Best U.S. Airline for traveling to Europe
 

My husband and I are preparing to book our flights to Europe for our honeymoon. We are still undecided on Business or First Class. Which domestic U.S. airline is the most comfortable and accommodating for international travel?

That's like asking "What restaurant in the world serves the best pizza?" Everyone will have their own opinion, there will never be a consensus. However, to get lots of opinions, you may want to go over to Flyertalk.com, as the travelers there will likely have a thread to exactly this question.

By the time you get to biz or FC, everything gets pretty good.

It depends on where you're flying to and where you depart.

To compare seating, go to www.seatguru.com

If you narrow it down, you can go to the various airlines' websites and view pictures and videos.

For a US airline, the difference between biz and FC doesn't merit the extra dollars, in my opinion.

A lot of airlines have codeshare with their international partners, so you may think you're flying on a US carrier, but it would be on a partner plane.

Example: AA codeshares with Iberia and BA to Europe.

Thank you. I am asking for opinions. I know many people who fly domestically that are strong supporters of one airline or another.

What do you mean by accommodating?

Any particular reason you prefer a domestic US airline? European or Asian based carriers have better service to Europe than any domestic US airline, in my experience.

As to the 'best', one cannot generalize as it may very well depend on the route, and therefore the planes used on that route. Your domestic US choices are limited to UAL, Delta, AA, and USAir, none of which shine in my book. With the 2 big mergers in the past few years (Delta + NWA, UAL + Continental) you could be flying on an antiquated B767 or B757, or A330, or a brand new Boeing or Airbus.

It all depends on the route. If you give us more details about your origin and possible or decided destinations we can give you more specific recommendations.

In the last few years I've had very good experience on JET, Lufthansa, United, and Swiss. Coach for me, unfortunately. Airlines are regularly updating their business class seats to be competitive, and very few airlines fly first class transatlantic any more. I did get upgraded to biz class on Jet in 2010, and that was superb. Better than anything I've seen on any other airline.

I am flying from Austin, TX to Venice. Maybe that can help.

I have 1.4 million miles on AA. Naturally, I'm a big supporter of this airline. I use my FF miles to fly biz class to Europe. I haven't had to pay for a holiday plane flight since the early 1990s.

I would opt for biz class IF the seat is a true lie-flat bed seat. UA has these on some (not all) of their trans-Atlantic flights. If the seating is barca-lounger type seats in biz, I would consider first class. For me, personally, the BEST choice will be the one on which I can lie down and sleep on the way there! I do not sleep in economy reclining (NOT) seats.

For that route I would fly United AUS to Washington Dulles or Chicago, then UAL or Lufthansa to Munich, then Lufthansa from Munich to Venice.

UAL and Lufthansa are Star Alliance and codeshare partners, which makes ticketing, baggage, and check-in a lot easier.

United First Class..flat bed.

If it would be AA. Then it's AA to MAD from DFW, Iberia to VCE.

Or, AUS>ORD>LHR>VCE on BA from ORD.

Poor value for your money, but if you really have to have the best seat on a U.S. carrier, then either AA's Flagship Suite on their 777s or UA's Global First (not on all routes).

You should pick a route that has short domestic US and intra-Europe connections, and have the longest trans-Atlantic segment.

http://www.theflagshipexperience.com...age.html?en_12
https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con...ght/first.aspx

Why not fly a European airline?

rhkwan - I've flown flagship. For a 10-12 hour flight, it's not worth the extra $$$, no matter how nice it is.

UA flatbed biz class

Why not fly nonstop from the US to Venice and save time and energy? You can fly nonstop out of JFK and Atlanta on Delta depending on what time of the year you are traveling.AUS-ATL-VCE?

Thank you all so much!