As a general rule of thumb, the tougher upgrades are on a route, the higher yield the route is. It’s not a science, but generally it’s true. And when it comes to American Airlines, there’s no denying that Los Angeles to London Heathrow is one of the toughest upgrades in the system, even for top tier Executive Platinum members.
American 777-300ER at London Heathrow
So I guess it really shouldn’t come as as surprise that American is doubling capacity on their metal in the market.
American will start a second daily Boeing 777-300ER flight between Los Angeles and London Heathrow as of March 28, 2015.
American business class 777-300ER
This complements the twice daily A380 service by their joint venture partner, British Airways.
Once the service is loaded into the system, the four daily American/British Airways flights from Los Angeles to London will be timed as follows:
British Airways departing 3:45PM arriving 10:00AM (+1 day)
American Airlines departing 5:55PM arriving 12:25PM (+1 day)
American Airlines departing 7:35PM arriving 2:15PM (+1 day)
British Airways departing 9:45PM arriving 4:00PM (+1 day)
The new flight hasn’t yet been loaded into the schedule, and oddly the flight number and return times haven’t been published just yet (in the press release they just state the times for the flight from Los Angeles to London).
Once the schedule is updated we’ll see the timing of the current American frequency (AA135/136) adjusted by an hour, so that the four daily joint venture frequencies are each spaced roughly two hours apart.
American first class 777-300ER
While Los Angeles to London is obviously an extremely high yield market, it’s also extremely competitive.
With this new American frequency there will be nine daily flights between Los Angeles and London Heathrow:
- 1x Air New Zealand
- 2x American
- 2x British Airways
- 1x Delta
- 1x United
- 2x Virgin Atlantic
As I mentioned above, the new flight hasn’t yet been loaded into the schedule. My hope (though not expectation) is that when it’s loaded into the schedule American will have a good amount of award and/or upgrade space. If I notice that I’ll be sure to post about it.
I certainly wouldn’t expect it, though historically that has often occurred when new flights are loaded into the system. When American loaded their Dallas to Hong Kong flight into the schedule a while back they released a ton of business class upgrade and award space. We can hope the same will happen here, though I wouldn’t be holding my breath.
Bottom line
I’m sure American will do well with their second daily frequency, and if nothing else it should make upgrades at least a little easier. American arguably has the best business class hard product in the market, given their reverse herringbone seats — they’re the only airline in the market with those seats, which is my favorite business class hard product. And while the service and food might not be amazing, they’re also the only airline in the market to consistently offer onboard Wi-Fi, which I value immensely.
American 777-300ER onboard bar
Have you flown Los Angeles to London on American, and if so, how was your experience?
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