(Looking for Good Business class Airlines to Europe

At this point, we all are! We have flown BC on Air France, BA, Lufthansa and Air Canada. All have had their ups and downs depending on: last minute aircraft changes, price, newer vs older aircraft, comfort of seating area. Delta seems to get a lot of love here from US travellers but I’ve never flown with them.

I've done Delta, British Airways and Condor. Condor was the most basic of the three but still nice.

Look for a plane that has lie-flat seats. That's really the key thing, I think.

I've done both Delta and British in the last few months. I felt they were similar. I give the slight advantage to the food on British but then Delta serves ice cream sundaes in flight.

Video programming was extensive and excellent on both airlines.

The British Airways lounges are Heathrow are really nice. They definitely beat out the Air France (Delta uses these) lounges we've been to in Paris. But the British Airways lounge for my San Diego flight was a generic basic lounge and really not that nice. By comparison, the Delta lounge at SeaTac is quite nice.

You've got quite a few options out of SFO. This should give you a reasonable overview of your nonstops to Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_International_Airport#Airlines_and_destinations

United Polaris is very nice and the Polaris lounges are incredible.

Business class is a bit like coach in that it's a commodity and, on the consumer side, often a compromise. Sure, some are generally better in one way or another—or worse in one way or another. There's no Transatlantic business class that I would go out of my way for or pay a premium for. And there are only a couple that I would avoid.

At the end of the day, scheduling, routing, and pricing are the only reasonable decision factors.

I upgraded to BC on KLM last September for a 9 hour flight and it was very nice indeed.
I came back Economy……a very different story. :o
Have never flown BC on any other airline.
Took Premium Economy on Air Canada for a 7 hour flight this April, also very nice.
Lufthansa Pr. Ec. coming back was so-so.

We are very happy with the recently upgraded business class on British Airways. You have lots of options out of SFO in business. I have frequently jumped up there in order to fly with my daughter, who works in Palo Alto.
You have a lot of direct flight options, in addition to great business class choices.
Where are you going?
I recently nabbed a British Airways business class fare for next April, 2024, from LAX to Amsterdam, for under $2000 each RT.
The BA lounges at Heathrow are great!
At the time, a month ago, there were also great fares out of SFO.
I had Google Flight price alerts set up, on different days , and different cities. Often one can save big bucks by changing the flight dates slightly. GF let's you view the rates for whole months, all the way thru June, now, I think.
I stacked the AARP discount with the British Airways visa 10% discount. I purchased directly with British Airways.
Since we bought our flights, I have observed crazy fluctuations in air fare prices- one day the price doubles, then jumps down, then climbs back up.
I have also flown Lufthansa and Swiss Air business class, all also great!
Good luck, and spend your money before the kids do!
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I've flown United, British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa, KLM, for La Compagnie, Royal Air Maroc, Air Austria, Turkish Air, and Swiss Air and maybe some others that I do not remember right now into and out of several countries (France, the UK, Ireland, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Spain) usually leaving from the US but sometimes within Europe or from France to Morocco. The best one was KLM for two reasons: the airplane was brand spanking new and they had a signature cocktail that was delicious. The worst was British Air. I have actually stopped flying with them because I am so unhappy with their service. La Compagnie is not true business class in that it is not lay flat seats and really sometimes the price is so close to regular business class that it is not worth it. La Compagnie flies from Newark to Paris Orly.

Look at the YouTube reviews for Aer Lingus business class. They are consistently positive. I've seen the seats and drooled, but then had to make the right turn down the aisle to economy. It's my goal to turn left someday!

I would aim for the new aircrafts with new business seats. When looking through each airline website and selecting your flight, always check the type of aircraft under ‘Details’. This is critical. This is what I know, but not any particular order:

Condor (German budget airline) is currently shaming Lufthansa with their new aircrafts. By next summer, most, if not all, will be new airplanes: Fly their brand new A330-900neo (Airbus) with routes from SFO/PDX/SEA/LAX to Frankfurt (RT).

Delta’s brand new A350-1000, A330-900neo. When searching, if it says ‘Delta Suite’, then those are the new business seats with doors. If it says ‘Delta One’, those are the old seats. Most of their old aircraft, Boeing 767, have the new seats, but not all.

TAP Portugal new A330-900neo.

Swiss Boeing 777 has alternating single business seats known as ‘The Throne’ bc they are huge seats. SFO to ZRH (RT).

