Best Coach Seats to London
 

We are senior sitizens flying from the US west coast. Are there any airlines that are better for coach legroom and seat size? How 'bout those that are worst?! We also want to be able to make seat assignments upon ticketing. Probably will be connecting in ORD, DFW, or SFO. Or maybe the Continental flight from Newark to Bristol. Thanks.

Although we've been using FF miles fly Business to Europe, I was pleasantly surprised when we made a return in coach on American. I was amazed at how much more legroom there is than on their domestic flights.

Incidentally, yesterday I got a message from American about specials to both London and Paris (around $500 each) as late as the end of May and returns in either June or July. Not sure if they're doing that from other cities or not.

I have heard some say that United Economy plus had more legroom than anticipated.

if you know which airlines you could check seat maps at seatguru.com although all you'll get there is the pitch as opposed to the actual legroom measurements.

Have you looked at www.airlinequality.com?

American are supposed to have the most leg room in coach.

I also agree that American has the most leg room. We just returned from London on Delta and out of the three U.S. airlines that we've taken to London I would choose American hands down for leg room, food, entertainment. Delta the worst.

The front half of the coach seats on USAirways new Airbus 330 is, according to SeatGuru, equipped with 2 inches more legroom than in the back half. I'm flying it Charlotte to Gatwick in two weeks, so I'll post back and let you know.

Continental uses single-aisle 737 and 757 for its transcon from West Coast to EWR, and 757 EWR-BRS. Tight 31" pitch.

It's not going to be comfortable, but if you're going to SW England, the benefit of flying into Bristol over London may offset all of those disadvantages.

If you want a lot of legroom, pay extra and fly premium economy on BA, Virgin and Air Newzealand to London. Better seats and better food/amenities. UA's "economy plus" is reserved for its elite FF members and full-fare coach passengers. It's just regular coach seats with extra legroom. Nothing else.

I cna tell you from personal experience that flying in Premium Economy on Virgin does <b>NOT</b> get you &quot;better food.&quot; the food is the same as in the Economy section but there is more leg room and you do get a pre-flight beverage served (one only).

Air New Zealand's 747 between LA and London has 34&quot; pitch in regular economy (supposedly, according to seatguru; I've not personally flown it). That's probably about as good as you're going to find in regular economy on any airline flying between the west coast and London.

rkkwan--UA no longer allows full-fare passengers to reserve E+, or Star Alliance gold/silver either; only UA elites and paid E+ Access.

I thought AA flights to London on the 777s were about as comfortable as you can get in coach.

Traveler Plus on BA offers more legroom for extra money. However, the seats are not any wider (or at least not much) and are the type in which the arm rests are built in and cannot be raised.

If available, UA economy plus can sometimes be purchased at check in, but there are no guarantees. If OP can fly out of LAX, I would also recommend the direct flight to London on Air New Zealand - extra leg room (compared to most US carriers), decent food and service.

Air NZ offers the best transatlantic coach product from LAX, period. More legroom, better service... no contest.

If you have the time, another alternative that involves no better seat comfort, but considerably better (IMO) overall comfort is to fly on day one to Chicago, Boston, or New York, stay at an airport hotel (Boston or Chicago have cheap Priceline hotels all the time - less predictable at JFK) and then take one of the morning flights to London the next day, arriving in London at dinnertime. Two 5 - 6 hour flights, and no &quot;sleeping on planes&quot; hoohah makes for a much more enjoyable trip (again, IMO.) The daylight flights eastbound also really eliminate 90% of our jetlag problems, too.

Also wanted to suggest that you check out prices from Las Vegas to Stansted on Maxjet - www.maxjet.com - the all-business-class carrier. You might find them priced competitively with coach seats from LAX, and getting to LV is not very hard or expensive from numerous Calif. airports.

worst virgin (been there, done that)
best i've heard american.

Another vote for Air New Zealand out of LAX.

Neither Virgin or BA offer better food in World Traveler Plus section, but what I do like is that the section is much smaller than coach, having only about 8-10 rows, so quieter and the foot rests that come up when you recline make a huge difference in my comfort level. Virgin gives you a nicer imenities kit than they use in coach, but no big deal.

One more vote for Air New Zealand! You can fly nonstop from LAX to LHR; they have a pretty good amount of legroom and their food's not bad, either.

If you sign up for their email newsletter, they often have specials on airfare as well.

Lee Ann

Barbara, another thought when you're thinking of comfort. Trying to sleep is usually the biggest complaint in those cramped seats. Have you considered flying in the late afternoon or evening from the West Coast to JFK, spend the night there and then take the day flight to London on AA? You book that as one flight, but a lot less worry about making connections.

<i>Barbara, another thought when you're thinking of comfort. Trying to sleep is usually the biggest complaint in those cramped seats. Have you considered flying in the late afternoon or evening from the West Coast to JFK, spend the night there and then take the day flight to London on AA? You book that as one flight, but a lot less worry about making connections.</i>

Is there an echo..echo..echo...?

Gardyloo, once again it must be my faulty computer. I'll admit to just speed reading through the posts but I could SWEAR your suggestion wasn't there. It must have magically appeared after I posted? LOL

Oh, well, it just shows that great minds work alike.