$461 Find Cheap Flights from the United Kingdom to California

1 adult
1 adult, Economy, 0 bags

KAYAK searches hundreds of travel sites at once for deals on flights to California

 
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results for flights to California
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results for flights to California
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Booking Insights

KAYAK's insights & trends for flights to California

Get data-powered insights and trends for flights to California to help you find the cheapest flights, the best time to fly and much more.

What is the cheapest flight to California?

These are the best round-trip prices found by users searching on KAYAK in the last 72 hours.

The cheapest ticket to California from the United Kingdom found in the last 72 hours was to Los Angeles, at $281 round-trip. The most popular route is London Gatwick Airport (LGW) to Los Angeles (LAX) and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 72 hours was $281.

What is the cheapest month to fly from the United Kingdom to California?

To calculate monthly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each month over the last year for flights from the United Kingdom to California, removes the top 0.1% to account for outliers, and then takes the median of all values for each month.

The cheapest month for flights from the United Kingdom to California is September, when tickets cost $677 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are July and December, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $1,015 and $874 respectively.

What is the cheapest time of day to fly to California?

The average price for all round-trip flights from the United Kingdom to California depending on the time of departure, clicked by users on KAYAK in the last 2 weeks.

The cheapest time of day to fly to California is generally in the afternoon, when round-trip flights cost $667 on average. Morning departures are around 1% more expensive than evening flights, on average. The most expensive time of day to fly to California is generally in the morning, which is peak travel time and where the average cost of a ticket is $704.

How far in advance should I book a flight from the United Kingdom to California?

To calculate weekly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each week before departure over the last year for round-trip flights to California, removes the top 0.1% to account for outliers, and then takes the average of all the values for each week.

To get a below average price on the flight from the United Kingdom to California, you should book around 5 weeks before departure, which saves you about 26% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 22 weeks before departure.

Which is the cheapest airport to fly into in California?

Prices will differ depending on the departure airport, but generally, the cheapest airport to fly to in California is Los Angeles Airport (LAX), with an average flight price of $678.

Good to know

Low seasonJanuary
Cheapest flight$461
Best time to beat the crowds but there is an average 4% increase in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 19% increase in price.
Flight from London Luton Airport to Los Angeles

Flights from the United Kingdom to California: the best tips from KAYAK users

Insights shared by verified travelers who flew the route from the United Kingdom to California 
AntonFlew with United Airlines
LHR
-
SFO
Feb 2026
United has a cool arrival lounge in london but it is a bit hard to find, after customs look left
AlastairFlew with British Airways
LHR
-
SFO
Feb 2025
Make sure your free checked luggage is for outward and return flights.
Verified travelerFlew with British Airways
LHR
-
SAN
Sep 2024
Flight overall is good. Service is very good. Bring yourself some snacks, in case the food isn’t up to your taste.
MeganFlew with Iberia
LHR
-
LAX
Sep 2024
Pack light and know you can always get stuff when you land.
Verified travelerFlew with United Airlines
LHR
-
SFO
Sep 2024
Download all your music. Add shows and movies to your queue. Bring short so you can relax. Bring long charger cords.
SimonFlew with British Airways
LHR
-
LAX
Jun 2024
If flying business class I’d research which cabin your aircraft operates. BA have some old business class on the 380 and new business class on the 777. (And 350). The new cabin is so much better. But the food just isn’t as good as it used to be

FAQs for booking flights from the United Kingdom to California

  • I’m booking a flight to California to visit San Francisco. Which airport do I choose?

    San Francisco International is the closest to the city centre (15min) and has the most options when it comes to airlines and routes. United, British Airways, and Virgin Atlantic operate direct flights from London Heathrow, Norwegian flies from London Gatwick, and Thomas Cook Airlines operates seasonal flights to SFO from Manchester. However, this is one of the busiest airports in California; if you’d prefer a less busy airport, you can fly to San Jose International, which is 47min from downtown San Francisco. However, do keep in mind that British Airways is the only airline to operate regular flights to this airport from London Heathrow.

  • I’m planning a trip to Yosemite National Park. What’s the best airport to fly into?

    The closest airport to Yosemite is Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT), about 96 mi away from the park and accessible by road. If you want to fly from the United Kingdom all the way to Yosemite, you'll have to have a stopover either in San Francisco or Los Angeles. United flies from Heathrow and Gatwick to San Francisco and Los Angeles, while American Airlines flies to Los Angeles from Heathrow. Alternatively, or if you’d prefer to fly as little as possible, you can fly into San Francisco and then drive to Yosemite (approx. 3h 50min).

