first class, US to Europe, Swiss Air or American
 

which would you take if you could fly first class from the US to Europe--Swiss Air or American? looking for best food and comfort.

thanks!

IMHO, I'd fly AA. I took Swiss Air many years ago and it was okay (not in first class). Recently, I read that Swiss Air cancelled buying many new airplanes because of financial difficulties. It made me wonder what else can't they afford. I don't know more about it than that, but it caused me to use British Airways as a companion airline for AA instead of Swiss Air.

That should say "cause me to USE"

I think I left my brain somewhere in Europe!

That should say "caused me to CHOOSE"

1st class? No question-Swiss Air. They have those great fold-into-a-bed kind of seats where you are completely horizontal. They also served about 3 delicious huge meals on white tablecloths plus snacks-and I ain't talking nuts or pretzels. Way too much food. Those flight attendants didn't slow down for a minute the whole flight. They were super friendly too.

On the second leg of that trip, we flew1st class flight from NYC to LAX on AA, they served a sub par meal with seats that hardly reclined and an ice cream sundae. Whoop-dee-do!

Swiss air was indeed first class....AA, not so much. (although maybe it is different with trans atlantic flights on AA-but we sure noticed a BIG difference between the two!)

thanks for the replies.

aggiemom, it is the cutbacks everywhere that has me wondering if 1st class has changed from 2000 when i last flew it.

wantagig, AA domestic is very different than transatlantic even though the flights are almost the same length. AA international you get caviar, lobster salad, great entrees, desserts, homemade cookies and sundaes with top notch wine choices. but this was back in 2000 so they might have cut back since.

it is good to hear how swiss air operates, thanks!

Swiss (not Swiss Air) operates differently on transatlantic flights than in Europe. The flights in Europe are similar to Easyjet and Ryanair...no more free food! You can book on the internet and the prices are competitive with the above mentioned airlines. In fact, they use a similar pricing system.

I know this won't help you to make your decision, but I thought it might be informative.

You're right Schuler, it's called Swiss. I knew that, yet I still call it Swiss Air-which no longer exists. Old habits die hard.

We miss our good old Swiss Air too! By the way, Swiss now belongs to Lufthansa. They bought our airlines a few months ago.

Hi Schuler,
Just an update, in May SWISS reintroduced free food & beverage service within Europe.

I think its one of the best airlines.