FLIGHTS TO sAN FRANCISCO

nololly

Looking at spending a week in San Francisco, followed by a week in Las Vegas. We will be flying in August from Manchester. Which would be best airline to do this. All reviews seem quite poor.

Also, excuse me if it seems a silly question but have never had a layover before, do we have to collect luggage or is this transferred by airline and will we have to go through US customs at the first airport or at our final destination.

Voyager2002

When you land in the USA (first airport there) you pass Immigration; collect your checked luggage; pass Customs; then check your luggage again for the connecting flight to your destination in the USA. If this process takes so long that you miss your connecting flight, the airline is responsible for getting you on the next flight to your destination at no additional cost to you. However, the airline will not pay for food or hotels during the time you are waiting.

Alan_Bowen

Although I am bound to be shot down, I would recommend flying with BA to Heathrow and the out direct to San Francisco and back from Vegas. Changing planes in the US which you would have to do flying via New York, Chicago or Atlanta which I think are the main points of arrival from Manchester is a real pain, Chicago in particular has a separate international terminal that is a train ride away from connecting internal flights. Although if you buy a through ticket the airline has to put you on the next flight, who wants to spend an extra 4 houurs or more at the airport?

neilbond007

Interesting enough I flew through Chicago today. Due in from international flight with Korean air at 10am. Departing internal flight with AA at 11.25am

Landed at 10.00 from Seoul (Terminal 5), off the plane at 10.15. Through Immigration at 10.40. Train to T3 by 10.45. Through security and to my gate at 10.50. Amazing!

I only managed this as
- I was at the front of economy of incoming flight from Seoul
- The queue at immigration was pretty small
- I had no checked baggage
- There was literally no one at security for the L gates at T3.

Thought I'd be lucky to make it, but made it with 20 minutes to spare!

lynzpower

Chicago in particular has a separate international terminal that is a train ride away from connecting internal flights. Although if you buy a through ticket the airline has to put you on the next flight, who wants to spend an extra 4 houurs or more at the airport?

Funny enough we had to change in Chicago earlier in the year and it was a plain nightmare with masses of people trying to get out of one load of flights before checking in for the next one. The train was OK, A to B felt quite far apart from each other. We saw a lot of people flapping and although we had three hours to change we had to leg it to get through. Not great but I hear Atlanta is a lot worse.

On the way back we flew via Toronto and that was a dream to change in.

Voyager2002

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

Although I am bound to be shot down, I would recommend flying with BA to Heathrow and the out direct to San Francisco and back from Vegas. Changing planes in the US which you would have to do flying via New York, Chicago or Atlanta which I think are the main points of arrival from Manchester is a real pain, Chicago in particular has a separate international terminal that is a train ride away from connecting internal flights. Although if you buy a through ticket the airline has to put you on the next flight, who wants to spend an extra 4 houurs or more at the airport?

I agree.

An additional point is that you have to pay for all food and drink on US domestic flights, and there might not be much available anyway.

neilbond007

Soft drinks have been free on all domestic flights I've been on recently Delta (6 weeks ago), AA (today). There's the normal trolley with coke products on AA. Can't remember what was on Delta.

There's nothing in the way of food. Even for sale. You have to buy that at the airport if you want to eat.

cubegame

IMO all the US airlines are the same as each other and the UK airlines don't offer any great increase in service which justifies the additional cost.

Choose the cheapest with decent layover times. The poster who suggested that an airline will not pay for hotels and food for a missed connection is wrong as well. Although there is no law that says they have to, most will. When we flew to Denver via Charlotte and were in risk of missing the last connecting flight of the day we were told by a ground agent immediately on arrival in Charlotte that we would be booked in the next flight but would be accommodated in a nearby hotel if we couldn't clear immigration in time.

iltisman

Its all well and good picking a flight with good timings I did this a couple of weeks ago with American but they have "rescheduled" me on the return leg so I have now to get up at 5am in Vegas and the spend 6+ hours at Chicago Airport.

Badger_Lady

I flew Heathrow-San Francisco (direct) with United Airlines a few weeks ago. Very pleased with it other than a mix-up with the vegetarian meals and an inconsiderate passenger in front of me. The entertainment system was good, the flights were on time - I couldn't really complain. You have to pay for alcoholic drinks but I quickly discovered that alcohol on a long-haul flight is a bad idea anyway... United's main hub is in San Francisco so they fly there a lot.

I've also this week done transatlantic flights with British Airways (yep, okay too) and American Airlines (hmm, bit dodge). I hear than Virgin is one of the best choices.

I fly economy and direct - can't help with the layover issues I'm afraid.