Globaliser

There are delays and cancellations all round, but there's nothing you can do in advance about them. Your schedule would be likely to tolerate a delay. For cancellations, changing flights won't help because you can't know whether your old flight or your new flight is more likely to be cancelled. What could help is changing dates, but you've said that you can't do that.

Either the Conrad or the St Ermin's, presumably? At any rate, I think that you probably don't have any real option but to get a cab, as you will have a lot of luggage. Without luggage, Heathrow --> St James's Park Tube would be dead easy, but St James's Park Tube is not luggage friendly. However, as an alternative to a train to Paddington and then a taxi, you could just get a minicab directly from Heathrow to the hotel. There are many such private car transfer services discussed here, and the "usual suspects" are all much of a muchness. I'm thinking that the overall cost is likely to be similar to train + taxi, but would cut out one change of mode and most of the luggage handling. Taxi to Waterloo, train to Southampton Central, then taxi to the port is correct. First class would give you a bit more comfort and space, including space to put your bags. But don't expect luxury. The train to Southampton is still a commuter train; there is still relatively little dedicated luggage space on board, even in first class; and you usually just have to improvise enough space. But (if I read it correctly) you'll be travelling from Waterloo to Southampton on a Thursday morning in October, so the train in that direction should be pretty empty anyway.

OK, it was your references to Heathrow, in a thread about problems at European airports, that made us think that you were concerned about what would happen when you reach the UK.

Except (I think) that we are now back to the usual situation that there are no hotels with shuttles at LHR.

If you've got the time for this, then it's a perfectly viable plan. I think that the two main things to look out for are: Which airline is operating your LHR-USA flight, and which terminal will it depart from? Where are you going to stay? These two are inter-related, because of the possibility that by November, more of the AA-operated flights will have moved back to Terminal 3. It would be a bit frustrating if you've worked out a low-stress plan that is then interfered with by a terminal move. The two obvious on-airport hotel choices are the Sofitel at Terminal 5 and the Hilton Garden Inn in the Central Terminal Area, walkable to Terminal 3 - everything else either is, or might as well be, off-airport. In addition, don't rule out staying at/next to Paddington station, which doesn't take very long to get to if you're prepared to fork out for the Heathrow Express. And another thought would be to take a later LHR-USA flight, and then actually stay in central London proper and make (half) an evening of it, although the arrival time of the TLV-LHR flight and the time difference between Israel and the UK may mean that this is actually more effort than it's worth.

Are you having a laugh? Air fares are probably only beginning their move back towards normality and commercial sanity after a decade of madness. I agree that airlines may have to pay more to get staff, but don't delude yourself that this is sustainable at current fare levels.

Do some yoga and learn some meditative techniques. That's actually only half in jest. You need to be prepared for the possibility that you may be standing in long queues for a long time, and that nothing you do (either in advance or at the time) will change anything about them or about the length of time that you will have to wait in them. After all, you are no different from most of the tens of thousands of other people arriving at Heathrow on the same morning as you, so you have no claim to special or expedited treatment. So you have two choices: get really stressed and make yourself unhappy, or just mentally relax and go with the flow. Using the e-gates for passport control is one thing that may help on the day, if you qualify to use them. I believe that there is in theory an option for expediting your way through Heathrow arrivals. However, from a recent tweet by Boy George (who didn't avail himself of this service), it seems that the price tag is £3,000 per person.

I think that there may be more comments in this thread:

First, there's no train from Heathrow to Waterloo. You'd have to change trains to do this. In any case, you will have to carry and stow your luggage yourself. This is the case for all conventional trains in the UK. And any trains that you take in the London area will almost certainly be commuter trains. If you post what route you're thinking about to get from Heathrow to Waterloo, we may be able to give more focused advice.

FWIW, it looks like the aircraft has gone out with something like 2 first, 8 business, 5 premium economy and 8 economy seats unoccupied (23 total). The configuration is said to be 8/76/40/130 (254 total), so an overall passenger load factor of 90.6%.