  • Which international airport in California is closest to Disneyland?

    Los Angeles International Airport is the closest to Disneyland California, which is about 35min away by car. This airport is served by the Disneyland Resort Express bus, which takes passengers straight to the park.

  • I’m searching for flights to California from Northern Ireland. Which are the best airports?

    If your final destination is Los Angeles or San Francisco, you can choose to catch a flight to California from London Heathrow with British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and United, or from London Gatwick with Norwegian. easyJet operates direct flights to Gatwick from Belfast International Airport (BFS), while Aer Lingus and British Airways operate regular flights to Heathrow from George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD). If you’re flying to San Jose or San Diego, you’ll have to fly out of London Heathrow on British Airways. The simplest option is to book your flight to California with this airline from Belfast International.

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from the United Kingdom to California?

    KAYAK is a travel search engine. That means we look across the web to find the best prices we can find for our users. With over 2 billion flight queries processed yearly, we are able to display a variety of prices and options on flights from the United Kingdom to California.

  • How does KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy my flight ticket from the United Kingdom to California?

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight from the United Kingdom to California is likely to change within 7 days, so travelers know whether to wait or book now.

  • What is the Hacker Fare option on flights from the United Kingdom to California?

    Hacker Fares allow you to combine one-way tickets in order to save you money over a traditional round-trip ticket. You could then fly from the United Kingdom to California with an airline and back with another airline.

  • What is KAYAK's "flexible dates" feature and why should I care when looking for a flight from the United Kingdom to California?

    Sometimes travel dates aren't set in stone. If your preferred travel dates have some wiggle room, flexible dates will show you all the options when flying from the United Kingdom to California up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

  • What is the cheapest day to fly to California?

    Based on KAYAK data, the cheapest day to fly to California is Friday where round-trip tickets can be as cheap as $707. On the other hand, the most expensive day to fly is Sunday, where round-trip prices are $763 on average.

Top tips for finding a cheap flight out of the United Kingdom

  • For passengers flying from other cities in the UK without direct flights to California and who prefer to fly low-cost to London, Flybe operates regular flights to London Heathrow from Aberdeen and Edinburgh. On the other hand, Gatwick has more options for low-cost flights with easyJet operating regular connections with Belfast, Glasgow, and Inverness.
  • When looking for flights to California, you can choose from four international airports with regular direct flights to the UK. Those are Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), San Diego International Airport (SAN), San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and San Jose International Airport (SJC).
  • London Heathrow (LHR) is the airport in the United Kingdom with the most options when it comes to airlines flying to all the four major airports in California. Keep in mind that if you’re flying from elsewhere, you’ll probably need to factor in a stopover here.
  • If you prefer to fly out of London Gatwick (LGW), you'll have fewer options in terms of routes and airlines. Norwegian is the only airline operating direct flights to California from this airport, and only to Los Angeles and San Francisco.
  • If you’d like to book a direct flight to California from Manchester Airport (MAN), look for seasonal flights operated by Virgin Atlantic and Thomas Cook Airlines to San Francisco or Los Angeles.

Reviews of the top 5 airlines serving from the United Kingdom to California

 
See real verified KAYAK customer reviews for airlines flying to California. Airline scores are aggregated from all reviews left by passengers on KAYAK after flying with an airline from the United Kingdom to California. KAYAK doesn’t show reviews that are older than 5 years. Learn how KAYAK collects reviews.
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from the United Kingdom to California? KAYAK airline reviews give an overall score for each airline based on loads of factors, including comfort, boarding, in-flight entertainment and more, to make your decision easier. See airline scores according to verified KAYAK customer reviews.
7.5
Virgin AtlanticOverall score based on 687 reviews
7.5Entertainment
7.3Comfort
8.1Crew
6.9Food
7.7Boarding
Airline reviews

Seating and zone. The minor I went with didn’t even seat close to me

4.0 OkayAnonymous, Mar 2026
BOS - LIS
Read more Virgin Atlantic reviews

Seating and zone. The minor I went with didn’t even seat close to me

My seat 3G did not go down fully and the buttons were not working properly

Food has been disappointing in both legs of flight to india

Great staff great experience, made a 2 hour delay very bearable

Great staff, great experience, made a 2 hour delay very bearable

Food was the worst I’ve had on a VA flight. Normally it’s a lot better

I was my pleasure to fly virgin on my birthday for my first solo trip ever 🫶🏼

These are one of the older seat arrangements facing away from the windows! Not particularly convenient sets. No storage spaces. NO COAT HANGING HOOKS. Inconvenient business class seat compared to any other airlines of similar class. Staff are excellent! Extremely professional, friendly. Food is good too.

