I’m in the early stages of travel to London end of February for about 10 days.
I normally use British Airways from Phoenix to Heathrow. As I was playing around on the British Airways website, I found that flying nonstop from Phoenix to Heathrow is more expensive than flying open jaw LAX to Heathrow to Phoenix by about $200. That included the price of a flight on Southwest to LAX.
I probably won’t book my flight until October unless I can find a better fare.
If I have the chance to fly somewhere non-stop, I always go with that option. In my market, that option is generally limited, though.
A reminder on an open jaw ticket that includes multiple carriers - if the flights aren't booked on the same confirmation code (as in one flight is on Southwest with confirmation ABCDEF and the second flight is on United/AA/Delta/BA, etc. with confirmation code GDU2BA), then if something goes wrong with the first flight you're not automatically covered if you miss the second leg of your flight since those airlines don't codeshare.
As long as you're okay with that risk factor, then this might be what you want. I've seen too many airline delays to risk it for myself, but we all have different levels of risk tolerance.
Hope your have a wonderful trip!
Check out flying Southwest over to Austin and then taking Norwegian Air Shuttle to London Gatwick (GTW). As Norwegian adds more 787s, they are finally reaching out to middle America. And their airfares are so reasonable/cheap.
Flying direct means much more to me than saving a few £'s. The hassle of changing flights, the worry about missing connections, the risk of baggage going missing etc all adds up and for the sake of $200 I'm more than happy to forego these issues and take the direct flight.
If you've found a flight buy it now, prices don't go down they only increase.
Not to mention the additional hours to what is already a long trip!!
And yes the most important issue is for problems getting to LA in the first place - which could potentially delay your departure to Europe.
For the $300 (or whatever difference it is, including the ticket to LA), I would simply fly from home. Any time you can minimize connections and travel time, that has a value in and of itself. Of course that each person weighs that value differently for themselves, so only you can decide what it is worth to you.
Thank you all for your comments, they are greatly appreciated.
After looking at the logistics of my initial travel day, I’ve went ahead and booked a nonstop flight on BA fro Phoenix to Heathrow.
"After looking at the logistics of my initial travel day, I’ve went ahead and booked a nonstop flight on BA fro Phoenix to Heathrow. "
I think you made the right choice. One has to look at ALL the logistics, including hassle and risk (like what will happen if there's a glitch or problem), and not just choose the "cheapest" option.
