I have only flown AF from SXM to CDG in recent years, and am interested in possibly flying AA from Houston to CDG Paris.

I've been happy with the seating, service, meals, and amenities (seatback screens, etc.) in coach class on AF. Can anyone tell me what the amenities are in coach on AA for trans-atlantic flights?

Why ask this question? You could search "AA" and you will get hundreds of reviews. By the end of the day you will not be any closer to a definite answer then you are right now.

Service, seating, food in coach will be about the same. Drinks will cost. AA flies 767s to CDG, so unless you are in the front cabin, you will be watching the movies on a communal screens.

The front cabin is very nice on the 767. It is a 2 class plane. Very nice food selection, usually a very nice crew and the seats are better than the J seats on the 777. You also get a personal DVD player with a personal library of about 20 disks. Some new, some classic movies, plus Discovery/National Geographic disks as well as some kid programming.

Should you fly American or Air France?

Economy--Air France. Alcohol is free and American took away the extra room in coach.

Business--Go with American.

First Class--Go with Air France.

<Why ask this question? You could search "AA" and you will get hundreds of reviews. By the end of the day you will not be any closer to a definite answer then you are right now.>

AA, first of all I did do a quick search on AA's website and didn't find the specific info I was looking for with regards to transatlantic flights. I'm short on time and figured that asking a simple travel question here (on a travel forum where travel questions are asked....gasp!) wouldn't be a problem.

Since it apparently is for you, could you at least answer my one simple question about whether or not they have seatback screens on trans-atlantic flights?

You give very good information on this board, but I really don't think your berating me about asking a travel question was called for. You didn't have to answer at all if it bothered you that much.

wally, I would prefer to fly AF over, but I am hoping to use FF miles on AA so that's why I'm wondering about AA. Thanks for the additional info.

Statia - AAFF has already answered your question. "Communal screens" on AA's 767, i.e. no individual screens.

I meant "do a search" here, not on aa.com. I also meant that by the end of the day you will have 33% of responders telling you that you must be nuts using AA, 33% telling you, "well if you must", and the final 33% will tell you that it's a nice flight. You, out of many people here should know that. You have been around for a long time and read many of these threads. I did not mean to berate you, but I based my reply on the many "which airline should I fly?" threads aand it's always the same results.

I did answer your individual screen question, but just in case you missed it, AA does not have seat back screens on the 767s in economy class.

Thanks for pointing that out, rkkwan. My mistake in missing that part.

I've found other specific info on a thread on the European forum, as well, so thanks for the info here and I'll get the more from there.

Thanks for the clarification, AA.

I should have stated in my post that I much prefer to fly AF, but I am thinking about using FF miles to fly AA. I guess I was just wondering "how bad will it be" in comparison to AF.

Thanks again for the info.

Here is a hint. If you do decide on AA and if you have any status try to get row 21 A/B or H/J. These are exit row seats with nice legroom and full recline. If you don't have any status there is still hope. Some of the elites may get upgraded to the front cabin hours before or at the airport. If they do, usually row 21 opens up so you could always try to grab these seats at the airport.

If you really know how to beg you could always try for row 17. On international flights one side is blocked for the crew, but I believe the other side is available if the GA feels like it. The seats in row 17 are miniture J seats in a private little cabin with it's own little screen on the wall in front of you and a wall behind you. The good - Privacy, foot rest, very nice recline. The bad - you are right next to the galley, noise and lights.

Once I was able to score this seat on SFO-JFK red-eye and I was glad I didn't have to spend any upgrade stickers. That was before AA changed the program and I get free upgrades now. For a red-eye it was perfect, but I could sleep through just about anything.

Good luck!

Thanks for the insider tip, AA. I really appreciate it.

We are planning to take my husband's daughter to Europe, but she lives in Houston and we live near St. Maarten. So, I may have to fly to Houston in order to escort her to Paris to meet my husband. Hence the reason for wanting to use my miles since the airfare alone of going thru the US to Europe will be really exhorbitant for me.

I just wish I had enough miles on AF instead, but AA is our main carrier here. So, I'll keep your info in mind and hope to make the trip better.

How old is the girl? Both CO and AF fly non-stop IAH-CDG, so I think putting her on the plane by herself shouldn't be too bad. Otherwise, you need to fly here to Houston, and then still need to connect at DFW or ORD to get to CDG on AA.

rkkwan, the only problem is that her mother won't let her fly "all that way" by herself no matter what the circumstances. She flies here now as an unaccompanied minor and we meet her in St. Maarten, but I guess with the flight being so long to Europe her mother doesn't like the idea. We are kind of at the mother's mercy in travel situations.

The trip is still a little ways off, so I'll keep looking into the various options. I'm just trying to get ideas of how best to work it out both financially and comfortably. Thanks for the input!

Oh, and AAFrequentFlyer, sorry for getting a bit worked up about your original post. I guess I should have been more clear in mine and searched a bit more before posting the question.