United Mileage Plus - Who would you fly in Business Class Transatlantic?

I am planning a vacation trip to Europe and will be flying with 4 friends on mileage plus award miles to Europe in Business Class.

I have already decided that I would like to try some of the other *A partners for this trip to see what they are like.

Who would you reccomend and why for transatlantic travel in Business Class:
Lufthansa
Austrian
SAS

Looking for atmosphere as well as comfort.
Thanks for your feedback! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Search the M&M site. OS seems to be the prefered C class among UA, LH, and OS.

My ranking would be...

1) OS
2) LH
3) SK

out of those you selected....

But, dont forget you can do SQ on JFK-FRA route... so that could also be an option. For me, SQ and OS are a tie.

You may also want to try BD, I flew them last year in paid C class across the pond, their service was outstanding. The seats were not as comfortable as UA but they made me feel like I was the only thing that mattered to them on the flights.

1) BD
2) OS
3) SQ

Also, you could do Lauda MIA-VIE.... (if they still fly that). That would also be Transatlantic... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Why Lauda... alone for their amenity kits. A Condom is included... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/tongue.gif

Out of IAD, Austrian is a great in business class. Gaucho is right about Singapore's superior service, if you want to go out of New York.

Personally I have no problems with United's business class. I think their C seats are good (and seats are the things I care most about, forget the food nonsense!), but I understand you're wanting to try something different.

Now, if you can work a trade for BA miles, they have the best business seats to Europe, IMHO (flat beds on most of their fleet).

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-Otto

I think on a transatlantic flight the most convenient routing will be of major importance. I wouldn't prefer SEA-ORD in an A320 or B757(SEA-IAD) just to then ly on SQ to AMS or on OS to VIE respectively. Also depends on where you want to go in Europe. LH in C within Europe is like E-!

Skip SAS. Their business class seat is the same as their E+ seat, with greater pitch.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by G2:
Skip SAS. Their business class seat is the same as their E+ seat, with greater pitch.</font>

Huh? That's incorrect...

The poster is based in DC where SAS flies the old 767 so I would skip them for that reason. But the service is good.

You might consider AC in business class for Transatlantic. The product is far superior to LH in business and improving.

The A330 is going to a nearly flat bed. The A340 will also be going that way followed the the 767-300. The food quaity has improved greatly in the last few months with the introduction of new menus.

If AC goes to a nearly flat bed, you may have a choice with * Alliance. However, the only real choice today is BA (Oneworld) which has a fully flat biz class bed to Europe.

The recline on the new business class seating on AC is 150 degrees.

I believe sometime this spring Singapore will start flying their spacebeds across the Atlantic. They are 180 degree flat beds, however they aren't horizontal, they lie at a slight incline relative to the floor. I think the seat pitch is 61 inches.

As far as I am concerned, AC has the best transatlantic business class product (if you can avoid ex-CP metal which is a disaster). Otherwise, OS and LH in that order.

I agree with the poster who remarked on the SK seats. I find them uncomfortable too and the service is indifferent.

I would go for OS. Good seats and really good food. They are far superior to both LH and SK (flew all three airlines in longhaul C during the last 4 months).

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Snoopy:
As far as I am concerned, AC has the best transatlantic business class product</font>And new J meal service too which is very good. Try and get the A330 flights and you'll have Video On Demand too.

OS the best choice. I haven´t flown BD yet but heard only good things about their product.

Tim

Sorry for being dense - but could someone create a legend for the airlines being discussed, e.g. LH = Lufthansa.

Great thread - I am making my first transatlantic flight (LAX - BRU) in early April and am looking for some good advice.

P.S. Do Star Alliance partners permit SWUs to upgrade from business to first? If so, who has the best first class service?

BD = bmi British Midland
OS = Austrian
LH = Lufthansa
AC = Air Canada.

Some other * Alliance:

TG = Thai
RG = Varig
NH = ANA
SQ = Singapore
SK = Scandinavian
MX = Mexicana
NZ = Air New Zealand

Thank you - very kind.

Thank you for the decoder ring. I was quite lost.

My choices are:

1) Singapore Airline
2) United
3) Air Canada
4) SAS
5) Lufthansa

I would say that Singapore is far SUPERIOR than any other carriers in this list.

I have flown these three *A carriers transatlantic in C class (in preferred order):

1) United (superior seating)
2) Scandinavian
3) Lufthansa (by far the worst)

If Singapore's service is as good as in Asian routes, they are the number one in comfort. However, their transatlantic routes and schedules are not convenient for my needs. A (near) nonstop flight is a big comfort factor to me, anyway.