keloutwest

I am traveling from DEN-VIE on May 9th (must arrive on May 10th). I am looking for the best business class options, but I'm struggling. 2 stops is OK, 3 not so much.

I'm getting close to hitting PM on DL again this year, so I'd be ok flying a non-skyteam carrier to avoid hitting DM (hence my post in the *A forum). However, it's been hit or miss with *A, so I'm also looking at SkyTeam for this trip.

I'm not interested in AF...IFE frustrated me the entire flight (slow/broken/restarted movies midway) and the food was repulsive. Haven't tried KLM TATL, but seats don't look great? Not sure about IFE/Food?

Delta's my fallback. I will not, however, fly the old BE seats...one 767-300 flight for 10 hours was enough for me. The new 777/764 was a huge improvement and the best I've flown so far, but not great for a stomach sleeper like me due to the very narrow head space not providing enough room for ones arm(s) under the pillow. Anyways, digressing...I'm not finding any routings using the new BE...everything seems to be the old A330 or 763...

Suggestions??? Force a routing? Which one?

cityflyer369

You might also wish to consider AZ.
Regarding the number of stops: you can go from virtually everywhere in Europe to everywhere in the US (and vv) with two stops. First fly to a hub on one side of the Atlantic, then to a hub on the other side, and then to your destination. This implies that, for finding your perfect flight, you just have to look at all TATL flights between ST hubs.

cityflyer369

It seems the only 2-stop routing involving AZ would be DEN-JFK on DL and then JFK-FCO-VIE on AZ. So unless you want to go for this one, your problem seems to boil down to finding a suitable DL TATL.
Of course there is KL via AMS, too. Food and wine are really nice IMHO, but they haven't got a fully flat seat yet.

KQ321

The other SkyTeam option* would be DL to JFK, and SU JFK-SVO-VIE. SU's new A330s are quite nice in Y, but I haven't yet had the opportunity to experience them in J. A description is available on the Aeroflot website, but it seems that the J-class seats are inclined lie-flat (14°), rather than fully-flat.

If you can't find a DL route with suitable equipment, then an AZ A330 JFK-FCO is probably the best option, as they do seem to have fully-flat seats in J.

This thread may also be helpful.

* Assuming you don't want to consider KE JFK-ICN-VIE... You did mention TATL, not TPAC....

Xandrios

I have heard good things about the AZ A330 as well. Fully flat and great food.

Make sure your flight is operated with the right A330 though: I understand they also have a couple old ones from AirOne in service, and these do not have lie-flat seats. You should be able to recognize these on their full equipement name. From memory I think that NYC-ROM is operated with the new one though

KQ321

Good point! It seems that '330' is the new A330s, and '332' is the old AirOne A330-200s.

There's a long discussion here.

keloutwest

It looks like the only flight from JFK-FCO on that day (on AZ) is flight 611, which leaves at 9:30pm. The only direct DL flight to JFK gets in at 5:38pm. A 4 hour connection like that doesn't seem worth it, especially when I would need to connect again in FCO with a 4 hour layover before the next flight to VIE leaves.

Yes, it's true I could fly DEN-SLC-JFK to minimize the connection (and maximize miles), but even then it's still a 3.5 hour layover in JFK and I'd have to leave DEN 2 hours earlier!

On another note, I can't find any DL-operated flights with the new lie-flats from any US city to FCO, CDG, or AMS (ST hubs). Did I miss one?

Goldorak

No, you didn't miss any. First, DL is extremely slow to retrofit their aircrafts and, second, the Skyteam hubs will be for sure the last stations to see the new J seats

RobertS975

IMO, your best bets are DEN-MSP-AMS-VIE or DEN-DTW-AMS-VIE.

mtkeller

I believe one of the JFK-CDG flights will be switched to a 764 or modified 763 by mid-June. ClipperDelta is pretty good about updates in the 763 tracking thread in the DL forum.