Best airlines for flights to California?

[Deleted User]

The cheapest deals seem to be on Norwegian, but is this airline like Ryannair?

I'm looking for a normal flight for me, my wife, and two teenage kids, to LA or San Francisco, which includes 1 checked bag each, the 4 of us seated together, and inflight meals and drinks included. Is this too much to ask in economy class from most airlines these days?

I had a bad experience with Iberia recently where they split us across different rows of the plane (despite there being plenty of empty rows when we did online check-in), and wanted to charge us to pick seats together! They made no mention when booking that we would have to pay extra to sit together. It seems we constantly have to revise our assumptions about how airlines will treat us!

bleepandbooster

We use Aer Lingus flying via Dublin. Last year we flew to SF picked up a car and drove south to LA.

Cofion
David

rpstdavids

Norwegian are OK, they use the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, so a fairly new aircraft. Their lowest price though does not include luggage, meals or seat assignment, so by the time you add this in they are usually not much cheaper than BA, Virgin etc.

The best flight I've ever had to LA was using Air New Zealand. Decent food and service, the only slight downside was the later arrival time into LAX, around 19:30 if I remember correctly.

All the usual airlines (Virgin, BA, ANZ, United etc) include luggage and meals in the base price, but most charge extra for selecting your seat in advance, but you can choose for free from 24hrs before departure, and I've never had a problem selecting seats together at this point.

stevie11

Most scheduled airlines should include meals, bags and seats at check-in. I have flown BA and American to Lax or SFO. I suppose seating depends how full the flight is and how many have pre paid to select seats. I know American have introduced a basic seat fare (no frills) but I don't know if that is for international or just domestic routes. Better to check before booking. Usually on BA/AA you can select your seats within 24 hours for free. If there are empty seats in your cabin just move to where you can get together.

When AA and BA have sales they are pretty decent prices. There are other airlines, perform a google flights search to see the price and availability.

NoodleDoodleMan

Our only experience is with United, with change of aircraft at Newark, New Jersey (their hub) - all good.

richardw

The best aircraft for 4 passengers is A380, BA operate these to California. The lower deck is 3-4-3 and upper 2-4-2. Lots of rows of economy seating.