Rate these three airlines PLEASE!
 

Going to Rome from LAX in May 4 ppl. Can't decide between Swiss, KLM or British. Does anyone have any opinion good or bad about Swiss Int'l Air???

KLM has a reputation for losing luggage if you transfer at Schipol. Otherwise they're all fine.

Sheila -- that's Schipol, not KLM per se -- but it amounts to the same thing:( [and she's right -- Schipol is a twilight zone for luggage]

From Chicago Swiss uses MD 11s -- cramped clunkers even for a petite soul such as myself :D

Just returned from my trip to Interlaken/Rome and took Swiss Int. Air from Los Angeles. They are now using the Airbus 340 which is one the most technical planes in the sky today including the entertainment "packgage" available in the coach section. It includes 9 movies available at anytime on the sceen in the seat in front of you. A camera is located in the cockpit for takeoffs and landings and a camera is also located in the bottom of the plane for an additional viewpoint. The service to/from Switzerland and Rome was SUPERB !!! BUT THAT'S WHERE IT ENDS!!! The Airbus 340 is the most UNCOMFORTABLE plane for long distance traveling. There is ZERO room to walk around as you can only stand in the 4 feet aisles. Lickily I was on one of their last MD 11's back to LA from Zurich. The 340 will replace this aircraft in the near future. AVOID THE AIRBUS 340 AT ALL COSTS !!! Mike

Do you know how you will capture the considerable value of FF miles for such a long haul on each of those carriers? While there is certainly more to consider than that, it is not something to ignore, either.

Strongly negative on BA and their friggin' FIVE KILOGRAM carry-on limit.

Positive on KLM. And Schiphol.

Best wishes,

Rex

Thank you all for your input so far. I have scratched KLM and am now focusing more on BA and Swiss. Last year we had a great flight with BA but I was hoping that Swiss would be more comfortable in econ class. With two kids BA was cramped although they did not seem to mind at all. I would like to try something new and Swiss has great discounts for kids. Somehow thought it might be less likely to meet up with Bin Laden on Swiss too.

Flyboy - I sadly am not equiped to interpret the FF math. We have logged some miles in the past but I cannot jump through the firey hoops of restrictions and black out dates. I wish I had the energy and the brain cells as I understand that so many people greatly benefit from FF miles. I usually just charge the trips to my AMEX and get a rebate at the end of the year. Not as good as the FF way. I never thought that one trip a year for four people would add up as I thought miles expired after 12 months. At least that was the way it used to be with the all time worse airline, Alitalia - IMO. Any suggestions?

I used KLM once from Houston to Schipol, the services were allright for cattle class.

Also I have used British from London to Rome..but because we were upgraded to first class, we received excellent services..
Coming back from Paris to London, always with British Airline, we stayed in cattle class, the food was HORRIBLE...

Barbmike - Just reread your post. Are you very tall? We are all under 5'7. Do you feel that BA has more or equal space to Swiss? Thanks so much for your reply!

I don't recommend BA. Flight between London and Rome was alot nicer (shorter of course) but was on BMI. I hated our BA aircraft from SFO to LON. One of the flight attendants was ill-trained in dealing properly with passengers.

Hi Kismet!!!
I have not been around for awhile and I am so pleased that you replied. I too have had good experiences on BA - minus the terrible food. I usually order a Veg or Kosher meal in order to avoid the mystery meat.

Wecome Back Bella Calamari...
Long time no see....:)

All three are pretty much equal with the comfort/service offered. Assuming the connection times are simlar in the respective hub cities, all three will take about the same time to get you to the destination.

Personally I would look at what can I get out of flying one of the three that the other 2 can't give me.

Assuming the fares are same or very close, I, just like <b>Flyboy</b>, would be looking at possible miles accured for this long trip.

If you are a member of NWA/KLM program or whoever is their partner, go with KLM.

If you are interested at all in American Airlines and their mileage program, go with Swiss.

BA would be the last choice, only because of their assenine new mileage earning rules. 25% in economy. You can't earn miles with their American partner AA on transatlantic flights. So for me, not much of a return.


