airlines good bad and ugly

The connector flight to your destination in Italy is going to be fairly short so it’s probably not going to be a big deal. Is your choice transiting thru CDG or AMS? I’d go by the amount of time you have for a transit and I’d want 3 hours.

I was happy on my Air France flight from Paris to Milan after my Delta flight SEA to CDG in September. I wan impressed that they did a snack service of sandwich and drink on a flight that was about 1.5 hours long. I was also impressed that the overhead bins were fuller than I’d ever seen.

You didn’t ask this But are you going to try and do carryon only? I had seen some anecdotes saying people had their bags measured and weighed on an Air France leg after having flown Delta with a generous allowance. So for either Air France or KLM I’d be strict on having my bag meet the cm dimensions (not rounded to inches) and weight.

We do connector flights on Air France all the time - we fly into Paris and move on from there on Air France. The planes are just fine - standard seats etc. These are almost always 2 hour flights, as Pam mentioned. They always serve us a meal. I have no complaints.

Hi Sheila, either one is fine. We have had both of them from our west coast first leg ending in Amsterdam or Paris. I would just choose the best connection time that still gives a reasonable amount of time to catch your second flight.

The KLM flight is a later preferred flight. Unfortunately, Delta changed the time of our original flight from 10:00 pm to 5:30 pm ( the 10:00 flight was Delta then Air France). I re-booked for a 7:30 flight on Delta/ KLM. Would rather leave later, so hopefully, we can sleep on the flight. I looked at the reviews after I re-booked and KLM has awful reviews worse than Air France. That's why I was posting to ask for your feedback. I can change it again--UGH if I need to. Hold times can be very long!!!
Thanks so much!!!

You know, I wouldn’t change it now. Your flight isn’t until June and there may be more changes.

How much transit time do you have?

We live in Georgia and fly 90% of the time on Delta. When we fly to Europe or beyond Europe, we usually fly Air France or KLM.

All three airlines are excellent. I think Delta is the best US airline over United and American.

Air France is my favorite in Europe and KLM is also excellent.

We have been through CDG and Amsterdam several times. I would prefer Air France and CDG. I know some people dislike CDG, but Delta flights fly into a terminal at CDG that is walking distance from the terminal that we fly out of on Air France. We have never had a problem making our connections. Just make sure you have 2 hours for your connection.

Only thing, if you leave CDG to go into Paris, WATCH for pickpockets, they are out there waiting for you. Wear a money belt or neck wallet and watch your personals.

Air France has the best service and airline food except for Korean Air Lines.

Every mainstream airline (even budget ) has great and terrible reviews. Horror stories and fabulous experiences. Since you are talking about reputable airlines I’d take whichever is giving you best flight, and enjoy your trip.

We booked Delta out of Atlanta a year ago to Amsterdam. But we ended up on a KLM international flight.

I can honestly say the KLM flight was the worse flying experience I've ever had. The food was absolutely terrible, and the flight attendants stayed in the kitchen to avoid having any contact with the passengers. This was the tail end of the Covid days.

We flew on to Berlin and the KLM flight attendants and the pilot was great. My wife's wheelchair didn't appear at the gate, and the pilot got on the phone to make sure we were taken care of before he left us.

Hope you're actually flying Delta on the long haul flight.

FYI...Air France and KLM are owned by the same parent company.

A couple weeks ago we flew Delta from Seattle to Atlanta to Munich, and then Air France from Munich to CDG to Seattle. Delta was great, AF was not. It started with reservations. Booked through Delta, and I am well aware of how the seating works when flying on a partner airline. Delta got our seats on AF for us, and we paid the fee. Mysteriously, several times our seat reservations just went away and they told us to buy new seats. More phone calls since we had already paid and I was not about to do that again. Happened 4 times. Then in Munich we arrived 3 hours early for the flight, yet the desk was not staffed yet, except for one person handling Sky Priority. We asked him what time the other agents were to arrive to handle baggage drop off since we had already tagged our bags. He said they should have already been there, but hat he would call. He did call, about 20 minutes later. We were 4th in line, and if we were at the end of the line there is no way we would have made that flight due to the lack of agents. Then on the flight from CDG to Seattle, they were randomly pulling people out of line for extra screening, but about 20 feet before you actually get oh the plane. The location and timing made it a mess for everyone. To top it all off, the food was the worst that I have ever had on a plane. Everyone was talking about it and calling it baby food. Pureed carrots, applesauce in one of those toddler things that you suck it out of, etc. I did not see one person eat anything. Everyone opened their box and just looked at it like "WTH?". Granted, the food is a very minor thing, but it was just sort of the final straw in a series of low performance by AF.

