Good/Bad Airlines???

[Transonic]

Hey everyone, I'm going backpacking through Europe this Fall (flying out of LAX) and I have the choice of traveling on a few different airlines. I haven't flew anywhere far on a big airline before so I'm looking for some advice. Any experiences, good or bad, that I should know about will surely help. They'll be 14-15hr long flights so comfort is probably my biggest priority. I'll be traveling with a backpack as a carry on bag, that's it. So far I can fly on:

Air France
British Airways
Lufthansa
Swiss Airlines
Delta

Oh and I'm gonna take a look through seatguru.com (http://www.seatguru.com) this week. It's a great site that I was refered to so I just need to find time to research soon. I'm buying my tickets this weekend coming up. Thanks.

Mike

edit: oh and I'll be flying economy, nothing fancy.

[Skip Souza]

My father in law has logged about 3,000,000 air miles ( not counting the round trip flights between England and Germany). He swears that British Airways is the best. Roomiest, most comfortable seats, best service.
If you want the most secure then fly El Al.

[Steve Parr]

Hey everyone, I'm going backpacking through Europe this Fall (flying out of LAX) and I have the choice of traveling on a few different airlines. I haven't flew anywhere far on a big airline before so I'm looking for some advice. Any experiences, good or bad, that I should know about will surely help. They'll be 14-15hr long flights so comfort is probably my biggest priority. I'll be traveling with a backpack as a carry on bag, that's it. So far I can fly on:

Air France
British Airways
Lufthansa
Swiss Airlines
Delta

Oh and I'm gonna take a look through seatguru.com (http://www.seatguru.com) this week. It's a great site that I was refered to so I just need to find time to research soon. I'm buying my tickets this weekend coming up. Thanks.

Mike

edit: oh and I'll be flying economy, nothing fancy.

From that list, I'd probably go with British Airways. It's been years since I flew on them, but they were excellent. I've heard good things about AIr France, as well, although I've no personal experience.

I would steer clear of Delta, especially if you're flying coach on a trans-Atlantic flight...

[jbkalla]

I flew BA once, and it was the best flight I'd ever been on. I've heard Virgin is better, but I've never been on it.

[DocFrankenstein]

Air France would be my choice, but I didn't fly a lot with BA.

They might be better still

[jbkalla]

All I know is, us Americans keep getting fatter, while our airline seats get smaller! (or maybe it's just me?)

[Wazza]

Out of that list, I much prefer BA. :)

Worldwide, I would choose Emirates/Qantas/Air NZ/BA

[primoz]

I always fly with Lufthansa, mostly because I started with them and now it would be stupid to throw away all those miles and benefits collected with their Miles and more program. I didn't have any bad experience with them, including carrying big photo backpack with day pack attached to it (all together is usually around 20+kg) and additional handbag for laptop. There was only once "problem" going back to Europe from LAX when I had to take out half of cameras and lenses, since that woman at check-in didn't believe camera gear can weight 20kg, and otherwise 20kg is way over their carry-on weight limits. But once she saw it's really only camera equipment she was fine with it and I carried everything with me.
As far as their service goes... I belive it could be better, but on the other side it could also be worse :) I do believe that their seats are put tighter then some other company has, but with a bit of planning you can get nice seats :) And if you will decide to go with Lufthansa I have another suggestion... choose flights so that you will be flying with 747 and not with Airbus 340-300 (340-600 unfortunately doesn't fly to LAX). 340-300 has really little of space and it's 10-11 hours of suffering... well not that it's pleasure on any of other planes either but this one is even worse.

[buttrfly]

British Airways is great.

[Col_M]

From that list I've flown with BA and Air France, BA all the way for me :)

[sdommin]

I think that the actual airlines are not as important as the airports you go to and from. Maybe that should be the question you ask.

[dewmuw]

I fly British Airways about once or twice a month - great service.

When you are in Europe check out the cheap flight deals e.g. Liverpool to Dublin for £5.00. You have to book in advance though.

[Transonic]

Wow, thanks for the responses. I'll probably get the tickets through expedia and there's a way to see what kind of airplane I'll be flying on before I buy them. I guess the bigger the plane the better?

I think that the actual airlines are not as important as the airports you go to and from. Maybe that should be the question you ask.It'll be one way from LAX to Rome, then one way from Barcelona to LAX.

[Longwatcher]

I can recommend Luthansia as having good flights for me when I have taken them. Never been on BA, but heard many good things. Domestically I avoid Delta if possible, can't speak on international though.

[Double Negative]

Don't kid yourself. They all suck.

I used to like flying. A lot. Now, I can't stand it. Leaving Munich last year - THREE security checkpoints, shoes off, the whole nine. The seating... My god. Would it KILL them to remove one row and give everyone an extra INCH of space? No, now they want to charge you for more legroom. As it is, you pay out the ass for a ticket and what, you get a bag of peanuts? No more sandwiches, let alone a meal. And forget a pillow. They're gone too.

Try getting somewhere from New York, of all places... Layover. Transfers. Connecting flights. Nope, gotta fly out of Newark... The airports around here are heaping, steamy piles of poo. They should be razed to the ground and rebuilt. "Kennedy 2000!" the banners exclaimed. Yeah, right. They quietly went away. Now it's 2006 and it still looks like ass. How about long term parking? $85 for four days and had to walk to the bus to walk to the tram to walk to the terminal. Bah!

Bitter? Oh yeah. It's getting to the point I'd rather SWIM.

[staciecd]

I've only flown overseas once, but would highly recommend BA as my best flight ever! The attendants were great, food great, and seats comfortable.

Stacie

[benhasajeep]

From your list I would say BA. I work for a charter airline, and fly other commercial carriers at least once a week to get to work (US and international destinations). Of the US carriers Continental is the only airline to fly. They are the only one to still serve meals without charging you. Long flights this matters! Across the Atlantic I have flown about 6 different carriers. Again Continental has been the best. With delta being the worst. I have flown with BA and the BA atlantic legs were good. But then connected with BMED which was not so nice. It really a crap shoot. If the plane is packed it tends to make the flight a little less enjoyable. For me its even worse since I am very much oversized.

Unfortunately I don't get to pick the carriers as my company pays for the tickets so its all done by pricing.