Aja1

We are flying to Greece and have several options for carriers (schedules are all similar), who likes which?

(all coach class):

Delta
Lufthansa
Alitalia
Air France
British Airways
Swiss Air

Thanks!

Aja1

Josh

My first choice is always BA, although I've never flown Swiss Air.

LilyLace

I have flown all listed and these are My choice in order BEST being first:

1. Swiss Air
2. Lufthansa
3. BA
4. Alitalia
5. Delta
6. Air France

These are my choices I am sure others have suggestions as well.

Gardyloo

For me the first consideration would be in-flight comfort, meaning seat pitch, width, aircraft configuration, things like that. I've only been on a few flights with Delta, Lufthansa and Air France, none on Alitalia or Swiss (Swissair, yes, but that's history) and none - none - of them were especially comfortable, plus I can't stand Atlanta airport, so that nixes Delta. Alitalia appears to be at death's door economically, so their quality might be slipping (further, which doesn't sound possible given recent reviews.) Air France and KLM have/are merged/ing, so who knows what that means.

The second factor would be ease of connections. I assume all the listed itineraries have plane changes someplace; I would look at ground time, terminal connections, etc., for the various choices. Connections on BA between Heathrow terminals can be a pain sometimes.

So it would end up being a minor research project - look at seat maps, see what types of planes you'd be on, look at connecting information, read reviews on flyertalk.com, decide which FF program you'd benefit from most, things like that. Personally I'd go with BA from your list, but I'd first make sure that American AL was out of the running (including codeshares with BA from London on) as AA's legroom is always the best.

mnatella

We flew BA to Italy paid coach and felt like we were in first class.

Aja1

We are flying from Boston, Delta changes at JFK, then straight to Athens. The others go from Boston to their respective capital cities then to Athens. I did a quick search and found that just about all the European carriers use Airbus A300's or A320's. If this is the case aren't they likely to be newer planes? Delta and Alitalia use Boing 767's and 737's...their sure to be older.

BA changes to Olympic Air in London fyi.

amyb

For what it's worth, I've flown both BA and AF at least 4 times each recently, and loved them both. I flew Alitalia once and will never do it again. The service was horrid for several reasons. But I think if you ask enough people, you'll find positives and negatives about all of the airlines listed.

suze

I like British Air fine, especially with those seatback TV seats showing 3 movies with times alternating so you can see them all on a long overnight flight.

Really I choose my carrier more for nonstop flights and good (lack of) connections than any other reason (i.e. flying from West Coast USA I prefer direct to London, Amsterdam, or Copenhagen NOT stopping in Chicago, Wash DC or NYC for a plane change).

Eleni

I used to fly Swissair until it died, and have not yet taken Swiss, so can't comment. I have flown on all the rest except AirFrance to Greece, also have flown on Northwest/KLM (which, as noted, has now merged with AirFrance)and Olympic. In picking an airlines, the things that matter most to me are (1) airline miles (2) connections (3) length of layover (4) inseat movies. All things being equal, however, I far prefer Northwest/KLM, followed by British Airways, followed by Lufthansa. I hate Delta (which I think codeshares with AirFrance), and have never felt very comfortable with Alitalia. No matter what, be sure you get an aisle seat, and make sure that the seat you have is one that reclines.

m_kingdom2

BA - their new uniforms add some glamour to what is now an all too mundane experience, and of course there is the issue of Executive Club points...

Fashion and function!

AAFrequentFlyer

Aja1,

Just like there are <b>OLD</b> Airbuses, there are <b>brand new</b> Boeings. It's not like Boeing made all the 767s and 737s and 777s 10 years ago. They are constantly in production and being delivered to many different airlines all the time. And Airbus did not make all their A300s and 320s in one year. They are in production for a long time. The average age of these types of airplanes would be about the same, it just a matter of getting lucky and actually getting a newer model. Boeing 777 and A340 would almost guarantee a newer model all the time. The 777 is in production for about 10 yars and A340 for about 5 years. Recently I flew on a brand new AA 767. It actually still had the new plane smell .

