Delta vs Continental to Berlin
 

I'm flying New York to Berlin in November. I was hoping that Continental would have its business class sale again this year but it doesn't look like it's happening so it looks like it is going to be economy for me! Is one of the two airlines better than the other or doesn't it matter? Continental is slightly cheaper than Delta, with Delta I'd have to fly a day earlier than I need to but Continental is a 757 vs. a Delta wide-body. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!!!

What dates in November? If after the 15th, you could try DL's new JFK-LGW service. Business intro fare $1141.14 all in and pair that with a cheap flight between LGW and Berlin. CO is sort of "matching" the DL intro fare on their EWR-LGW route. I think fares are $1200+ all in.

Thanks but I am leaving on Nov 7, returning Nov 12.

757 for Berlin (the longest of all 757 flights) is really tough. I'd take DL unless I need the elite qualifying miles on CO's Onepass program.

I was afaid someone was going to say that! Is there any seat in economy that will makeit tolerable?

Row 16 have lots of legroom. But 16ABC are reserved for elite FF members while 16DEF are blocked for crew rest.

If you are elite on CO or other Skyteam member, you can get 16ABC. I checked the flights you want, and 16ABC are all available for 11/7 EWR-TXL. On the return 16BC are open for 11/12 TXL-EWR.

Pretty decent fare of $528 too.

If you're not elite, then all the rest are basically the same except Row 34. Never never get row 34 with reduced width and limited recline. [Yes, I've sat in those.]

Last chance to get the seats on row 16 is when you do online check-in. Do it at exactly 24-hour prior to departure. You may be lucky.

There might be one good thing. I have enough miles for a one way upgrade. All I need is Contiental to release a seat.

Don't count on it. CO releases very few seats for mileage upgrades (like usually none). They'd rather leave empty seats up front than letting people upgrade.

Actually, I've been quite lucky with Continental upgrades. In fact, they have never let me down. Of course, they usually charge a hefty upgrade fee in addition to the miles.

I think both flights tend to be only about 65% full or so in Winter, so ideally you'd have room to stretch out. Simply for the reason that Delta has a bigger plane, I'd go with them - you might be able to get lucky and snag 2 or 3 seats to yourself. Plus, with a 767 there is only a 1/7 chance of getting a middle seat compared with a 757 which has a 1/3 chance. Finally, Delta has free drinks on flights to Europe (new in the last couple of months). Neither has personal tv's at the seat, so that's the same.

I have a happy resolve. Since my final destination is actually Leipzig (I was going to fly directly to Berlin and take the train to Leipzig.), I gave up on the idea of Berlin. I went to Orbitz.com and found a great fare that would get me in and out of Leipzig: Newark-Frankfurt-Leipzig on Lufthansa returning Leipzig-Vienna-JFK on Austrian Air. And, I have 24 hour layover in Vienna!!! I can taste the pastry now!!! All wide-body aircraft for the transatlantic flights. Total cost: $600.00. It's not as good as going business class but I'll survive. Thanks for your help. Lizzie-

Good Job, Flyer! And enjoy those drinks on Lufthansa! before and after dinner!

We recently flew into TXL on CO and then took the train to Leipzig and while the connections were quite easy, that 757 really sucks if you are in coach. Today I flew on a 757 in the front of the plane and it was quite nice, but the single aisle coach configuration is gruesome on long flights.

Thanks Seamus! You confirmed my worst fear about the CO flight! At best, I would have had only a one way upgrade and that was iffy. I was so lucky to have found the flights I did. They were gone a couple of hours later.