Comparing Star Alliance Business Class Europe-USA
 

How would people rate Business Class On Turkish vs Lot vs Swiss? Looking at some Mileage Award Tickets and these are my 3 options with Swiss having shortest travel time vs Turkish longest.

Take LX. Better hard product, arguably better soft product, and shortest travel time.

I agree that LX has a better hard product, but if it is a factor, the TK lounges at the new IST are spectacular.

Where exactly are you headed?

LX will leave you more likely to spend some of the trip in a euro-business (economy with the middle seat blocked), whilst TK will be recliner if not lie-flat for the leg from IST to your final destination.

The LX seats are more private. Personally I find the TK seats a little better for actual sleeping, but that's a personal thing.

I'm a huge fan of the catering on Turkish. Lounge in IST is great too. Ditto what docbert said about euro business class. Generally on TK, you'll have a proper business class seat for your entire journey, unlike the others.

It's been a few years since I flew TK TATL, but I flew LX two weeks ago ORD-ZRH on an A330 and I found it to be one of the best Business Class Experiences I have ever had ! Food Great, Seat Comfortable, plenty of "foot room" when in the lie flat mode (a rarity) and some of the best food I have ever had on an airplane. The in flight entertainment was acceptable.

As mentioned by others, the TK Business Class Lounge in IST is remarkable. The Business Class Lounge in ZRH is under-whelming; where guests are sent to public showers outside of the lounge. Overall however, I would rank LX best of any of the Star Alliance carriers that I have flown TATL, including LH, UA and TK.

Now my question for the OP is: How did you find UA Award space in Business on LX ? These days all I seen to find (I am a 1K) are seats on ET and MS, and the layovers in ADD are 23 hours. .

Which lounges the OP has access to will depend on the final destination. The business lounge in E (non-Schengen departures) does have showers, as do the senator lounges in both D and E (*G status required for access). Depending on the connection length, there's also showers in the Arrivals lounge.

Agreed that none of the lounges come close to the TK lounge though.

Having flown on all 3 of them, I think LX wins hands down here especially with the shorter travel time. LX might also have the new lounges ready in Zurich depending on when your travel dates are. Turkish has probably better F&B onboard and the new lounges at IST but if you are travelling alone most of their Business Class has little to no privacy.

As for LOT Business Class, it is just not in the league of LX or TK. So don't bother.

The flight I am looking at is TLV-SAN on November 29. Connecting thru Zurich and Los Angeles, with a long layover in Zurich.
Here's the routing. Would the flight from TLV-ZRH have a proper Business seat since it is an A330?

• LX 257 TLV to ZRH
  Business (I)
• LX 40 ZRH to LAX
  Business (I)
• UA 5725 LAX to SAN
  United Economy (X

TK is actually the shortest distance for that - I presume the TK option has a longer layover if you're saying it's the longest travelling time?

I've flown that exact route on both LX and TK. LX is indeed a lie-flat seat on both legs presuming you get the A330, where TK will be lie-flat on the longer leg, and either lie-flat or recliner on the IST-TLV leg.

Lounge-wise with LX you'll get access to the E-gates business lounge (or Senator lounge if you're *G) which is good, but not as good as the TK lounge in IST. (Although if you're a whiskey person then you might disagree - but I don't think non-*G get access to the whiskey bay in that lounge)

As mentioned above, the LX seats are more private - at least if you can get one of the single-seats which if I recall correctly you can NOT select in advance - but the TK ones are potentially more comfortable (personal preference)

Personally I'd probably go with whichever had the best schedule, or failing that, toss a coin...

It did when I last flew that route.

They've been known to switch back and forth. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/swis...minute-19.html Lie-flat not guaranteed.

Exactly. If TK downgrades the aircraft on IST-TLV it will still be a proper recliner (like UA domestic F-class) and the distance is also much shorter (IST-TLV vs. ZRH-TLV).