airlines

The service in economy is pretty margin for all of the airlines but if I have to put one our current preference is Delta. And we actually flight last year on Atitalia which code shares with Delta.

It also kind of depends on where you are going. Do you have convenient connector flights to Denver? If you are going to London, there is a direct flight from Denver to LHR.

I fly Delta as my preference mainly because they fly in to my tiny home airport. My hub choices are either SLC or Seattle and with Delta I can get to London, Paris or Amsterdam without too much trouble altho with some long layovers at the hubs.

A question and an opinion. Question: what cities are you wanting to fly to and from? Opinion: I think we've flown most all of them at one time or another in the years we've been flying to Europe. The only airline that we really disliked was USAirways. The only plane we disliked was one that had only one central aisle--hard for people to move around when there are beverage and food carts in the one aisle.

we are flying into Brussels and out of Amsterdam. United is showing the best flights right now only two legs going and coming, going thru Chicago. American has 3 legs down and back going thru dallas. Delta said I could not schedule flight thru their website going out of Tulsa, Ok.

I would probably choose the one with fewer legs as that gives you fewer points where something can get off track especially on the way over. If you can fly Chicago -> Brussels then I would do that.

I agree with the above:

1) If you fly a US carrier, some of your flight segments are likely to be on their European partners. Delta partners with Air France, KLM, and Alitalia; United partners with Lufthansa and Swiss; and American partners with British and Iberia (these are just some of the most prominent partners, as there are others for each of them). Some people have strong preferences among these, some don't. But you do want to know who is operating each flight, so you know where to go when changing planes. If your flight is a Delta number but operated by KLM, you go to the KLM terminal and desk, not the Delta ones.

2) I'm not sure there's a consistent enough difference among the airlines to make it worth choosing based on that alone. I'd sooner look at routes, convenience, prices, times, etc. For instance, you said you prefer flying through Chicago, so choose the airline that best accommodates that.

Agreed.... Looking at first flight out of Tulsa to Chicago, then spending 8 hr in airport (arrgghh) but I always like getting the first flight out to make sure I get to my connecting airport in time. Then Chicago to Brussells. Coming home from Amsterdam, there are several times choices. So after discussing with the hub, I think we have chosen United thru Chicago on both legs. Now just have to watch prices. I just care about extra leg room on the long flights so we will pay that extra cost option. We can handle 2 1/2 hours or so in plane to Chicago in tight space. Both of us have long legs

Just went to Phoenix last week on southwest and it was a happy flight! :)

Thanks for input.

Kim

Look on itasoftware.com. United has non-stop flights from Chicago to Brussels or Amsterdam for about $1100 for the last week of April through the first week of May.

I usually go to Germany. I haven't flown Delta since 2003, but then I don't remember it being that bad. Since then I've flown USAir and United, and they were terrible. I've also flown Lufthansa, and it was a cut above the US airlines. Whenever I can, I fly Lufthansa.

In the past, I've flown British Air to London and Swiss Air from Zürich. Both (particularly Swiss) were also far better than US airlines.

I like Air France, KLM, Turkish Air and other non-American airlines (I wish I could fly Emirates and Cathay Pacific one day). Delta is the absolute stingiest and opaque when it comes to airline miles so I don't fly Delta. As far as the others, they are pretty much indistinguishable to me (blahh all around). For US trips, I like Southwest the best. Although you say you want to go to Chicago, one caveat is that ORD is a huge airport with almost constant delays - no planes seem to ever take off one time due to weather, long queues, you name it.

Whenever I can I choose British Air, but I'm just flying from the east coast. Our next trip looks like Air France, which I've flown before and liked, too. I agree with Agnes, I like non-American airlines best…except Iceland Air and possibly Allitalia (only from what I've heard). However, again, I don't have your mid-west issues of connections on this side of the pond.

My wife and I just flew around the world on Norwegian, Vueling, Alitalia, Etihad, Nok Air, Japan Airlines and American Airlines. Sadly, American Airlines was the most expensive fare and the worst experience. I would recommend Norwegian Air. We didn't know what to expect but it was the cheapest way into Europe for us. Direct flight from Los Angeles to London for $400. The planes were brand new and every seat had a a 10" Android tablet console that you can use to customize your drinks and meals. The flight crew were all young Asian girls (which we found odd at first) but they were multi-lingual, full of smiles and enthusiastic about customer service. On the flight home on American Airlines, the plane was dated and the super old school entertainment console didn't work. We couldn't even turn off the screen to sleep so we had to stare at "loading screen" for nine hours. They also ran out of food and the poor flight crew were scrambling to appease the agitated crowd. I felt really bad for them as they did their best but they were all older people and just looked exasperated at the situation. I used to fly United a lot domestically and prefer them to AA.

My favorite is BA and IcelandAir because they fly non-stop to their respective European hubs from my home airport in Seattle. Since Tulsa doesn't have a European airline option. I'd probably do whichever option gives you just one connection to make it as quick a trip as possible.

Another vote to choose the airline which offers the lowest number of connections. From St. Louis we can't fly nonstop to Europe so must have a layover in the U.S. Because of this, I choose routes with only two flights: STL- ORD - AMS, for example.

We've flown, United, Delta, & American in recent years to Europe and there isn't enough difference to make one preferred. We choose based on the most convenient connections. I do, however, look at what specific aircraft the fights will be using to try to avoid smaller planes, and the on-time percentages for those flights, if available.

I sympathize with you on a 8h layover...have a 5+ hour soon in Seattle going to London, then and 8+ layover in SLC on the way back from Paris. With limited flights back to my home airport it is what it is. I agree with you that it is better to get there a bit early and have time to kill than have a quick connection and be anxious!