I echo Mary57, Pam's and Valerie's comments and add:
1-Security is often government-driven, not airline-driven. I've been pulled out of line at Istanbul for secondary screening at the last minute. I didn't mind. Better safe than sorry.
2-My experience with European-based airlines (British Airways, KLM, AF, WizzAir, Swiss International, Lufthansa and I'll include Turkish in the group) is that they treat passengers as adults, with less hand-holding than American-based carriers. You won't see the flight attendants every five minutes. For me, often sitting in an aisle seat, this is a good thing as I don't get clipped by the carts going up and down the aisles. If you need help, ring the call button.
3-If food is an issue in economy (that's where I ride), spring for the fee-based food. KLM's Indonesian meal is pretty good. Turkish has some good standard offerings. Most airlines are moving toward wood-based utensils in economy. You might be able to bring your silver from home if that's a prob.
4-I flew cross-Atlantic four round trips in the past year with various airlines. Every trip had issues. Travel isn't as seamless as it used to be. It isn't always the airlines' fault, but often is. Be prepared.

Oh, and we can't assume that one airline's regs are the same as another, or that an airline's regs will be interpreted the same at every airport because sometimes the gate agents aren't employees of the airline, but of a third party contracted by the airline.

Book the flights that are most convenient. So much of the airline experience depends on the crew and the other passengers which is something you have no control over.

I have two completely opposite Air France experiences. Was either one typical? I don’t know. KLM used to have last minute upgrade offers to business on check in. I paid $300 for this upgrade once on a transatlantic flight. I don’t know if this is still their policy or not.

Carol now retired and I have the exact same opinion and experience with the upgrade.

Carol, i used the upgrade about 6 months ago. $500 from economy to Business on the flight over. I had a meeting upon arrival and i thought it would be better if I got some good sleep.

As far as Air France vs KLM; neither is spectacular, both are functional for the purpose so choose by cost and schedule.

I had read some very negative reviews of Air France but since the Air France operated Delta business class ticket was$1000 less than flying Delta One I decided to chance it. So glad we did. Just as nice as Delta One lie flat seats and much superior food and wine. We used to always fly coach but now that we’re retired and assume we have limited years of international travel ahead we are splurging on our international legs (but still looking for business class bargains).

Thank you to everyone for your detailed and informative replies! I so appreciate it! This is a great community--it takes a village!
Cross fingers they won't change our flight times again! I think I'll change our flight to Air France. The flight is a bit earlier, but the layover is 30 min. longer than the KLM connection. Hopefully, 1 hr 40 min. will be enough time to switch gates and get onto the plane with a bit of breathing room. We hate to rush, especially when traveling!
Happy healthy New Year to everyone and happy travels!

“Hopefully, 1 hr 40 min. will be enough time to switch gates and get onto the plane with a bit of breathing room.”

Which airport would that be transiting through? If it’s CDG I’d say not enough time. It took 15 minutes for exterior stairs to be pushed up to the plane after the seat belt sign went off. (My last 3 flights from SEA to Paris on Delta landed at gates with exterior stairs/shuttle to the main building.) It took me 1h5m of steady moving from the time I stepped off the plane in Sept to my gate for my AF flight to Milan. I made a very quick comfort stop, had a short line at security and no line at immigration.

While we have accomplished shorter connections (in dire circumstances when our in-coming flight was late taking off), there is no way I would (on the front end) book a flight with a 1hour/40minute overseas connection. You MIGHT make it, but with international flights, as another poster mentioned, there is the time for the jet bridge to connect to the gate has to arrive, for the doors to actually open, for anyone ahead of you to deplane, and then to run like heck to the (potentially) different concourse....worse yet if you have to change terminals (via airline bus). And, as you know, the doors to the plane's jet bridge actually close well before actual scheduled "take-off."

Not trying to be negative, just realistic, but between now and June, I would be surprised if your flight schedules are not "wiggled around" a bit by the airline. At least you will be departing from a major airport. I used to ALWAYS book with just ONE connection from BNA (usually NYC or ATL), but inevitably, a few weeks before our actual trip, I would get the updated schedule which all too often required a rerouting thru Atlanta to NYC (meaning a THREE-leg journey )and then onward, which also meant leaving home at some really ungodly hour in the a.m. (such as 3:15 a.m. just get to the airport for that first flight on a small commuter jet.

Ya' gotta ask yourself what your Plan B would be if you miss that tight overseas connection.....be at the mercy of the airlines to find the next flight to your final destination?, IF that flight (or all others for that day) are not completely full. If you have the flexibility to "just roll with it," then no problem. But, if you really need (or just really want) to arrive in your destination on a certain date, I would add more "wiggle room" with a longer connection (which, of course, would still get messed up). Nothing is really "totally" predictable in the world of travel these days.

Unfortunately, that's the only option ( besides a 6 hr layover), so I have to cross finger and say some prayers that we make the connection.

CNN and FOX have been reporting on Southwest getting hammered by customer complaints. You name it and it seems to be a problem.