Airlines to Europe- any advice on the following

[NEVE and TRISTAN]

I have budget traveled my whole life, camped for a month in Europe, skirted thru the Greek Islands for a month on my own and have "roughed" it by choice on many travels...

But now in my upcoming trip I want to be on the nicest, most comfie most spoiling airline...

Here are my choices...does anyone have any insight into which might be best -for comfort!!!!!!
My gut instinct is Swiss Air, but I know many of you know the Euro travel a lot better than I do...
Swiss Air is the most expensive but I don't care in this case, totally deciding on comfort level here :)
Thanks in advance

Air France –

LOT Polish Airlines -

Delta Airlines –

Northwest/KLM –

United/Lufthansa/Austrian/Scandinavian Airlines –

Swiss Airlines –




Neve
http://home.nc.rr.com/ourbabytristan
AKA "mama2be"-forgot password
and Baby Boy Tristan born @UNC
Feb 25, 2003
Brother to 3 pups "gees" and 2 kitties

[mommd]

I have flown on LOT and Lufthansa. Lufthansa is WONDERFUL!! The best flight I've ever had! They really pamper you, I felt like I was always eating, and it was pretty roomy. LOT is good as well, but Lufthansa was better, IMO. I've never flown Swiss Air though, so it could be better.

[alkagift]

I went first class on Delta to Italy while pregnant and returned on Air France first class since they code-share. My experience was about the same each way--they have the recliner lounge seats with the footrests and the personal TVs, etc. They each give you a ditty bag with toothpaste, cream, eye shades, toothbrush, etc etc. Nice heavy embroidered blankets. Both were about the same although the Air France was slightly better in the cream dept. Delta gives you L'Occitaine stuff, which isn't bad either. My only thought was that Air France had much more food, for some reason, more options, but I was focused on it since it was french. The foie gras was bad, though. Each had a several entree selections with matched wine, Air France had more wine selections and of course it was all French wine while Delta's was Italian and American. The food on Delta wasn't shabby either, I got some sort of salmon, I think, and it was pretty yummy. They also followed up with after dinner drinks and cognac is a great thing! You can't lose, in any case, the service was extraordinary. The Air France team was a bit stiffer than Delta, I thought, until I had some pre-term bleeding (sorry TMI) over Greenland or something and they just became this wonderful, angelic group of people, I could tell you stories...

Have fun, I hope you're going somewhere FAB!


Allison
Mommy to Matthew Clayton, 5/19/03

[californiagirl]

KLM.

I lived in Europe and travelled on business in business class quite a bit for a while. Lufthansa is usually pretty mediocre, in my opinion, and once served me the worst airline meal of my life. (That was for an internal flight in Europe, though, and short-haul is different.) Air France is nice, but KLM was the absolute best to Europe; lots of service, and a little china dutch house as a souvenir. Air New Zealand's breakfasts are unbeatable, but they don't do much US-Europe. Swissair is really pretty, but not as luxurious.

[NEVE and TRISTAN]

I like KLM too...the others with the exception of Delta and United I have not flown. But my last KLM flight they actually had me on NorthWest I beleive and that wasn't all that posh...so I guess it is based on if you are on the "real" KLM...how would I know???? I guess the agent would...
Neve
http://home.nc.rr.com/ourbabytristan
AKA "mama2be"-forgot password
and Baby Boy Tristan born @UNC
Feb 25, 2003
Brother to 3 pups "gees" and 2 kitties

[marinkitty]

Well, I have flown all of them except LOT.

On Air France I have only flown inter-Europe in tourist class. It was fine, the food was pretty good, but I wouldn't rave about it. I would fly it if it were the cheapest and not question it.

On Delta I had a really bad flight but it mainly had to do with the crew who was really terrible. Rude and inattentive. That could have just been a bad day, who knows? It was also coach, but from NY to London. When I have flown them domestically I haven't loved them either, though. Just never had a great experience.

Re Northwest/KLM, I have actually flown them internationally a lot. I think they are okay but not the best. Their business class is not as nice as other airlines IMHO if you are going that route. They don't even have a first class (well - NW, don't know about KLM), which I wouldn't normally be flying anyway but maybe that tells you something about the luxuriousness overall since that seems important to you for this trip. If in coach I think it is comparable to most other lines. I've had great flights and bad flights back and forth to Amsterdam on KLM. I think it depends on the crew and how "Dutch" the food is (not a huge fan of the Dutch cuisine here, hope I don't offend anyone). I do think KLM is much better than Northwest if you have a choice. I'm originally from Michigan where NW has a hub and they are often referred to as Northworst!

Next, United or Luftansa (haven't been on the others). I personally REALLY DISLIKE Luftansa. I mean, to the point that even though my DH has 500,000 frequent flier miles on United (which means Luftansa too), I refused to use them on our upcoming trip to Portugal b/c we couldn't get seats on an actual United flight. The fact that the United flights fill so much faster than the Luftansa flights must mean I'm not alone in preferring them. I have never had a great flight on Luftansa. NEVER. United on the other hand, I love (although internationally I've rarely flown coach - usually business and first b/c it is either for work or using miles). Their first is incredible with full beds, great food and amazing service (but if I were paying I'd never pay that). Along with American they are my favorite US carrier (though IMHO they cannot compete with the Asian carriers - love, love, love Singapore Air and Cathay Pacific; Air NZ too). Not that I always have a great flight, but on many travels, the average flight is pretty darn comfy.

Swiss Air - I've flown them 3 or 4 times inter-Europe and always thought they were quite good. All coach. The food was pretty good, they were very nice, the planes seemed newer than other lines.

Sorry this got so long, HTH!

Holly
Mom to Mia (3.17.03)

[californiagirl]

That is the problem with KLM -- I like them, but I hate NorthWest. I'd double and triple check with the agent.

[ethansmom]

When booking the flight, it can be ticketed by either NW or KLM, just make sure the flight is "operated" by KLM to ensure you are actually on a KLM plane. You can see these terms yourself if you are booking online.

Haven't flown Swiss Air, but great experience with KLM several years ago. Don't know if they still do this, but my NW frequent flier card got me access to their lounges...