For me, the most important consideration on overnight long-haul flights is whether I can sleep in comfort. With BA and Virgin you will find flat-bed seats which go completely horizontal when fully reclined for sleeping. I don't believe United offer flat-bed seating on this route at this time.

However, United and Virgin both offer daytime flights which leave between 8 and 9 in the morning and arrive in London between 8 and 9 in the evening. I like these because, while it's true it makes for a long day, when I arrive it's bedtime and, with the help of an Ambien, I can get a good night's sleep in a real bed and hit the ground running the next morning.

All three airlines offer flat beds on this route. UA has one 777 flight and 3-4 757s. All originally from Continental, all have new flat beds.

We also really like the morning departures. Because of prevailing winds, the eastbound flights are usually an hour faster than westbound. By the time you take off, get fed, etc., it's often so short a time before the lights come back on for landing that getting much in the way of sleep is tough.

As opposed to the morning flights: by the time you've landed, gone through I & C and made it to a hotel (we usually stay at the airport since it's fast and usually much cheaper than going into the city) it's midnight or so. Hit the sheets and the next morning we barely feel the jetlag at all. It's much better (for us, at least - YMMV) than wandering around like a zombie for the whole day.

Check out www.seatguru.com for seat widths and pitch.

I don't think I'll ever fly BA's business class again. In order to squeeze more seats in, half the seats face forward and half face backward. Not my cup of tea.

Most of the flyers who've flown BA or UA's backward facing seats don't find it an issue.

I actually prefer BA's backward facing seats, in particular, in order of preference, seats 62 A or K which are exit row window seats upper deck of 747; seats A or K in the last row of each Club section both upper and lower decks of 747; seats A or K in last row of Club of 777.

In each case, these are very private seats, their own self-contained little compartments almost, with easy access to aisle.

I've flown all 3 (except the Virgin flight was out of JFK) and was pleased with the experience on all 3. Virgin is probably the most stylish and has some fun elements, like sleep suits (PJs) for the night flight, a bar on the upper deck, etc. And if you get to fly Bus Class back from London, the Virgin Clubhouse is worth the experience. The BA lounge at Heathrow is almost as nice. I found the seats on Virgin and United's new flat bed planes more comfortable than BA's Club Class.

The other factor for you to consider is your current frequent flyer club affiliation. Do you collect miles with Star Alliance (in which case, choose United), OneWorld (in which case, choose BA), or US Airways (in which case, choose Virgin)? (Actually, the main downside of Virgin is that it's not part of a major airline alliance.)

Love those morning flights. Much better than trying to sleep on a plane even with flatbeds.