Sturion

I am in the early stages of planning a trip to Europe for late October 2010. My concerns are both airline rates and comfort. Been to Europe on United before and felt like a piece of cattle. Any suggestions on which airline to keep an eye on? As said, both rate and comfort are important factors. Also, is "premium economy" or whatever they call that section between Business and Coach really worth it? You comments / opinions are greatly appreciated. Sturion.

maile

If you are going to take several trips per year, I think the premium economy seating is worth it. I think too that you can buy it by the trip instead of the yearly rate but that can add up. I like it as it does give you a few extra inches and it is in the "upper" section of economy. However, i have had my seating taken away at the last minute on a very, very long flight to the far east; the $150 compensation six months later didn't even come close to making me happier. As for feeling like "cattle" I think all the major airlines have those trips. I use to love Air France but now it is six of one and half a dozen of the other.

BigRuss

Your question is useless because you do not reveal your departure city for the overnight flight. If you are in Philadelphia, you should use USScare just because it's there; if you're in Houston, you should use Continental; if you're in Detroit, move somewhere decent and save yourself, but use Northwest or whatever airline is daft enough to use Detroit as a hub. If you're somewhere that is not a hub city for a major airline, take the shortest flight to a major hub for your transatlantic flight.

The fact is that economy seating sucks. It sucks on American and it sucks on United. It's no better on BA, where the regular cattle class seat in a 777 has 31" of pitch (that's distance between your seat and the seat in front of you, and 17.5" to squeeze into. Go decide if the extra 6-7" and 1" of seat width for cattle-class "plus" is "worth it" -- it may be, depends if you're tall, fat, have various physical conditions that are aggravated by sitting in crap seats for 8-10 hours at a time, and what you'd have to pay.

Often it's as or more important the type of plane you're on -- American still flies its sh*tty 767s to London and Paris and they suck because the seats are small (really horrid -- 30" pitch, 17.2" width) AND there is no personal TV (which I even had on crappy Olympus in 2001!) to distract you from the narrow seats and lack of padding on your a--.

mnapoli

Avoid United at all cost. Crappy airline...

skye5

We just returned from a trip from Boston to Zurich flying Swiss Air. The seats were cramped, the plane was hot, and the movie screen was not operational. It was a long unpleasant journey.

Poconolady

As stated, they are all cramped. I prefer the seat configuations on American and United but think that the food and entertainment was far better on recent Continental flights, but I sure hate the 3 seats on each side of the center aisle. I haven't flown BA transatlantic, do they have the leather seats like the BA planes in Europe.

jrjcolllins

We like the economy plus seating on United. It's at no additonal charge if you fly 25,000 miles in a calendar year on United, not their partners.

ElendilPickle

You don't say where you're starting from, but if it's Los Angeles, Air New Zealand has good leg room, pretty tasty meals, friendly staff, and a great range of entertainment.

Lee Ann

sfgirl42

Virgin Atlantic. Flew r/t three times (3 years) and was pleased with all the flights. They have some good/great deals and unlike BA, don't seem to have strike problems.

avalon

As has been said, without knowing where you are, it's almost impossible to say. I can fly direct on BA or Virgin and prefer them for that reason even if I'm going onto France. Almost every trip I've been offered an upgrade to Econ plus at the check in desk for a fee. I think it's worth it

sap

I much prefer British Airways to United, Delta, et al. and feel they treat their passengers better. (Hopefully, the current series of strikes will be history by October.) The fact that they have more direct flights from SFO doesn't hurt, either.

Of course, Virgin Atlantic is supposed to be better still, but I don't think I could afford them unless my company was paying. I'm not familiar with Air New Zealand.

wombat7

Check out Seat Guru for palne maps and info on seat pitch etc

janisj

it makes a HUGE difference where you are flying FROM. I don't see how anyone can recommend an airline w/o that piece of info . . . .

Sturion

Sorry and you are all correct -- I should have stated from where. I would be leaving out of LAX. Hopefully that will help?

ElendilPickle

Yes, that helps, and I'll again mention Air New Zealand. www.airnewzealand.com They have more leg room than some other carriers, pretty good food, NZ wines, and individual seatback entertainment systems.

Lee Ann

janisj

Virgin would be my choice out of LAX -- they have two nonstops a day

janisj

. . or New Zealand as Lee Ann mentions. The service on both Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand are good in economy. Leg room better on Air New Zealand

euromom

We took "world traveler plus" on British airways and it was only a few hundred more but worth it. WE loved it. It was like traveling in business class, the seats reclined, leather seats very roomy seating, just go on the British airways website and they will show you each class of service and describe as well. Hopefully they will be off strike in the next week or so. Direct flight from LAX.

daph

Another vote for Air New Zealand. Once, when we missed our British Airways plane to LAX due to a late BA connection from that h--- hole in Paris, CDG and we were put on Air NZ. Economy was roomier than BA and the food was better [and this is from one who has loved BA for years and fears for its future]. Air NZ does not do the LHR-LAX route daily, as I recall. It's sort of a hidden secret.