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Flights to London

Make a stylish entrance

Population est.

9.3 million

Cheapest return flights

Time in London

• Premium Economy
• Business/Club

Young adults

12 to 15 years

2 to 11 years

Under 2 years

2 to 17 years

Book flights to London and beyond

Don’t forget your camera when you arrive in England’s iconic capital. Centuries of history and culture shape this city, from Big Ben’s towering clock face to Buckingham Palace’s royal postcode. Whether you’re ordering a pint at a pub that’s been serving visitors since the 1700s, hopping on a famous big red bus or catching a West End show, everything here is touched by time.

Fly to London with British Airways and discover how the past meets the modern. Experience the Changing of the Guard at St James’ Palace then watch locals zip along the pavements on roller skates. Indulge in a traditional afternoon tea at the Ritz before spending the evening exploring the bars and clubs in Soho. Fill up on delicacies and dishes from around the world at Borough Market, which first opened its doors in 1756. Book your vacation to London today and fly non-stop with British Airways or American Airlines, plus connect to 160 cities across Europe.

Cheapest return flights to London from Seattle

Includes taxes, fees and carrier charges.

• Jun 2024 $ 1863 Find  
• Jul 2024 $ 986 Find  
• Aug 2024 $ 762 Find  
• Sep 2024 $ 600 Find  
• Oct 2024 $ 600 Find  
• Nov 2024 $ 600 Find  
• Dec 2024 $ 600 Find  
• Jan 2025 $ 600 Find  
• Feb 2025 $ 600 Find  
• Mar 2025 $ 600 Find  
• Apr 2025 $ 602 Find  
• May 2025 $ 652 Find  

How many passengers? Explanation of 'young adults'.

London flight faqs, how long is a flight to london.

Your flight time to London depends on where you’re flying from and which airport you’re landing in. A journey from New York will take approximately seven hours, while Los Angeles to London takes around 10 hours and 30 minutes.

How many hours before my flight to London do I need to go to the airport?

You should go to the airport at least three hours before your flight to London to give you plenty of time to pass through TSA.

What’s the easiest way to reach central London from the airport?

We offer flights to three different London airports, so you can choose the one that’s most convenient for where you’re staying.

London Heathrow is London’s busiest airport. There are several options for your journey into the city, including the Heathrow Express, which takes 20 minutes to Paddington. The Elizabeth Line and Piccadilly tube line offer travel to other stations across the capital.

Catch a direct train from London Gatwick via the Gatwick Express and you’ll be at Victoria station in south London in 30 minutes. Or, hop on a Southern Rail train to get off at a stop close by.

Board the DLR from the train station just 50 metres from London City Airport for connections to the London underground network. It takes just 10 minutes to reach Canning Town tube station, where you can change to the Jubilee line.

What’s the cheapest month to fly to London?

London’s year-round charm has made it one of Europe’s most visited cities. It's very busy during the British school holidays, especially throughout the summer and Christmas period, when fares may be higher.

Is London cheap to visit?

You can easily adapt the cost of your trip to London to fit your budget. You’ll find accommodation at a range of price points, and the city’s great transport links mean you can choose to stay somewhere more affordable and hop on the tube to wherever’s on your itinerary. There are lots of free attractions too, including museums, galleries and parks.

What's the weather like in London?

London’s weather is famously unpredictable and can change quickly, so it’s worth packing sun protection as well as a rain jacket and umbrella. Summers in the city can sometimes be very warm so make sure to stay hydrated, and bring layers if you’re travelling at other times of the year as temperatures can drop unexpectedly.

Is it easy to get around London?

London has an excellent public transport system. Transport for London – known locally as TfL – offers connections across the city by both underground and overground trains, buses and boats along the River Thames. Lots of TfL’s services run until the early hours and some operate through the night during the weekends, but make sure to check before you travel.

Why visit London?

London really is an unmissable city. There’s so much to see and do, with a line-up of neighbourhoods to explore and easy access to some of the UK’s other historic towns and cities. You can tick off the Tower of London, walk the charming streets of Notting Hill and take a boat to Greenwich Market. From the buzzing nightlife scene to the long list of brunch restaurants on offer, you can fill every hour of your day with excitement or relaxation – it’s all to be uncovered on your trip to London.

Why fly British Airways to London?

Discover outstanding service from the moment you book. Choose to fly with hand baggage only or pick a price that includes a 23kg checked baggage allowance and free seat selection 24 hours before you fly. On board you'll find HEPA-filtered air, quality on-board catering and a warm, uniquely British welcome.

Simply relax and let us take care of you, every step of the way.

Economy class flights to London

From $ 432 return

from New York, October 2024

Our World Traveller (economy) cabin offers our lowest fares and is great for budget travellers. You’ll get a meal, drinks and full use of our in-flight entertainment system

return, from New York

Business class flights to London

From $ 2541 return

from New York, May 2025

In our Club World (business class) cabin, you can convert your seat into a fully-flat bed with luxurious White Company bedding, get access to private lounges, dedicated check-in desks and priority boarding.

return, from Boston

London Travel Essentials

Flight time.

7 - 11 hours

Pound Sterling

Visa requirements

If you’re travelling on a US passport for tourism, at present there’s no need to get a visa before you travel to London. Those from countries outside the US may need to apply for a visa in advance. You can find out more information, check your visa requirements and apply by visiting the IATA Travel Centre.

Baggage essentials

Economy (Euro Traveller) customers who have purchased a flight that includes checked baggage can check in one bag weighing up to 23kg. Business (Club Europe) customers can check in two 32kg bags. Families travelling in either cabin with young children can also check in one collapsible push chair and one car seat.

Our British Airways Galleries Club lounge at Heathrow Terminal 5 is a calm, tranquil haven. Ask for a nicely chilled glass of Champagne or help yourself at the buffet. Featuring comfortable sofas and armchairs and a range of amenities and perks. Turn the time before you board into time well spent.

You might also be interested in ...

• Flights to Belfast
• Flights to Dublin
• Flights to Edinburgh
• Flights to Glasgow
• Flights to Jersey
• Flights to Manchester
• Flights to Newcastle

Discover more of London

It’s a huge city, but first-timers with only 48 hours in London needn’t venture far from the centre

Classic London: a weekend guide

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Cheap flights to London from $127

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a momondo user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight to london departing on 7/19. fares may change, and may not be available for all flights or travel dates. click the price to refresh the search for this deal..

Deals available from 900+ travel sites.

Big names and deals

Filter for what you want, trusted and free, price alerts, london flight deals found on momondo, check out some of the best fares to london found recently by users on momondo, find the cheapest one-way flights to london, if you're looking for one-way flights from new york to london, view some of our deals below provided by delta, iberia and icelandair, search last-minute flights to london, find the cheapest direct flights to london, london flights insights and trends, explore insights for your london flight to craft the best travel plan, what is the cheapest month to fly to london, the cheapest month to fly to london from united states is in february. flight prices, which tend to average around $555, are often lower during this time because this is during the off-season. the month of april is another great option to travel to london, with average flight prices from united states averaging around $560., what is the absolute cheapest flight to london, the best deal found on momondo in the last two weeks was a flight to london from bordeaux for $21. this is 90% cheaper than most flight deals to london. to find the cheapest price to london from your area, use momondo’s airport-to-airport pricing tool ., see prices from:, what is the cheapest day to depart on your flight to london, the cheapest day to depart from united states to london is on a monday. travelers who choose to depart for london on a monday will often find tickets for as low as $621. if your travel schedule is flexible, try to avoid departing on a saturday because tickets tend to average around $639. these prices are subject to change though, so be sure to set up a price alert for flights to london., what is the cheapest time of day to depart on your flight to london, flying to london from united states in the afternoon is the least expensive time of day to depart. momondo users have found prices as low as $578 when looking at flights departing in the afternoon. flights to london are more costly in the morning, with an average ticket price of $653. departure times in the morning fall within the peak daily travel times, which is why tickets can be more expensive., how long does it take to fly to london, if you’re flying from a popular airport in united states, such as los angeles or san francisco, and flying into the most popular airport in london (london heathrow), then you can expect flight times to average 10h 15m and 10h 15m, respectively., how far in advance should i book a flight to london, most flyers found that booking tickets 30 days in advance of their planned departure date is the best time to get cheap flights to london. during this timeframe, flight prices are around $629. don’t hesitate to check prices now though because momondo users recently found tickets for as low as $581., cheapest flights to london, find the cheapest flights to london from your nearest city or airport, cheap london flight deals and tips, summary info about london flight prices, duration and airlines, frequently asked questions about flying to london, is there an alternative airport near london.

Finding an alternative and possibly cheaper destination airport near London is possible. If you are planning a flight to London, consider booking flights to London City Airport (8 mi from London city center), London Gatwick Airport (24 mi from London city center), London Luton Airport (28 mi from London city center), London Stansted Airport (31 mi from London city center) or London Southend Airport (36 mi from London city center).

Is there a cheaper alternative to flying into London?

With an average price of $93 per person, London Southend Airport is the cheapest airport to fly into when planning your trip to London. This price can fluctuate based on where you are flying from. momondo’s Airport-to-Airport Pricing Tool can help users find the best prices.

Are there flights to City of London?

Yes, if you fly to London Heathrow in London which is the closest available airport to City of London (16.0 mi away).

What’s the closest airport to Paddington Station?

The airport which is nearest to Paddington Station is London Heathrow. It is 12.4 mi away and is in London.

When did momondo last update prices for flights to London?

Prices for flights to London refresh daily.

How many operators does momondo search for flights to London?

As of June 2024, there are 109 operators available to choose from for flights to London.

How old do you have to be to fly to London?

