The short answer: London is 8 hours ahead of Los Angeles for most of the year (7 hours during the brief spring changeover). When it is 9:00 AM in Los Angeles it is 5:00 PM in London. The best time to talk is an LA morning, which lands in London's late afternoon — the end of the London workday, before people head home.
Los Angeles and London sit on opposite sides of the Atlantic and a continent, so there is no hour that is mid-afternoon in both. The eight-hour gap means your only sociable overlap is your morning against their afternoon — but it is a clean, reliable one.
How far ahead is London?
Los Angeles uses Pacific Time (PST in winter, PDT in summer). London uses GMT in winter and BST in summer. Because both places change their clocks within a few weeks of each other, the gap is a steady 8 hours for almost the whole year, narrowing to 7 only during the short spring window when the UK has sprung forward but the US has not yet caught up.
| Period | London is ahead by |
|---|---|
| Most of the year | 8 hours |
| Brief spring changeover | 7 hours |
Los Angeles to London at a glance
Using the standard 8-hour offset, here is how common Los Angeles times convert to London. Your morning is their afternoon, and by the time it is afternoon in LA, London is already deep into the evening.
| Los Angeles (PT) | London (UK) |
|---|---|
| 7:00 AM | 3:00 PM |
| 9:00 AM | 5:00 PM |
| 12:00 PM | 8:00 PM |
| 3:00 PM | 11:00 PM |
| 5:00 PM | 1:00 AM (next day) |
The best window to talk
The overlap is short, so aim early. An LA morning between roughly 8:00 and 9:00 AM is 4:00 to 5:00 PM in London — late enough that London has had a full working day, early enough that nobody has left. Push much past 10:00 AM in LA and you are calling London at 6:00 PM, when the office is emptying.
| Call at (Los Angeles) | In London | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| 7:00–8:00 AM | 3:00–4:00 PM | Comfortable work call |
| 8:00–9:00 AM | 4:00–5:00 PM | Best overlap |
| 9:00–10:00 AM | 5:00–6:00 PM | Catch them before they leave |
These conversions use the usual 8-hour gap. If you are scheduling something during the brief spring changeover, the same London times fall one hour later in your LA morning.
The UK and the US both observe daylight saving, but they do not switch on the same day. For a short window each spring the gap is 7 hours instead of 8, so a recurring call can land an hour off until both sides have changed their clocks. See our DST 2026 dates.
Stop checking this every time
If you work between Los Angeles and London regularly, doing this arithmetic by hand gets old, and the spring changeover is exactly where the mistakes creep in. Atlas keeps both cities side by side in your Mac menu bar, shades the hours when both sides are awake, and writes any meeting to your calendar in both local times. One glance tells you whether now is a good time to call. For a near-identical pairing, see our San Francisco to London time difference guide.
Frequently asked
How many hours ahead is London than Los Angeles?
What time is it in London when it is 9 AM in Los Angeles?
What is the best time for a Los Angeles to London call?
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