Cheap tickets to California

We just bought our tickets last week to fly in May from London to SF on United, £465 each round trip.  BA and Virgin were both higher.

I'm from California, so thats where I make all my flights to when I go home from the UK. I usually find the best deals on statravel.co.uk Some fares are only for under 26's but a lot of the time. certainly on the UK version of the site, they are open to the general public (unlike to US site which is specifically for students) Ebookers, last minute.com and expedia are worth a look too. During November/December I have gotten flights on Virgin for as little as £280-£320 which is a great bargain, I have had the best experience flying with them direct to san fran or los angeles. I have also flown American Airlines and British Airways to Cali which was fine, stopping over in Chicago and Texas. I flew once with United, and well that was an interesting experience to say the least1 But Im always going for the best deal so I suppose if they were the cheapest I'd go with them, reluctatnly.


My best tip for transport when you are in the California. If you need to get from so cal to nor cal or vice versa- book a chep flight on southwest airlines. They fly to most cali airports, big and small (not 100 percent sure they go to san fran, but deffo LAX)

But if you book in advance you can get a round trip from LAX to Sacramento (1 1/2 hours from san fran) for as little as 110 dollars. Can't beat that, and the flights only about an hour or so long. MUCH better then driving, I have driven the state more then a few times, and being born and raised in California, I can say the drivers are more then a bit mad out there. Good luck on your hunt for a cheap flight!

I live in SD...not THAT far from LA...it usually takes me 14-16 hours to get to the UK. I always take American Airlines. I've never flown any other.

Good luck on your flight. Are you taking the kids?

Try Aer Lingus out of Dublin.

I don't recommend Aer Lingus.  Their customer service was crap and they aren't that much cheaper than other carriers.  Plus, when I flew with them the wait between flights was like 6 hrs.  To me its not worth saving a few quid to sit around. 

I think they charge to check bags now as well.

It's 10-10 1/2 hours London - LAX.  I always fly Virgin.
I also HIGHLY suggest if you can get someone in the states to book the tickets for you on their card, then you reimburse them - so you can purchase in dollars

Ditto...plus if you book through studentuniverse.com it will be cheaper too.

I fly to Vegas at Christmas for $369 each way direct, including taxes, etc. 10 hours to London, 11 to Vegas (due to the jet stream) on Virgin.

From Manchester to LA is about a 12 hr flight, depending.  It's 7.5 hrs across the Atlantic to NY, and 5ish hours to LA, depending on the Jet Stream.

If you're flying in to LA, I can't emphasise enough what has already been said about making sure you are flying in to an airport that will make sense to where you are going.  The LA Basin is 30 miles wide.  If he's on the east side of the basin, you're looking at a possible 2 hr drive to LAX, depending on traffic.  I'd fly into Ontario at that point.  Orange County?  John Wayne. 

SFO and Oakland airports each have their own merits, if you're flying in to northern CA...

I get the best ticket deals on opodo.co.uk, skyscanner, travelsupermarket.com and Travelzoo.co.uk.  BA is having a sale on airfare at the moment... good luck!

My family lives in the Los Angeles areas so I am constantly monitoring UK to CA prices.  I Even though I live in Yorkshire I started using BA from Heathrow and have continued to use them due to frequent flier miles.  However the cheapest flights I see have been with Air Canada with a Stopover in Canada.  Certainly not the quickest but the cheapest.  THe other thought that I haven't seen mentioned (especially if Northern) is flying to Amsterdam Schipol then Non Stop to LAX on KLM/Northwest  If I had to start over that is how I would fly from the north.  I would think I could be in Schipol before I made it to heathrow.

Hmmm, well my parents live in Ontario, California, and I'm in London.

My husband refuses to go to Heathrow because of all the stealing of luggages that goes on, so we go to Gatwick.

I've never seen direct flights from UK to California..... But it's about 12-14 hours from Gatwick to Dallas, Texas, then maybe a 1-3 hour wait (depending on different things) then from Dallas to Ontario Airport, it's about mm, 2-3 hours.

I've only flown with American Airlines because at the time of booking, they were the cheapest. I'm going to Cali for a visit in December, and I booked my tickets in February I think. I've used expedia for my airline bookings as they seem to come out the cheapest. Prices fluctuate hour to hour, literally. One day I checked prices at around 6 p.m. and it was £600 for each ticket. I checked prices again three to four hours later, and the price had gone back down to £350 each ticket

Ontario is only about an hour to two away from Central L.A. and of course, no traffic early morning and maybe around 2 p.m. once you hit L.A.