flight from us to europe

I really think that they are all about the same except, maybe, for US Air. Lufthansa has always been our preference for service but our last return trip was on Lufthansa and I swear that they reduced the seat space - again. It was very so so. Go with the best schedule.

Hi Marlene, United and Lufthansa "code share". It doesn't matter which airline you buy the ticket from. We've bought United tickets and flown on a Lufthansa plane and vice versa. Check the schedule and it should show which airline's plane is actually flying the route you are looking at. Paul

Hi again, Just a FYI: If flying home from Munich, Lufthansa usually has a 3:20pm flight from Munich to Newark, NJ. Nice not to have to be near the airport for your last night in Germany or be in any kind of rush in the early am.

I've had so-so experiences with them both. My complaint with Lufthansa is seat pitch. They fly some planes that REALLY pack them in. As bad as most planes are these days, Lufthansa has some that are worse. Other than that the service and reliability are fine. You may go to seatguru.com first to see what the plane's seating arrangements look like, the one I flew on was an Airbus but I can't recall which airframe. My complaint with United was my trip this spring to Spain included a leg with Spanair (as part of my United ticket). After I bought the ticket Spainair went out of business. I contacted United to find out what change they would make to my route. They assured me, in very patronizing terms, that their agents knew what they were doing and would make the needed changes - not to worry. I kept looking for the new flight information, which never came. About two weeks before the flight I went online to plug in my passport information and the itinerary changed - just dropped the leg from Madrid to Barcelona completely. Since this was during their merger, wait times were multiple hours to reach customer service. I asked a travel agent about it who suggested driving to the airport and visiting a ticket counter to get it fixed. Which is ultimately what I did - 1/2 hour drive, pay for parking, another 1/2 hour in line - but at least they fixed the problem. It will be awhile before I'll choose United again because of that.

Both are Star Alliance partners, therefore the flights might be code share. If you tell me the exact times of the flights I can tell you who operates the flight (UA or LH). I prefer flight operated by LH because of the free stuff (like wine or other alcoholic bev). UA, like most US based airlines, charge for everything these days, including in international routes. Seat pitch varies also from aircraft to aircraft. I found the Airbus 380 operated by LH from SFO to FRA to be quite comfortable.

The only other consideration is that in case of delay or cancellation, European law requires the European carriers to feed and house you. This was true during the Icelandic volcano cancellations for the two week period people were stuck. With the US carriers, you are on your own.

Are they both non-stop flights? If so, I'd choose the one with the more convenient time. If they are connecting flights, I'd consider the routes (what airport you have to connect through).

I'd pick Lufthansa for the reasons cited above, and also based on my mixed experiences with United. I've flown United on long international flights (Tokyo, Bangkok) from the US. Their amenities and service in Economy and Economy Plus were inferior to those (in the same class(es) of seats) I've experienced with Qantas and BA on long-haul international flights. I doubt Lufthansa would be worse, and it could be better.

Hi, Before you "put your money down",look at "seat guru", all the seat pitch, seat width info on the carrier and their each of the aircraft type are provided. This might change your opinion. Finding the schedule and the type of aircraft on which leg are off the carrier's website.
The same carrier may rate poorly on one aircraft type and good on another aircraft type, older v newer versions of the same aircraft may/will differ. They often code share and your ticketed carrier sits you in another carriers plane for some or the entire journey. Regards

Good advice immediately above from Gerard. Data point: This past spring, we took a trip to Europe, flying the long 10-hour flight from Seattle to Frankfurt (in coach). Having never flown Lufthansa before, and having had always heard good things about them, we were looking forward to the flight. It was one of the the worst flights I can ever remember taking. Never mind the two (not one, but two) screaming babies that began wailing loudly as soon as we pulled back from the gate in Seattle and continued without even a brief pause until after the plane landed in Frankfurt 10 hours later. OK, can't blame the airline for that. My primary impression: the seats were among the smallest and most uncomfortable that I've ever been in. I was expecting them to be cramped, but they were narrow, unforgiving, and shockingly tight. The moment I took my seat and sat down, my wife and I looked at each other and said "uh-oh, this isn't going to be good..." The pitch was basically zero, or felt like it (seemed like less than 12 inches from my face to the seat in front of me). I'm fairly small, but seated normally, my knees were touching the back of the seat in front of me. I can not imagine how a tall or large person would manage. And service? Flight attendants were absent or indifferent. My wife got violently airsick soon after takeoff. She quickly filled up her barf bag and mine too. I disposed of them and asked the flight attendants for another one or two, thinking they would rather not have her vomit freely into their cabin. They just shrugged and said they couldn't give me any more, suggested I ask other passengers if they could spare theirs. The vibe was clearly "sorry, not my department". I was not favorably impressed with anything about that flight. YMMV.

Okay. Now that I've heard from David, I know that you can do worse than my long flights on United. Yikes! (At least on those United flights, the flight crew were pleasant and helpful, although IMO a bit understaffed for those full planes.)

Well. You haven't told us where you are flying to exactly, but I checked and the only flight out of Houston operated by Lufthansa proper is to Frankfurt (UA is the codeshare). All others flights are operated by United (with LH as codeshare partner). If you are flying to Frankfurt non stop, then that Lufthansa operated flight is your only choice, because UA does not operate a flight to FRA. If that the case, you can rest easy. The LH flight from IAH to FRA is operated on the Airbus 380-800 super-jumbo, and in my experience, seat pitch is not an issue on that plane (I'm about 6ft tall & over 220 pounds and I lift weights so I don't appreciate small seats, and neither do those who sit near me). However if someone in your party is a super-sized person like me, I suggest you try to get bulk head seating or a seat near the emergency exits where they have nobody in front and plenty of leg room. Go to SeatGuru.com and check the A380-800 configuration for Lufthansa, because on any type of aircraft there are good seats and not so good seats.

Hi, If it a luft A380, then pitch is 31" and width 17"
if its a luft 747-8i, then 31" and 18.5"

Thanks for all your help. You are all wonderful.
Marlene