The minimum age for a child to fly alone is five, but airlines offering an unaccompanied minor (UNMR) service may have their age restrictions, such as regulations concerning flight duration, timing, and layovers. It is recommended that you verify with the airline you are booking with for travel to London.

What documentation or ID do you need to fly to London?

The required travel and health documents for your London trip may vary depending on your itinerary and personal circumstances. As a general rule, you should carry multiple documents, including a national ID card or driver's license and a passport valid for six months after your intended arrival at London. We recommend that you seek guidance from your airline or a reliable third party such as IATA.

Why use momondo?

Why should i use momondo to find a flight deal to london.

To find the flight that best suits your needs, momondo gathers a range of flights from a large pool of different airlines and agents; you can then use our insights and filters to find and book the right flight to London.

Can I find flights to London with flexible booking policies on momondo?

Flights to London with flexible booking policies can be found by using the search form above and then selecting our dedicated flexible booking filter, which will highlight only the flights where this policy is applied.

How can momondo help me find flights to London?

momondo helps you find the best flight to London by providing filters to narrow your choice of flights to those matching your criteria. You can select flights based on numerous factors such as price, departure and landing times, airport and airline.

I’m not ready to book a flight to London right now. Can momondo alert me if prices change?

Of course. momondo tracks the price of London flights. All you need is a valid email address and we will do the rest; it is that quick and easy.

An easier way to manage your London trip

We make it super easy to schedule, organize and travel with friends or family. trips is free — and available to use no matter where you book., get notified when prices go down, daily price changes in your inbox - only with price alerts., find better results for your trip to london, complete your trip to london, cheapest flight routes to london, these routes have the cheapest flights to london found by momondo users in united states.

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The Best Ways To Fly to London With Points & Miles [Step-by-Step]

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Table of Contents

Best programs to book award flights to london, what you need to know about the air passenger duty (apd) fee, final thoughts.

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There are tons of great ways to fly to Europe with miles and points, and any number of redemptions can help you get from the U.S. to London. However, many of these options require you to connect in another country in continental Europe.

There’s nothing wrong with a connection, and they can even be fun when you visit an amazing first class lounge — like the Lufthansa First Class Terminal (FCT) at Frankfurt Airport (FRA) when flying Lufthansa first class .

That being said, sometimes vacation time is limited, and cutting down on transit time to pack in more fun at our destination is the number 1 priority. With that in mind, we’re going to take a look at some of the best ways you can fly directly to London from the U.S.

Let’s dig into some great economy, business, and first class options so you can decide how you want to book your next trip across the Atlantic.

When looking for ways to book award flights to London, you will want to keep an eye on carrier-imposed surcharges, as well as the miles required by the frequent flyer program you are using.

If you do that, you can get some great value out of your miles and points and visit an amazing city.

American Airlines AAdvantage

The American Airlines AAdvantage program will probably be the easiest option for booking flights operated by American Airlines or its Oneworld partner British Airways . You can search for award space on American Airlines’ website and complete the entire booking process online.

Book Awards With American AAdvantage Miles (Online)

Since American AAdvantage uses dynamic award pricing for its own flights, the miles required to book an award ticket may depend on your city of origin in the U.S. If you’re booking on British Airways, you’ll pay a fixed price regardless of your city of origin.

Award space on both American Airlines and British Airways will show in an award search on American’s website. The search results will indicate which airline operates a given flight, so make sure you confirm you have selected flights on your desired airline.

Additionally, if you are booking a business or first class award, make sure the long-haul segment is in your desired cabin. If you have a connecting flight, American’s search results will often show a domestic first class segment paired with an economy class long-haul segment, which would be a nasty surprise.

To search for award flight space, follow these steps:

• Visit American Airlines’ website .
• On the homepage, you’ll see a search box. Check the box that says  Redeem miles .
• Enter your flight information.
• Click  Search.
• Choose the flight results that match your needs.
• Check out and pay for the ticket using miles and a credit card for any taxes and fees.

Hot Tip: Need help booking? Check out our step-by-step guide to booking American Airlines first class  and business class .

Here are the one-way mileage rates for flights on American Airlines and its partners. The taxes and fees on a one-way award will be determined by whether you are departing from the U.S. or the U.K.

However, if you book an award ticket on British Airways with your American AAdvantage miles, you will incur significant carrier-imposed surcharges. While a round-trip economy class award on a flight operated by American Airlines will include about $184 in taxes and fees, an economy award on British Airways will require about $628 thanks to carrier-imposed surcharges.

This disparity is even worse when you book business or first class tickets. On an American Airlines flight, business class and first class award bookings will include about $301 in taxes and fees for a round-trip ticket. However, on British Airways, you will be responsible for roughly $1,745 when the carrier-imposed surcharges are added to the taxes and fees.

For context, consider the fact that you can find cash fares of around $560 for a nonstop economy ticket from New York (JFK) to London. This is barely more than the taxes, fees, and carrier-imposed surcharges that you would pay for an award ticket on British Airways.

When using American AAdvantage miles , you’ll want to make sure you are only booking flights operated by American Airlines. Business class and first class are where you’ll get the most value for your miles, but economy class bookings can be very useful when cash ticket prices are high.

If you don’t have the necessary American AAdvantage miles in your account, you can put your award ticket on hold for 5 days so you’ll have time to transfer points to your account. This process can also be taken care of online.

Nonstop Routes Bookable With American AAdvantage Miles

Ever since American Airlines AAdvantage moved to a variable award pricing scheme for AA flights, you’ll find terrible premium cabin prices, for the most part. However, there are a few dates where you can actually find cheaper prices than before this change was in effect.

American Airlines operates flights to London from several airports in the U.S.:

• Charlotte (CLT)
• Chicago-O’Hare (ORD)
• Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW)
• Los Angeles (LAX)
• Miami (MIA)
• New York (JFK)
• Philadelphia (PHL)
• Phoenix (PHX)
• Raleigh-Durham (RDU)

AAdvantage also uses a region-based award chart, so you can add a connecting flight from smaller airports to any of these gateway airports without increasing the number of miles required.

Earning American AAdvantage Miles

American Airlines has partnered with both Citi and Barclays to offer co-branded cards that earn American AAdvantage miles directly. These cards often come with a very good sign-up bonus if you meet the minimum spending requirement in the requisite time frame.

Also, American Airlines’ 2 transfer partners are Bilt Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy . Bilt transfers at a 1:1 ratio in around 24 hours. You can transfer from Marriott Bonvoy to American Airlines at a 3:1 ratio. Generally, it’ll take around 2 business days for these transfers to process.

We cover the large number of American Airlines credit cards available in our detailed guide.

Hot Tip: Check out our picks for the best London hotels to book with points for maximum value !

Air France-KLM Flying Blue

Moving over to the SkyTeam alliance , we have the Air France-KLM Flying Blue program . With tons of Virgin Atlantic flights from the U.S. to London, this is a fantastic program to book award tickets.

You might think of using Virgin Atlantic’s program initially, but give Flying Blue a look before you decide as it may have better redemption rates to London.

Book Awards With Air France-KLM Flying Blue (Online/Phone Booking)

Air France-KLM Flying Blue has a dynamically-priced award chart. The chart below shows the one-way mileage costs plus the taxes and fees that are required when booking awards with Flying Blue miles.

The taxes and fees required will be different based on your origin. If your origin is London, the taxes and fees will be much higher, as we’ll explain later.

Virgin Atlantic continues to grow its fleet of planes offering its flagship business class product with its new Upper Class product. It’s also a great way to redeem Flying Blue miles.

You will be able to search for award space on either Air France or KLM’s website and book right from there. If you need to transfer points to your Flying Blue account before booking, some friendly phone agents have been known to put award tickets on hold for a couple of days which leaves plenty of time for transfers to process.

Booking with Flying Blue is easy! Just follow these directions to get started:

• Visit Air France’s U.S. website .
• In the center search box, click the button that says  Use Your Miles .
• Click Sign In .
• Log in using your Flying Blue account and password.
• You’ll be redirected to the flight search page. Enter your flight information.
• Select the number of passengers and the class of booking.
• Click Find a flight .
• Select the flight that you want to book.
• Pay using your Flying Blue miles and also a credit card for any miscellaneous taxes and fees.

Nonstop Routes Bookable With Air France-KLM Flying Blue Miles

You can use Flying Blue miles to book nonstop flights on Delta from several airports in the U.S:

• Atlanta (ATL)
• Austin (AUS)
• Boston (BOS)
• Las Vegas (LAS)
• Orlando (MCO)
• San Francisco (SFO)
• Tampa (TPA)
• Washington, D.C. (IAD)

With its region-based award chart, you won’t need any additional miles if you are connecting from another airport.

Hot Tip:  Air France-KLM runs regular award sales for specific routes called Promo Rewards and has some other great award booking options, so make sure you check out the best way to use Flying Blue miles .

Earning Air France-KLM Flying Blue Miles

A major advantage of the Flying Blue program is just how easy it is to earn miles with the program. While there aren’t any American credit cards that earn Flying Blue miles directly, Air France-KLM has partnered with all of the transferable points programs.

Flying Blue is an American Express transfer partner , Bilt Rewards transfer partner, Brex Rewards transfer partner , Capital One transfer partner , Chase transfer partner , Citi transfer partner , and Marriott transfer partner. Amex, Bilt, Brex, Capital One, Chase, and Citi transfer to the Flying Blue program at a solid 1:1 ratio. Marriott Bonvoy transfers at a 3:1 ratio with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points transferred.

Amex, Chase, Bilt, Brex, Citi, and Capital One all transfer almost instantly. Marriott Bonvoy transfers take around 1 business day.

Our favorite ways to earn Flying Blue miles are through credit cards that earn Ultimate Rewards and Membership Rewards since both Chase and American Express provide cards with great bonus categories.

