I tried a search on this, but search appears to be down (and I'm sure there'd be too many false hits on "best business class", anyway).

My company policy just changed to allow me to book in C on an upcoming trip from the west coast to TLV. I have status on *A, but on the other hand, I've already hit my 1K qualifying for the year, and so if there's any chance to try out another airline's C service, this would be it.

Basically, my company's booking engine looks like it'll give me the following transatlantic options: UA, LH, LX, KL, LY, CO, AF, and DL. My first choice would be UA, LH, or LX because of the *A miles, but if one of the others is spectacular, then maybe I'll go for it. Any advice would be appreciated.

How about BA?

try CO BF

There are so many choices - especially if you've been approved to travel in C. However that said, is the policy in full C or the lowest cost in Business Class?

If it's the former, then you have the choice of applying what a full C class fare's cost from West Coast to TLV and back, which happens to be: $ 9712 on any combination of airlines.

Or if it's the cheapest Business Class, (if your company has such a policy).. which can be as low as $ 3711 roundtrip!

Best Business Class? How about Singapore Airlines? By far, they will sure beat any of the airlines mentioned above...

Ok.. so the routing may be a little convoluted, but hey, you're not paying right? I presume you're in SFO..so:

UA to NYC, connect to SQ to FRA, connect to LY to TLV. Return LH all the way through (best connections). Total fare is: $7310 + tax. Well within the full C class fare that your company allows!

Alternatively, you can even opt for a RTW fare which will come out less that the full C fare of $9712! A Oneworld (so try the other alliance for a change) FIRST class fare comes out at $9600 before taxes !

So go ahead.. explore the possibilities!

If you are choosing LH, AF, or any other airline that is upgrading its C seats, it may be more critical that you get on a flight with new C (transatlantic portion). Book new C on either LH or AF before you book old C on either (or any of the U.S. airline choices.

Haven't flown all of these airlines, but I would stick to LH with new C seats. If food is more important to you than IFE, than AF with new C seats may be better, although connecting at CDG is a negative.

Since you go *A, you might as well stay with them. Giving up the 125% elite bonus on a ticket that will probably net you 150% RDM on a long flight just to try something on SkyTeam, etc, doesn't make sense to me.

Singapore, far the best. not your best choice though.
go for the new C in LH, or the new C in AF.
forget about UA business class or the old C in LH, it sucks

CO, DL and LY offer non-stops from the US to TLV. This lets you have one long intercontinental flight and avoids a change of planes in Europe. Note that many European airlines will offer only narrowbody service for the TLV leg, with just a normal Y seat in "business", albeit with the middle seat blocked and a meal.

I think one flies LY mainly for security, for their J product has a poor reputation. CO and DL are pretty comparable. Neither offers anything like a flat bed seat and the IFE is an old-style loop, but the food and service are both good for US carriers. CO offers two flights a day, DL only one. The main difference is connecting in EWR versus ATL, neither on anyone's list of favorites.

Unfortunately you won't get any UA miles on any of these alternatives, and no bonus miles, but it would be an easy way to get lowest tier status on the carrier you chose.

I liked your recommendation re RTW fares as this is a rather obsecure area for many FFers but quite attractive in my opinion. I have done these on business trips about 3 times over the past 5 years. T&C and prices were good for me and the Company. ^

BA flies a 767 to TLV and probably has the best service overall (and only 1 stop, vs. 2 stops with SQ). Otherwise LX is pretty nice, and ZRH is an excellent airport for transfers (plus has some good shopping). I think LX has upgraded all of their planes now (while LH has not).

Thanks for all the advice... the RTW option would have been nifty, but unfortunately cost is an issue (cheaper C fare is more easily justifiable to management). And neither BA nor SQ are on our approvied carrier list.

I'm leaning towards UA/LH outbound and LX inbound -- that way I get *A miles for the whole thing, and at least on one of the directions I get miles toward my Q4 CR1s. (I need to fly SFO-TLV-LAX, and so I'll ideally go SFO-FRA on UA, FRA-TLV on LH, and TLV-ZRH-LAX on LX.)

LX is still a nice airline and ZRH a pleasant airport. On the LX A340 try to be in the small cabin row 4 or 5 (my preferred seat when traveling alone is 4 D).

The connecting LX flight in ZRH to and from TLV will be with a narrow bodied A321, so make sure that you get an A or C seat as on the right side there are still three seats on A321 and A319 (they will change that soon), but no middle seat on the left side.

You may also consider enroling in M&M as it is an excellent program for fare paying business class passengers - you get 200 % of the flown miles, 30 640 for a return flight.
http://www.lufthansa.com/online/port...nodeid=1470345

I fear that a combination with UA on a cheap ZKREX may not be possible, but you get to TLV for USD 3830..

Honestly I think you'd be silly not to stick to LH. You fly in new LH C to FRA then pop on a 747 or A340 in LH C to TLV. Across the pond you get your 100% RDM bonus (as if you were flying UA). This is the best product other than AF's new C, and you get a ton more miles. Definitely, definitely, definitely stick to LH (or UA if you're willing to SWU it up to First...or use your SWU to go up to first on LH, though honestly I'm not impressed, though some other FTers love it).