Most comfy economy flights US-England

I think economy airline travel in general these days is a resounding hellish experience no matter who you choose. That's just the bottom line. Take a good book, a neck pillow and noise-cancelling headphones and try to make the best of it...it's not going to be fun.

Honestly Sarah, I basically agree with Tim, hellish but neccesary to get to Europe .
What you could do is look at the Economy plus options, they are nothing like 1st class or even Business class, but the seats are usually a tad wider and you get a few more inches of legroom, price out the economy plus on a few airlines . If spending more is not an option, I suggest drugs, pillows, and earplugs. I also take TWO of those blow up pillows, one for neck and one I underinflate and put in the small of my back , airline seats are so stupidly concave!

Thanks for the advice so far. The step up on BA (Economy Plus, on their website) was twice the price as Economy. And I'm flying with my father, so any bump in price is X 2. I think I will take Ambien or something. I never have but this time I definitely will. The worst is the air quality on planes and I can't change that. Yes, the seats are concave--I totally agree--they pitch your head forward. What's up with that...it doesn't help you expand your lungs or stretch at all! I'm looking for shortest or shorter intercontinental flight time, so at least it's over faster. I don't care about extra connections to get to the east coast--at least I can move freely (!) and it's probably healthier than sitting on a direct flight for a longer period of time. If anyone has firm advice on airlines, I'm still looking. Thanks!
Sarah

Have a look at Air Canada. Flights may be shorter and frankly, they have the most comfortable seats I have ever experienced in Economy. See what city they fly to that is the closest to your town. The offer small commuter flights to their main cities like Toronto, Montreal, etc. We did this in Oct. since nothing flies to Col. Ohio, and we flew into Toronto from Frankfurt in just a bit over 8 hours, and then just had an hour+ flight to Columbus. Heck we even liked the food they served and the entertainment choices were an extra treat.

Sarah I do take something on the long hauls, but I just want to be sure you take it BEFORE your trip, like weeks or days before to make sure it "agrees " with you, you never want to take a sedative or sleep aid for the first time on a plane and find out you have a bad reaction to it! I just say that because sometimes people go and get like just two, one for each flight, and then won't try it before hand.

My favorite is Virgin Atlantic, but it only flies out of a limited number of cities (Chicago being one of them during the summer season, beginning in May). As for the canceled trip policies, the only good way to cover that is to buy a trip cancellation policy (and then only cancel for one of their covered reasons). My Spanish friends do not like Iberia, but that is American's partner airline.

"...airline seats are so stupidly concave!" I would love to meet the idiot who designed those seats...and smack them!

Sarah, Are you flying out of MKE or out of Chicago? If you are flying out of Chicago, then I'd recommend looking at the American flight that leaves in the morning and arrives the same day to London. I've flown both BA and UA to London in the last two years and quite frankly there was no substantial difference between the two in terms of comfort. The main differences were that UA lets you book your seat when you reserve at no fee while BA charges if you want to select a seat more than 24 hours in advance. BA provides free alcoholic beverages while UA charges. I actually prefer UA because they offer a daytime flight to London out of my city (DC). I really recommend the daytime flights ... I think a daytime flight is the best way to travel to Europe. Your seat is still the same as a night time flight, but the fact that you don't need to try to sleep on the plane makes a huge difference. The only daytime flight out of Chicago is on AA (departing at 8:50am and arriving the same day at 10:45pm) which is why I recommend the AA flight.

hi, Comfy is relative. Whats important to you comfort or $$$? Look at the seating charts and see if you can reserve a bulkhead seat or Emergency window seat. Some of those have more leg room. what i learned from my first intercontinental flight was to NOT take the center seat, but to take the isle if possible so i can getup and walk around at will. also, i look for seats where near the tail section where the number of seats/row change. sometimes you can get more leg room, sometimes not. i also look for direct routes too. Spending time in airports on layover just made it worse imo. if you can swing it and if its offered any E+ or anything above economy, then it may be worth it. jmo, id rather put up with economy and redirect that $$$ to other things once i get to where im going. Same with places to sleep. Its just a bed and bathroom to me. Id rather spend less on a room and redirect that $$ to other more fun things. happy trails.

