Star Alliance - US 333 vs LH 343 in J

I am planning on booking a trip, and one of the legs is (probably going to be) PHL-FRA. I am looking at business class. Would you guys recommend US or LH? US has the 333 with true lie flat seats. LH has the angled kind, but I assume better service. I have also heard that envoy on the US 333 isn't as good for 2 people traveling together to talk with each other. I have flown US Y and LH F, but never either in J. Which would you pick?

US Envoy in a heartbeat...LH C is nothing to write home about

I have only flown LH C and agree it is nothing to write home about. I have heard the US Envoy if it has the lie flat to be really good. That is important for the overnight flight to maximize sleep.

Although friends don't let friends fly US Airways, in your case you are faced with LH's outdated angled lie-flat seat that I personally find very uncomfortable and avoid it as much as I can. Take the US flight and if you would like to chat with your partner pick the middle seats, should work just fine.

Someone e-mail this thread to LH. If seeing these responses doesn't motivate to expedite retrofitting, I don't know what would!

Wow. LH must be pretty bad...

Wow. LH must be pretty bad...

On their older aircraft it is getting pretty.

And my experience is the catering is going downhill a bit.

On my last flight (FRA-ORD 744 C), the seat was creaky, the IFE kept crashing and the food was just so so. The ice cream came in a paper cup with the plastic spoon inside the cap.

Heck, I can get the same service on UA :rolleyes:

Wow. LH must be pretty bad...

They are compared to many other airlines inside and outside *A...

Someone e-mail this thread to LH. If seeing these responses doesn't motivate to expedite retrofitting, I don't know what would!

And then someone also needs to e-mail them the thread in the LH M&M forum where many people expressed their disappointment regarding the new seat they are retrofitting their aircraft with. ;)

Well... it took US years to roll out the new product on their tiny fleet. Currently the last two A333 are in the shop for a refit to get the new Envoy seat. I had the pleasure of flying MUC-PHL on the US A332 Envoy and its certainly a nice seat. The soft product is just about OK. The FAs are a very strange bunch, witnessed the same short fuses reported in post 203 of this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-airways-dividend-miles/1273050-status-a333-envoy-suites-rollout-6.html

On the way back the magical mystery that is PHL and US front line customer service hit me in the face: feeder flight to PHL badly delayed, ticket desk unwilling to help (use the kiosk!!), then unwilling to find alternatives (there is no flight from here, go to PHL and sort it out there), then when proven that there are concrete alternatives, they wanted to book me into Y on the longhaul segment (your first coupon (regional one class CRJ) is in Y, so thats what I will book your first segment into). Luckily a supervisor came back from his lunch break and helped.


BTW, US does swap a 767 in for a A330 if things are wonky... so watch out :)

So a seat doesn't make your trip, FYI ;)