The best flights from London to San Francisco

Make the most of your trip to San Francisco by feeling more awake. Flights that depart London between 1pm and 5pm make it easier to adjust to the local timezone on the day you land - "day 1 jetlag".

To defy jetlag, you need to try to avoid stretching your travel day out too long. But, the hours in a long haul travel day add up quickly:

• Flights from London to San Francisco are typically 10–11 hours long.

• Add 2-3 hours in airports

• Add 2-3 hours getting to and from each airport

Your total door-to-door travel time becomes near the peak of your typical endurance. Most adults are awake for about 16-17 hours in a 24-hour period. An inflight nap will help, but picking better timed flights will make the most difference.

Flights that depart before 1pm will depart in the middle of the night in San Francisco. Most people will be asleep there, but you will have been up for hours, getting to the airport, checking in, then taking off. Stretching out your day like this creates the perfect conditions for awful day 1 jetlag.

It's helpful to think of the earlier flights as "overnight" flights, instead of daylight flights. If you do have to take these earlier flights, plan to sleep deeply, avoid caffeine before you board, then "restart your day" with your pre-arrival meal service. It helps to plan to be active and outside when you land too, and avoid going to bed too early so you sleep through to the following morning.

Flights that depart after 5pm will land into San Francisco in the middle of the night London time. Your body clock will be craving sleep, but you'll have to deal with immigration, collecting bags, and then getting to wherever you're staying first.

Treat these later flights as a long and lazy evening. Try to avoid sleeping deeply onboard, and aim for a place to stay near the airport. A good nights sleep in a real bed will help reset your body clock and minimise your day 2 jetlag.

Three major airports serve the San Francisco Bay Area. Even if you're travelling into the city, they are all competitive on door-to-door times. Search all of them to find a better deal.

There used to be direct flights to all three airports from London, but now they are all consolidated into SFO. That said, you can connect through to any of them from other gateway hubs in the USA. If direct LHR-SFO prices are high and you're considering one-stop flights anyway, see if you can save more by searching to all the Bay Area airports.

The current British Airways A380 layout has Economy split over the main and upper deck. Unlike the main deck 3-4-3 layout, the upper deck is 2-4-2 and has large side bins for storing your personal belongings (as opposed to just the overhead lockers).

Smaller cabins and easier aisle access feels far less crowded than the dense Economy cabins on other aircraft.

British Airways are reconfiguring their A380s at the moment. This will convert the entire upper deck to Club Suite, moving Premium Economy downstairs into a 2-4-2 configuration, and expanding from 55 to 84 seats. Economy will only be downstairs in a 3-4-3.

Virgin Atlantic's A330neos feature their best hard products in every cabin. Even in Economy, it is a markedly better product with plenty of twin seats thanks to the 2-4-2 configuration. That's great for couples and groups. Solo travellers have fewer 'strangers' to navigate. There's easiest aisle access for window seat lovers. Huge screens, bluetooth for your own headphones, and deep recline.

Premium Economy comes in a 2-3-2 setup.

Business Class gets the latest Upper Class Suite with forward-facing suites with doors and aisle-access. These give the best setup for sleep, work, and window-gazing. You can also book extra space in their new 'Retreat Suite' as an individual or couple.

Virgin's oldest Upper Class cabin divides fans. The design was first offered in 2003. You'll have the same onboard service, but the seat design is much narrower, angled towards the aisle with less privacy and little storage compared to modern configurations. Window gazers will find it frustrating trying to look out at a narrow angle while facing towards the middle of the cabin.

All the seats have aisle access, and these beds benefit from no obstruction to your feet so they're good for sleeping. These are also the only remaining aircraft with the onboard bar. The A330-300s will be out of the fleet by 2028, and the last 787-9 will be reconfigured by 2030.

Until then, you may get more for your money by booking an alternative cabin - either another Virgin flight, or an alternative airline with a more modern business class configuration.

Studies show the effects of lower cabin altitude (more oxygen and humidity) help with feeling less fatigued when you land.

787s, A350s and A380s have lower cabin altitudes than other aircraft. On long flights, like from London to San Francisco, you'll notice your skin, mouth, and nose dry through the flight.

The longest US flights get a second hot meal service, but you'll have 7-8 hours between service where you can go hungry. There are snacks onboard, but they tend to be carb-heavy that can spike your blood sugar and not really fill you up. Other airlines pace their meal service better for long dayflights that might leave you wanting more.

Avoid grazing through the flight, and consider high-protein snacks. These do a better job making you feel full and trigger hormones that make you feel more alert. Carb-heavy snacks will send you on a blood sugar rollercoaster that might make you feel less with it when you land.