British Airways opens nonstop London-Las Vegas route: $249 O/W introductory fares

British Airways received a wet celebratory splash Sunday night at McCarran International Airport as the airline’s first flight of nonstop service between London Heathrow (LHR) and Las Vegas (LAS) landed. But BA isn’t the first foreign carrier to bring tourists from Europe to Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Sun reports that Virgin Atlantic offers nonstop daily flights between London Gatwick and Las Vegas, and Condor Flugdienst flies twice a week between Frankfurt, Germany, and Las Vegas. The Sun also noted the heated rivalry between British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, as well has the 2008 passenger decline that Virgin recorded between London and Las Vegas.

Deal or no deal? British Airways is offering introductory fares of $249 each way, pre-tax, between London (LHR) and Las Vegas (LAS). When I tested dates in February, I found a round-trip ticket between Las Vegas (LAS) and London (LHR) for $663 (Feb. 9-15). When I tested the same dates and destinations on Kayak, I found the same rates flying British Airways and similar rates on American Airlines and US Airways. If you were to fly Continental, United, Delta or Northwest, the price jumped to more than $800 round trip.

Note that the British Airways sale is also listing fares between Las Vegas and Paris or Rome starting at $269 each way.

Should Los Angeles-based travelers fly out of Vegas to get that price? If you are looking for a low fare to get to Europe this winter, there’s no need to drive to Vegas to get it. I found fares between Los Angeles (LAX) and London (LHR) under $700 round trip.

When: Book by Oct. 29 for travel Nov. 02–March 28 (excludes Dec. 21–23)

Contact: British Airways, (800) 247-9297

— Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger

Photo: In this photo provided by the Las Vegas News Bureau, the inaugural nonstop British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Las Vegas lands at McCarran International Airport amid water cannons on Sunday Oct. 25, 2009. Credit: AP Photo / Las Vegas News Bureau, Glenn Pinkerton]

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 26, 2009 at 1:24 pm by Jen Leo and is filed under Airline travel, Deals, Great Britain, Las Vegas, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.