Originally Posted by
pbarnette
And I have said it before... Air Europa (and AM, to a lesser extent) do not count for US-EU travel, as it isn't practical to go via the Caribbean or Mexico.
Why? If anything, it's easier for people from Southern USA to transfer at MEX/CUN as opposed to having to clear customs/immigration and recheck bags! And, assuming there's a ST flight from MAD to your final destination, it's a great airport with painless connections (beats CDG).
I agree Aeroflot is not intuitive for Western Europe, but it has a great C service and SVO connections are easier than many think them to be!
As for OK, of course the seat is old but they're punctual and you get compensated by the service, especially on the intra-EU legs (compare that with Europe Select!).
Originally Posted by
pbarnette
That is still a lot of carriers, but let us not be disingenuous and try to claim the other 5. And let us also be honest about how tight all of the ST carriers are with award seats compared to somebody like AA or BA.
Some of us don't necessarily want to fly from/to/via the USA. Indeed, there are very good reasons (e.g. "security", visas) for many people to
avoid them for non-essential travel. If you're going to the Caribbean, you're much better off taking KLM to PTY and then taking a COPA connection as opposed to flying via ATL (obviously anyone who would choose to fly via the USA to the major S. American cities as opposed to taking AF across the pond is totally off their trolley!).
This is not an option with AA or BA (though IB do fly to some more destinations in C. America).