Recommended Chase Cards (Personal)

A fantastic travel card with a huge welcome offer, good benefits, and perks for a moderate annual fee.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred ® card is one of the best travel rewards cards on the market. Its bonus categories include travel, dining, online grocery purchases, and streaming services, which gives you the opportunity to earn lots of bonus points on these purchases.

Additionally, it offers flexible point redemption options, no foreign transaction fees, and excellent travel insurance coverage including primary car rental insurance . With benefits like these, it’s easy to see why this card is an excellent choice for any traveler.

• 5x points on all travel booked via the Chase Travel portal
• 5x points on select Peloton purchases over $150 (through March 31, 2025)
• 5x points on Lyft purchases (through March 31, 2025)
• $95 annual fee
• No elite benefits like airport lounge access or hotel elite status
• Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's over $900 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.
• Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases, $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit, plus more.
• Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Travel℠. For example, 75,000 points are worth $937.50 toward travel.
• Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
• Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024.
• Member FDIC
• APR: 21.49%-28.49% Variable
• Foreign Transaction Fees:  None

Chase Ultimate Rewards

A top player in the high-end premium travel credit card space that earns 3x points on travel and dining while offering top luxury perks.

If you’re looking for an all-around excellent travel rewards card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve ®  is one of the best options out there.

The card combines elite travel benefits and perks like airport lounge access , with excellent point earning and redemption options.  Plus it offers top-notch travel insurance protections to keep you covered whether you’re at home or on the road.

Don’t forget the $300 annual travel credit which really helps to reduce the annual fee!

• 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase TravelSM immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually
• 10x points on Lyft purchases March 31, 2025
• 10x points on Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $250 through March 31, 2025
• $550 annual fee
• Does not offer any sort of hotel elite status
• Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $1,125 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.
• $300 Annual Travel Credit as reimbursement for travel purchases charged to your card each account anniversary year.
• Earn 5x total points on flights and 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Travel℠ immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3x points on other travel and dining & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases
• Get 50% more value when you redeem your points for travel through Chase Travel℠. For example, 75,000 points are worth $1125 toward travel.
• 1:1 point transfer to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs
• Access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide after an easy, one-time enrollment in Priority Pass™ Select and up to $100 application fee credit every four years for Global Entry, NEXUS, or TSA PreCheck ®
• APR: 22.49%-29.49% Variable

Business owner? See our list of the best Chase business credit cards .

We generally suggest people start with Chase Ultimate Rewards because of the Chase 5/24 rule , but after that Amex Membership Rewards are a top priority.

Bottom Line: One clear benefit that booking through Flying Blue offers is significantly lower taxes and fees than Virgin Atlantic Flying Club for Virgin Atlantic-operated flights originating in the U.S. Expect to pay less than $200 per person compared to Virgin Atlantic’s ~$875 per person total taxes and fees!

All Nippon Airways (ANA) Mileage Club

Next, we have our first option in the Star Alliance . All Nippon Airways (ANA) Mileage Club is a great frequent flyer program from one of the best airlines in the world. Sure, a Japanese carrier’s loyalty program probably isn’t what you’re used to for booking award tickets, but don’t overlook this one!

Book Awards With ANA Mileage Club (Online)

Your Star Alliance options for flights directly to London from the U.S. are Air New Zealand (fifth freedom route) and United Airlines. While United doesn’t have a glowing reputation for its inflight product or service, you won’t get hit with carrier-imposed surcharges even when booking through a partner airline such as ANA.

The mileage rates and taxes and fees in the chart below apply to round-trip award tickets as ANA Mileage Club does not allow one-way awards.

The miles required by ANA Mileage Club for economy class bookings are competitive but nothing special. However, the miles required for business class awards are very good at 88,000 miles for a round-trip ticket.

ANA provides an easy-to-use online search function. Just make sure you choose flights operated by United Airlines or Air New Zealand. Otherwise, you will have connections in Europe. With some of these other Star Alliance carriers, ANA will pass on carrier-imposed surcharges, which can be steep if you are flying on Austrian Airlines or Lufthansa.

The surcharges are particularly bad on these 2 Star Alliance partners when you book premium cabin awards. So, not only will your journey take longer, you’ll have to pay significantly more to take the trip.

As ANA only allows round-trip bookings, you’ll need to find availability on the outbound and inbound segments at the same time. If you’re ready to search, follow these steps:

• Visit ANA’s U.S. website .
• In the initial search box, click the button that says  Award Booking .
• Log into your ANA Mileage Club account by entering your Mileage Club number and password.
• Enter your departure and destination cities, travel dates, number of passengers, and desired booking class.
• Click  Search .
• Find available flights and confirm the tickets by redeeming ANA miles and paying for taxes and fees using a credit card.

Hot Tip:  Don’t forget to check out some of the other amazing ways you can redeem ANA Mileage Club miles !

Nonstop Routes Bookable With ANA Mileage Club Miles

ANA Mileage Club can help you book nonstop flights to London on United Airlines from 6 airports across the U.S.

• Chicago (ORD)
• Denver (DEN)
• Newark (EWR)

If you don’t live in one of United’s hub airports, you can connect from your home airport to one of these hubs and continue to London for no extra ANA Mileage Club miles.

Earning ANA Mileage Club Miles

While not as easy to earn as Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles, ANA Mileage Club miles are relatively easy to earn . You can transfer American Express Membership Rewards to ANA Mileage Club at a 1:1 ratio and Marriott Bonvoy at a 3:1 ratio with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points transferred.

Amex transfers to ANA take around 3 business days, while Marriott Bonvoy transfers to ANA take around 7 business days to process.

We recommend looking into Amex Membership Rewards cards as there are many bonus categories you can take advantage of.

Recommended Amex Cards (Personal)

The Amex Platinum reigns supreme for luxury travel, offering the best airport lounge access plus generous statement credits, and complimentary elite status.

Apply With Confidence

Know if you're approved with  no credit score impact.

If you're approved and accept this Card, your credit score may be impacted.

When it comes to cards that offer top-notch benefits, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better card out there than The Platinum Card ® from American Express.

Make no mistake — the Amex Platinum card  is a premium card with a premium price tag. With amazing benefits like best-in-class airport lounge access , hotel elite status, and tremendous value in annual statement credits, it can easily prove to be one of the most lucrative cards in your wallet year after year.

• The best airport lounge access out of any card (by far) — enjoy access to over 1,400 worldwide lounges, including the luxurious Amex Centurion Lounges, Priority Pass lounges, Plaza Premium Lounges, and many more!
• 5x points per dollar spent on flights purchased directly with the airline or with AmexTravel.com (up to $500,000 per year)
• 5x points per dollar spent on prepaid hotels booked with AmexTravel.com
• $695 annual fee ( rates and fees )
• Airline credit does not cover airfare (only incidentals like checked bags)
• Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards ® Points after you spend $8,000 on eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Apply and select your preferred metal Card design: classic Platinum, Platinum x Kehinde Wiley, or Platinum x Julie Mehretu.
• Earn 5X Membership Rewards ® Points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year and earn 5X Membership Rewards ® Points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel.
• $200 Hotel Credit: Get up to $200 back in statement credits each year on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts ® or The Hotel Collection bookings with American Express Travel when you pay with your Platinum Card ® . The Hotel Collection requires a minimum two-night stay.
• $240 Digital Entertainment Credit: Get up to $20 back in statement credits each month on eligible purchases made with your Platinum Card ® on one or more of the following: Disney+, a Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Peacock, and The Wall Street Journal. Enrollment required.
• The American Express Global Lounge Collection ® can provide an escape at the airport. With complimentary access to more than 1,400 airport lounges across 140 countries and counting, you have more airport lounge options than any other credit card issuer on the market. As of 03/2023.
• $155 Walmart+ Credit: Save on eligible delivery fees, shipping, and more with a Walmart+ membership. Use your Platinum Card ® to pay for a monthly Walmart+ membership and get up to $12.95 plus applicable taxes back on one membership (excluding Plus Ups) each month.
• $200 Airline Fee Credit: Select one qualifying airline and then receive up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year when incidental fees are charged by the airline to your Platinum Card ® .
• $200 Uber Cash: Enjoy Uber VIP status and up to $200 in Uber savings on rides or eats orders in the US annually. Uber Cash and Uber VIP status is available to Basic Card Member only. Terms Apply.
• $189 CLEAR ® Plus Credit: CLEAR ® Plus helps to get you to your gate faster at 50+ airports nationwide and get up to $189 back per calendar year on your Membership (subject to auto-renewal) when you use your Card. CLEARLanes are available at 100+ airports, stadiums, and entertainment venues.
• Receive either a $100 statement credit every 4 years for a Global Entry application fee or a statement credit up to $85 every 4.5 year period for TSA PreCheck ® application fee for a 5-year plan only (through a TSA PreCheck ® official enrollment provider), when charged to your Platinum Card ® . Card Members approved for Global Entry will also receive access to TSA PreCheck at no additional cost.
• Shop Saks with Platinum: Get up to $100 in statement credits annually for purchases in Saks Fifth Avenue stores or at saks.com on your Platinum Card ® . That's up to $50 in statement credits semi-annually. Enrollment required.
• Unlock access to exclusive reservations and special dining experiences with Global Dining Access by Resy when you add your Platinum Card ® to your Resy profile.
• $695 annual fee.
• Terms Apply.
• APR: See Pay Over Time APR

American Express Membership Rewards

This is the best card for food lovers who dine out at restaurants (worldwide), order take-out and want big rewards at U.S. supermarkets!

The American Express ® Gold Card  is a game-changer.

With this card, you can earn 4x Membership Rewards points at restaurants and you’ll also earn 4x Membership Rewards points at U.S. supermarkets on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1x.

There isn’t another card on the market that offers a 1-2 punch like this. Of course, there are several other benefits of the Gold Card as well, including extra monthly dining rewards and more.

