Airlines - Inernational

I fly the airline that gives me the best connection and the best price. IMO. the service across airlines doesn't vary that much.

Also view the responses to this question just a little further down the list ----

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/which-airline-is-your-favorite-for-transatlantic-flight

Thank you.

The general consensus seems to be to go for European airlines across the the atlantic since they in general offer better service and it means both of your flights will be EU261-protected. Also, avoid any trip that involves going from one airport to another on the ground. And in general avoid connecting in the UK if your final destination is not in the UK.

From San Fransisco there are several options. If you are flying economy the difference between the airlines tend to be rather small, but if you are willing to spend more it can be worth to be a bit more picky in selecting airline.

Check out Norweigian out of OAK-you can fly with 1 stop to either Rome or Milan.

Sorry, but Norwegian Air Shuttle no longer flies out of Oakland. They will begin flying from San Francisco to Rome on April 1st, 2020, however.
From San Francisco, Alitalia will start flying to Rome on June 1st, 2020. And Air Italy flies to Milan seasonally--whatever that means. Flights will otherwise have to be through a connection in another European city. KLM flies to Amsterdam from San Francisco.

And in general avoid connecting in the UK if your final destination
is not in the UK.

That pretty much rules out flying AA.

Even worse, they make it quite difficult to avoid flying trans-Atlantic on their partner, BA, when booking a business class ticket using miles.

$500.00 and higher "Taxes and Fees" flying BA in and out of LHR.

No thank you.

Note that Lufthansa is buying Alitalia so United miles mightbe able to get you there. We often fly with United and/or its alliance partners Lufthansa and Swiss out of SFO.