Originally Posted by
cfischer
Here is what I am considering and BOS is my home airport:
- TATL red-eye - how long is the flight time and can I get sleep. BOS-LHR vs. BOS-MUC/ZRH are meaningfully different. IAD-Europe is an hour of extra sleep
- Departure time (related to the above). I avoid early evening departures like the plague. Flew BOS-MUC and BOS-ZRH in the past few weeks; get on the plane and go right to sleep. Perfect.
- Consider e.g. UA outbound and LX inbound - get a meaningfully later departure from Europe. E.g. BOS-EWR/IAD-BCN but BCN-ZRH-BOS which means leaving BCN at 2.55 p.m. vs. early a.m.
- Ability to book on UA 016 ticket stock for PQP and RDM earnings
- Avoid LH business on the red-eye --- seat meaningfully worse than other options. Pick LX or UA in business of LH in First or even AC in business (distant third)
- Connections via EWR/IAD can easily be rebooked @ BOS when irops happen - not a concern to me. In fact, double dipping can be lucrative
Boston is not my home, but I fly, with family, from New England to Europe at least once a year. I agree with almost everything cfischer says, just a little bit of added color:
-In addition to departure time, I consider what time my wife's body will think it is when we are changing planes in Europe. This almost always leads us to find a direct flight to the final destination from somewhere, do the connection the day before if needed. Coming back (usuallly to the West Coast) I do the same thing, make the transatlantic flight the final flight.
-Totally agree about the afternoon flights. Nothing like the clock saying 8am and your body saying 2am. Bleh.
-What that practically means is that for the destinations served with late flights out of Boston, I will fly that (non-UA) carrier. Otherwise I will connect to the latest flight to my destination from EWR or IAD.
I am a fan of the Polaris hard product. I do not like Polaris chow. I am not one who thinks that meals on a 7 hour redeye are worth putting into the equation. So I lean to Polaris when all else is equal.
I am not as down on the LH business hard product as others on this forum. Particularly when travelling with my wife (so I don't mind 2 abreast), and when not sitting in the center (so not playing footsie all night).
+1 on daytime flights to London and a night at Heathrow. Very civilized way to beat jet lag. The friendly amendment, which we've done several times, is: Daytime flight to Heathrow, Eurostar to the final destination the next day.