Hope it all goes smoothly. If it's just a document check issue, then you may find that AA check-in will be able to do that, and then to print all three boarding passes for you.

It is indeed a pity that there's a rail strike today, otherwise this route via Paddington would definitely have been a viable option. And there would have been a choice between paying one TfL through fare from Heathrow to North Greenwich if using the Elizabeth Line to get to Paddington (but also taking a time penalty), or paying extra to use the Heathrow Express to get to Paddington more quickly.

AIUI, there is already (and always has been) regulation of minimum seat size/space. So a proposal to regulate "seating that doesn't cause pain" doesn't seem likely to change anything. Plus I doubt there's any realistic chance of regulation of a different minimum seat size/space for "first class", however that is defined. Regulation is definitely not going to achieve anything here. If airlines don't have enough staff, the flights are not going to operate. Regulation can't create more staff out of thin air.

If you still can't check-in online, then it's likely to be one of the other problems already mentioned: you haven't put in your Advance Passenger Information, or you haven't entered whatever Covid vaccination and test result data may be required by the system for your trip. Anyway, I think there's unlikely to be anything to worry about because as things stand, 12½ hours before the flight, there are still 16 unoccupied seats in the business class cabin.

My hope was that you'd be able to check-in for both flights at the same time. But it looks like you may well have to wait until 24 hours before the departure of the BA flight, ie until 1905 tonight (7.05 pm).

With advice like this, I really hope the bus turns up! 😄

The nearest Tube station is North Greenwich (Jubilee Line). The station is very close to the hotel, but both are a long way away (2 miles) from the centre of Greenwich. (And none of this is "downtown London" by any stretch of the imagination.) For anyone who can manage the Tube, the best route is probably this (it's what I'd do): Piccadilly Line to Barons Court Cross-platform change to the District Line District Line to Westminster If they can manage escalators with their luggage, then the fastest way is down escalator + down escalator change to the eastbound Jubilee Line Alternatively, use the lift to change (but they will need to look for whether there is a lift directly to the Jubilee Line platform, or whether they actually have to go up first and then down in another lift - I can't remember whether there is a direct lift from the District Line platform in this direction) Jubilee Line to North Greenwich An alternative is to stay on the Piccadilly Line to Green Park and change there to the Jubilee Line. There are two routes for the change: The posted route is lift up, walk through the connecting tunnel, lift down. It's a long walk and the lifts are slow, but it's the way that involves less manhandling of luggage (so long as the lifts are working). If they can manage escalators with their luggage, follow the Way Out signs and go up the escalator to the ticket hall / ticket barrier level but do not exit through the barriers. Instead, follow the signs for the down escalator + down escalator to the Jubilee Line platform. (This is what I do if I forget to get off at Barons Court.) This weekend (25/26 June), do not try this journey by any route that uses the western end of the DLR. The western end is closed (between the in-town termini of Bank and Tower Gateway, and as far east as Poplar and West India Quay). The company mentioned by Ashland is just one of the usual suspects. You'll find the names of many others mentioned on here. They're all much of a muchness. The most important thing to remember about that is to ignore offers of a "taxi" from random people wandering around the terminal.

"London" is a big place. "Downtown London" is very vague. Where exactly are you going? That would make it much easier to give focused advice. On Saturday, you should expect that neither the Heathrow Express nor the Elizabeth Line will be running to Heathrow. That does leave you with the Piccadilly Line Tube as an option, but whether that might work for your group depends on where you're going. If you have 50 suddenly-stranded people including senior citizens, there isn't going to be such a thing as "best and cheapest". The best will cost you an arm and a leg, multiplied many times (a proper taxi from the official cab rank). The cheapest will be the Tube, which may not work for many of your group, especially if they can't manage their own luggage (and that would rule out the train options anyway). Other alternatives are to get on to all the usual suspects for car transfers, and ask for as many cars as each of them can get to you until all of your group have been moved. They may be able to send you some 6-seater cars (or bigger), which will help reduce the number of cars you'd need. And it may be better to move different people by different methods, depending on their personal circumstances. For example, the able-bodied and strong may be fine on the Tube, reducing the number of people you have to get taxis / cars for.

