New low cost connection LAX to Berlin - nonstop

That sounds nice, though a LAX-BLN flight must be very tiring (15h I guess?)

Thanks for the information. Good news too! I can see myself very easily taking this flight direct from LAX to Berlin Brandenburg in the summer, providing the price is right. In a way it saves me some time instead of flying into CDG, stay in Paris 1-2 nights, then taking the 10-11 hour train ride to Berlin.

Any ballpark idea of the cost for economy, just really generally. Went to the Air Berlin web page but didn't see anything that was low cost. You're probably ahead of the curve since you're in Deutschland.

I think the term "low cost connection" in the thread's title is a bit misleading. While Air Berlin does off low fares for domestic flights throughout Europe, when it comes to their transatlantic flights...not so much:) Their international service is a legacy from LTU airline which they bought a few years ago. Even before the merger they were never known for having "rock-bottom" fares....it's more of a charter airline type operation.

I would expect the flight to take less time than a flight to Rome, probably not too much different than a direct flight to Schipol Amsterdam. Airplanes fly a great circle route, the actual shortest distance even though it looks longer on a map. The great circle route comes into Europe from the north, so any northern airport will be "closer" than something further south. If you're interested use a piece of string on a globe (rather than a flat map). You see how much distance is saved flying north - and why the Iceland volcano disrupted air traffic to Europe so badly.

Another way o visualize the "great circle" is to slice the globe into two equal hemispheres - with your takeoff and landing cities on the cut. Traveling along the cut edge must be the shortest route.

Looks like the non-stop is 11 hours going over, 12 coming back. I picked a random Wednesday - Wednesday in June and the fare is $1235.