Overall, flight was excellent but check in was very slow for Premium Economy. Economy queue was shorter but we weren't allowed to use it.

The staff was not very polite but the flight was very very nice and comfortable and the entertainment was great

The crew was great. Very friendly and responsive. The plane was old, small and tight. We ran out of overhead space and I had to check. Middle seat was particularly tight.

The flight was delayed from take off because only one runway was operational in San Francisco.

Several missed and almost missed connections. It felt like everything was being patched together last minute without enough resources and it ended up being an extremely stressful experience that basically ruined our weekend on the west coast. What a waste.

Dinner was good, but the breakfast served in the morning was horrible.

Packed in plane small uncomfortable seats elbow to elbow nobody wants to be in that situation for the money they paid

Checking in united could not figure out my star alliance gold. Baggage did not get marked priority and didn't receive boarding passes. When got to SFO lounge personal fixed everything Immediately

Meals were poor and service rendered on return flight was mediocre as compared to the flight we took to Germany earlier where the attendants were more attentive, energetic, and mindful of passengers' needs. Thumbs up to crew of UA 58. Thumbs down to UA 59..

Flight left on time, arrived early, pleasant staff provided water, coffee, etc. access to bathrooms was reasonable and were well maintained. blankets were available, lots of entertainment options. LUGGAGE SERVICE WAS GREAT. I got my one checked bag quickly and was able to make a bus connection for a 2 hour bus ride saving me from waiting another 1.5 hours.

Terrible, if possible won't be flying again anytime soon!

Wonderful in-seat entertainment with seatback screens and huge selection of quality movies. The ability to bluetooth connect headphones was amazing.

American delayed the flight for a crew rest period. The delay occurred late in the evening - the earliest i can find is 10:20 pm. With a 6 am flight anyone on the flight would have already have been asleep (unless you are insane, a vampire or on drugs) and at least for me i was already on the way to the airport at 445 am the next morning when i discovered they delayed the flight until 9 am. Given the incoming flight was in the air at 6 pm the evening before this should have been figured out a lot more timely that was there only crew to use. Just frustrating given there is no consideration for customer experience anymore in flying.

Flight: Started on time. Comfortable flight. Arrived on time. Crew: Very cordial and helpful. Drinks and snack was served with a smile. Overall enjoyed the trip. Regards, Hari Doss Chanchala Doss

To have arrived on time and not 3 hours late after having already spent $100 to change to an earlier flight, only to arrive back home close to the original flight time.

American Airlines is a miserable experience. It is predictably miserable, in the sense that every time I fly American, I brace myself for the certainty that it will be unpleasant and uncomfortable. But it is unpredictable in the sense that I never know if the flight will be on time or delayed nine hours (both happened to me this week). I never know if I will be able to sit in the seat that I selected when I purchased the ticket or if I will be told by Customer Service (!!!) that I must relocate from first class to a seat in the back of the aircraft with no explanation (both happened to me this week). Will the food be frozen and half defrosted, or scalding hot? Will the drinks be warm? Will the flight attendants be surly and mean? Will the toilets be cramped and foul? Will the seats be narrow and uncomfortable? Will there be a real electric outlet at the seat, or just an unreliable USB-2 port? Will there be enough seats in the boarding lounge or just a few? Will the boarding process be smooth and efficient, or will the gate agents mess it up and delay it needlessly for 30 or 40 minutes? Will the catering and cleaning crew be prompt or will they take an extra 30 minutes? Will the brakes on the aircraft work properly, or will the pilot delay takeoff for four hours while the ground crew attends to what can only be described as routine maintenance that should have been done the night before? I've eexperienced every one of these unpleasant things this year, 2026. The only thing I can reliably count on is that American will find a new way to make the experience of flying as miserable as they possibly can.

Wifi was spotty. Tray table was very dirty when I sat down.

The WiFi would not connect enough for me to do my actual work. It permaspooled, disconnected, said it was connected, then wouldn't open an email... it was frustrating. I am not a tall person, 5'4" - and I felt cramped with little room to reach into my bag under the seat in front of me. I feel sorry for anyone taller than me having to fly. the one positive thing I will add, is the overhead bins are roomy enough to manage more bags than other carriers.

