on Virgin Atlantic, leaving at 12:35pm arriving at 4:00pm. I also have flown that same route on United quite a few times since 2008, and usually chose a flight leaving around 12:30pm. With the 5 hour time difference, I’m still relatively functional upon landing. Also, if there is a technical problem with my flight, there is more flexibility to get rebooked on a later one the same day.

Mustlovedogs, I flew United to London for years because they used to have a daytime flight that left about 8:30am and arrived in London around 8:30pm. I loved that flight but United stopped offering it in 2023. However, I have accumulated a lot of United miles over the years so I now choose United over BA and Virgin because I want the miles. I’ve only flown BA on short haul flights in the last 10 years or so, so can’t compare other than to say that I have not had good luck with my recent short-haul BA flights (delays).

United has the following advantages over BA in my opinion:
1) A better change policy. The price of my flight this year dropped $193 about 3 weeks after I bought it. I rebooked and got a $193 United credit. There are lots of restrictions but I do expect to be able to use that ticket since there are lots of United flights out of Dulles.
2) You can select a seat without an additional fee.
3) With Dulles being a United hub, I am able to easily use my frequent flyer miles.

BA long haul might be more comfortable, but I can’t compare.

We used to fly BA from BWI and the return flight departs LHR at 4:30pm. Only once did we do any sightseeing (the V&A museum for an hour) prior to going to the airport and in the back of my mind I continually thought we needed to get to the airport. Now we get up, have a leisurely breakfast, relax, then depart for the airport.

While I like United, and flew to Madrid on it from IAD a few times, I find its prices to be more than other airlines. On those occasions when we did fly out of IAD we drove to northern VA the day before spending a night in a hotel since one never knows what the beltway will be like. The last time our flight arrived at IAD the normally one hour drive took us 3.5 hours to drive home, by BWI, since it was rush hour and because of all the construction between Tysons Corner and the Legion bridge.

Also, rather than parking at the airport for the length of our trips we found it was less expensive to rent a car for a day to drive to/from Dulles. By renting a car, your husband wouldn’t have to make the drive and you wouldn’t need to be concerned with somebody breaking into your vehicle in the airport lots.

We always fly premium economy for the extra legroom.

This is what works for me and I'm quite happy with it. Returning home, I like United 919 departing LHR at 12:15 and arriving at IAD at 3:15. I'll have a long layover. Then UA4473 departing at 10:15 and arriving at RIC at 11:23pm and then a car service home. And I'm expecting to walk in the house by about 1am.

I'm up at my normal time and take my time packing up. Check out of the hotel about 7am, pick up by the taxi by 7:10 and dropped off at Tottenham Court Road Station about 7:30. Arrive at the LHR station sometime around 8:15. Of course I'm slow, but walking from the train station to United's bag drop to & through security, gets me to the lounge by about 9am. Now I have a couple hours to sit down, have breakfast and coffee, scroll the internet, then be at the gate about 11:15 to catch pre-board.

When I land at IAD I use the mid-field immigration facilities. While I breeze through immigration I know things slow down at the baggage carousel, bag drop off and then security clearance. I'm not in any hurry, I'm not panicking cause I didn't allow enough time to make the next flight. Im just relaxed and do my thing. By the time I come back out into the C Terminal its around 4pm. Go the to C7 Lounge and relax, have supper, and lounge in a comfy chair while I scroll the internet. Again I'm slow so I leave the lounge to walk to the A gates that United Express flights tend to depart from.

This is my routine, I've done this the last four years and it works for me. I'm never rushed, nor panicked and it all clicks. My checked bag always gets to RIC on an earlier flight, this last time at 6:15. When I land I get to walk to the baggage office and pick up my bag and walk out, while everyone else is waiting at the baggage carousel for the next 20 minutes.

I'm up at 6am, at my seat in my regular café at 7 with my regular breakfast and coffee. Now I'm home, everything is in its proper place and all is right with the world.

The one thing that came to my mind was that an earlier flight provides
more options in case of irregular operations. If I know that there are
still two flights the same day I feel a bit of security in terms of
knowing that same day back up exists.

Bingo! Taking the last flight means any flight cancellation (which occur more frequently later in the day) ensures you spend an additional night in London. Caveat Emptor.

Hi, I think I posted on an earlier thread that I’ve always taken the 12/12:30 return from LHR whether United or BA. I live about a half hour from IAD. In my case, I’m usually going to work the next day, so I prefer that flight time. Also, the flight gives me enough time to have an early breakfast at No. 63 and walk to Paddington to catch the Heathrow Express.

Another breakfast option if you’re departing early and want just a coffee & croissant is Laurents Paddington on Craven Road.

I travel from London to NYC (not Texas- so not quite so far) about twice a year, and I always take the latest flight option (normally 7pm or 8pm). Not only is this more convenient for me to work the full day, which I acknowledge is not an issue for you, but I find it helps me basically eliminate jet lag. I arrive late (about 10pm or 11pm) and get in from the airport (noting I’m not driving myself), and head straight to bed. I wake up a little early the next day, and might go to bed slightly early that night, but I’m basically on NYC time by the first day. Of course you may have other considerations but I always go for a late flight.

Thanks to all who have responded. We are mulling over all of the options. The point about taking the last flight and having no alternative later that day if something should arise is a definitely one to strongly consider
as my daughter will have a pet sitter and having to add an additional day would add a hiccup or two. Also, it would cause the two of them then needing to add another vacation day. So…hmmm. I am thinking as of now I will stick with looking into either of the two earlier options. There’s really not that much difference between them in actuality. Maybe the 2:00 one would give us just a bit more time for a leisurely breakfast/ departure.

The point about taking the last flight and having no alternative later that day if something should arise is a definitely one to strongly consider as my daughter will have a pet sitter and having to add an additional day would add a hiccup or two.

I am retired now so a hiccup like an added day, while inconvenient, would not ruin my return. And this very thing happened to us last year, flight home was canceled, and we were very lucky to get on a flight the next day...sometimes the hiccup is a multi day issue.

But back when we worked, we always returned home from Europe a day early, to build in that cushion for a hiccup, or just to give us one additional day to recover before returning to the salt mines...