• 4x points per dollar at restaurants, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S.
• 4x points per dollar at U.S. supermarkets, up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases; and 1x thereafter
• 3x points per dollar on flights purchased directly from airlines or at AmexTravel.com
• $250 annual fee (see rates and fees )
• No lounge access
• Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards ® points after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases with your new Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership.
• Earn 4X Membership Rewards ® Points at Restaurants, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S., and earn 4X Membership Rewards ® points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1X).
• Earn 3X Membership Rewards ® points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com.
• $120 Uber Cash on Gold: Add your Gold Card to your Uber account and each month automatically get $10 in Uber Cash for Uber Eats orders or Uber rides in the U.S., totaling up to $120 per year.
• $120 Dining Credit: Satisfy your cravings and earn up to $10 in statement credits monthly when you pay with the American Express ® Gold Card at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, Milk Bar and select Shake Shack locations. Enrollment required.
• Get a $100 experience credit with a minimum two-night stay when you book The Hotel Collection through American Express Travel. Experience credit varies by property.
• Choose the color that suits your style. Gold or Rose Gold.
• No Foreign Transaction Fees.
• Annual Fee is $250.

If you’re a business owner, see our article on Amex business credit cards that earn Membership Rewards points.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Virgin Atlantic’s frequent flyer program is called Flying Club . One of the best ways to fly to London is to book Virgin Atlantic Upper Class . Specifically, its new Upper Class seats are flown regularly between New York (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX). You can also book Delta One with Virgin Points , but you can access better award availability on Virgin Atlantic’s own flights.

Hot Tip: The difference between redeeming Flying Blue miles and Virgin Points is that Flying Blue’s fuel surcharges on flights departing from the U.S. to London are much less than Virgin Atlantic’s fuel surcharges!

Book Awards With Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (Online)

Virgin Atlantic uses a region-based award chart for its own flights. Also, it employs peak and standard pricing. Here’s the standard award chart for one-way flights:

Here’s the peak award chart:

Here are the peak dates :

• December 10-31, 2022
• January 1-4, 2023
• March 24 to April 17, 2023
• June 18 to September 4, 2023
• October 20-31, 2023
• December 9-31, 2023

Just remember that you’ll be responsible for fuel surcharges in all cases.

Nonstop Routes Bookable With Virgin Points (Online)

Virgin Atlantic offers flights to several U.S. hubs and gateways. Some of them include:

Earning Virgin Points

Virgin Atlantic is transfer partners with Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy.

Amex, Bilt, Chase, and Citi and transfer at a 1:1 ratio, while Marriott Bonvoy transfers at a 3:1 ratio with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points transferred.

Amex, Bilt, Chase, and Citi transfer almost instantly. Marriott Bonvoy will take around 1 business day to transfer points to Flying Club.

You can also earn Virgin Points directly from the Virgin Atlantic World Elite Mastercard ® .

Recommended Citi Card

*The information regarding the Citi Premier card has expired and the card is no longer open to applicants.

The Citi Premier ® Card is an excellent option for anyone looking for an all-around travel rewards credit card. The card helps you earn points fast with great 3x bonus categories such as restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, airfare, and hotels. Plus, it offers access to airline and hotel transfer partners, doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees, and has a reasonable annual fee!

• 3x points at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, airfare, and hotel purchases
• Access to Citi transfer partners
• Annual hotel credit
• $95 annual fee
• Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou ® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Plus, for a limited time, earn a total of 10 ThankYou ® Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rentals, and attractions (excluding air travel) booked on the Citi Travel℠ portal through June 30, 2024.
• Earn 3 Points per $1 spent at Gas Stations, Air Travel and Other Hotels
• Earn 3 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants and Supermarkets
• Earn 1 Point per $1 spent on all other purchases
• Annual Hotel Savings Benefit
• 60,000 ThankYou ® Points are redeemable for $600 in gift cards redeemable for $600 in gift cards or travel rewards at thankyou.com
• No expiration and no limit to the amount of points you can earn with this card
• No Foreign Transaction Fees on purchases
• APR: 21.24% - 29.24% Variable

Citi ThankYou Rewards

Hot Tip: From walking and bus tours to shows, check out the best tours and activities in London .

Delta Air Lines SkyMiles

Delta’s SkyMiles program is often derided for the unannounced devaluations that tend to happen quite regularly, but there is still some value to be found in its award chart — which it doesn’t publish.

Book Awards With Delta SkyMiles (Online)

Booking your award flights to London with Delta SkyMiles actually gives you an additional airline option as Delta has an individual partnership with Virgin Atlantic outside of the SkyTeam alliance. While Delta does have plenty of issues as a frequent flyer program, you can search for and book award flights on its website.

Once you’re ready to redeem your SkyMiles, you’ll want to follow these steps to make a booking:

• Visit Delta SkyMiles’ homepage .
• On the homepage, you’ll see a search banner at the top.
• Check off the box that says Shop with miles .
• Type in the departure and origin cities.
• Choose One Way, Round-Trip, or Multi-City .
• Enter your travel dates and number of passengers.
• Expand the search by clicking the button called  Advanced search just underneath the passenger count dropdown box.
• If looking for business class, select  Delta One under Best Fares For .
• Click the red arrow button to search.
• Find the flight details that work for you.
• Select the flight, redeem your miles, enter the travelers’ information, and pay for any taxes and fees using a credit card.

We’ve detailed the redemption rates you should look for when booking one-way awards to London (or anywhere in Europe, for that matter) on either Delta or Virgin Atlantic with SkyMiles. The round-trip mileage requirements are double what is listed below. As with all other award flights to London, the taxes and fees required on the return segment will be significantly more.

While the taxes and fees are the same between Delta and Virgin Atlantic award tickets, Delta One is significantly more expensive than a Virgin Atlantic Upper Class ticket with Delta SkyMiles. Unfortunately, it gets even worse if you want to book Virgin Atlantic Upper Class within 21 days of departure. Once within this window, a one-way award booking will cost 195,000 SkyMiles.

The way Delta has set up its SkyMiles program leaves you with a couple of decisions to make if you want to fly in business class. You can spend the extra miles to try the fun environment of Virgin Atlantic Upper Class and its popular Clubhouse lounges, or save a big chunk of miles and fly Delta One.

To give you some context, the round-trip difference of 50,000 miles between booking Delta One and Upper Class is enough for a one-way economy class award to London or anywhere in Europe.

Hot Tip:  For some other award booking options, check out our best ways to redeem Delta SkyMiles .

Nonstop Routes Bookable With Delta SkyMiles

While it’s tough to trust that Delta won’t devalue its unpublished award chart without warning, if you have a nice chunk of SkyMiles , you can easily book a nonstop flight to London. For those not living in one of Delta’s hub cities, you might even be able to connect for no extra miles.

These are the U.S. airports with nonstop Delta flights to London:

• Detroit (DTW)
• Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP)
• Salt Lake City (SLC)
• Seattle (SEA)

Virgin Atlantic also operates several nonstop routes from the U.S., mentioned previously, that can be booked with Delta SkyMiles.

Earning Delta SkyMiles

Like ANA Mileage Club, Delta has also partnered with American Express Membership Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy. Amex transfers at a 1:1 ratio almost instantly, and Marriott Bonvoy transfers in 1 to 2 business days at a 3:1 ratio.

In addition to these options, you can earn SkyMiles directly with one of the co-branded Delta credit cards provided by American Express.

Because Delta tends to devalue its program without informing SkyMiles members first, you should only earn SkyMiles if you know what you want to do with them. This shouldn’t be an issue as you can earn Amex Membership Rewards faster thanks to numerous bonus categories, and they transfer to Delta SkyMiles almost instantly.

Hot Tip:  Check out our favorite ways to earn tons of Delta SkyMiles for more ideas.

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank

If you’re looking for the cheapest mileage requirements, look no further than our second Oneworld alliance option, Japan Airlines. There’s only 1 exception to this: when American Airlines has off-peak economy award prices. Other than that, Japan Airlines is the best option if you want to use as few miles as possible.

Unfortunately, Japan Airlines miles are some of the hardest miles to earn , which is why they’re more valuable.

Booking Awards With Japan Airlines Mileage Bank (Online)

As with the American Airlines AAdvantage program, you can use Japan Airlines Mileage Bank to book flights on either American Airlines or British Airways. However, you should stick to flights operated by American Airlines so you can avoid the egregious carrier-imposed surcharges passed on by British Airways.

Japan Airlines doesn’t allow you to book or search all partner awards online. Still, you’ll be able to search for most airlines, and fortunately, you will be able to both search and book awards online when booking flights on American Airlines or British Airways.

Japan Airlines’ online website is a bit clunky, so you’ll want to follow these directions very carefully to search for award availability:

• Visit Japan Airlines’ partner award booking page .
• In the top-right corner, click Log in .
• Enter your JAL Membership Number and PIN .
• Select  Round-trip or  One-way .
• Select the  Partner Airline .
• Enter your outbound and/or inbound travel information.
• Choose the booking class and number of passengers.
• Select the flight you like, redeem your miles, and use a credit card for any miscellaneous taxes and fees.

Unlike the other programs we have looked at so far, Japan Airlines uses a distance-based award chart that is broken into tiers. The number of miles you fly (you have to add each segment of your journey) will determine the number of Mileage Bank miles that will be required for an award ticket.

Below are the round-trip requirements for both Mileage Bank miles and taxes and fees on flights from New York (JFK) to London:

You can refer to this chart for the one-way requirements on this flight:

If you are traveling from the West Coast, Japan Airlines Mileage Bank will still have the best redemption rates, though they aren’t quite as good compared to award tickets from New York.

