cheltzel

I did some price research and flying the AA 77W via LHR will be about $3300 per person.

Flying LH on the nonstop JFK-LHR will be a lot cheaper (around $2500) and would be on the 380 or 74H.

IMO the AA 77W J seat is better than the newer LH J seat.

But connecting in LHR means you will be flying a BA Club Europe business class from LHR to FRA. This is a coach 3-3 cabin with the middle seat blocked and with a 30" seat pitch.

JonNYC

Absolutely zero doubt about that. Still, if flying on paid J tickets to Germany, I'll take LH (not to mention SQ's JFK-FRA flight-- which can be very cheap in J!) over AA 10 times out of 10 times, no contest in my view.

A fantastic point as well.

ashill

I know I'm a heretic, but especially if you're paying cash, not miles (which it sounds like from your post) and you're there for a month, what about flying coach and choose the routing (presumably nonstop) on any airline that minimizes your travel time? The round trip for two fare difference pays for several awfully nice meals -- much better than anything you'll get in the air no matter how many thousands of dollars you pay for the flight -- and hotels on the ground to give you time to recover (and, at least for me, several days of lost pay at work!). It's only 8-10 hours, after all, and if you're there for a month, losing a day on either end to recover doesn't seem like a big deal.

Personal decision, obviously.

cheltzel

I totally forgot all about SQ on that route. It is a bit more expensive (about $2600). But it is their A380 product. Very tasty. I would take it over LH in a heartbeat.

ijgordon

That's a fair point. It *is* somewhat heretic, for myself included; I haven't flown international coach since my outbound segment to Europe for my post-college graduation trip. That was on Pakistan Int'l Airways. The return (which I upgraded to biz for cash) was on Tower Air.
In any event, if you can get equipment with a 2-seater (e.g., 767/330/340), or maybe even buy an extra coach seat, and perhaps pay for an extra legroom seat, it's not a bad call given what should be the luxury of time to recover. If I were doing that, I'd probably take an early PM flight and not even bother trying to sleep on the plane.

I don't believe the SQ discount J fares are combinable with LH or other *A partners, and OP said the FRA-JFK flight is too early in the morning (I agree).

ysolde

Well, I spoke to the husband some more. He is really adamant against LH, because too many people in our circle got caught in this round of strikes, and, as I wrote, we got caught in the strikes a few years ago, which pretty much ended the love affair for him.

Given the guidance here, I did some digging and research, and we are going with . . .

LX! JFK-ZRH-FRA on the way over, FRA-ZRH-EWR on the way home (not so early as the flights that get you back to JFK -- GRRRRR). Anyhow, LX's C product is getting a little old, perhaps, but the times we have taken it have proven comfortable, the service quite nice, and they speak our languages, which is always a comfort. I am not a fan of the stopover in ZRH, but it's better than stopping over in LHR (besides, they sell chocolate everywhere, the lounge is pretty good, and who can resist the mooing train?).

So, yes. I mean, "MOOOO!"

WRCSolberg

I'd take the chance of flying LH to save the aggravation of connecting in Europe.