I fly regularly from London to West Coast US and have kids / wife at home, so I can appreciate your rant. Having tried varying different combos of the route ei

I fly regularly from London to West Coast US and have kids / wife at home, so I can appreciate your rant. Having tried varying different combos of the route either one hop, or broken up (including internal Delta) I have found that the choice of airline does indeed make the biggest difference not only to the journey, but to how quickly I can adapt to the new timezone. I'm lucky that air new Zealand have their flagship route from LHR to LAX, and their level of comfort far exceeds many of the others doing the same trip (May be one of your VERY few exceptions; yes talking economy). That coupled with pretty decent flight times - Leaving around 4pm flying overnight and landing around 7pm US - really makes a huge difference to how quickly I can adjust when I get the other end (Stay awake for the flight and go to bed when I land or sleep the whole flight and land ready for the morning depending on direction) It's the 4.5 hour train journey to/from LHR, and that fills me with dread every time, not the 10H flight.