Additionally, because Japan Airlines Mileage Bank uses a distance-based award chart for partners, one-way redemption rates from the West Coast won’t be as good as booking with American AAdvantage miles.

With a distance-based award chart, you also need to remember that any connecting flights will add to the total flight distance used to calculate the number of miles required for your award ticket.

Hot Tip:  Check out other awesome ways to redeem Japan Airlines Mileage Bank miles for some inspiration!

Nonstop Routes Bookable With Japan Airlines Mileage Bank Miles

Booking one of the numerous nonstop flights from the U.S. to London on British Airways with Mileage Bank miles is a great way to get to London. The 1 caveat to keep in mind is that Japan Airlines uses a distance-based award chart for partner bookings.

As a result, if you need to connect to one of American Airlines’ hub airports, your award ticket might require more mileage. Make sure you consider the impact of a connection on the total number of miles required for your award booking.

Earning Japan Airlines Mileage Bank Miles

While the redemption rates with Japan Airlines Mileage Bank are often quite good, these miles are some of the hardest to earn.

You can  earn Marriott Bonvoy points  and transfer those to Japan Airlines at a transfer rate of 3:1. Plus, for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points that you transfer, you’ll receive a bonus of 5,000 Japan Airlines miles.

We cover the large number of Marriott credit cards available in our detailed guide

Hot Tip:  Take a look at our favorite ways to earn more Japan Airlines Mileage Bank miles .

United Airlines MileagePlus

Our second Star Alliance option is United Airlines MileagePlus . While it doesn’t have as competitive redemption rates as ANA Mileage Club, particularly for business class award tickets, it does open up different points-earning options.

Although you’ll generally pay a premium with United MileagePlus on business class seats, you’ll get the added benefit of accessing enhanced award availability on United Polaris class .

Book Awards With United Airlines MileagePlus (Online)

As we mentioned earlier, United Airlines is the only Star Alliance option to fly directly from the U.S. to London. While not necessarily the best product on the market, the lack of carrier-imposed surcharges makes United a solid choice when booking to London, so you can save some serious cash. United also makes it easy to search for and book award tickets online so you won’t have to worry about making any phone calls.

United Airlines’ online search and booking portal is one of the easiest to use. Follow these simple directions to redeem United miles:

• Go to United’s homepage .
• On the homepage, you’ll see a search box.
• Check off the box that says  Book with miles.
• Choose  Roundtrip or  One-way .
• Enter the origin and destination airports.
• Select the booking date(s), number of passengers, and cabin class.
• Click  Find flights .
• Log in using your  United MileagePlus number and password .
• Choose the flight you wish to book.
• Enter your traveler information and book the ticket with miles. Pay for taxes and fees using a credit card.

You can see the one-way redemption rates plus the taxes and fees in the chart below:

The 60,000 MileagePlus miles required for a round-trip economy class award are not far from the 55,000 Mileage Club miles required by ANA, but ANA (at 88,000 points for round-trip business class) is a much better choice for business class if you have the necessary points.

Hot Tip:  Check out some other great ways to book award flights with United MileagePlus miles .

Nonstop Routes Bookable With United MileagePlus Miles

United Airlines’ MileagePlus program is a great way to use Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book award flights to London. It doesn’t have the best redemption rates, but the program is easy to use and won’t require more miles if you need a connecting flight. As we mentioned earlier, many of United’s nonstop routes feature the newest Polaris class product.

Airports with nonstop United flights to London:

• Houston (IAH)

Earning United MileagePlus Miles

United MileagePlus has a big advantage when it comes to earning miles for awards, though. You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards at a 1:1 ratio, and transfers process almost instantly. Additionally, United miles are easier to earn, thanks to co-branded cards provided by Chase.

These 2 methods provide you with easy ways to earn United miles directly in addition to the Ultimate Rewards points you earn and transfer.

You can also transfer Bilt Rewards points at a 1:1 ratio to United MileagePlus almost instantly.

Lastly, you can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points at a 3:1.1 ratio. Also, for every 60,000 points you transfer from Marriott to United, you’ll earn a bonus of 5,000 United miles! Transfers take around 3 business days.

Hot Tip:  We’ve written about many great ways to earn United MileagePlus miles !

Bonus Options (British Airways Executive Club/Korean Air SKYPASS)

The above carriers will generally be the go-to options when booking awards from the U.S. to London. However, there are a couple of other interesting ways to book business class awards.

If you were wondering when we would discuss using British Airways Executive Club Avios, we’re about to dive in. Additionally, we’ll show you another SkyTeam alternative with the Korean Air SKYPASS program .

British Airways Executive Club (Online)

As we discussed above, booking round-trip British Airways awards to London from the U.S. will cost you a ton of cash. Unfortunately, that is also the case when booking with British Airways Avios, even if your flight is operated by American Airlines.

However, there is a special circumstance in which these high carrier-imposed surcharges might be worth it. To really make using Avios worth it for your trip to London, you’ll want to use the British Airways Travel Together Ticket .

This awesome perk is available to cardholders of the British Airways Visa Signature ® Card who spend $30,000 on the card within a calendar year. Once you have earned the Travel Together Ticket, you have up to 2 years to use it for a round-trip award booking originating in the U.S.

With the Travel Together Ticket, you can book an award ticket and bring a companion along for the price of the taxes and fees. This means if you book a round-trip first class award ticket on British Airways from Los Angeles (LAX) for 200,000 Avios and just over $1,800 in taxes and fees, your companion can sit in first class with you for no extra miles — just the taxes and fees. That’s 2 first class tickets that would normally cost at least $14,000 for only about $3,600 in taxes and fees.

Hot Tip:  For some more great ways to book, check out our best ways to redeem British Airways Avios for award travel.

From Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Newark (EWR), New York (JFK), or Washington D.C. (IAD), you will need 136,000 Avios to book round-trip first class awards on British Airways; from many other U.S. cities, you’ll need 170,000 Avios.

If you prefer, you can book a business class award ticket for 100,000 Avios round-trip from Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Newark (EWR), New York (JFK), or Washington D.C. (IAD). That price goes up to 125,000 Avios round-trip from anywhere else in the U.S., but the taxes and fees for each person will be the same as those on a first class award.

You can book your Travel Together ticket online unless you want to add a stopover or open-jaw to your itinerary. In that case, you will need to call British Airways to complete the booking.

With numerous nonstop British Airways flights from the U.S. to London, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding a departure airport. Just remember that British Airways Avios utilize a distance-based award chart, so connecting flights could increase the number of Avios needed to book your award ticket.

Here’s how you can search for availability using British Airways’ search engine:

• Visit the British Airways website .
• In the top-right corner, log in using your British Airways Executive Club ID and password.
• On the top ribbon, hover over  Book and click  Book a flight with Avios .
• Enter your trip date(s), cities, number of passengers, and class of service.
• If applicable, check off the box that says  One way only .
• Click  Get flights .
• Select the flight you’d like to book.
• Confirm the ticket, enter the traveler information, and pay for the tickets using Avios while using a credit card for taxes and fees.

Don’t forget that British Airways is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards — so you’ll have plenty of ways to earn the necessary Avios to ensure you have enough for an awesome award booking.

Hot Tip:  Check out some of the best ways to earn tons of British Airways Avios so you’re ready to book your Travel Together Ticket!

Earning British Airways Avios

Earning British Airways Avios is easy, especially when you consider that it is transfer partners with Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy.

Amex, Bilt, Capital One, and Chase transfer at a 1:1 ratio almost instantly, while Marriott Bonvoy transfers in around 1 business day at a 3:1 ratio with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points transferred to British Airways.

You can also earn British Airways Avios directly through the co-branded British Airways Visa card:

This card is great for British Airways frequent flyers, and traveling couples will find great value in the Travel Together Ticket.

The British Airways Visa Signature ® Card is a stellar option for travelers who regularly travel with the airline. From all of the Avios the card helps you earn, to a 10% discount off cash tickets, and the award flight statement credits, you can get tons of value out of the card each year.

• 3x Avios per $1 on British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and LEVEL purchases
• 2x Avios per $1 on hotel accommodations purchased directly through hotels
• 1x Avios per $1 on all other purchases
• Does not earn transferable rewards
• Limited time offer! Earn 85,000 Avios after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
• Earn 3 Avios per $1 spent on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and LEVEL.
• Earn 2 Avios per $1 spent on hotel accommodations when purchased directly with the hotel.
• 10% off British Airways flights starting in the US when you book through the website provided in your welcome materials.
• Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your British Airways Visa card, you’ll earn a Travel Together Ticket good for two years.
• Pay no foreign transaction fees when you travel abroad.
• Simply tap to pay with your contactless British Airways Visa Signature Card. Just look for the contactless symbol at checkout. It's fast, easy and secure!

British Airways Executive Club

Korean Air SKYPASS (Online/Phone Booking)

Korean Air SKYPASS is an interesting SkyTeam option for booking awards to London. It has solid redemption rates, but the surcharges on tickets are particularly steep (especially with economy class bookings). For that reason, we don’t recommend using Korean Air SKYPASS if you are flying economy class.

You’ll notice in the chart above that there isn’t a big difference in the taxes and fees on a round-trip business class award and an economy class award. While the taxes and fees for business class aren’t cheap, it’s not such a bad deal when you consider that the same seat with cash on Delta could cost over $4,000.

Delta operates nonstop flights from the hub airports discussed above. You can book nonstop award flights from any of these airports or connect from other airports for no extra miles.

Hot Tip:  Take a look at some other awesome ways to redeem Korean Air SKYPASS miles for a little travel inspiration!

You can search for award space on Korean Air’s website, but make sure you select that you are searching for a SkyTeam award (otherwise the search will only look for Korean Air flights). In fact, it won’t even let you choose the airports you need since Korean Air doesn’t fly between U.S. airports and London.

