Which airline should I choose for flight from San Francisco to New York
 

Hi everyone, next May I am flying from Sydney to New York. The purpose of the trip is to celebrate a significant birthday with 3 girlfriends who will also be traveling with me and also sharing the same significant birthday! Sydney to LA is easy to book, but we haven't a clue about which airline we should choose for the LA to New York leg. We would like some degree of comfort on the flight if that's possible.

Hopefully some of you very frequent travellers will be able to help.

I'll be back another time to ask for suggestions for 10 days in New York / Boston or anywhere else in that area. Thanks, Cathie

OMG I'm such an idiot - my heading should say LA to New York, not San Fran to New York!!

www.cheaptickets.com
expedia.com
etc.

You have quite a few choices.

For non-stop you can fly JetBlue, Delta, Virgin America, and United to JFK, and Continental to Newark. JetBlue also flies non-stop from Long Beach & Burbank to JFK. VA has the fewest flights, so if there are hiccups you have fewer backup options with VA.

They all will offer basically same low price - $160 one way (limited seats, advance purchase required), so price is usually no advantage.

I fly AA a lot NY to CA. Nothing special, but not bad. JetBlue and VirginAmerica both have live TV at every seat, and I find their leather seats more comfortable.

AA, and I think UA, Delta, and CO have food for sale. JetBlue and Virgin only provide snacks, so it's bring-your-own food only.

Never fly UA or Delta - not my preferred airlines due to destinations, not comfort.

Assuming you're flying coach Jet Blue gives you a little more room between the rows of seats and IMHO is a good deal as long as you can get a decent price.

Other than that the lines seem equally bad and I would select based on price/availability for your dates.

The cheapest flight that fits your time needs leaving and arriving.

Is there a particular reason that you are flying through LA? Are you planning to stay there a few days before going to New York?

Why not take advantage of seamless travel and choose a flight where you don't have to change airlines or airport terminals for your connecting flights? With airline alliances and code-share agreements this can be an easy process.

For May 2011 travel, SYD-JFK, Qantas and American offers $1800 plus taxes round trip. On same route Delta $1690 tax included. As two separate tickets on Delta SYD-LAX, $1300.00 then LAX-JFK, $464.00 about $1764.00.

If you will be spending time in LA before going to New York then I would recommend Virgin America or Jet Blue to New York from LA. They do not offer as much service as the major airlines like Delta, American or United but their airplanes are more comfortable and I think offer better inflight services.

For more tips: http://dmbflyingcoach.blogspot.com/2...flight_02.html

<b>"Is there a particular reason that you are flying through LA?"</b>

It's the most common North American gateway city coming from OZ.

Cathie, The most seamless connection would be Qantas (i.e. QF107) from SYD-JFK with a stopover at LAX. The next most seamless would probably be a combination of Qantas & American Airlines. I suspect that your QF flight will use TBIT (Tom Bradley International Terminal) at LAX and your departing AA flight will use Terminal 4. Can anyone correct me if I am wrong about this?
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Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie

I got on here because I saw your heading. I flew Sydney to San Francisco on QANTAS, broke the journey at San Fran and on a subsequent day flew San Fran to New York on American Airlines who are affiliated with QANTAS. I think you could do the same via LA. AA are nothing special but ok. As someone suggested, you can go the whole way with QANTAS if you don't particularly want to stop in LA.

Orlando Vic,

As Peteralan mentioned SFO is also another gateway from SYD. More options for Cathies and friends :)

Delta thru LA would be the most seamless. Same terminal for connections. The same maybe true for United thru SFO.

Either way Cathies needs to give more details about her travel plans. If she is planning on stopping over for a few days on the West Coast before heading east then that presents a horse of a different color :)

Use kayak.com to look for option with pricing.

I use Expedia to compare the options, then book directly with the airline. I'd use whoever has a NONstop flight with the best price and times.

Thanks everyone. At this stage we think we won't stop over on the West Coast. We have a planning meeting this afternoon :) so I'll let you know if that changes.

Thanks again for all the help. Cathie