Airline from LAX to Athens

I've flown Air France and British Air, and most recently WestJet/Aegean, all with similarly positive experiences. For me the total flight duration is important. Layovers after a long international flight can be brutal. Next May I'm flying on Lufthansa, which offers one of the shortest flight times now available. Use the www.skyscanner.com website to compare flights and pricing, and be sure to check baggage allowances and seat charges. The cheaper the ticket the more you will pay for extras.

I just buy the cheapest convenient flight so I've flown LAX to ATH on a bunch of different airlines.

Of them all, though, Turkish Airlines was the best and the flight most-direct (LAX-IST-ATH).

Turkish Airlines was the best and the flight most-direct (LAX-IST-ATH).

Just having some fun here, as I'm bored waiting for the game to start. Putting on my Sunday-best pedant hat :-), Lufthansa's LAX-FRA-ATH would be hard to beat as most-direct one-stop route

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=lax-fra-ath

-Eric: it might be the most direct without overflying the destination but it also goes through the worst and most confusing airport that I’ve ever transited through. Awful through and through. Don’t even get me started on the decline of the once great Lufthansa and their less than mediocre service.

Thank you all for your input!

I would definitely pick Turkish Air

The LAX-IST-ATH route is too long for me, and the flight from LAX to IST is too long without a break. By the time I got to ATH I was exhausted. I flew IST-LAX this last September and the trip was 13.5 hours sitting in a seat with so little leg room that my knees touched the seat in front of me the whole way. If I hadn't been sitting on the aisle so I could get up and stretch without disturbing anyone, I would have been a total wreck by the time we landed. Not only that, but they "lost" my special meal order.

Once upon a time I had to fly from Seattle to New Orleans ( no direct flights at the time). Turned out the best route was via Atlanta. Connecting somewhere in Texas made for a longer trek, time wise.

Istanbul to Athens and Atlanta to New Orleans are virtually identical flight time. ( ~90 minutes)

There are times when the 'longer' route is better.

We had to fly Lufthansa from SFO to Athens via Frankfurt, after our flight SFO to Athens via Amsterdam on KLM was canceled. After that experience with Lufthansa, we decided that unless there isn't a choice, we will avoid Lufthansa and Frankfurt airport (for transit). See TripAdvisor reviews for Lufthansa to see why other people feel the same way as we do.

Thank you all for your comments on the experiences you've had. This will help me choose a flight to Athens.