Once you find the space online, it’s easy to book. To get started doing online searches, follow this process:

• Visit Korean Air’s website .
• On the homepage, you’ll see a search box. Click the button that says SkyTeam Award to the right of Award booking .
• You’ll be prompted to log in. Enter your Korean Air SKYPASS information and click  Log in .
• Select either  Multi-City  or  Round Trip .
• Enter the appropriate airport codes, travel dates, and cabin class.
• Select the  Passenger names and click  USD in the Payment Currency section.
• Click  Find Flights .
• After your search is done, click the flights you’d like to book. Pay with Korean Air miles and use a credit card for any taxes and fees.

Earning Korean Air SKYPASS Miles

Korean Air miles aren’t exactly the easiest out there to earn. Still, Korean Air is transfer partners with 1 major rewards currency: Marriott Bonvoy. You can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points at a 3:1 ratio and unfortunately, it may take a while for the points to transfer. Sometimes, it can take up to 19 days to transfer the points!

Now that we have taken a look at some of the best ways to book award flights, we need to discuss an important aspect of booking trips to London: the Air Passenger Duty (APD) fee that applies to flights departing from the U.K.

The cost of this fee is determined by both your class of service and the distance of your flight. Currently, the APD fees are as follows:

Another increase to the APD is coming on April 1, 2023, for premium cabin long-haul flights:

Fortunately, these fees are not imposed on flights landing or connecting in the U.K. If you want to avoid these large fees, you can take a short flight to another country within Europe and book your return from there. Since the APD fee is much more manageable on short-haul routes, you can pay that instead of the long-haul APD fee.

Keep in mind that these will have to be separate bookings. If you book a flight back to the U.S. that connects in another European country, you will still get hit with the long-haul APD fee.

It’s no surprise that London is a popular destination for many Americans, with its rich history and ease of travel thanks to our common language. For those on the East Coast, it’s also one of the closest international destinations available.

London also has the benefit of being one of the easier destinations to reach with an award ticket. With tons of airlines flying nonstop routes from the U.S., you’ll be able to avoid connections in Europe so you can have more time in London and less time in airports if you so choose.

Even better, 7 major transferable points programs — American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Brex Rewards, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy — can help you get there thanks to their airline partnerships.

If you are booking an economy class award from the West Coast, we suggest you consider using 45,000 American AAdvantage miles to fly American Airlines during its off-peak season as you can easily earn the necessary miles through its co-branded Citi and Barclays offerings.

From the East Coast, using American AAdvantage miles during its off-peak time frame is still a solid redemption, but JAL Mileage Bank can book the same flight on American Airlines for 45,000 miles.

For those who want to book a business class award, ANA Mileage Club offers the best rate at 88,000 miles round-trip (one-way award bookings are not permitted) on United Airlines. As a transfer partner of Amex Membership Rewards, it won’t be too difficult to earn the necessary miles.

Now, as we discussed, taxes and fees for round-trip bookings are steep because of the Air Passenger Duty fees. This is especially frustrating for business class and first class award tickets, and even worse if you book on an airline that hits you with steep carrier-imposed surcharges (such as British Airways).

Even with these concerns, though, you can see that there are plenty of ways to book award tickets and save a ton of cash on your flights to London. Using the information above, you’ll have no trouble figuring out which option is best for you.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which airlines include carrier-imposed surcharges on award flights to london.

If you book a flight on British Airways, you will be required to pay carrier-imposed surcharges, regardless of what frequent flyer program you use. Additionally, if you book a flight on American Airlines with British Airways Avios, you will be required to pay carrier-imposed surcharges.

Korean Air requires you to pay the surcharges on Delta flights to London. It’s not a bad way to book business class award tickets, but you shouldn’t book economy class with the Korean Air SKYPASS program.

ANA Mileage Club passes on carrier-imposed surcharges when booking award tickets with many partners, but not on flights with United Airlines, so you won’t have to worry about that when flying to London.

What is the fewest number of miles you can use to book an economy class award flight to London?

Virgin Atlantic will usually require the fewest miles from the East Coast for an economy class award ticket, at as low as 20,000 points round-trip. That said, the taxes and fees on these awards are often quite a bit higher than other airlines.

What is the fewest number of miles required to fly business class to London?

From the East Coast, Japan Airlines requires 80,000 Mileage Bank miles to book a round-trip business class ticket on either British Airways or American Airlines.

To fly United Airlines, you can use 88,000 ANA Mileage Club miles for a round-trip award.

You can book an award seat in Delta One (business class) with 80,000 Korean Air SKYPASS miles.

What is the fewest number miles required to fly first class to London?

If you want to fly first class to London, you will need to fly either American Airlines or British Airways — they’re the only carriers to offer a first class product between the U.S. and London.

When booking with American AAdvantage miles or Japan Airlines Mileage Bank miles, you will want to make sure your flights are operated by American Airlines to keep your cash cost low.

Generally, the only time it makes sense to book a British Airways first class award is by using the British Airways Travel Together Ticket so you can get 2 first class seats for the miles of 1. You will have to pay very steep taxes and fees for each ticket, which will come out to around $3,600 total.

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Which day of the week is the best day to buy cheap airline tickets?

For both U.S. domestic and international travel, Sundays can be cheaper for airline ticket purchases. Fridays tend to be the most expensive day to book a flight. Booking on the right day of the week could save you up to 6% on your airfare, according to historical data*.

When is the best time to buy airline tickets?

Based on 2020 And 2021 global flight data for Economy tickets, prices usually start to increase 56 days before departure for domestic flights. When traveling internationally, prices usually start to increase 21 days before departure*. Keep in mind that this isn’t a hard-and-fast rule; keeping an eye on prices is a good idea when trying to find the best airfare deals. Compare fares across different airlines, and set up a price alert for your preferred route.

Which are the cheapest days to fly?

Analysis of domestic and international airfare prices shows that flying out on Fridays can be cheaper. Many travelers start their trips on Sundays, so your chances of a lower price are better when departing early in the week instead. Starting your trip on a Friday could be almost 11% cheaper than air travel on Sundays, so book flights online wisely*!

Which is the cheapest month to fly?

The cheapest month to fly can vary depending on where you’re going, so finding the best rates largely comes down to avoiding peak travel times for your destination. If you’re looking for cheap international flights , the most expensive month tends to be February, while the cheapest is November with cheap flights in November offering potential savings of up to 34.6% relative to February. Cheap domestic flights work a bit differently, with March being the most expensive and August being the least expensive with cheap flights in August offering savings of up to 35%*.

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Compare cheap airline ticket prices at a glance from a large inventory of carriers on Expedia. You can get cheap flights by staying flexible with travel dates, carriers, and nonstop/layover flights to get the best price. Insider tip: Become a member (it’s free!) to earn rewards back on every booking. We make your travel stress-free and source incredible airfare deals so you can sit back, relax, and start your vacation or business trip.

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Mixing and matching airline tickets and fare types could help save money on airfare to your destination. Easily compare prices for carriers, arrival and departure dates, airplane cabin class, and more when you book with Expedia. Booking your plane ticket on a Sunday, and departing on Friday, could possibly save you money* based on historical data. You can also filter for flights based on your budget, such as looking for cheap flights under $200 specifically.

How can I get cheap last-minute flight deals?

The historical data analysis of flight pricing patterns shows that you can still find amazing airfare deals 3 weeks prior to departure* when traveling domestically. International last-minute flights offer great deals 2 weeks prior to departure if you’re flying premium, but economy travelers may want to strive for no less than 4 weeks out*. Try to stay flexible with travel dates, airports, and nonstop/layover flights to find the cheapest flights on Expedia. Whether you’re planning a quick business trip or a spontaneous holiday with friends, you’ll have your choice of last-minute flights, roundtrip, or multicity flights on Expedia. You’ll find everything you need for your travels all in one place — and all at the right price.

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The cheapest place to travel can be in the same country, like Chicago. Flights to Chicago are fairly affordable no matter where you’re coming from in the continental United States. Flights to Las Vegas tend to be pretty affordable as well. While the Vegas airport isn’t a hub for any major airline, it does have plenty of competition to keep prices relatively low.

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Is it cheaper to buy flights last minute?

Flight tickets can be cheaper at the last minute depending on how late you’re actually booking, where you’re going, and the kind of flight you opt for. For domestic flights with Economy tickets, prices usually start to increase 3 weeks before departure, and 4 weeks for international flights, according to historical data*.

Are fully refundable flights available?

Yes, several fully refundable flights are available and will be labeled as such right on your search results page in green text. You may also filter for fully refundable flights specifically to eliminate all flights from your results that don’t qualify. Just make sure to check the specific policy for each flight before booking.

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HM Queen Elizabeth II: A Life In Flight

A look at the aircraft and airlines Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II flew with during her 70 year reign.

Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II has died.

During her 70 year reign, The Queen had visited more than 100 countries, with 22 visits to Canada alone. The Queen had also visited members of The Commonwealth 150 times.

Here is a look at the aircraft and airlines The Queen had flown with.

Princess Elizabeth’s First International Visits

The Queen’s first official overseas visit as Princess Elizabeth was in 1947, when she toured Southern Africa.

The Queen celebrated her 21st birthday in South Africa, which was marked by a speech broadcast across the Commonwealth.

On 8 October 1951, Princess Elizabeth and the Duke Of Edinburgh were the first members of the Royal Family to cross the Atlantic ocean by air.

They flew on a British Overseas Airways Corporation (“BOAC”) Stratocruiser aircraft “Canopus” G-AKGK from London airport to Montreal. This was also the first royal tour to start at the airport.

London Air Travel’s Last Monday Briefing For 2022

It’s a short bulletin this week to say this weekly feature has come to an end for this year.

