Best airline to Europe from SFO?
 

What is the best airline to fly from SFO to Italy? I know I have to stop over either on the East coast, or in Munich, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris, or London. Which is most convenient? Who has individual tv screens, best service, on time flights, etc? The trip is for work, so I will be able to fly business class. Thanks for your help!

Hi mathewkl, I always use KLM but I can't say they are the best airline but I have never been displeased with them.

I use them because of FF and also because I prefer to change planes in Amsterdam. I find the Amsterdam airport to be very user friendly.

I have heard negatives about Frankfurt and Paris. My daughter used London and did not like it. Years ago I always transfered at JFK and that was a ratrace.

There are websites that give info on the various airlines but I can't think of the addresses right now. Hopefully someone else here on Fodors can answer your question regarding the actual airlines. Hope you have a pleasant trip!

Since you're flying business class, you should consider Continental. They have one of the best C-class product across the Atlantic. Very good seat (but not totally flat), excellent food. BA and Virgin are also excellent, but I think it's better to transit in Newark than London.

Only downside is that you will only enjoy CO's BusinessFirst for EWR-FCO. The SFO-EWR trip will be regular domestic first class.

Flying from the west coast my preference is to connect in Europe. The longer flight allows me to get more rest versus breaking up the journey by stopping on the east coast. The downside is that your connecting flight to Italy will be intra-European business which is generally just a economy seat with the middle seat blocked. But this is a relatively short hop so not as much of a consideration for me.

And as rkkwan mentioned, if you choose to connect on the east coast, then your flight from SFO to your east coast gateway will be domestic first seating and service. Only the transatlantic portion will be business class seats. So there's a trade-off either way.

I thought the service on KLM was very good but I've never flown CO BF so can't make a comparison for you. Amsterdam is also a very easy airport to transit because it's all one huge connected terminal so you don't have to bus or shuttle. But I've never found the other airports you mentioned too difficult to manage either (the only one I haven't transitted is Munich).

I wouldn't recommend Air France unless they'll be operating aircraft with the reconfigured business class cabin on the SFO-CDG route by the time you travel.

Pretty much all transatlantic business class cabins have individual seat back screens. Does anyone know of one that doesn't? But if you're specifically looking for on demand video, I know Virgin has it on some, but not all, of their aircraft. On the SFO-LHR route you have a 73% chance of having on demand video and you'll also find the Upper Class suite configuration on this route. Anyone care to make a list of other transatlantic carriers with AVOD?

Finally, you should consider where you will be putting the miles from this trip. It's substantial and one roundtrip from the west coast to Europe in business class can get you well on your way to obtaining or maintaining elite status. So depending on which ff program you belong to, I'd take an especially close look at the options within that alliance.

I've taken lot's of flights from SFO where I didn't have to make a stop in the East Coast.

British Airways and Lufthansa has flown me directly to either London or Frankfurt.

Another consideration about East Coast vs Europe connection is the departure/arrival time.

An East Coast connection will get you to Italy earlier, but of course departs SFO earlier too. For example, AA leaves SFO at 7:45am, connects in ORD, and arrives FCO 7:15am next morning. CO is similar via EWR. In contrast, the earliest European connection is Lufthansa which departs SFO 2:15pm, but didn't arrive FCO until 1:15pm, via FRA of course.

Coming back, an European connection means very early FCO departure, with the exception of a LH flight. Otherwise, on AF, KL, BA, etc, you need to depart FCO by 8:30am. In contrast, AA, CO and others all depart FCO after 10am.

To some, that makes a difference. Don't know about you.

You may want to consider Lufthansa to Munich. I think they have their new Business class product on this flight, with in-flight internet and everything, and you get to make an easy & pleasant connection in the new terminal at Munich airport.

Thanks so much for all of your replies!

I currently live in Germany but my home is near SFO. I always try to fly direct (it so much easier and less stressful). I've gotten really good deals flying direct on United or Lufthansa. I've booked them through Expedia.com or Ebookers.com.

I second Lufthansa through Munich - far better than connecting through Chicago, NY or somewhere else in the US. The plane (A340) is new and comfortable, leaves after 9pm from SFO which is far better than the UA or LH 2pm departure. When flying to Europe I really don't like arriving at 5am - makes for a long day trying to stay awake.

I flew LH to MUC in coach and was quite comfortable.

Colleagues of mine who are hooked on AA FF miles insisted on connecting through Dallas for the same trip all arrived tired & cranky. OK, they probably would have been cranky anyway but that's another forum.

Munich is a pleasant airport and if you're using Lufthansa to Rome it'll be an easy connection.

J62, I'm taking the LH flight from SF through Munich to Florence this week. Do you know which version of the A340 is used for this flight? The LH website shows seven versions. I'd like to look at the seatmap for my flight.

I third the S.F.O to Munich!! I did the night flight out around 9 or 10 pm on Lufthansa, arrived in Rome at around 10 pm. after about a two hour stop in Munich. Slept the whole time, got there and slept again!

Betsy,
It was the latest version - quite new plane too. Seating was 2-4-2 if I remember correctly. Did you check the LH website to look for a seating plan for your flight? I know you can do that on most US airlines.
J

But which of the seven I'm not sure.

Betsy, try to get the record locator number for your reservation from Lufthansa (it may be different than the one assigned by US or UA if you made the reservation through one of them). With that and your last name, you can see the seat map for your specific flight, including which seats are assigned and which are open, at this site:

https://www.checkmytrip.com/ITN/Logi...mp;LANGUAGE=US

(on the page for your itinerary, click on the little yellow box under "To" to expand the flight details, then click on your assigned seat number and you should be able to see the seat map)

SFO-MUC is flown with the 340-600. LH has 3 versions of it, with different ratios of business and coach seats. The row numbers in the back are the same on all three, only difference is where coach starts - row 15, 20 or 22.

I suggest taking Lufthansa. I found the airliners to be pretty clean and new, business class (I sat in coach/sardine class) should be exceptional as economy class was not so bad as I expected. And the flight crews on all flights I took were very friendly and professional.

Thanks so much for responding to the question about my upcoming LH flight. I found the checkmytrip.com site, which was unfamiliar to me, and see that the flight is almost full. I had requested a seat along the side, where there are two seats across, and have one of those at almost the leading edge of the wing. I'm as happy a camper as one can be in cattle class. Cleaning out the USAirways FF account.