Zach1213

What does Ricky Martin have to do with this?

Might I recommend Gatorade before you fall to sleep instead of when you wake up. That way you should wake up a bit more refreshed.

Just...water. Excessive water. I drink quite a lot on vacation, and while I bring LiquidIV with me, I don't usually take it because I drink so much water. The rule, for me, is one water per one drink, and it works like a charm. I mean, get ready to visit the bathroom a lot because you're having double the drinks, but it's so worth it.

My only complaint about the Sofitel (as someone who does highly recommend it and stays at it a few times yearly) is that many of the cheaper rooms have interior views. For a short layover where you're mostly sleeping, it's generally not an issue. But something to be aware of...the room will have a window, but it may only look out in to interior parts of the hotel, not exterior. Regarding food - I often do arrive at LHR around 10:30pm on that ORD-LHR flight I mentioned earlier, so it's not unusual for me to get to the Sofitel around 11:15pm or so. I usually hit the bar for a drink or two and maybe even a bite, and it's open until midnight. The "small bites" available are decently priced for a nice hotel and can tide you over until morning if needed.

OK, so if everything is T-5, look at the Sofitel. Yes, it's probably more expensive. But it's going to save you a bunch of time on either end as it's directly connected to T5. Otherwise, you'll still end up taking the train to another terminal.

Lol, no. A look at the map should show you the distance (and runways) between T3 and that hotel. You can take the tube, Elizabeth Line or Heathrow Express between the T2/3 stop and the T4 stop for free, but that involves walks on either end plus a wait for the train. Heathrow's website estimates 20-30 minutes to transfer between the two. Note that you can go T-4 to T-2/3 on the tube, but I am not sure you can go T-2/3 to T-4. Also note that, if your flight is delayed, I am not sure any of these go much past midnight if at all. As a somewhat regular on the daytime ORD-LHR flight, that sounds like what you're taking based on the arrival time. I've usually had success with it being on-time or early, but there are times it's late enough that it could be iffy once you factor in immigration and waiting for check bags. Also, note that flight is not BA, but American Airlines.

As mentioned, there are two Holiday Inn Express location with "Heathrow" in their name, with wildly different locations and ease of reach. So, knowing which one is important...as does which terminal you are arriving in, since BA uses two of them.

Yeah that's always trippy. I fly between the US and Australia/NZ quite often, and you lose a day in between. Once year, that missing day was my wife's birthday so I gave her the excuse that we didn't need to celebrate because her birthday didn't exist for me 🙂 The next year, her birthday was the day I was coming back from Australia, which is repeated...so I had to celebrate double that year.

In that case, yes, it's an American Airlines aircraft. Premium Economy is a nice bump up from Economy. I am not sure it's worth $350 vs. $130, but that's because I can think of plenty of better things to do with $220 (or $440 for two people) once I get to Europe. I'd almost rather spend that $440 on a really nice hotel room to rest up after an overnight flight in Main Cabin Extra...but again, that's just me.

No clue because I have no idea what route you're flying

US-based carriers absolutely use the 747. They just don't put human passengers on them 🙂 BA doesn't have any 747s whatsoever anymore. Thank gosh...those things were getting trashed. AA714 is not a codeshare, it's an AA flight number. The thing is, right now, AA714 is DFW-MIA which I sure hope isn't the flight you're taking because it's bad news if it takes eight hours to get from Texas to Florida.

Airlines matter, so do share that. Airlines choose interior configurations, not Boeing, so different airlines have different 787-8 interiors...hell, some airlines have multiple different interiors on the same aircraft type.

$562 isn't a bargain for London to Philly? Sounds like a ridiculous bargain for the beginning of peak season. Also, even via ORD or BOS, 20 hours sounds incorrectly high...8 hours LHR-BOS and one hour BOS-PHL leaves an 11 hour layover in BOS to reach the 20 hours. Looks like, even that day, you can do LHR-ORD-PHL for just over 13 hours including a two hour connection at ORD. Finally, there are three nonstop LHR-PHL on May 19th - AA729 (0945-1245), AA737 (1300-1555), and BA67 (1340-1635).

Well there's your problem...Quarter Pounder for life.

Unless it's like...really, really bad economy. Like the time I flew from Bangalore to Delhi next to a drunk guy who somehow threw up six times in the first hour and caused us to divert to Hyderabad...or the time time I flew a domestic flight in the DR Congo on a now defunct airline (due to crashing too much) where there was a goat sitting behind me. Those would be, uh...entertaining...I guess.

120 countries around the world have McD's, so the thought that they just exist for non-locals is a bit off. I've been to McD's in probably 50-60 countries, I think it's fun to see what they offer.

330 days from today is December 20th so they're, what, two days late? Maybe just trying to figure out their aircraft situation. The number of people booking at exactly 330 days out is minimum and usually low yielding or mileage users, which are the kind of customers you don't mind telling to "wait a few days".

Almost like Brooklyn has a very large Haitian community where they probably already have friends, family, or at least a support system to make their lives better.

I've been to the real Haiti several times, include Cap-Haitien. You don't really want to go, and you really really don't want to go in 2024. I'm an extremely comfortable "extreme traveler" who has been to several of the sketchiest countries in the world (including Somalia, Niger, Libya, CAR) and Haiti is pretty much right up there with those, at least right now. Even as someone who...blends in...a bit more than most people on this website, I still plan to avoid Haiti for the foreseeable future unless someone pays me a lot of money (and good security) to do some work in.

If you can afford the extra $200, I would definitely do the Premium via JFK. If you can't, I agree, the SQ flight via SFO would probably be my choice.

Could you hop the border and do BUF-EWR-SIN via United/Singapore?

"Singapore Airlines" and "lowest price" are two things that rarely go together. Be aware that Singapore will likely not be your cheapest option...but it may be your best. Just be aware that "cheapest" and "best" are often not the same statement. I'm very much a fan of just getting there. Stopovers aren't my thing. Other people love them, but if you're looking for someone to convince you to stopover, it won't come from me. I would book one ticket the whole way. Cobbling together separate tickets is a recipe for disaster. Yes, all premium economy and business. Only like 160 seats total on the A350-900ULR.