Fastest Route to the West Coast

jme2010

This may be the wrong forum but...

Myself and my partner love the West coast, but she hates, hates, hates flying. She can just about manage the Dub -> NYC flight and has being getting better at it. (2 trips total in 2 years)

I've told her about the new Aer lingus route to LAX at around 10hrs30mins but she said she could handle it better if we stop over in NYC.

So my question / observation is. Have you noticed that the flight is only around 3 more hours longer from DUB -> LAX than DUB->NYC?

Where as NYC->LAX is 5hrs30. (Giving 13hrs Flying time total)

I think most peoples fears or dislikes is the waiting to board, take off preparation, delays etc.

I'd feel it would be way better to take the extra 3 hours in the air and relax rather than having to go through an extra descent and landing and extra take off etc.

Opinions / thoughts? How come the route is so much different? They must go way up over Canada perhaps

él statutorio

Fly direct, have her take a sleeping tablet once on the plane she won't notice the length of the flight.

ProudDUB

Or a couple of glasses of red wine. Knocks me out a treat, for about 4-5 hours.

(Cue lots of outraged posts about how booze and high altitudes don't mix. Well, they work for me. )

Fly direct. (Yes, the flight times are impacted by going the polar route across the globe.) If your partner hates flying, I don't see why adding in four additional take offs and landings would ease her stress levels, unless she wants to spent actual holiday time in NYC.

ceadaoin.

Yes it's much better to get the long part done in one flight IMO. If she's that bad, go to the doc and get some Xanax or similar. A couple of glasses of wine and she'll be grand

Jude13

As a hater of flying who has to be medicated and also has to fly allot long haul defo do the one flight. Generally the most stressful times are the building up to flight, then take off and landing. Reducing them will help.

Go to your GP and have a chat.

athtrasna

If she really doesn't want to go direct, consider going via Atlanta with Delta. Usually go that way because of my frequent flyer alliance and it's grand.

aaronm13

Going via Atlanta is possibly the longest route to the west coast. Dublin to Atlanta is the guts of 8.45 hours and then another 4.5 hours at least. Did this route to Vegas before and found it very long. If direct is to expensive look at going via London which would be the second quickest option.

jme2010

Cheers for the responses. Defo confirms it. Direct for sure. I've got her fond of the Jameson & Ginger Ale so that will be drunk in high quantities.

Uncle_moe

jme2010 wrote: »

Opinions / thoughts? How come the route is so much different? They must go way up over Canada perhaps

You're exactly right, the route from europe to the west coast goes way up north on what's known as a "great circle" route to account for the earth's curvature, basically its quicker to do it that way as its the shortest distance.
I guess the second flight is not going far enough to make use of this type of route hence that leg seems quite long as its taking a more direct route on paper and covering more miles.

InTheTrees

jme2010 wrote: »

I'd feel it would be way better to take the extra 3 hours in the air and relax rather than having to go through an extra descent and landing and extra take off etc.

I used to do that route a lot but over the last 6-7 years I've started going via Newark (NY).

Yes, it takes longer but you get to get off the plane, relax, stretch your legs, eat at a real restaurant, etc etc.

You can also stop off for a night in NY very easily. Newark Airport is about a 30minute shuttle ride into Manhattan. Spend the night in NY and continue on the next day.

nice_guy80

driving across the USA should not be rushed

its an experience to savour

jme2010

nice_guy80 wrote: »

driving across the USA should not be rushed

its an experience to savour

Agree but we weren't doing a cross country road trip.We were doing a west coast trip and were looking for a route to LAX that used the least amount of time.

So we went direct...had the unfortunate luck of bad head winds so we were 12 hours on the flight but still a better option than the stop over.

Ended up completing our intended trip:

2 Days L.A
2 Days San Diego
3 Days Tucson
4 Days Las Vegas
1 Night Yosemite
2 Nights San Fransisco
2 Nights L.A then direct home to Dublin.

Around 2000 miles driving.