LHR via LAX worth it for VA points/SC?

[jrhoades]

Hey, I’m travelling to UK in mid Jan and normally use SIA to get the VA points etc. but they are $7-8Kish whereas either EK or VA/VS via LA is $5Kish for 1 Adult and 2 urchins. (EY is $6.5Kish)

Is the worth the hassle of a 6 hour layover in LAX (with maybe a brief trip around LA) just to get the points/credits or should I take the hit and go EK.

VA/VS via Honkers was about the same price, but don’t really fancy booking that this far out.

Also annoyingly neither VA or VS offer this route and I’d have to book it with webjet/aunt betty, so might also have the horror of not being able to checkin online in advance... still I’d take a middle seat if the kids were at the other end of the plane

Thanks in advance. Jon

 

[Mattg]

Travelling via LAX certainly is the long way around. Although, it is an interesting way to go if you want to stop over in LAX.

If it sweetens the deal, at least you can earn double status credits on the VA leg between Australia and LAX if you book during the next week

 

[Logan^]

I did this 18 months ago with the extended family, we went SYD - LAX, then hit Disneyland and Vegas, then LAX - LHR.

On the way home, came back the same route but no stop over, must be honest, unless I was planning on stopping in USA again I would avoid, as you know immigration in the US is a massive pain and took an age.

The terminal that Virgin Atlantic fly from is small, so if you have lounge access probably OK, not so great if you dont.

I travelled with my kids as well, who were 5 and 2. It was hard going.

I am heading back to England solo in Feb, going via Singapore on Qantas.

 

[jrhoades]

Thanks for the responses, both make sense.

Just occured to me that I won't get the Status Credits on the VS LAX->LHR leg since it's not a code share flight . I guess i need to do the maths to see if the EY flight is worth it to get me back to Gold.

 

[Denali]

Virgin Atlantic is a partner airline so you should still earn SCs if its marketed & operated by VS...... shouldnt you? But you wont get sector recognition if booked direct with them.

Are you planning separate bookings or one booking with various airlines (ie, Virgin Atlantic or Delta)?

 

[jrhoades]

Virgin Atlantic is a partner airline so you should still earn SCs if its marketed & operated by VS...... shouldnt you? But you wont get sector recognition if booked direct with them.

Yes, you are of course correct. Don't know where I got that from!

Are you planning separate bookings or one booking with various airlines (ie, Virgin Atlantic or Delta)?

Just the one booking, but will have to be with an agent since neither airline offers this route

 

[Mattg]

If I were you, I'd go with VA/VS via LAX outbound (perhaps with a multi-day stopover in LAX) and come back via HKG on VS/VA. Going through Hong Kong shouldn't be a problem if you're just transiting, and the connection time coming back from LHR to SYD is only a couple of hours (not the ~7 hours you get in the other direction). No need to go through LAX twice, and the trip from LHR-LAX-SYD is considerably longer than LHR-HKG-SYD.