I agree that you should consider Air Canada - I think they have the most comfortable economy seats (compared to US carriers), and in fact is the best North American airline. Use seatguru.com to look up specific airlines and airplane layouts - they can tell you seat width and pitch. Be sure to look up each different one, because the same plane on different airlines will have different seat sizes.

Thanks to all of you for your advice and suggestions; it is truly helpful. I'd like to fly out of Milwaukee for ease, but Chicago is a possibilitynot sure about early AM though. I don't like flying overnight periodit is just yucky and strange :) and hadn't thought of a day flight. The good thing about a night flight is we can get the train to Penzance in the AM and avoid paying for a hotel in London and doze/recover from the flight on the train. We could get a night train to P. but I like the scenery, though train sleeping is better than plane sleeping. I will try for aisle, or 2-seat configurations and check out the other ideas. I appreciate everyone's input!
Sarah

I'm 6 ft, 200 + and while the seat maybe OK at first, once that guy in front of you leans back – forget it. But that's not why I'm writing. I had reservations on Lufthansa last summer and 3 months before the flight my partner broke her hip. Called them up, they explained if I had a doctor's letter saying she couldn't fly they would give 12 months to rebook at no penalty. The 12 months were based on the date of the original reservation. Once I felt confident about rebooking, they needed a "fit to fly" letter from the doctor. As prices had gone up (surprise!)I had to pay the difference. We've got our new reservations and are ready to go. I would assume most other major airlines have a similar policy? But when in doubt, ask.

Sarah; 1. Look at the airlines that have Economy Comfort/Economy Plus seating. UA, Delta and others have these. On our UA flight over the pond in May our seats cost $114 aisle, and $78 adjacent. They have up to 4" of extra legroom, and there are no kids sitting behind you kicking your seat! Sit in an aisle seat on connecting flights when you don't want to spend the $$$ on EC seats. Don't pick ANY seat until you have looked at/reviewed it on Seat Guru. 2. Buy trip insurance. Go to Squaremouth.com or Insuremytipr.com and find a policy that works for you.
3. Don't do drugs ......until you try them out at home.

So this discussion has started me wondering...this is the first year I've ever used a travel agent for my flights. We are flying UN from San Francisco to Heathrow. Will be there 3 nights and then fly on British Air to Copenhagen. The travel agent told me we could only get seats assigned at the airport that morning. It's not a long flight but I really want my granddaughters (who will be going with us) to have window seats. Is this true that we can't get seats until that morning? Thanks.

I'm going for a flight out of Mke to eliminate the whole getting to Chicago variable and time. Air Canada has flight that leaves nice and late, after 7pm, good for using the day to get stuff together, but gets in 11:25 am, and would like to get going sooner for the train trip, esp. if there are delays in customs and immigration, etc. A lot of flights and carriers have decent configurations--the pitch and set width are good to know (Thanks for the advice and thanks, Seat Guru)but not sure if they make or break the flight choice as they seem similar. I tend to use Kayak.com but my dad found that Orbitz.com gives you EASY access to the seat layout and SEAT AVAILABILITY, which is the most crucial, which Seat Guru won't do. Kayak.com has easy access to fees on different carriers to compare for checking bags (which we hope not to do-maybe on the way back). Hope to get this ticket soon!
Sarah

Will be there 3 nights and then fly on British Air to Copenhagen. The travel agent told me we could only get seats assigned at the airport that morning. It's not a long flight but I really want my granddaughters (who will be going with us) to have window seats. Is this true that we can't get seats until that morning? Thanks. No. You don't have to wait until that morning. 24 hours out, you can use online check-in and you can select your seats free of charge at that time. You can also pay if you want to select seats before that time, although in my experience, checking in the day before has been sufficient to get decent seats.

We got tix Mke to LHR and back, through Air France/KLM (same as Delta). Outbound has connection at JFK, making overseas portion a doable 7 1/2 hours, arriving 7:30 am, leaving plenty of time to catch any train to Penzance. The planes out and back have 2-3-2 seating and average or better seat pitch and width.Without changing classes, there isn't great variability anyway. I didn't look into preferred seating as someone suggested for Delta, but always can. Luckily, the prices have been stable (not cheap) for weeks (hovering around $950.00) for flying in early May, giving us the "luxury" of being picky about times and plane layout, and time to research, etc. BTW, prices were no cheaper out of Chicago, but there were more options of carriers and times available. Thanks to all and happy travels!
Sarah