The site will remain open and new stories will be published, but at a reduced rate. Activity on social media will also be cut back.

This is simply an issue of time due to other projects and commitments over the next few months.

Thank you for reading every week. If you are feeling particularly nostalgic, there are Monday Briefing archives from 2019, 2020, 2021 and this year.

Copyright London Air Travel 2022.

London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing – 29 August 2022

Welcome to London Air Travel’s weekly briefing on air travel around the world, as published every Monday at 06:00 BST.

Welcome to London Air Travel’s  Monday Briefing  on this August Bank Holiday for the week beginning 29 August 2022.

The Summer Comes To An End

It’s a public holiday today in England, Wales and Northern Ireland marking the end of summer.

A number of BA summer seasonal routes are now ending for the year.

At Heathrow, Newquay ends this Sunday, 4 September. Of BA’s two routes to The Azores, flights to Terceira Island have ended. Flights to Ponta Delgada end this Saturday, 3 September. Newquay and Terceira Island are not on sale in 2023.

Elsewhere, Pristina ends this Saturday.

Over at London City, a large number of seasonal routes come to an end this weekend. These include Faro, Guernsey, Jersey, Mahon, Quimper, San Sebastián, Santorini, Skiathos, Split and Thessaloniki. These routes resume between May and July next year.

BA’s franchise partner SUN-AIR restarts scheduled flights to Billund for the first time since COVID-19 next Monday, 5 September.

Back to Heathrow, yesterday BA ran a large number of short haul cancellations for November and December.

British Airways Launches Gatwick – Vancouver

British Airways has launched a summer seasonal new route from Gatwick to Vancouver.

British Airways has launched a new route from London Gatwick to Vancouver.

BA will fly from Gatwick to Vancouver from Friday 19 May 2023. Flights will operate daily, except on Tuesdays.

This will complement BA’s existing year round service between Heathrow and Vancouver. This normally operates with an Airbus A380 during the peak season, but this has not been scheduled yet for 2023.

British Airways Overnight Bag Drop Changes

Overnight bag drop is now available at both Heathrow Terminals 3 & 5, but only for flights departing before 10:00 the next day.

British Airways has, for many years, offered an overnight bag drop facility at London Gatwick and Heathrow Terminal 5.

This allows passengers to check in and drop off their bags the night before their flight. The service was reinstated post COVID-19.

There have been a few recent changes to the timings of the overnight bag drop facility and rules for checking in bags for passengers not present.

Flybe Launches London Heathrow – Newquay

Flybe will launch a new route from London Heathrow to Newquay on Sunday 30 October 2022.

Flybe is to launch a new route from London Heathrow to Newquay from Sunday 30 October 2022.

The airline will fly between Heathrow and Newquay twice daily on weekdays and daily on weekends.

The previous incarnation of Flybe flew between Heathrow and Newquay as a Public Service Obligation (“PSO”) route with funding from Central Government and Cornwall Council.

After its collapse Eastern Airways secured the PSO route – it now serves Newquay up to three times daily from Gatwick.

BA also serves Newquay on a summer seasonal basis from Heathrow, but there are currently no plans for this to return in 2023.

London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing – 22 August 2022

Welcome to London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing for the week beginning 22 August 2022.

Alan Joyce Faces Calls To Quit

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce faces renewed calls to resign from the airline.

Yesterday, Qantas offered AU$50 discounts on flights and added frequent flyer benefits as an apology for its operational performance.

Alan Joyce also appeared, sans a high vis jacket, in a video apology:

British Airways Suspends London City – Luxembourg

BA has suspended London City – Luxembourg from 30 October 2022.

British Airways has suspended its route from London City to Luxembourg.

The route, which only launched in March of this year, is suspended from Sunday 30 October 2022.

All flights have been taken off sale from this date.

BA will continue to serve Luxembourg from London Heathrow.

Passengers whose flights are cancelled can be rebooked on to BA services between Heathrow and Luxembourg. Alternatively, you are entitled to a full refund.

IAG Acquires 20% Stake In Air Europa

IAG has acquired a 20% stake in Air Europa, nearly three years after it first attempted to buy the airline.

International Airlines Group has acquired a 20% stake in Air Europa.

This is the latest instalment in a long running attempt by IAG to buy Air Europa from Globalia.

It was nearly three years ago IAG agreed to buy Air Europa for €1 billion in cash.

This was framed as a “transformational” deal intended to boost IAG’s presence in Madrid and make the airport a hub to rival Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris.

Much of course has happened since then. The original deal was first renegotiated post COVID-19. It was then torn up after competition regulators in the UK & EU made it clear they would demand significant concessions. This was both due to the number of overlapping routes and reduction of choice for passengers connecting to long haul routes via Madrid.

London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing – 15 August 2022

Welcome to London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing for the week beginning 15 August 2022.

“Sky High Club: Scotland and Beyond”

BBC Scotland goes behind the scenes with the staff of Loganair in a new ten part TV series “Sky High Club: Scotland and Beyond” starting today.

Like similar series there is a focus on human interest stories and a cast of recurring characters. Here’s a precise of tonight’s episode:

Robbie is the youngest pilot to become a captain in the UK. Now 25, he has the dream job, and Kirsten, his dream girl – but there’s one small problem: he lives in Edinburgh and she lives on the remote island of Shetland as part of the customer service team. Luckily for him, crew members and good pals Shannon and Karolina are on hand to organise a team day out, and offer some solid advice on long-distance relationships. Moroccan-born Omar has moved from the Canary Islands to start a new life in Scotland. He’s training to become a member of the cabin crew, and having made the big move to Aberdeen for a career with the airline, the pressure’s on to pass gruelling exams or risk having to take off again to another location.

All 10 episodes should “drop” on BBC iPlayer from today. This will be shown across the UK on BBC Three from this Thursday. A full episode guide is available from the BBC.

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James corden defends fellow passengers after nightmare british airways flight.

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James Corden stood up for his fellow passengers on a flight from Portugal to London over the weekend after a “chaotic” travel day with British Airways.

A woman named Vanessa told Metro the former “Late Late Show” host, 45, was the voice of reason for everyone else on board as he confronted the staff over the unacceptable experience.

Vanessa told the outlet that the plane circled below altitude for about 45 minutes after takeoff before an automated announcement declared an emergency landing.

“It was something along the lines of, ‘Gather your possessions as best you can, take off your shoes, and when you’re told to by the airplane staff, please adopt the brake position and when we land if you’re able, please find your nearest emergency exit and vacate the plane,'” Vanessa recalled.

However, soon after, “the staff on the plane assured the passengers that they would no longer have to assume the brake position.”

“Basically, what had happened was the flaps on the airplane wing which are supposed to go down when you are in the air won’t go down, which meant that they wouldn’t be able to raise them on landing,” she explained.

The plane, which took off from Faro, eventually landed in Lisbon.

Once they touched down, the passengers were all held on the tarmac for three hours before the aircraft was deemed unsafe for flight.

Despite the upsetting travel day, Vanessa said Corden tried to lift everyone’s spirits by laughing and cracking jokes.

“He walked up and down the aisles talking to people, and let everybody take a selfie with him,” she said.

“He was just really nice, he would have been well within his rights to sit and sulk in his seat like the rest of us would be doing but he didn’t,” Vanessa added.

After the passengers were finally let off the aircraft, the British star acted as the group’s spokesperson as he respectfully confronted the airline crew about how the situation was handled.

“We’re in the terminal and there was not a member of [British Airways] staff to be found,” she recalled. “And they put us in immigration queues. And there was just no one there telling us what was going on.”

According to Vanessa, the comedian was the one who told the flight staff that they were in the wrong place — and they immediately directed everyone to the right area.

Photos from the incident show the “Cats” actor speaking with the airline employees as his fellow passengers flanked him on each side.

However, the group was then told that only club flyers or gold flyers would get free hotel rooms for the night. Corden, who qualified for the comped room, once again rushed to the defense of his fellow passengers.

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“James was a club flyer and he stood there, and was like, ‘What about all these people who’ve got all these kids with them?’ like saying that’s not acceptable. It’s not right,” Vanessa recalled.

While it’s unclear if his pleas worked, the passengers arrived at the airport the following day and were greeted by an equally charming version of Corden.

“We were told to turn up at 9:30 for a flight which actually was again delayed by over two hours and James Corden stood in the same queue as everybody else, doing the same things as everybody else did,” she said.

“I saw him let women and children in front of him,” Vanessa continued. “He was a really nice guy both times.”

While Vanessa had nothing but great things to say about the comedian, he has been blasted several times in the past for allegedly rude behavior.

In April 2023, one of Corden’s former TV directors called him one of the “most difficult” and “obnoxious” people he has worked with.

Less than six months earlier, Mel B also labeled the former late-night host as the “biggest d–khead” in Hollywood when asked to list the worst celebrities she had ever met.

“I think you always have to be nice to the people that you work with, whether it be production, camera guys, sound, lighting,” the former Spice Girl said of the comedian.

“We all work for the same thing, so you should always be nice and he hasn’t been very nice.”

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Where to stay in London

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Taylor Swift fan headed to Lyon for Eras Tour is turned away from overbooked British Airways flight

“As soon as I got the tickets I booked my flight to Lyon” – so says Taylor Swift fan Megan Ridout. In July 2023 she scored tickets for herself and her sister to the singer’s Eras gig in Lyon on 1 June this year.

Then she snapped up a bargain £91 return flight from London Heathrow to the southern French city. The morning departure was due to reach Lyon at 10.30am.

“That was going to give me time to fly to Lyon with my sister, get settled in, have some lunch, do a bit of shopping,” said Megan.

Between booking the tickets and the weekend of the concert, Megan gave birth to a boy, now eight months old, named Joel. Ahead of leaving him for the first time alone with her husband, she spent a month organising Joel’s care.

