Los Angeles ↔ London Meeting Guide
Best Meeting Time Between Los Angeles and London
Los Angeles and London sit far enough apart that their normal working days don't share a comfortable window — most of the year, someone has to start early or finish late. For a few weeks each spring and autumn, a daylight-saving mismatch temporarily closes that gap just enough to open up one fully convenient slot.
The short answer
With MeetingTrip's configured 9:00 AM–5:00 PM working hours, Los Angeles and London don't have a normal window where both sides are fully at work. The best available options are compromises:
- 8:00 AM Los Angeles / 4:00 PM London — Los Angeles starts early
- 9:30 AM Los Angeles / 5:30 PM London — London finishes late
During the short daylight-saving mismatch weeks each spring and autumn, the two cities temporarily move one hour closer together — and 9:00 AM Los Angeles / 4:00 PM London becomes a fully comfortable option that doesn't exist the rest of the year. The exact best time for your meeting still depends on the actual date — the International Meeting Planner calculates it precisely.
Normal period
Best meeting times between Los Angeles and London
Working hours: Los Angeles 9:00 AM–5:00 PM, London 9:00 AM–5:00 PM. 30-minute meeting duration. No option below scores 100 — that's the key finding for this pair during the normal period.
Every option here asks one side to step outside its normal working day. The two "best compromise" options simply move the inconvenience from Los Angeles to London or back — neither one is genuinely more convenient overall, just convenient for a different team.
Why there's no easy overlap
How the two working days line up
Both cities use the same 9:00 AM–5:00 PM working day by default — the problem isn't the hours themselves, it's the 8-hour gap between them:
| City | Working day | What's happening in the other city at the same moment |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 9:00 AM–5:00 PM | London: 5:00 PM–1:00 AM (the tail end of its day, then night) |
| London | 9:00 AM–5:00 PM | Los Angeles: 1:00 AM–9:00 AM (overnight, then the very start of its day) |
Each city's working day mostly lines up with the other city's night or the very edge of its day — which is exactly why every normal-period option above asks one side to stretch beyond its usual hours.
The key finding
Why daylight saving temporarily creates a better meeting time
Los Angeles and London don't change their clocks on the same dates. For a few weeks each spring and autumn, the two cities are temporarily 7 hours apart instead of the usual 8.
For most city pairs, a daylight-saving mismatch just shifts the numbers around. For Los Angeles and London, it matters much more than that: it's the difference between no fully comfortable meeting time and having one.
Normally, the best available options top out at a score of 90 — always a compromise. During the mismatch weeks, 9:00 AM in Los Angeles and 4:00 PM in London both fall fully within normal working hours, reaching a full score of 100. That exact slot doesn't reach 100 at any other time of year.
For example, in 2026 the US and UK are on different daylight-saving schedules from March 8–28 and October 25–31. These exact dates shift slightly from year to year — the pattern, not the specific dates, is what stays true.
Side by side
Normal period vs. DST-mismatch period
| Period | Time difference | Best score | Best meeting window |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal period | 8 hours | 90 — compromise required | Los Angeles 8:00 AM / London 4:00 PM |
| DST mismatch | 7 hours | 100 — fully comfortable | Los Angeles 9:00 AM / London 4:00 PM |
DST-mismatch period
The meeting window that only exists a few weeks a year
Same cities, same 9:00 AM–5:00 PM working hours, same 30-minute duration — only the date changes. The first option below doesn't reach a full score outside this window.
The first option — 9:00 AM Los Angeles / 4:00 PM London — is the one to remember: it's the single meeting time all year where neither side has to compromise, and it only exists during these mismatch weeks.
Putting it into practice
What this means for LA–London meetings
Most of the year, there's no way around it: someone has to accept an edge-of-day meeting. If your team schedules Los Angeles–London meetings regularly, it's worth deliberately alternating between the early-Los-Angeles option and the late-London option rather than always asking the same side to stretch.
During the daylight-saving mismatch weeks each spring and autumn, take advantage of it — 9:00 AM Los Angeles / 4:00 PM London is the one time all year that's genuinely comfortable for both sides. Just remember that a recurring meeting set up during a mismatch week will need to move once the mismatch period ends and the normal 8-hour gap returns. MeetingTrip doesn't automatically adjust a recurring meeting for you; the International Meeting Planner recalculates it fresh whenever you check a new date.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
What is the best meeting time between Los Angeles and London?
Most of the year, the best available options are compromises: 8:00 AM in Los Angeles paired with 4:00 PM in London, or 9:30 AM in Los Angeles paired with 5:30 PM in London. Either way, one side is right at the edge of its working day. For a few weeks each spring and autumn, 9:00 AM in Los Angeles and 4:00 PM in London both fall fully within normal working hours.
Do Los Angeles and London have overlapping working hours?
Not in the normal sense. With an 8-hour gap, Los Angeles's 9:00 AM–5:00 PM working day and London's 9:00 AM–5:00 PM working day don't share a common window most of the year. The best options each require one side to start early or finish late.
Why is scheduling Los Angeles and London difficult?
The two cities are far enough apart — 8 hours for most of the year — that their standard working days simply don't line up. It isn't a calculation problem; there genuinely isn't a shared window most of the time, unlike closer pairs such as New York and London.
Does daylight saving time change the best meeting time for Los Angeles and London?
Yes, and for this pair it helps rather than hurts. During the few weeks each spring and autumn when the US and UK are on different daylight-saving schedules, the gap narrows to 7 hours, and 9:00 AM in Los Angeles lines up with 4:00 PM in London — a fully comfortable option that doesn't exist the rest of the year.
Is 9 AM in Los Angeles a good time for London?
It depends on the date. Most of the year, 9:00 AM in Los Angeles is 5:00 PM in London — right at the end of London's working day. During the daylight-saving mismatch weeks, 9:00 AM in Los Angeles is 4:00 PM in London instead, which is comfortably within London's working hours.
What should recurring Los Angeles–London teams do?
Since there's no fully comfortable option most of the year, it's worth rotating which side takes the early or late meeting rather than always defaulting to the same team. It's also worth checking the actual date — a meeting time set during a daylight-saving mismatch week may need to shift once the mismatch period ends.
Related resources
Looking for London's current local time instead of a meeting recommendation? See Time Difference in London. Scheduling with a city on the US East Coast instead? Best Meeting Times Between the US and Europe covers the broader regional picture, including easier corridors like New York ↔ London.
Ready to schedule your meeting?
These examples use representative dates. Enter your real meeting date in the International Meeting Planner to get a recommendation calculated specifically for it.