I am debating between 3 itineraries for travel between Chicago, USA and Madras, India. Does any one have travel experiences/recommendations on any of these airlines?

1. Chicago-Paris-Madras
Air France A340-300
Delta 767-300ER

2. Chicago-London-Madras
British Airways 777-200
British Airways 747-400

3. Chicago-Frankfurt-Madras
Lufthansa 747-400

Price is pretty much the same for itineraries 1 and 2. Itinerary 3
is about $170 more expensive.

Regarding Frequent flier miles, I could get Delta miles for itin 1, United miles for itin 3. I hear that AA doesn't credit transatlantic miles flown on BA - so I'll not be getting miles on Chi-London-Chi leg of the travel in itin 2.

I have flown Lufthansa before, but dont have prior experiences on BA/Delta/Air France. So I'm hoping to get some advice here.

Thanks in advance!

Go with BA. You can register with Alaska Airline's FFP, earn miles on the first sector, and then earn miles on the second sector with AA FFP. You can either sell the Alaska points, or find someone to trade them with (Go to Flyertalk)

BA is BY FAR the best option, you get great service, TVs in your seats (something you don't get on your Europe-India sectors with Delta or Lufthansa

Ask your question on www.flyertalk.com, in the "TravelBuzz" forum - you should be able to get better answers.

Re: "You can register with Alaska Airline's FFP, earn miles on the first sector."

If you fly BA on any discounted economy class ticket, you'll only get Alaska FF credit for 25% of the miles flown. Better than nothing, but.... FF credit for the cheaper BA fares is generally not great, either with partners' FF programs or with BA's own program, which won't give you any credit at all for discounted economy class (unless it's changed since the last time I looked).

Thx for the replies!!! Just found out that the fare quoted for BA [itin 2] isn't eligible for FF miles. About 18K miles is quite a bit to ignore! Almost a free US domestic trip! I have eliminated Lufthansa and debating between AF/Delta and BA.

Well if you've eliminated LH and BA, what's left?

Air France and Delta are both Sky Team members, so you'll get mileage credit on either for whatever program you join.

FWIW, while we don't know your travel dates or preferred class of service, on ITA I'm seeing prices ex-JFK rather than ex-ORD running $700-$1000 cheaper. Likewise LAX - more choices make for lower fares. May be worth a quick hop to the Apple or LA to start your trip.

hey Gardyloo.. i have eliminated only lufthansa... havent decided yet between the other two. For end of december dates, theres just $100 difference between departing from JFK or ORD, so i plan to leave from ORD. Glad u brought it up though! Thanx.

Thanx for the replies. I chose BA.

Unless there's been a big change recently, collecting frequent flyer miles on Delta is easy, turning them into free trips or upgrades takes months and months of preplanning. Also, service on Delta really sucks.