inthemix

Thanks. Anyone have a preference on which is the best business class option on SA Euro carriers in terms of seats? We are happy to connect whereever, and will likely spend a day or two at their hub on the return

I have only flown AC and NH business. AC seats aregreat, NH areok (have not tried their new ones).

wanderlustFL

Hi,

I booked four C class tickets to Greece for a trip in late Sept '11 on LH and A3. LH to ATH, then A3 to Mykonos and onto Santorini (note that A3 only has Y service for inter island). LH premium class is nothing to brag about but I found TATL inventory to be very good on this carrier. If I had been looking for just 2 seats, then AC or LX would have been my first choices. AC never seems to open up more than to 2 C seats at a time, so they were out for this vaction. LX has very limited availability via *A bucket in C, but BOS occassionally has availability (Mon-Wed only) unless you are willing to switch at the last minute. I needed MIA, which in the last year or so never seems to open up on LX except at the last minute. For what its worth I did notice that A3 does have available C class from many European gateways, but only 2 seats at a time so not useful in my case.

inthemix

Which gateways did you see with C seats? I have not found any from FRA,MUC or LHR/LGW

I will look into LX as well

Thanks

wheresmybagba

Well hopefully after 3 hours on the phone I have this resolved!

Yesterday, my 6 flights for 4 sectors went to 5 when the bizarre extra flight that no one even mentioned to me disappeared. That left me with the 2 bookings for the first sector, one on TG476 & TG478 still against my TG PNR despite the ticket exchange supposedly having taken place.

Dragged myself out of bed at 6am to call US yet again when the TG office in LA would be open - not too much trouble getting a supervisor quickly. Quick recap of TGs take on the whole thing and off she went to call them up. On hold for an age but she came back with a 3rd ticket and all flights confirmed as per the original booking!

Like everyone else she was unable (or unwilling) to account for any of this - she did state though that she couldn't understand why US had classified this as a schedule change - that really screwed me yesterday when the droids would just keep trotting out, "there was a schedule change" - no, there wasn't!!!!

It's interesting that the original reservation on 476 stubbornly refused to disappear?

AZ Travels the World

If Turkish is an option via Istanbul, they have an intra-Europe business class that is a cut above everyone else because it is more similar to a domestic US First Class configuration -- 2 x 2 in the front, rather than largely the same economy seats in the standard 3 x 3, but with the middle seat blocked off.

On the other hand, the flight from Istanbul to Athens isn't very long, so it really doesn't matter much.

I'd go with whichever long-haul option offers the best seats, service, connections, etc. as the first priority, then use whichever airline's business class is available for the connection to/from Greece.

I will also add that with a few months notice, on a trip last year I had good options on A3 within Greece and on LH between ATH & FRA.

A3 seemed to open 2 business and 2 economy on every flight, then never add any more once they were gone. But they were new to *A at that point, so it may have changed since.

ariyo15

Any reason why I don't have trouble getting LH F availability (in either direction) over the Atlantic, but can't for the life of me get anything on LX??

ArizonaGuy

Anecdotal evidence seems to indicate the LH F transatlantic problem is dissipating. Haven't tried recently myself though. The LX problem has never really gone away and in fact has existed for at least a year longer. The same work-around method works provided you can get someone to do the long sell / manual request. The last time I booked LX F transatlantic without any issue was in December 2009 for a September 2010 trip. Got 2 F seats without hassle.

ArizonaGuy

Having flown ATH-IST on TK twice, I've not encountered this. It was the usual 3x3 with blocked middles. Is this something relatively new? Last time I did this was 2009.

EDIT: Seatguru indicates there are two versions of the TK A321, and while it and others have 2x2, one version of the A321 indeed is 3x3 with blocked middles. Lucky me. But as you said it doesn't matter much on a short flight. It's under an hour and even in Y they serve a full meal tray that's a cut above their European counterparts, let alone American carriers.

AZ Travels the World

And that always makes me chuckle. How many times on an hour-long US flight have you heard, "Due to the short duration of this flight, we will be offering our express beverage service. . ."

They hand out a small number options, while the Europeans are serving meals plus a full beverage round -- in coach.

Different worlds.

Shanye2233

Hi guys I have a few questions after a few weeks reading.
1. What's the difference between first class and business class in general on Singapore airlines or Thai airways?

2. Are children allowed in business class

3. When purchasing miles is it worth paying money to upgrade to a silver or gold member

4. What's the advantages of bein a silver or gold member when flying international ?

5. When flying business is there a priority in relation to customs , I have never flown overseas before and have two children 4 and 2 . I'm hoping if I pay the extra and fly business class there is a express customs check and thats it instead of waiting for hours ?

Shanye2233

Sorry forgot to add can I fly a open jaw and have one stop over per return trip?

pslmd

Can anyone recommend the best gateway cities using star alliance partners to get to Bali from the Northeast coast? We typically depart from NYC or YYZ (Toronto), but can get to any other airport including LAX. We are thinking of a stopover in Seoul or Bangkok, but are flexible. Thanks for any insight you can give --- having a hard time putting a trip together using the ANA tool. Pete

wheresmybagba

No, you can't. It's either/or when it comes to open-jaw and stopovers.

pschafer

Working backwards I think the only *A airlines which fly into DPS are SQ and TG so you need to get to either SIN or BKK. So from YYZ (or JFK) you could do YYZ-Europe-BKK-DPS or YYZ-PEK(PVG)-BKK(SIN)-DPS or JFK-ICN-SIN-DPS -- not really sure what combination will give you the shortest trip (time-wise) - it will probably come down to availability. Availability on TG and OZ (outside of their blackout dates) is pretty good.

Shanye2233

What about kids are they allowed in first/business class flying out of SYD on Singapore or Thai?