Just a suggestion, but AA from LA to London, connecting with BA, would be my choice on such a long trip. AA has the most comfort in coach. They fly B777 on that route. Entertainment is on par with the others, service is same or very close. After all we're talking economy. And since the short BA flight is not transatlantic, you will earn AA miles, although at the ridiculous rate of 25%. Still you would be more comfortable for the long haul.

Calamari, I am 6ft. tall and weigh 179 lbs. There is another &quot;item&quot; I forgot to mention about the 340's. The seats are so small/tight that your butt (pardon my French) is completely &quot;snugged in&quot;. I honestly do not know how an overweight person can fit in that seat. By the way, all the employees of Swiss Air on that flight agreed with my analysis especially the lack of walking space. It really makes their job alot harder. Mike

I'm not sure which aircraft I flew on BA a few years ago but it was a newer one. I'm only 5'2&quot; and the legroom was pretty nonexistant and it appears that the seats got narrower too. It was a very uncomfortable 10+ hours.

Calamari, FF math isn't all that difficult. If it was me, I would take the KLM flight and have the miles credited to a Northwest Worldperks account. As a base member, you would get 100% mileage credit and the miles never expire as long as you have account activity at least once every three years. Do that trip twice and you have enough for a capacity controlled free ticket in the U.S./Canada. Do it only once you have enough miles to access a cheap &quot;Cash &amp; Miles&quot; fare at some point in the future. The value of the miles at 1.5 cents each for that trip is almost $200 per person and you get the AMEX points anyway, so that has nothing to do with the other part of the equation. Regardless of which carrier you choose, I would check the partnerships and be sure to bank the miles somewhere where they are going to be the most useable for you in the future (and at 25% credit for BA, I would tell them to stuff it! LOL!).

This stuff is worth learning. If I was taking that same flight as a gold elite, I would be getting enough miles on that one trip for a free domestic ticket. Yes, there are some challenges to booking minimum level award tickets -- and YES it is DEFINITELY worth the trouble. (If you decide to book KLM and you don't have a Worldperks account, e-mail me at: [email protected] and I'll show you how we can BOTH get more miles. ;) )

hmmm-- sounds like you're due!

Hm... Nobody has mentioned that Heathrow is one of the worst airports to make flight connections? Even if you are on BA for both legs, especially if either leg uses Terminal 4.

Rkwan, oh yes, I do agree with you about Heathrow. It's pretty bad.

Rex
I missed out on the fares I was considering. I hope to leave around May 31 and return end of June. Should I hold out hope that summer rates will go down or am I just not taking my family to Italy again this year? What is your valued opinion? Thanks in advance.

If you don't want to transfer overseas,then why not just take Delta to either Cincinnati,Atlanta or New York from LAX and then fly nonstop from one of those cities? Just a thought?

Sorry-hit the button too fast. My thought was that you mentioned that you put everything on American Express and I know that Delta has a card with them so you could get the miles.

Calamari, I would side with AAFF on this one and take AA as they seem to be the best of the bunch for cattle class. One option would be to fly AA to NY and then from there to Rome. I think that breaks up the travel time a little better. Plus, the last time I flew AA economy (from Chicago to Florida in December '03), I was expecting a terrible seat, but was surprisingly comfortable.

KLM did a major overhaul and expansion of it's baggage handling facility at Schiphol, so lost baggage shouldn't be a big concern. I can't speak for Zurich, but Amsterdam is a FAR, FAR superior airport to Heathrow, especially in terms of connections. (they're all in one building). Heathrow is a big, confused mess, even for a point-to-point traveler. Amsterdam is cheerful and bright, with plenty of good shops and eateries. Advantage KLM.

For what it's worth, which in regard to any individual experience, is probably bugger-all, I just read the results of the 4th annual Skytrax survey. Based on 10.8 million passenger votes, the Top 10 in the &quot;world's best airline&quot; comp were (1) Singapore Airlines, (2) Emirates, (3) Cathay Pacific, (4) Qantas, (5) Thai, (6) British Airways, (7) Qatar Airways, (8) Malaysia Airilnes, (9) Continental Ailines, (10) All Nippon Airlines.

