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Traveling to Europe Spring of 2020-What’s the best 1st Class flight from California?
I’m traveling to Europe Spring of 2020. As I’ll be visiting several countries it doesn’t matter if my initial destination is London, Paris, Rome or Berlin. I can depart from either Northern or Southern California. What’s the best airline for First Class? I don’t know what it’s called but is there a Middle Eastern or Asian airline where I can catch a leg of a flight and score a better First Cabin? Thank you. |
Air France 777
Then Swiss or Lufthansa If you wanted to go indirect / around the world to get there, all the Asian and Middle East options open up, of which there are many reviews a simple Google search away. |
Air France 777^ |
I prefer LH over LX in F. LX has improved with the new F lounge in ZRH and transfer service but the inflight experience remains a bit underwhelming.
Originally Posted by boxerpack
(Post 31232934)
I don’t know what it’s called but is there a Middle Eastern or Asian airline where I can catch a leg of a flight and score a better First Cabin? Thank you.
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Originally Posted by Epicura
(Post 31233164)
I prefer LH over LX in F. LX has improved with the new F lounge in ZRH and transfer service but the inflight experience remains a bit underwhelming.
5th freedom flights/routes. But these are East Coast: EK has EWR- ATH and JFK-MXP, SQ has JFK-FRA. SQ also operates IAH-MAN but no F cabin on that route. The Lufthansa in-cabin experience is definitely not as good as air france (I've flown Lufthansa a few times but only read detailed reviews of AF). But the ground service in frankfurt or munich is exceptional if you are going to connect to somewhere else. People are biased towards FRA but i loved connecting in MUC...exit plane, walk to first class lounge, hand passport to immigration officer located in the lounge, retrieve passport on exit and off you go. Be warned, the air france first hard product is very very different between the 777s and the 380s. The new cabins are only on the 777s and i believe the AF flight out of SFO is a 380. I've not flown swiss F but what i've read suggests the food is better. Having not done both, i'm looking for an opportunity to try swiss. But between swiss and lufthansa, i'm sure it comes down to personal preference. Both are light years better than their business class product. other important consideration is departure time. I like taking later flights to ensure i can fall asleep on the plane. I know the SFO-ZRH and SFO-MUC flights depart at a respectably late hour. Don't know about the air france flight or the late lufthansa flight. Whatever you do, don't fly British Air and expect a true first class experience. |
We’ve flown F in LH, AA, BA, and EK from the West Coast (and the old UA GF which no longer exists) to reach Europe. Of those, EK is the best, but LH F is just a bit less impressive. AA is actually solid but unremarkable. BA F is tragic. We’ve heard AF is wonderful, too...but only the 777 offers the better product. We never fly from the West Coast to the East Coast for F flights to Europe/onward; we always find it far more comfortable and easy to find the best flight from the West Coast to Europe (or connecting perhaps in Dubai with EK). The longer flights from the West Coast allow for more easily getting a good night’s sleep on the 10-12 hr flight (or 16 hr to Dubai), as well as a relaxing dinner and usually breakfast, too. It’s just a vastly more enjoyable experience. Connecting on the East Coast or even Chicago most often means only a 7-8 hr flight trans-Atlantic flight that really doesn’t allow one to relax, eat, and sleep in any degree or comfort in order to land refreshed and ready to enjoy the first day or night in Europe—not to mention the subpar flight across the USA. |
Flew LAX-CDG in November. First Class on AF 777. Best FC to Europe I have ever experienced
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Yes, Air France’s Le Premiere on the 787. |
You could take JFK-MXP with EK (5th Freedom flight), but I digress. Undoubtedly Air France would be my first choice as well -- on the service front, their F product walks all over any ME carrier.
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If schedule works for AF La Première on the 777, I would plan the trip to start in Paris. Otherwise, I would do LH or LX F as appropriate based on convenience and price. I would not mind a connection within Europe to get the best long haul F on these carriers, but a connection on the East coast would defeat the purpose of the F experience due to inconvenience. |
A relatively minor consideration, but your lounge experience departing either SFO or LAX will be considerably better on LH/LX than AF.
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Originally Posted by Kacee
(Post 31253804)
A relatively minor consideration, but your lounge experience departing either SFO or LAX will be considerably better on LH/LX than AF.
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Originally Posted by boolean64
(Post 31234341)
Absolutely would not do a connection on the east coast for a better product. The west coast product is good enough and splitting an 11 hour flight into two 6 hour flights just doesn't make a lot of sense.
The Lufthansa in-cabin experience is definitely not as good as air france (I've flown Lufthansa a few times but only read detailed reviews of AF). But the ground service in frankfurt or munich is exceptional if you are going to connect to somewhere else. People are biased towards FRA but i loved connecting in MUC...exit plane, walk to first class lounge, hand passport to immigration officer located in the lounge, retrieve passport on exit and off you go. Be warned, the air france first hard product is very very different between the 777s and the 380s. The new cabins are only on the 777s and i believe the AF flight out of SFO is a 380. I've not flown swiss F but what i've read suggests the food is better. Having not done both, i'm looking for an opportunity to try swiss. But between swiss and lufthansa, i'm sure it comes down to personal preference. Both are light years better than their business class product. Whatever you do, don't fly British Air and expect a true first class experience. I am not sure the difference in inflight experience on LX versus LH is a purely personal preference. At least 90% of the people I know and who have tried both, prefer LH. I never had a good meal on LX (not in F, not in J) but that is of course subjective. What keeps on feeding the LX myth a bit in general: LX F is not bookable as an award (with the exception of M&M Senators and above). I fully agree with your point of view regarding BA F. However, for the right price and when expecting the best business class for TATL travel, go for it. The service ranges from bad (happened to me once) to very good (about a dozen times) and even outstanding (also experienced this about a dozen times). When BA crew are good, they are usually very good. I am also curious to find out how BA will evolve when the new suites are rolled out. |
We already are booked for:
(1) LH F in Oct for LAX-FRA (and onto CPH)...85K LH miles pp (2) AA F in Apr for LAX-LHR (and onto EDI)...85K AA miles pp (3) BA F in May for LHR-LAX (from GLA)...70K AS miles pp |
Lufthansa service is more consistent, whereas SWISS can sometimes be amazing. LX is great for privacy and IFE - a much bigger screen and more private seat. LH is OK if you're on the 747 in row 1, or traveling alone in a window seat/together in a middle pair on the other aircraft. And ever since Swiss started their arrival service and also created the new landside lounge entrance for F, the ground product has also become much nicer.
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