Brussels Airlines and Aer Lingus also have the business seats ‘The Throne’.

Air France’s new Boeing 777-300ER business class.

KLM Boeing Dreamliner 787-9 (only this aircraft is good).

Virgin Atlantic new A350-1000 business and A330-900neo.

British Airways new business Club Suites A350-1000, Boeing 787-10, 777-300ER, 777-200ER. I would aim for the A350-1000.

United Airlines business Polaris.

American Airlines Flagship (Boeing 777-300ER, but there are others).

Search with google ‘flights’ to your destination and go from there. You can also google airline business class reviews for U-tube (i.e. ‘United Polaris business class review’).

Good luck!!

We now fly Business Class exclusively West Coast to either London or Frankfurt using British or Condor (Condor only flies directly to FRA) so we don’t have to make that dreaded stop on the East Coast to change planes. Of course that means we usually have a transfer to make within Europe to get to our starting point if it is not London or Frankfurt, so we have to build in a change of planes or other transfer.

We find each airline more than comfortable. We actually like the food on Condor having had 3 or 4 good experiences and British Air food has gotten better. BA planes have the little compartments and true lie flat seats which as nice. Each offers good lounge options. Frankfurt is a nightmare to change planes in so we recommend spending a night or two and proceeding whether by land or air.

If you are using points or miles, BA means paying very high taxes and fees for the privilege of landing in London, but still less of an outlay than buying the tickets outright.

If you are buying tickets and not using points, and given your location as a true international hub, your choices are huge depending on your final destination. Out of PDX we are just glad to have a couple of non stop options across the water.

San Fransisco might be a huge hub, but Bergen isn't. So for this trip your options are:

• SAS
• Lufthansa
• KLM
• Air France
• Iberia
• Swiss (Swiss don't fly to Bergen, but their subsidiary Edelweiss has flights between Zürich and Bergen)

There seems to be a lot of discussions about British Airways and different opinions about their offers in business class, but they don't fly to Bergen. Of course, with alliances and code shares, most airlines will probably be able to sell you a flight from Bergen, but it might be a complicated route and will involve at least one extra stop, maybe more.

And since your destination is Scandinavia, my recommendation is to look at SAS as your first choice. They have a great business class. As well as a modern long haul fleet and uses A330s and A350s to California. Also, their hubs are not as huge as Heathrow, Schiphol and Frankfurt so they are easy to navigate and walking distances are much shorter. In addition they are the airline with the largest network across Scandinavia so they can easily reroute you if there is a problem somewhere or a flight is cancelled. They also have a sale at the moment so there might be some great offers available.

A review of SAS business class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9fGmwPUUQ4&t=423s

I just flew SAS Business Class from Copenhagen to Chicago. The flight that I was scheduled on July 18, 2023 was canceled. No plane was brought in to replace it, so I waited 2 days. The reverse route Chicago - Copenhagen was canceled for 3 days. So, don't take Badger's suggestion that SAS has a large fleet and can easily re-route literally. Oh, I was offered re-routes, but taking 30 hours with 2 layovers including overnights in Istanbul or Oslo or elsewhere was not acceptable. I offered various re-routes that were available per the schedules I was looking at, but SAS couldn't or wouldn't re-book on partner airlines.

Additionally, SAS is operating wet lease planes from HiFly, at least for their summer routes. I flew a HiFly plane and crew both directions ORD - CPH this summer. SAS doesn't have enough of their own planes to fly their published schedules.

That said, my experience with SAS (HiFly) Business Class was excellent. Flatbed, good service.

Janet - another research angle for you if you haven't done it already. If you find some routes and carriers you like, but are debating between two similar options, ask the question on Flyertalk. There are travelers who do various routes frequently and can often tell you precisely which carrier to use and how they are superior to others on seating or service. I have seen great advice on a couple Asian routes/carriers when those jaunts were new to me.

Alas, Aer Lingus does not fly to either Norway or Sweden. But do keep them for future travels, as they do fly from SFO. Their business class is much more affordable than other airlines, their service is fantastic, the seats are large and comfortable, the food is quite good, and by flying through Ireland, you’ll get U.S. preclearance.

I'll add one more thing that somehow matters to me. Delta has personal air vents over my seat so I can control how much breeze I'm getting. And I like a lot of air blowing on me - I get hot on planes. The two business class flights I've done with British and the one I've done with Condor had no vents over my seats. So I was definitely warm on those flights.

It's a tiny thing, I know, but it leans me towards Delta.