Originally Posted by joer1212

Can someone recommend the best airline to India (Delhi or Mumbai) from the New York City area?
I'm looking for a relatively comfortable seat in economy class, or Premium Economy (for under $1,800).
I did some research last night, and I had it narrowed down to 2 airlines: Air India or Turkish Airlines.
Air India has spacious seats and decent pitch in economy ($1,433), and the flight is non-stop. However, it isn't clear to me if they have those hideous no-recline seats in a fixed shell that CX has, where it only slides down and forward, and not back. On a long-haul flight it is torture to be seated on one of these things.
Turkish has Comfort Class for $1,800, which looks really great, but there are two downsides: 1) the flight requires a connection in Istanbul, Turkey 2) the flight leaves late and arrives in India 2 days later, instead of 1 day later, like Air India does. I can't afford to lose a day, because I only have 13 days for my vacation, and I have a lot of ground to cover, then I have to return home to work.
The reason I have left out European carriers is because I don't want to purchase Premium Economy on one of them for only a relatively short flight to Europe, after which I will be required to deplane and connect to another (longer) flight to India that will not be in Premium Economy. I would rather fly as close as possible to India in comfort, then connect and be in economy class for a shorter flight.
Anyone have any other suggestions?