As far as your question? I would also second <i>Gardyloos</i> suggestion of catching AA from BOS-LHR and connecting to BA for the final segemnt to ATH. AA flies 777s on this route and it does have the most roomy economy cabin, private screens.
AA also has a day flight to London, so you could connec at LHR to a late evening flight and arrive in Athens early next morning, which would give you a whole extra day in Athens. If you take the afternoon/evening overnight flight to Europe and connect the next day, you will arrive in Athens in the late afternoon or early evening. The day flight leaves Boston around 9am.

Whatever you decide, have a great trip!

BigRuss

Boeing 767s are as new as Airbus 300s.

kismetchimera

My favourites Airlines:

AA for leg room,

Continental for convenience, I live in Texas and can fly direct from Houston to Paris, also their planes are quite moderns..

For services, AF , like to take their Airbus,

BA, is allright, but the food is Horrible,

I flew KLM a couples of times ,that was years ago, the flights attendants where quite polite,

Delta, the Worse for Cattle Class, horrible services and felt like a true cow..Unless is the only airline available, I will never take it again..

crozier

&quot;I would also second Gardyloos suggestion of catching AA from BOS-LHR and connecting to BA for the final segemnt to ATH. AA flies 777s on this route and it does have the most roomy economy cabin, private screens. &quot;

I don't know how anyone could recommend AA. Their service is the absolute pits. Scraps of food, no booze, no amenities of any kind. They stuff you on the plane and that's about it. My tickets are free and I still detest them.

kismetchimera

Yes crozier, the food is not the greatest is true..But at least there is plenty of legs space..
For myself, this is the most important thing when I must sit in cattle class for at least 9 hours..

Andrewmac

Best without a doubt is BA, never had a bad flight with them yet. Tempting fate or what?

Worst is Delta - crap food, snotty flight attendants and my wife and I will never forget the time we boarded an Atlanta-bound flight at London Gatwick after the plane touched down from Frankfurt. We were 2 of 6 Brits among 350 Germans. If they had any doubts as to who won WW2, they don't now!

buckspc

Crozier,
I agree with you about AA, just flew them for SFO to Rome via JFK, and its the absolute worst service I have ever had on international flights. $5 for a drink with your (dinner?) if you can call it a meal, I ate it because its all there is on a 10 hr. flight but horrid food. The lavs aready dirty at takeoff. No little package with toothbrush and such, no hot towel to wipe your hands before service, surly FAs and old planes, no wonder they are talking going under.I will say all the legs were on time for this trip. I posted this on the airline board and was lambasted. Glad to see someone else agrees. I also said I like BA best of all and got lambasted again, Buck

AAFrequentFlyer

buck,

You are entitled to your opinion and quite possibly you did have a bad flight, but your prediction of AMR Corp. going under is not even close. Since year ago, the AMR stock went from around $6 per share to as high as $17 per share, it did come down when the oil prices starting to shoot through the roof and AMR did not position itslf with futures oil prices, but the stock leveled off at around $10 per share few weeks back and has been going up since, and as a matter of fact last Friday it did this - On May 21: 11.38 +0.38 (+3.45%).

If any US based airlines has a chance of survival, AA is it. They are expending into Asian market as well as more flights to Europe coming this fall. Like I said, just because you had a bad time you should report whatever you want, but most people have a nice enjoyable flights, I know I do, as I fly AA around 100K miles per year, and the best part is that the AMR stock paid for it.

francophile03

The last flight I took with BA was in 2001 from San Francisco to London then on to Rome. The SFO-LHW flight was uncomfortable due to the narrow seats and short legroom. Worse were two of our flight attendants who cared more about chatting with each other than the passengers' needs.

AF was a horrid experience in '99 again from SFO but nonstop to CDG. We got an ancient 747 that creaked so badly we hoped the overhead cabins wouldn't fly open in midflight. Plus the seats were the worse as there was no back support and hardly any legroom. So we ended our flight with miserable backaches and hunger as the food was not edible (e.g. the &quot;crepes&quot; they served for the b'fast meal were COLD).

Haven't flown Swiss, Alitalia, and Delta so out of the remaining I prefer Lufthansa out of the bunch.

francophile03

I must say that the reason I chose BA in 2001 was because of the great flights we had from SFO-LHW-CDG in 1991. Those flights we had cattle class but somehow the seats felt roomier than in 2001. Also the flight attendants actually cared about the passengers then.