Steve

Don, <BR> <BR>I am very new to world travel. I flew BA to Paris and what a nice experience. Best coach ride ever. Good food, extra nice little touches such as toothpaste and brush before landing etc. etc. I just booked with BA for March back to Paris. Only way to fly.

Brett

I hope someone at Lufthansa is reading these posts!! (and at British Airways too - ix-nay on the een-gray eens-bray . . .)

julie

Well I have never flown Luf. but BA isn't always a piece of cake either. I think that you can have a bad experience almost anywhere. I flew BA from London to home last year and had the most dreadful experience of my entire travellng life...not BA fault exactly, but they refused to do anything about it. I have covered this experience in other posts, so won't repeat, but suffice to say that there was a very unpleasant situation developed between two passengers (one of which was me) and BA just refused to deal with it, or exercise any control over the situation. On the whole, Ithink BA is pretty good, although it is true that their coach seats are the smallest and closest together of any that we have experienced.

scott

We had a very nice experience flying Lufthansa on one leg of our Germany trip last year. I just booked our trip to Munich tonight with them again. We preferred the Lufthansa operations, service and food to that of United on the trip to Germany.

Rob

Here's another good LH experience: we have flown transatlantic with them several times (O'Hare to Frankfurt/Munich), and it has always been great. The food used to be great (three years ago it even happened that people were asking for seconds), but true, it has been getting much worse since then. LH's in-flight entertainment is superb, if not the best, especially if you're into classical music. Also the agents/flight attendants/etc. have always been friendly and curteous. <BR>I've also had the "pleasure" of flying BA once (Mexico City to Heathrow), or should I say, Sardine Can Airlines. I have never been so uncomfortable on any flight (not even on the way from Europe to New Zealand non-stop). Service, etc. was good, but upon arrival at LHR they decided that it would be a good idea to remote-park a full 747, and carry the passengers to the terminal on buses. Needless to say we were in the back of the plane (since you could NOT reserve a seat in advance - can you believe it?), and waited forever to disembark. Then we had to run across half of Heathrow for our connecting flight to Rome. Since that day, I vowed to avoid BA. <BR>Funny that most people have had the reverse happen!

Joan Levine

I'm glad someone had something good to say about Lufthansa! I've just booked a long trip with them--from San Francisco to Rome, stopping in Munich. I have flown British from the US to London and from London to Greece, and have found it nothing to rave about. Tiny, cramped seats (I'm not a large person), mediocre food, and inability to reserve seats ahead of time. Please, someone else say something good about Lufthansa!

Anna

I would go out of my way to be able to fly on Lufthansa whenever possible! Their flights have been the most comfortable (roomiest) transatlantic flights I have ever been on. That said, they can be curt and inflexible if anything happens to interfere with their efficiency. If a problem arises, they will handle it, without any input from you, and will tell you what you will do to solve it! Just know what to expect and you can relax and enjoy their crisp service and comfy planes.

julie

We have had generally good luck with BA. You haven't lived til you've flown on Saudia Airlines...interiors are worn, everyone smokes, you get a prayer from the Koran upon take=on followed by dates (served to the men first, of course). Stewardesses can hardly see from behind their scarf headgear (to be modest), and food is Mid-eastern. However, they have a very good safety record. They checke(d) everything out before leaving Riyahd by having German shepard sniff dogs come aboard and walk the isles before we took off. Just a different cultural experience, and I am sure some of the objection to Lufthausa is similar. What seems rude and objectionable to some is just standard fare to others. Germans tend to be brisk. However, outright rudeness is the same in every culture.

Calpurnia

Yikes! All the complaints about Lufthansa is scaring me. I just put my daughter on one of their flights to Tel Aviv. I hope they are kind to her. She is flying as an unaccompanied minor. <BR> <BR>I try to stay out of the way and not ask too much for anything because I know the flight attendants have so much to do while working in economy, but I have noticed no matter what the airline, you will get a few bad tempered ones and yes I include BA, which I have traveled 6 times now. My advice is to get a sleeping pill from your doctor and passout as soon as possible til you land. You will be fresh for a new day and have a good start on the time change. Works for me.

Richard

This has opened a can and a half of worms! Here's my two pence worth... <BR> <BR>I've flown UK-Germany monthly for the past two years or so, travelling with both BA and Lufthansa. <BR> <BR>Here a couple of comments: <BR> <BR>BA vegetarian food is horrible, on the whole, and when I have suggested more imaginative recipies via their suggestion forms they always send back standard "We're sorry you didn't enjoy your flight" letters. I've yet to send a "The flight was fine, sort out a better menu" letter... <BR> <BR>BA serve both tea and coffee, and when they come along the aisle my heart always drops because they hold a pot in either hand and free pour into your cup. Lufthansa use a tray to pour over and they have never split hot drink on a customer, although I've seen it on BA... <BR> <BR>As for baggage, I work on arriving without my baggage once in around eight flights. BA are reasonably helpful but disorganised when it happens. Lufthansa have a card of nice little pictoral diagrams of cases which you use to idenitfy the type of bag you've lost, and they arrange to deliver by taxi as soon as the bag is located and flown in. <BR>I've never had a bag go entirely awol, but I do lock and badge all my baggage separate to the standard luggage tags. <BR>I actually don't mind if my bag is late, as it means it's delivered to my hotel room door and I don't have to carry it anywhere... <BR> <BR>I suggest to anyone dealing with a complaint with an airline to do the standard things: Talk to someone who can solve your problem, usually not the person who has annoyed you; make sure you do raise any issue with the airline in a coldblooded rational way; don't take anything personally - maybe the individual who has annoyed you has just dealt with the Traveller From Hell and has had a long day - yes, they shouldn't take it out on you, but people are people. Their boss will usually do someting about your complaint/issue. <BR> <BR>I'd happily travel with Lufthansa or BA - in my experience, both are excellent 80% of the time. <BR>

Tricia

For a truly superb airline with 34" seat pitch instead of 31", good service and excellent food and SAFETY record try Air New Zealand. They do fly to UK and Frankfurt now. See their prices on this website:www.rebeltours.com

Lyn

Those Lufthansa stories are scary. Although no one has mentioned Swiss Air. I flew with them from Atlanta-Zurich-Berlin last summer and had a wonderful experience.

geri

Just flew Lufthansa from Chicago to Munich and back and have nothing but good to say. Adequate leg room, food okay for airline meals, on time, quite tough about size of carry-ons going to Munich, airbus completely full going over, few empty seats on return flight. Would definitely choose them again. Flew BA a few years a go from Chicago to London and have never been on such a miserable, uncomfortable flight.

steve

I've flown Lufthansa, BA, and Air France transatlantic and I would rate them as follows: <BR> <BR>1. Air France - they just seem to want to be the best. The food is good and the FAs seemed to care, paticularly the more senior attendants. <BR> <BR>2. BA - I flew them recently and was not expecting good things. I was pleasently surprised. There FAs were hands-down the best I have ever encountered, most friendly, courteous. Great representatives of the country. <BR> <BR>3. I flew them last about 2 years ago. There was a time I would fly no other airline transatlantic based on reputation. Those times have changed. I believe they should focus on changing their customer-service attitude to one more personal, less professionally cold. <BR>