Buying ticket from kayak instant booking was a huge mistake, never to be repeated again! The Kayak didn’t book the tickets directly, it handed it off to a third party Underpricer, that booked a code shared American Airlines flight operated by Cathay Pacific!! When managing the booking American Airlines would recognize the itinerary but wouldn’t let me do anything stating, the flight is operated by Cathay Pacific so go to their website. Cathay Pacific would recognize the itinerary, neither by reservation ID or ticket number…asking to reach out to the third party Underpricer….calling Underpricer resulted in no help like seat requests, mileage number or upgrade request, 15hr layover accommodation voucher guidance…so net in net avoid booking through three layers of intermediaries

Going non stop to lax like I paid for. Not stopping in MCI for gas. Too long of delays

Flight was on time. Cabin attendants made no recognition of my name or being an Advantage Executive Platinum member.

Delayed for mechanical and no updates on what was happening and how long the delay might be.

Service was excellent. Flight was only about half full, which meant we had tons of room to stretch out. Boarding area was nice and well organized, flight attendants were super friendly and attentive and we loved the 3 snacks!

My flight was cancelled, but it was not Kayak's fault. Kayak did require me to pay for the ticket twice to two different venders who paid Lufthansa. Kayak/Lufthansa owes me for the first booking I made first was fraudulent on the part of the subcontracting ticket seller. There will be litigation over this issue under the current passenger protection laws.

flight was half full, plenty of empty seats, was able to lie down across 4 seats, food was good, arrived on time

Was never allowed on and not refunded the full amount of the ticket plus charged a $300 processing fee.

Terrible. Our flight was completely cancelled with no options to rebook until 4 days later.

Generally good. Not their fault but the design of the Boeing 747 had seating supports directly in line with my legs. So my legs always had to straddle this support which caused body misallignment. Such poor design from Boeing. There was no USB port for me to charge my phone. The screen touch control was very poor.

I like crew. They are friendly. The flight was delayed to take off for 1hr and that caused panic at Houston Airport to catch connecting flight due to security check delay. If it has reached on time I would have sufficient time in collecting bags and security check

How about changing the personal out to more friendly human beings? This team was pretty arrogant. No fun!!

Everything could have been better. What needed to be wrong with United went wrong

Excellent service. The crew goes above their way to make the customer comfortable.

OK, except for a cabin attendant's lack of attention.

efficient. on time. cabin crew were very professional and very nice to deal with. would definately fly BA again.

It was great overall. A few slight improvements could be made on the onboarding process at the Gates with announcements and clarity of communications (both at the gate and in flight). The movies in the entertainment options could be improved for bollywood, hollywood.

I alrady responded to this request, and expllaned at length that this was the worst flying experience in my 77 years. I will NEVER fly BA again.

Airbus A350 is poorly designed for wheelchair users and reduced mobility passengers. The angle of the pods makes it awkward to transfer. I was able to but I have ab stability. It could be a real challenge for people with more severe mobility impairments. You'd think Airbus would have come up with a solution for this or thought more about us disabled folks more when designing this aircraft.

The crew has always been great on BA. They are very friendly and accommodating. I like that they have vegetarian options already in the menu. And the free wine is a nice perk.) I noticed (both directions of my trip) minor upgrades/ replacements needed on the plane itself (touch screen didn't work with touch; bathroom light didn't go on). However, this is one of my favorite airlines.

Everything was spectacular except the boarding. It was just a mob of people while all groups were called over the public address system.

The Britts are wonderful to fly with and the crew were very hospitable. Again, I really wish they had been able to retrieve my carryon bag from baggage claim before the flight so I could be in a less worrisome state of mind, but that's not on them. I completely understand. The window seats with the dimmable windows were very cool!

There was a delay for the San Francisco-London flight, but we were all informed via text and email. The staff was very friendly and nice and the food was good. I do recommend that the airline offer something without eggs or something vegan for the vegetarian meal option. A lot of Indians are lacto-vegetarian, while some could be allergic to eggs/dairy.

food options were terrible. for a 10-hour flight, there should be 2 decent meals. Also, flight attendants should come around with drinks more than just at the meals.

Everything you need to know for your flight to California

Cabin class types available on flights to California

Cabin classes available on flights to California. Prices are the lowest found on KAYAK over the last 7 days. Price and availability is not guaranteed.