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
As a fellow BOS based guy who flies to EU often (monthly-ish), I pretty much agree with everything above. The only color I'd add is:
-The BOS-LHR was great and I miss it a lot
-If at all possible, I do the daytime flight to LHR via EWR to avoid the red eye, spend the night at a LHR hotel and then catch an early am star alliance flight from LHR to wherever I need to be. Works well and I get a full day of work on the plane and a hotel night of sleep
-For everything else, I'd agree, take the direct out of BOS vs connecting, especially if you can use PP's to upgrade to LH F on the MUC flight - the connection is a pain and takes a lot of time
-The only reason not to is if it leaves too early in the evening to get any real sleep, so avoid the early FRA flight and look more towards MUC/ZRH
-That said, I end up doing the connections 99% of my flights now thanks to needing to drive spend to UA for GS, which is a big reason I miss the BOS-LHR flight