librarygal

I have done a lot of traveling but never on an European Airlines. I usually out of pride fly an American based airline, the only exception was when I went to China we flew Korean Airlines. (I felt uncomfortable on the flights.)

Using American Airlines miles from the USA to the UK, the only option for using frequent flyer miles at the lowest level was to go with British Airways. So my husband and I decided to try British Airways.

How will my experience be on British Airways in Economy, way in back of the plane, in comparison to coach with American Airlines/United or Delta? What are the flight attendants like? Are they mostly from the UK, or do they recruit from countries all over the world? Is the service friendly or formal? How about the food?

Please tell me and other travelers trying a European Airline for the first time how the experience will be in comparison to flying across the pond in an American based Airline.

Tobias-UK

Which European routes?

sigma421

First of all (don't worry about this but people can get precious about it!) it's British Airways not airlines or BA for short.
Cabin staff on BA tend to be friendly. They can be a bit of a mixed bag sometimes but in general you'll find formal friendliness. There isn't any of the 'guys and gals' stuff you might get on some of the more 'relaxed' US airlines (or indeed Virgin Atlantic) but it's perfectly fine.
Naturally most BA cabin crew are British but you'll generally find a smattering of other European nationalities onboard any long haul flight. BA do base cabin crew at the other end of some of their routes to add a bit of local flavour but I don't think this happens on US routes.
Food is much of a muchness. Not that different from any American airline transatlantic. The biggest difference is that the alcohol flows much more freely. There is a free bar throughout the flight which features beers, wines and spirits. Obviously they won't let you get horribly drunk but they'll have no problem with you getting through four glasses of wine in an 8 hour flight.

Wembleygal

And the sparkling wine available in long-haul economy is CODORNÍU cava -- very yummy!

shorthauldad

I think we may have one or counterexamples to this claim ...

Travelreviewguy

Not as good as First on American Airways!

revan

I can confirm that I got completely legless on the way to Chicago many moons ago...

corporate-wage-slave

I am fortunate enough to fly a lot in both USA and Europe. Not that often in Economy, it has to be said, but I do for short hops where there often isn't an alternative. My perception, reading your comments, is that will probably find the English speaking airlines in Europe your best bet, it's not a full cultural match but it is one barrier less.

So that gives you BA, Aer Lingus, a few low cost carriers notably Easyjet, and some smaller airlines. KLM, SAS and to a lesser extent Lufthansa are fairly close to the British Airways operation too, there is no real language barrier; airlines such as Iberia, Air France and Alitalia slightly further off. As an appalling generalisation, AA is quite similar to BA, though BA is both more formal and informal; Easyjet sits somewhere between US Airways and Southwest. All of these European operators are good, professional airlines and I fly on all of them without hesitation.

I also fly Ryanair - they have recently improved their customer service levels, from a fairly low start point, indeed it wasn't able to go much lower. So if you are sensitive to the customer service paradigm, you should only travel on them if your expectations are set accordingly.

BA's crews are among the most mixed, in terms of ethnic origins, of the European airlines, reflecting as it does the diversity of the United Kingdom. There are some US (or former US) citizens working in BA cabins. Ryanair isn't far behind in terms of diversity.

I think I can see why you may have found Korean a bit uncomfortable, I really doubt you will have much issue on British Airways, and nothing that can't be fixed with a generous smile.

meva33

Flying coach/economy transatlantic is pretty much the same on any airline whether US or Europe based.
BA crews in my experience are generally amongst the best, consistently polite and helpful, but not overfamiliar (VS anyone )
You probably won't notice that much difference from AA.

StAIR

Not to forget that BA is a EU-based airline, meaning that EU consumer protection regulations in cases of irrops / delays / involuntary offload would be in force. That's my main motivation for flying EU-based airlines whenever their prices are comparable with that of non-EU carriers.

irishguy28

It will be far, far better.

First of all, the booze is free. Secondly, the flight is much, much shorter. Thirdly, it won't be an overnight flight (second and third assume you mean a short-haul BA flight rather than a transatlantic one!).

Why did Korean Airlines make you feel uncomfortable? Was there a pea under the mattress?

lwildernorva

I know this does not directly answer your question, but let me suggest that if money is not extremely tight that you consider the possibility of taking seats in World Traveller Plus, one class up from World Traveller (BA's term for coach), at least on your flight to Europe. Although given advertising from UA, AA, and DL, it's understandable to consider this cabin comparable to Main Cabin Extra or Economy Comfort or the similar terms used by airlines here in the USA, WT+ truly is an intermediate step from economy to business class. For perhaps $175 more per seat (the current difference on a route I'm following, IAD-EDI, for WT+/WT as compared with WT/WT), you'll get a separate, smaller cabin, a seat comparable to a domestic USA carrier's first-class seat on a midcon flight with more recline than coach or economy plus seats, and two main course options from CW catering that may make an overnight flight to Europe more tolerable. Unless you or your husband can sleep almost anywhere, you probably won't sleep through the night, but I find the extra space and the extra recline allow for a better sense of relaxation and a decent nap.

How you accept the service depends on how much you correlate an attitude of familiarity with the quality of the service. I find BA crews to be very good, but I've never had a member of cabin crew treat me as a best buddy. The service is formal but not stuffy. And yes, a smile will help you. Especially in economy, the ratio of passengers to CC is high (although not any higher than on US carriers), and during busy times, I'm sure CC can feel a bit frazzled.

Just a tip when you're on the ground. If your American pride tends to take the form of "why isn't [fill in the blank, city/country] more like America," then you might want to tone it down a bit. You're not in America and although the world is becoming more homogenous (if you really want, in a lot of European cities--although not a lot of small towns--I can direct you to the McDonald's and the Burger Kings and the Pizza Huts there), there are differences. And just as you have American pride, the citizens you're visiting have their own local pride as well. You'll find that folks will tend to open up a bit more with tourists if they learn that you don't reject their local customs, cuisine, etc. out of hand as inferior.

revan

That's a bit patronizing, no?

SCSA

Yeah I agree. The OP said she flies US carriers because she's an American. If you said the same thing about flying BA would you be considered jingoistic or boorish?

nux

The OP is using AA miles for the tickets. I do hope they checked the cash fare first and considered the amount of AA miles they'd earn on that, instead using AA miles and a large amount of cash amount to fly economy..