Flying to America

[Yew]

Howdy Folks,

Good news, I'm going to america in november, Houston specifically! I'm just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on which airline is best to go with in economy (in terms of comfort, freebies etc), Currently I'm looking at United Airlines ,Swiss Air or Air Canada (As they're the cheaper ones I've seen so far) Which would you choose?

Thanks,
Ant

 

[Bletchleyite]

Are you in any way tall? If so, either look at Seatguru to find one that has a reasonable economy seat pitch, or if you've got a bit of money look for one with an affordable premium economy cabin.

If you're not tall, I find "legacy" airlines much of a muchness these days, just book the cheapest.

 

[Techniquest]

It might be worth looking at Aer Lingus too, although I'm not sure if Heuston is an option with them. Boston, New York and San Francisco certainly are though.

 

[thelongestroad]

My preference from the above would be:

1. SWISS
2. Air Canada
3. United

 

[Yew]

Are you in any way tall? If so, either look at Seatguru to find one that has a reasonable economy seat pitch, or if you've got a bit of money look for one with an affordable premium economy cabin.

If you're not tall, I find "legacy" airlines much of a muchness these days, just book the cheapest.

Fortunately I'm not too tall so I should be alright there.

My preference from the above would be:

1. SWISS
2. Air Canada
3. United

Awesome, any particular reasoning? I seem to remember one of them doesnt offer free booze however But they all came out at similar prices

 

[snail]

Where are you flying from? If it's London then United have direct flights. Their premium/extra legroom seats are well worth the price on an overnight return flight. You can pay for them on the airline's website after booking your ticket with whoever is cheapest.

I would agree with thelongestroad about airlines but always check the routing in terms of how long you have to change and which airline is operating the internal US flight. You will have to clear immigration and customs at your first arrival point in the US (unless you go with Aer Lingus who do it at the gate in Dublin, very civilised) and that can take ages on a bad day.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I think United doesn't do free plonk. Not doing so is a typical US airline thing.

 

[185]

Norwegian
£300 return London-JFK
Free Wifi
Ain't bad.

 

[BananaRepublic]

Norwegian
£300 return London-JFK
Free Wifi
Ain't bad.

A couple of problems there. The cheapest price doesn't include checked luggage or any meals.......and it isn't Houston.




F

 

[Tim R-T-C]

I flew BA to Austin which was a half empty dreamliner, wife and I had the trio of seats to ourselves and no one on the row in front.

You could rent a car and drive down. Driving in Texas is great fun, so much space.

 

[WestCoast]

Swiss are a very highly regarded carrier, never flown long-haul with them but their staff tend to be nice and efficient with a good range of food/drinks available in economy. It's not an insignificant double back to Zürich though.

However, United offer Economy Plus where you can upgrade at a reasonable supplement to have very good legroom. More comfortable than Swiss in any case.

Check out all options on Kayak.com and see what offers the best price/comfort/time ratio.

 

[gordonthemoron]

are Swiss owned by Lufthansa?

 

[oddiesjack]

If there are two of you flying, and you are allowed to select seats online, if there are rows of 3 choose the two outside seats. The airlines try not to put people in the middle seat where the outer two are occupied, so unless the airplane is full, you will have 3 seats between 2. In the event of the flight being full, and the middle seat gets occupied, you would have no trouble swapping one of your aisle seats , so you and your partner can sit together.

 

[gazthomas]

United, with Economy Plus is pretty good. I've flown a lot to the US, with BA, AA, United and others and United are my favourite.

 

[ac6000cw]

With all the 'alliances' and 'codesharing' these days, you need to be careful to find out which airline actually operates the flight(s) you are considering - rather than which airline you are nominally buying a ticket from.

I tend to consider flight departure/arrival times and airport convenience ahead of which airline is operating it (morning flights get you there earlier, but might mean paying peak-time train fares to get to the departure airport or staying in a hotel the night before - work out the total journey cost before deciding on a flight time).

In economy class you know it's going to be cramped, noisy and the food mediocre, that's the 'get what you pay for' part of the deal....just remember the earplugs and the eyeshades

I'm not a 'frequent flyer' but personally, I've found BA to be reasonably consistent, whereas I've had both excellent and very mediocre service with Virgin (for example). The US carriers I've used have been OK, but probably a bit below BA in terms of on-board service (last one was United to/from Dulles in 2013, and that was fine).

 

[WestCoast]

are Swiss owned by Lufthansa?

Yes, they've been part of the Lufthansa Group alongside Austrian Airlines and the other subsidiaries like Germanwings for some years now. Swiss is generally said to be a notch above Lufthansa in terms of service though.

A good point is codeshares, Lufthansa Group airlines often codeshare on US routes with Star Alliance partner United, so some flights across the pond sold by Swiss will actually be United.

 

[Bald Rick]

It might be worth looking at Aer Lingus too, although I'm not sure if Heuston is an option with them. Boston, New York and San Francisco certainly are though.

If anyone flies to Heuston, then it will be Aer Lingus...

 

[snail]

I think United doesn't do free plonk. Not doing so is a typical US airline thing.

They do on international flights. But don't expect much on domestic transfers with anyone.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I flew BA to Austin which was a half empty dreamliner, wife and I had the trio of seats to ourselves and no one on the row in front.

You could rent a car and drive down. Driving in Texas is great fun, so much space.

It is. Especially the challenge of trying to avoid the toll roads around Houston! I'm not sure the drive from Austin to San Antonio can be described as pleasant though if you do it at the wrong time of day. The BA flight gets in at 4pm so you are hitting the rush hour on I-35.

 

[GB]

Especially the challenge of trying to avoid the toll roads around Houston! I'm not sure the drive from Austin to San Antonio can be described as pleasant though if you do it at the wrong time of day. The BA flight gets in at 4pm so you are hitting the rush hour on I-35.

While it is a toll road you can use route 130 for most of the Austin-San Antonio route and legally travel at speeds of 80-85mph while beating the traffic.

Done it a few times after visiting the F1 in Austin.

 

[ac6000cw]

...or just take a meander and watch a few trains along the way

 

[Techniquest]

If anyone flies to Heuston, then it will be Aer Lingus...

I tried putting Houston, but it didn't look right. In my defence I probably had an upcoming trip out of Dublin Heuston to Cork and back on my mind too

ac6000cw mentions earplugs, this is a good point and one I can comment on from experience on Saturday night's coach journey. The orange earplugs you can get in supermarkets will probably do almost nothing, they certainly were more than ineffective in my case.

Better are a pair of JVC Gumy noise cancelling earphones. I picked up a pair in Asda for the bargain price of £8 on my last trip to Nottingham, they are actually really good. You do have to kinda push them into the ear canals a bit (hard to explain by text, easier to demonstrate in person), which depending on your ears may take a bit of experimenting with. When I first plugged them in on a 170 on the way home from Nottingham, the noise was very tinny until I did that, never looked back and they are now deemed superior to the Sony earphones I had previously. Which is a bold statement from me as I absolutely loved my Sony earphones! I am however glad I got these JVC ones now.

What's my point, I hear you all complaining. Simply that the earplugs in shops are rubbish compared to these earphones, without them I'd have had zero sleep on that coach. Obviously I wasn't playing music all night, just pushed them in and the surrounding noise was virtually 100% non-existant! It also worked beautifully on the Down Lowland Cally Insomnie on Sunday night, but let's not go there yet...

So don't waste £3 or whatever they are in Asda now on earplugs. If you can't get your hands on some industrial earplugs (they are amazing, if you live near a place that does them also try them) then these earphones will definitely do the trick. For £8 as well, not a huge amount more than the earplugs really!