“There was a real lot riding on this trip,” says Megan, a 25-year-old Masters student.

She travelled from her home in Warrington to London Heathrow for the flight she had booked.

But before she arrived at the airport it became clear that there might be a problem. Megan could not check in online the night before, so she arrived extra early to check in at a kiosk. When that failed too, she went to a desk.

“They said: ‘The reason you can’t check in is because the flight is overbooked and there are no seats left.’”

British Airways had sold more tickets for flight BA360 than there were seats available. Megan was selected to be offloaded, even though the rules say that volunteers should be sought.

Megan was sent to the departure gate with a temporary boarding pass to see if she would be able to travel. Her sister, who had not been offloaded, was able to board the plane.

As Megan waited at the gate it looked as though there would be space, because two other passengers had failed to turn up. But just as the gate had closed and a transfer bus set off for the aircraft, the hope crumbled.

“Two girls ran to the gate, saying ‘Please, please, please let us on the plane’.

“They reopened the gate for them and let them on. The bus circled back round for them.

“I was stood there, ready to leave, on time for this flight. I was not allowed on the plane, so that was very frustrating.”

Megan was sent to customer service, and assigned a seat on a later British Airways flight that arrived in Lyon at 8pm – an hour after the concert began.

She explained that the replacement flight would get her to France too late for the event she had been anticipating for almost a year.

Ground staff finally agreed to book her on a BA flight to Marseille, with a connection on Air France to Lyon.

The British Airways flight arrived late. But Air France ground staff in Marseille reopened check-in for her, and rushed her through the airport to make the onward connection.

“Air France were just brilliant – I was so pleased with them,” Megan says.

“I landed at Lyon at 4.15pm and did make it in time for the concert.

“I was in Lyon for less than 24 hours. So I basically went to the concert, went to sleep and got on a flight back to Heathrow, which was not what I was hoping for from the trip.”

Even the journey back was stressful. Megan says she was told: “You’ve been kicked off tomorrow’s flight which is also overbooked – to which I said, I need to come back, my husband has to go to work.”

Eventually she was allowed to travel, but vows: “I won’t be flying with British Airways again – unless I have to.”

Airlines often sell more tickets for a flight than there are seats available. But if everyone turns up, air passengers’ rights rules require the carrier to appeal for volunteers, offering cash or tickets for future travel to persuade them to offload.

This did not happen, and Megan was simply told she could not travel as booked.

She is entitled to denied boarding compensation of £220, as well as the cost of lunch during the six-hour delay getting her to her destination.

A spokesperson for British Airways said: “We’re sorry for our customer’s experience and the delay to their journey. We are in contact with them to put things right.”

The Independent is the world’s most free-thinking news brand, providing global news, commentary and analysis for the independently-minded. We have grown a huge, global readership of independently minded individuals, who value our trusted voice and commitment to positive change. Our mission, making change happen, has never been as important as it is today.

Air travel has gone to the dogs — literally. Here’s what to know about BARK Air

BARK Air officially launched this week, completing its first flight from New York to Los Angeles on Thursday. It also flies to London and aims to add more routes in the coming months.

Joe Gall / BARK

Flying with your dog in first class may sound like a far-fetched dream for many pet lovers. But a new boutique airline launching this week aims to make the “white paw experience” a reality.

BARK Air describes itself as “the world’s first air travel experience designed specifically for dogs first, and their human companions second.”

"BARK Air has taken the white glove experience typical of a human's first-class experience and redirected all that pampering to pooches – from booking to arrival, to in-flight services and disembarkation, dogs will truly be the VIPs and treated to a positively luxurious, curated experience," it said in an announcement last month .

BARK Air officially got off the ground on Wednesday afternoon, when its inaugural flight ferried six dogs of varying breeds — from Chihuahuas to a Golden Retriever — and 11 humans (both passengers and crew) from New York to Los Angeles.

The Very Important Pups were treated to chicken-flavored puppuccinos, special cupcakes and a shoe — on a platter — to snack on, according to BARK Chief of Staff Katharine Enos. She told NPR over email that there was “no drama on board.”

“Brooklyn (dachshund) and Eddy (golden) [were] friends and played and the little dogs took nice long naps most of the way,” she added. “After lunch it was nap time for everyone. No potty accidents on board or stolen food either! Everyone felt connected in the way we were obsessed with our dogs.”

Introducing BARK Air: A 100% totally real airline for dogs. We're dog people, and we are tired of there being no truly dog-friendly options when it comes to air travel. Now booking the best-in-class dog focused flight imaginable at https://t.co/eZqVYMC5W3 pic.twitter.com/bzcY2rSO4h — BARK (@bark) April 11, 2024

The airline is a subsidiary of BARK, the company behind dog-focused brands like the subscription service BarkBox. Co-founder and CEO Matt Meeker says he’s been working towards this idea for over a decade.

He was inspired by his late Great Dane Hugo, who traveled with him often but could never fit on a plane — like many non-lap dogs, Hugo would have had to fly in the cargo area rather than the cabin. (Meeker even flew from Florida to New York in a cargo crate to show how disorienting that experience can be, as part of Bark Air's promotional campaign.)

Many airlines have tightened restrictions for emotional support animals on board in recent years. The logistics and cost of travel can be a highly emotional issue for many families who don't want to leave their dogs behind when relocating, let alone vacationing, Meeker says.

“We don't think of ourselves as selling dog toys or seats on an airline,” Meeker told NPR in a phone interview. “We think of ourselves as selling awesome emotional experiences with your dog.”

It’s also an expensive one: BARK Air flights between New York and LA cost $6,000 for one dog and one human (or one human and two dogs collectively under 50 pounds) in each direction, and one-way flights between New York and London go for $8,000.

Potential customers were quick to bemoan the cost, with one social media user joking that her pup would need to start selling “paw pics” to make it work.

Meeker acknowledged that “the price is high, and it’s too high.” But he said innovations, especially related to transportation, often become less expensive over time — and he hopes that will be the case with BARK Air, too.

“We have pretty clear ways of bringing those prices down if the demand is there, and that’s what we aim to do,” he added. “We want to make this affordable and accessible for as many dogs as possible.”

The airline aims to pamper passengers, both pups and people

The airline doesn't have dog size or breed restrictions but only allows humans over age 18 (or 126 in dog years).

On BARK Air, the drinks come in bowls, leashes replace seat belts, champagne is made of chicken broth and the bathroom is, well, anywhere.

“When they feel they need to go, they go,” Meeker said of the dog. “And then we clean up after them. And then we clean the plane between every turn.”

It’s one of the many unique perks — and logistical challenges — of an airline for dogs. BARK has partnered with a New York-based charter company called Talon Air, which provides the pilots, flight crew and plane, a Gulfstream V.

The jets accommodate 14 human passengers, but BARK is capping them at 10 to offer extra space. Meeker says it aims to make the experience as comfortable as possible for dogs, starting “even before the flight.”

BARK Air will do a “pup intake” to learn about the dogs’ temperament and preferences. On the day of the flight, humans are advised to show up an hour early to the terminal, where they’ll present their ID and walk straight onto the plane.

“And so what we've bypassed there is a busy commercial airport and a very rigid TSA environment, and treating the dog as just another piece of luggage,” Meeker said.

Dogs and humans get served their meals — and stow away their toys — before the flight takes off to avoid potential territorial disputes. Once in the air, dogs are offered perks like a spa treatment and blankets covered with pheromones for extra comfort. Meeker says the in-flight crew is trained in dog CPR and “fear-free behavioral practices.”

The airline has no dog size or breed restrictions, but humans must be over 18 (aka 126 in dog years). Once on board, humans are advised to keep their dogs leashed as much as possible and ask before approaching others’.

Meeker, who traveled with his dog on two recent test flights between Florida and New York, says people hoped the dogs would misbehave for purposes of the experiment — but they did anything but, even during moments of “pretty significant turbulence.”

“They calmed everyone down, they floated around, they'd take someone’s seat,” he said. “A strange dog, like, not your dog, would wander up, sit on the couch next to you, put their head in your lap, and it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s great.’ ”

He added, “I don’t know why I’m surprised by this, but the dogs made it magical.”

Demand already appears to be taking off

BARK Air is partnering with charter company Talon Air to offer several flights per month. Some are already sold out for June and July.

Meeker said the initial reaction to BARK Air’s launch has been “really overwhelming and positive.”

BARK Air is offering about four round-trip cross-country flights a month, with several already sold out for June and July. It’s already planning to expand its routes, starting with a New York to Paris trip beginning in the fall.

“About a third of people apparently buy their air travel six months in advance,” he said. “So we just published our schedule through the end of the year in order to serve that crowd better.”

The airline is soliciting requests for additional destinations, and Meeker said it received over 15,000 in the first week alone.

They’ve heard from military families who are moving, people who travel for business and New Yorkers spending summers outside the city — all of whom want their dogs there too. Meeker also noted significant demand from snowbirds who want to go south with their dogs for the winter and many requests for flights in and out of Chicago.

“We're just processing that information and choosing the dates, and we're learning a lot,” he added.

He hopes the forthcoming data will allow the company to make more cost-effective decisions soon.

“We’re probably doing this the most expensive way we could, which is chartering a private plane from a private owner,” he explained.

The next step would be to make a longer commitment with the charter company, leasing the plane for a month or even a year to bring down costs. Even better would be buying and outfitting a plane. Meeker has his eye on a Boeing 747 model with a back half dedicated to cargo that could serve as an additional source of revenue.

He says this team already has a design that would feature private cabins with lay-flat beds, a central “dog park” and a bar, for dog and human socializing, respectively.

“That’s the dream,” he added. “But it’ll take a little bit of time to get there.”

Copyright 2024 NPR

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