Have an upcoming business trip to book in economy from LAX. Want to maximize miles (would prefer Star Alliance since almost all my miles are on Continental), but Continental's fare is way too much...so here are the choices I've narrowed down: Lufthansa (A346) via Munich or Frankfurt to Nice or Delta (767) via JFK to Nice.

Have never flown Lufthansa before, although I'm leaning towards them since I tend to avoid US carriers like the plague--but have heard that their legroom in coach is atrocious. Then again, isn't all economy legroom atrocious? They, do, however, take the advantage with the 2-4-2 seating.

As for Delta, yes, I know they aren't part of *A, but they have a great fare and they have the more direct connection going for them--but no *A miles and crappy 3-3-3 seating layout.

Premium Economy (on BA or AF) isn't an option--company won't pay for the upgrade this time round.

Curious to get any first-hand feedback re: Lufthansa economy long-haul prior to booking.

Thanks!

lufthansa coach is awful and service even worse. Why not united?

I would always choose Lufthansa. We fly them from the West Coast every time, never a U.S. airline, if possible. We flew them last month and the plane was almost brand-new, very comfortable. The flight attendants have always been wonderful and attentive (unlike the ones we always seem to get on U.S. carriers).
You can check plane specifics on www.seatguru.com.
I also have a preference for Munich airport, small and very user-friendly (and nice shops!). My choice is to always take a Europe non-stop from the West Coast when possible. The times that I have had problems is with a change in JFK or Chicago (on U.S. airlines). If you go non-stop to Europe then you are much closer to Nice rather than risk plane problems at JFK. You also know that your luggage is closer!
We had friends traveling on the last Lufthansa flight we took and they swore to never use another airline. Very interesting as their son is a pilot for one of the Delta regional carriers!

mztery and I must have been posting at the same time.
Different experiences I'd say. United is horrible. You can feel the rods in their seat backs, American is even worse.
I've only been on 2 Lufthansa flights within Europe and they were fine. I have flown them about 20 times from the West Coast and find those flights to be almost enjoyable (as far as air travel goes). The flights have always been right on time or early.

Just noting that Delta's coach seating on that 767 is 2-3-2.

<i>Just noting that Delta's coach seating on that 767 is 2-3-2.</i>

Which is a pretty big deal, at least to me. I think the 767 layout is the most comfortable layout of any widebody in the air, even better than the 2-4-2 on the A330 & A340. The big downside to Delta would be that they will not have in-seat entertainment and that you will have a pretty long flight in a 3x3 configured 757 to get from LAX to JFK.

If you can get past the lack of in-seat entertainment, then I think the seating and layout on the Delta 767 is FAR more comfortable than what Lufthansa offers. Indeed, I think Lufthansa has some of the least comfortable long-haul coach cabins around.

Still, if you want to earn *A miles, then Lufthansa is hardly the end of the world. Just be careful, as W S & U fares do not earn full mileage with Continental.

One other note, though, is that I prefer to arrive at my final destination directly from Europe, as I find it a hassle to grab your bags and re-clear security at an intermediate point when connecting within the US.

<i>You also know that your luggage is closer!</i>

But one should note that European airlines lose luggage at about double the rate of US carriers. If your objective is to minimize your chances of lost luggage, then you probably should choose a US carrier.

It's all about the miles and EQM!

One final thought- the seating stops mattering just as soon as you take off and the person in front of you lays their seat back all the way for the entire flight.

For me, a key factor would be the amount of time I had to spend on the plane, because economy sucks no matter which carrier it is.

Going from LA to Nice via JFK adds both extra miles and extra time sitting on the plane on the ground compared to going via Frankfurt or Munich. And the flight times show exactly that: The Delta flights are a total of 14hrs 10min (5:30 LAX-JFK, 8:40 JFK-NCE), while the LH flights via FRA are 12hr 15min -- almost 2 hours shorter (10:45 LAX-FRA, 1:30 FRA-NCE).

That difference alone would make the decision very easy for me.

Wonderful thing that everyone differs. For me, it's not about the miles/EQM (I already have "lifetime" elite so I need 50K to make any difference and it's not worth the effort and cost to try to get there). And the miles are getting so difficult to redeem these days that they have minimal value; elite value is in the other perqs. Nor do I care about AVOD because my air time is for reading and sleeping.

The 2 across seats are just fine for two of us and the person in front reclining is not all that big a deal (it's rarely for an entire flight, I'm often asleep, and I can recline, too).

<i>Nor do I care about AVOD because my air time is for reading and sleeping.</i>

If you don't use AVOD, it is often a negative to have it on a plane, due to the equipment boxes that can impinge upon your legroom. While I sometimes like the AVOD, I do regret being on an equipped plane when the selection stinks.

Delta has installed in-seat entertainment in most of its fleet.

<i>Delta has installed in-seat entertainment in most of its fleet.</i>

Not true at all. Sorry. It is probably 50/50 for long-haul planes.

"Delta has installed in-seat entertainment in most of its fleet."

Not even close.... Delta hypes it, but... I think "most of the fleet" probably has nothing and almost all of the former NW planes are missing indvidual tvs.

my comments on Lufthansa have to do with the fact that leg room is MUCH worse than other airlines in my experience and on an overnight flight where i'd like to try to sleep, that becomes a more important factor than on a daytime flight; and in my experience, flight crews have been very officious and unsmiling. As always your mileage may vary.

I always choose Lufthansa whenever I can and the Munich hub over Frankfurt. A346 LAX-MUC has AVOD in coach while B744 LAX-FRA does not.
Have flown Delta sometimes and found a very poor service compared to Lufthansa.

"But one should note that European airlines lose luggage at about double the rate of US carriers. If your objective is to minimize your chances of lost luggage, then you probably should choose a US carrier."

Airlines NEVER lose luggage but airport ground handler staff do. Most of the time in each airport or probably in medium or small airports like FLR (Florence, my hometown airport) there is only one handler company that load luggage of all airlines regardless of their nationalities, then when you fly from the same point A to the same point B with different airlines the chances you do not pick your luggage at destination are exactly the same.

>Airlines NEVER lose luggage but airport ground handler staff do.

When airlines contract a service out to an independent group, it is still the airline which not only appears to be responsible but in fact is legally responsible.

So trying to push blame to "ground handlers" is a red herring.

No doubts that the airline is anyway legally responsible and because of that refunds lost/damaged luggage.
I was referring to the fact that if, just as example, one European airline has a contract with the handler X in JFK for the JFK-FRA route and one US airline has a contract with the same X handler for the same route then we cannot state that European airlines lose the luggage at a double rate of US airlines or viceversa. The risk of mishandling the luggage is the same. We might have a different result when there are more handler companies in the same airport providing different level of quality, then the airline that has a contract with a better handler will have a better luggage handling performance.

<i>Airlines NEVER lose luggage but airport ground handler staff do. Most of the time in each airport or probably in medium or small airports like FLR (Florence, my hometown airport) there is only one handler company that load luggage of all airlines regardless of their nationalities, then when you fly from the same point A to the same point B with different airlines the chances you do not pick your luggage at destination are exactly the same.</i>

Well, you can have it one of two ways, either European airlines stink at baggage handling, or European airports stink at baggage handling. Regardless of the root cause, you are still better off flying LAX-JFK-NCE vs LAX-FRA-NCE, if your objective is to minimize your chances of lost luggage. Point-to-point is not the issue. The problems usually arise when you throw in a connection, and that is where the distinction comes into play. And, at most hubs the baggage is usually handled by the airline. The baggage handlers at FLR don't really matter that much.

Again, if your objective is to minimize your chances of lost luggage, then you should usually choose the American carrier.