The flights to Las Vegas, Nevada are great - once you’ve landed! If you’re flying from California, they take less than an hour, so other than cost (and maybe safety!), you have nothing to worry about. If the flight sucks, you’ve only got an hour to wait until you’ve landed.

If like me, however, you’re flying from Europe (UK in my case), then be prepared for a very very very loooong flight! As such, the different carriers really do make all the difference, so it might be worth paying a little bit more. Here are my experiences over the past few years - feel free to add your own.

Virgin Atlantic flights to Vegas

I’ve flown Virgin from Heathrow a couple of times. Both times, it wasn’t direct to Vegas (although they do offer a direct option), as I was going for the cheapest flight I could, and changing flights midway was always the cheapest option.

The first time I flew, I went via Washington DC. The big Virgin plane had plenty of legroom and a great entertainment centre in every seat. This had tonnes of stuff to keep you occupied as you flew fly over the Atlantic - loads of films, TV episodes from Little Britain to Seinfeld, several different radio stations, and hundreds of CDs to listen to, all available at the touch of a button. It even had its own games, though these were pants!

I flew from Washington to Vegas via a cheap internal US carrier - and this was horrendous! Having been travelling all day and some of the night, I had another 5 hours to go before I arrived at my final destination, and travelling on what seemed like an old (and extremely cramped) bus was not fun! Worse, the food was awful, and you had to pay extra for it.

I’ve also flown via Los Angeles and San Francisco, both of which were fine, as you have a long haul (11 hours or so) over to LA, and then a short hop (an hour or so) back to Las Vegas. Again, it’s with a crummy internal US carrier that makes EasyJet feel like the Rolls Royce of carriers, but you’re not on the flight for long, so that doesn’t matter.

If you can, fly Virgin direct. Some of the planes don’t have as much legroom as you’d like, but their entertainment centre is first rate, as are the extremely helpful air stewards and stewardesses.

Of course, whether you prefer to get the whole flight over in one go, or split it up into two is up to you. Flying direct to the West Coast of the States from Heathrow takes a long time, but at least you’re on a pleasant aircraft. Personally, I prefer to fly direct (Virgin all the way), or at least fly with Virgin for as long as possible, so that the changeover to the internal US carrier is as short as possible!

Air Canada flights to Vegas

This year (2007), I travelled with Air Canada, via Montreal on the way over, and Toronto on the way back. Air Canada provides you with loads of leg-room (more, it has to be said, than Virgin), but that’s it. Its food is crap, there’s no entertainment other than a selection of crap films (some of which are in French) broadcast to everyone from TVs in the aisle, and the customer service has to rate a zero.

The staff were either rude, hostile or indifferent, with pissed-off seeming to be their default attitude to their customers. I’ve never been on a worse carrier for customer care.

The only thing going for AirCanada was the leg-room, which was impressive, and the best I’ve seen so far. But other than their price, I’ve absolutely nothing else to say to recommend them! Still, if it’s leg-room and price you’re after, you can’t do better.

I’ll update this page as I continue my Vegas travels. In the meantime, feel free to add your own comments on the flights you’ve been on, below.