zld

Hey all,

I am returning to the US on an award ticket and am trying to decide between Lufthansa and Aer Lingus. LH would be a 340-600 through Munich, and EI would be a 330-200 through DUB. This is Y travel on a United award ticket (I'm UA Silver/*A Silver, if that's worth anything here). LH is seeming like the better option but I'm looking for the input of others.

- Both 2-4-2 seating
- Both ~2 hour layovers which is ideal for me
- Differences in paid taxes between the two is negligible
- LH gives out free booze in Y on TATL and EI does not - can anyone confirm?
- LH allows free advance seat assignment for UA award tickets (book into X class). Looks like it's €5 and higher for EI
- LH routing obviously adds more in-flight time than EI, though this is not a very important factor to me either way
- I've never flown *A in TATL Y - any option for lounge access with either carrier?

Can anyone think of pros/cons I haven't considered, or have personal experience/recommendations on either of these products? Thanks!

Germanfflyer

I would definitely go with EI - TATL in Y is no fun adding extra hours for no reason seems very silly.....

Lack

EI also adds pre-clearance at DUB, so that layover might be a bit productive.
If you got amex points, DUB-BOS is also very cheap in Y (and still relatively cheap in C).

Madone59

When in Y, the shorter the better! Go EI.

nanyang

Flew EI in Y JFK-DUB one-way just before xmas. I thought it was fine - meal service was ok. Would definitely pay for the seat assignment on EI. I also recall that the IFE options were pretty decent - although I also recall reading a book on that flight.

I would certainly prefer going via DUB (especially if US immigration included in the package here...).

Don't EI sell lounge access? Now, not sure how that would work with an award ticket. Lounge is ok, but nothing special. Doesn't that lounge next to security in the old part of the airport accept Priority Pass?

No recent experience of LH long-haul Y. Their lounges at FRA and MUC (the ones I've visited) are hardly worth the effort of climbing the stairs (where applicable) - certainly a sub-par experience. Otherwise I'm sure LH is generally fine and one cannot go too wrong with that option either.

warakorn

In comparison to domestic US lounges, the LH lounges are very good.

nanyang

That is a reasonably fair comment of course.

Most recently stopped by in one of the LH lounges when flying SQ JFK-FRA-SIN last month. I wouldn't mind the place on an intra-European itinerary, but when flying SQ, the LH lounge just feels wrong...