Yes, and 23 are still unoccupied: Seat Map Search: Departing PHL on 25/06/22 for LHR Flying BA flight 66 in Business/Club A E F K 5 - - - - 6 - - - - 7 - - - - A E F K A E F K 8 - - - X 9 - - - - 10 - - - - 11 - X - - 12 - - - - 13 - X - - 14 - - - - 15 - X X - 16 W - - X - W 17 W - - - - W 18 W + + W A E F K A E F K 19 X + + X 20 - X - - 21 - - - + 22 + + + + 23 + + - + 24 + + A E F K Seats Premium Only P Available + Handicap-Accessible H Paid & Premium # Occupied - Blocked X Lavatory L Paid $ Location Exit Row E Wing W Upper Deck U

Let's try a quick experiment. Entirely at random, Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale, one-way, one-stop, 1 October 2022, United Airlines (because you mention Star Alliance). Sorted in order of total journey time (departure from LAX to arrival at FLL), the prices of the 30 fastest journeys are the following, which don't show any such pattern: $408 $328 $596 $408 $443 $328 $328 $270 $328 $443 $328 $408 $368 $493 $443 $493 $443 $328 $328 $443 $408 $312 $328 $401 $408 $408 $328 $328 $428 $427 Source: ITA Matrix

That argument is almost like claiming a moral right to free seat pre-allocation even if you happen to have bought some dirt-cheap business class fare, merely because it says "business class" on the tin. These can sometimes be cheaper than the cheapest fare currently available in the next lower cabin. Why is there any magic in the fact that it's a "business class" fare? Why should that label alone entitle you to claim free seat pre-allocation? What isn't good is sticking your full-fare customers or higher-tier frequent flyers in the worst seats in the cabin because you've already allowed all the low-yield once-a-year leisure passengers to bag all the good seats. That frustration has happened to me on other airlines. I've got news for you: it's happening.

not by much amigo..... 4 more inches pitch, 3" more recline 2 more inches wider........ that dosen't cut it for me.... This is just like "What have the Romans ever done for us?"

But Boeing doesn't make seats. Boeing fits the seats that other companies make. The customer (the airline) chooses which other company to make the seats. So if newer seats are less comfortable, it's because the airline has chosen them, rather than because of which aircraft type the seats are going into.

Sometimes. And usually, only by chance. The only airline that I know of that does this systemically is QR. Otherwise, an itinerary with a long connection time may be more expensive than one with a short connection time, if the flights concerned are more heavily booked and only more expensive fares are available on them.

Then there is a BA flight: BA66, also sold as AA6911. And there is therefore good news about this. The current plan is for the flight to be operated by an aircraft with BA's new business class seats (usually called Club Suites). You can see a detailed seat map here: https://www.aerolopa.com/ba-type-77h The seat map shows 30 unoccupied seats in a cabin of 76 seats, and the unoccupied seats are pretty well scattered all over the cabin. In any case, with these seats there's less of a difference between the best and the worst So on the assumption that the plan doesn't change, if you check-in when check-in opens (you may possibly be able to do this when check-in opens for your Jacksonville --> Philadelphia flight), you should have a decent selection to pick from. Seat Map Search: Departing PHL on 25/06/22 for LHR Flying BA flight 66 in Business/Club A E F K 5 - - - - 6 - - - - 7 - - - - A E F K A E F K 8 - + + X 9 - - - - 10 - - - - 11 - + - - 12 - - - - 13 - + - + 14 - - - - 15 - + - + 16 W + - - + W 17 W + + + + W 18 W + + W A E F K A E F K 19 X + + X 20 - + - + 21 - - - + 22 - - - + 23 + + - + 24 + + A E F K Seats Premium Only P Available + Handicap-Accessible H Paid & Premium # Occupied - Blocked X Lavatory L Paid $ Location Exit Row E Wing W Upper Deck U