&lt;&lt;I missed out on the fares I was considering.&gt;&gt;

You provide no clue what those fares are/were.

&lt;&lt;I hope to leave around May 31 and return end of June. Should I hold out hope that summer rates will go down&gt;&gt;

No.

&lt;&lt;or am I just not taking my family to Italy again this year?&gt;&gt;

I have no idea at what price point you will need to make this decision.

Am I missing something? Is there a question here for which I can possibly offer you any kind of concrete answer?

I would expect that a 21-30 day trip to Italy from LA, for a family of 4 would cost $12,000 minimum up to $20,000 comfortable; $30,000 princely. Is a missed opportunity of $200? $300? per person on airfare going to make or break that decision?

I guess the mental checklist for me would have to factor in: income, income security, your age, your children's age(s), assets and liabilities, status of college savings, probability of their going to college, status of retirement savings, availability of travel time later in the year, who knows what else...

Hi Calamari,

Fuel prices won't be getting any lower between now and June.

I wouldn't expect major decreases in air fares.

How much were you planning on?

Thanks to everyone for their input.

I booked our flights and signed up for an AAFF for all four of us. I am not willing to endure economy class knowing that the person next to me might have paid less, thus my fuss. We got what I think is a great deal. Only proublem is that we have not received our e-tickets. If the print out I do have is the e-ticket, it sure looks very different from our British Airways e-tickets from last summer. So far Expedia has been v. helpful. Now the hunt continues for a hotel in Rome with a quad room. Our favorite place is booked up and we need to stay in Rome for a few days before we get to our house in Florence. I will do a search, but if anyone has any suggestions...Thanks again.

E-ticket means there's no ticket. What you print out or they send you is just a confirmation. Doesn't matter what that looks like. As long as you have a ID/passport, the confirmation number, and the credit card that you use for the purchase, you don't really need to bring anything to the airport.

&lt;&lt;I booked our flights and signed up for an AAFF for all four of us. I am not willing to endure economy class knowing that the person next to me might have paid less, thus my fuss. We got what I think is a great deal.&gt;&gt;

This forum can be most helpful to all if you are willing to share the details of the fare you got. With details (you have already said in May and from LAX; I assume that didn't change). Citing which weekdays is also important in comparing fares.

Rex -
We paid $707 RT per adult and $530 per kid plus a wopping $451 in taxes. Hopefully we will not have to fly standing up. By the way, I checked out Trinita dei Monti but they are booked. Looks like something I will check out when I get there though.

The taxes are not negotiable and are the same from all points in the US (more or less; there might be minor differences in airport fees). I think you got a phenomenal deal, starting so late, and traveling in May. Farea from airports in IN/KY/OH to aNYwhere in Europe are rarely that good for May - - especially not to Italy.

Rex
Thank you so much! I just love it when phenomenal and deal are used in the same sentence! My challenge at the moment is to find good accomodation for four ppl. I'll throw some coins in the fountain on your behalf!

Chuckled at Rex' 'friggin 5 kilos' -
makes for some pretty creative packing
if you only do carry-on and are going
for a month!
We're going BA FF in something called
'world traveller plus' which is between
econ. and business. The good news (well,
better news) is the cabin baggage allow.
is a bit higher - 2 pces. no more than
12 kgs in total. One bag can't be over
9 kg. I've started weighing my shoes
already and we aren't going until Sept.!

I also have been very unhappy in a packed Cathay (Hongong) A-340, but let's admit, any aircraft that is full in Economy-Class is uncomfortable over long distances. And if you neigbour is an overweight and egoistic creature, your space will be reduced even further. It is a gamble.
The detail that is not a gamble is the tranfer airport: large airorts like London-Heathrow or Amsterdam (I hate them both, it starts already before landing, aircraft often hold/circle up to an hour before touch-down) are adding to your travel stress. Whenever you can, try to change planes at a smaller airport on Europe, such as Zurich, Vienna, Lisbon, Manchester, Munich, Prague or Dublin.

Richard