Best airline for flying to Vegas from uk?

[hudyerwheesht]

Looking to fly in August with 14 your old DS and 11 yr old DD. Apparently the only airlines flying direct (from a London airport) are BA and Virgin.

I've read online a lot of negative reviews about BA (old, dated planes, on board "entertainment" rubbish, less legroom, etc) and have flown Virgin before and found it to be ok but it's a good bit pricier.

Anyone recently flown either recently?

Or anyone got any suggestions of alternatives? We are in the south west so could maybe fly out from an alternative airport...

It's true I asked for airline recommendations but I probably should have specified that codeshares were ok if I was happy with the other airline. Basically I need as much peace of mind as I can get with an established airline coupled with the best facilities/comfort available with a newer fleet in order to minimise my anxiety about flying and long hauls in particular.
Yes, I know, probably an impossible ask, especially since the two main airlines appear to use their older stock for this route.

I assume you wish to fly economy. If you can stump up to premium on either V or BA it will make a big difference to your comfort. Especially on V.

We flew from San Francisco with virgin and it was great no entertainment as broken. 3 Man Utd youth teams the Coaches all buggered off to sleep further up the plane leaving one to deal with the lot. They all had spending money left and bought the duty free out of sweets. So you can guess how peaceful that was. Virgins staff solution to give out double rations of alcohol.

August is soooo hot. Really, really blisteringly hot. We were there for 2 days last July & could barely step outside. Seriously, unless you want to spend your holiday not seeing daylight in those bloody awful city sized hotels, don't go in August.

Honestly OP don't let the August weather bother you at all.

We spent two in weeks last August in California and Nevada and coped just fine with plenty of water. This was doing full days in Disney and seeing other sights. It was almost 40 the day we done Universal and I am fat and we survived with plenty of cool drinks.

I laid in the pool in Vegas like a beached whale and that cooled me down nicely.

I started to acclimatise after the first few days and I noticed towards the end of August it started to cool down a bit. San Fran can be cooler anyway.

Unfortunately if you want to do a long road trip with kids summer is really the only option.

Go for it OP, you won't regret it. It was one of the best holidays we have all ever had. We are doing the east coast of America and Tennesse this August.

But they aren't going to SF (which was actually cold at times in July), they are going to LV in the middle of the desert in August. It was 45 degrees in July & went down to 38 at night! I agree it's tough because if school holidays but I like the heat & found it too hot. We visited the hoover dam & could barely go outside to see it properly.

They are driving to San Fran via Yosemite. It actually cooled down in Vegas when we were there in August. We had rain and a storm.

I highly recommend the Facebook group California dreamers and west coast wanderers on facebook OP. I throughly enjoyed reading people’s travel reports. A bit more positive than mumsnet.

I've been twice to Vegas in August with 8-12 year olds. It is fine it is hot but a dry heat and there is loads of AC. First time we did a similar trip but took in Sequoia too. Second time we detoured east to Grand Canyon then south to Palm Springs and San Diego. DC loved both hols and get on well with the heat. We froze in Monteray and San Fran and couldn't wait to get back to the heat. Great part of the world- enjoy!

It got to 122F on the car crossing the desert to Palm Springs - was exciting!

thanks southnownorth and lightsdown, that's reassuring and I'm definitely going to take a look at that fb page. I need to - I woke up this morning feeling like I want to cancel the whole trip between worrying about which airline/airplane I'm going to go on as a fearful flyer and now stressing about not coping with the heat.

The BA plane I went on to Vegas was held together with gaffa tape, it was filthy and rude staff, which surprised me I've never had a problem with them before and apart from saying thanks when they give me a drink or something, don't really communicate with them

We did the same trip as you last summer and it was amazing. For me, LV was too hot to walk outside for more than 10 minutes at a time, but you can walk through lots of the casinos to get where you need to be as many of them are connected. Obviously Death Valley was unbearable, but still an amazing experience. LA was also really hot, but the rest of California was much cooler. We were actually cold in San Francisco when the fog came in and the rest of the coast was cold in the mornings. You should definitely do it. We flew direct from Manchester with Thomas Cook to Vegas.

Norwegian are fine. It's not glamourous, but their planes are new, the entertainment is ok and food is a distraction from the tedium of flying.

Why go to Las Vegas at all if you really want California? We flew BA business and it’s fine. Norwegian have financial problems and you must be aware of this. They are trying to price cheaply with brand new planes - guess what? It’s a flawed business model. Be very careful!

BA are fine for that sort of trip. As I said before, it’s not a lucrative route so you won’t get the best. You also get hen and stag parties so go business to avoid. This would really get you over a fear of flying too. However I would either go to LA of SF and stay in California. If people think planes are a bit yukky, just wait until you see KV. It’s the ultimate sh— hole.

If you must go, then explore Arizona and Utah from there, not California. 2 weeks at Easter is best. Anyone that thinks LV is ok in summer is mad! It’s hortible!

Virgin to Vegas will be a 747 from Gatwick or a 787 from Heathrow.

LV will be very hot, the Hoover dam tour is excellent but it will be scorching walking across it (lots of reflective white concrete) and Death Valley will be sweltering, but all still worth doing (we did it in August too).

Yosemite will be hoaching unless you do very early or late in the day, although you can do good walks such as Lembert's Dome that are away from the very busy areas, but Kings Canyon and Sequoia will be much quieter - I really rate Kings Canyon for scenery. Bodie Ghost Town is worth a look see too.

SF should be cooler - and if you can spare the time go up to Lassen Volcanic Park, fabulous scenery there too (and lots of sulphurous fumaroles and bubbling mud pools) and again much quieter than Yosemite.

We are flying Virgin, I know it's a newer plane as we've booked the top deck. Our flights were only £350 each too (not including top deck surcharge) so they're not always expensive, it's timing I guess, although we're going Spring which won't be high season I suppose.

Err! Yes. That’s the difference in pricing. However there are two plus weeks at Easter and it’s a much better time to go. Also cutting down where you go is always a good idea so it’s not a road trip, it’s a proper holiday.

With a 747 you can sit in the middle! All economy is pretty average. It’s cattle class so don’t expect much. Newer planes make little difference. No one will help your fear of flying on the plane. Older planes are perfectly safe. There is no adverse safety record for BA or Virgin! The extras are in business and you would be far better off saving for this, even if it’s just for you!

Surely you knew LV is in a desert??? It’s hot!

We are flying Virgin, I know it's a newer plane as we've booked the top deck.

Erm, you have actually booked yourself on one of the oldest aircraft in the virgin fleet.

@potatoscone oh ok 😂😂 I guess what I mean to say is I know what we're getting due to the type of seat I've been able to book, so long as I have a tv in front of me that's all want!

Have you booked all accommodation yet? We flew into san Francisco and out of Las Vegas. That way we started off in a cool place and acclimatised to the heat. Plus we didn't backtrack on where we had already visited.

Not answering your question but we flew BA to San Francisco a couple of years ago - beautiful new planes and no issue with the service. We did BA to Seattle the following year and it was an older plane going out but honestly it was fine as was the service. The inflight entertainment is not as wizzy but you can find something to watch and it’s useable even if not great quality screens/controls. We were expecting an old plan home but it ended up being a new one so you might get lucky!