We have American Airlines Frequent flier miles- does anyone have an opinion about the best time of day or of the week to fly from Chicago to London- when is it least congested, good seats available, etc. My husband and I will be flying from Peoria via Chicago, then on to London next May and would like to know the best time to plan our flights. Thanks so much- Melissa

You should expect every flight to be filled, perhaps except the 8:55a day flight - which you won't be able to get on unless overnight in Chicago.

Just pick whatever flight you can get using miles.

You can get from Peoria to ORD in time to make the morning flight - leaves PIA at 6 AM during May. We like the morning flights to LHR - you arrive in the late evening - get a Priceline room at Heathrow and the next morning you can hit the street running, usually with much less jetlag than you'd encounter with an overnight transatlantic flight.

You can see availability on aa.com, but don't forget that now you can also fly on British Airways from ORD using your AA miles, so the choices are wide open.

To see BA availability, just sign up for the BA FF program (Executive Club). Once you have a membership, you can see BA availability online. If space shows up on either the AA or BA sites, book the flights you want (online if an AA flight, by phone with AA if it's a BA flight.)

Note you can also use the same number of miles to get to London through other US and European gateways - Madrid, Helsinki, Frankfurt... umpteen really.

Just checking for arbitrary dates in mid-May, I can see lots of availability in both economy and a few days per week in business class, depending on your requirements. Economy award space on the morning ORD-LHR flight is plentiful.

I love the flight that lands late in the evening. You're tired from the flight so as soon as you hit your hotel room, you zonk right out. Set an alarm for a decent time of the morning and jetlag shouldn't be an issue.


Have fun, May is a gorgeous time of year in the UK!

Oh, there is an early flight from PIA. Nice.

Thanks so much for your great suggestions. We have been to London before in May, two years ago to visit our son and it was indeed the perfect time to go. Sunny beautiful days to explore all the sights. Since we have seen most of the city sights, we are hoping to see some of those located outside London. Our friends who used to live in London and travel their frequently also suggested arriving at night- our only problem might be that we are staying with our son and his wife and soon to be born new baby, and arriving at that time might not be the greatest- maybe staying at a Priceline hotel and then taking the metro to their house the next day would be the best thing. We will check with them. Thank you again!

We are leaving tomorrow on AA's 905am flight and its practically empty in the back. I think its like this as it doesn't get into LHR until 1040pm which is late. I would probably pick the earliest one so you can grab more seats to stretch out.