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I am looking in to flying over to the United Kingdom to visit London and the surrounding areas. I was looking at flights and I have never heard of any of the air carriers that were offering flight from Seattle to London. Which Airline/Air Carriers. Is a good one to take all the way to london.
Almost any airline that flies into the US meets a very high level of safety standards. Generally speaking, the service on international travel on US airlines is inferior, often considerably inferior to the better foreign carriers. Air Canada is somewhat better than US carriers for service. Lufthansa somewhat better than that. Swiss used to be excellent but they have reorganized and I have no recent experience. Icelandair gives you a free stop in Reykjavik, use it to spa out at the Blue Lagoon, closer to the airport than town.
International travel takes you out of your comfort zone. Some enjoy new experiences, others don't.
When I look little while ago for a random date in Late September, BritishAirlines's NonStop was only ~$150 more then the flights with a connection.
Many flight might be CodeShare, One airline sells seats under its name on someone else's planes.
I've done the Icelandair with free stop over once, was a nice chance to see Iceland, That i would probably never get a chance to see if I didn't have the free stopover.
While the european airlines definitely tend to have a better product, the differences are negligible at the enconomy class level. The big differences are that you get complimentary alcoholic drinks on BA and maybe a few others in economy. Otherwise, just go for whichever flight is cheapest and/or will get you points/rewards. I went through this exact decision recently and ended up using US Airways solely because I had a $300 voucher and so they were by far the cheapest. Worked out very well. The flight back from London was only about half full so I got to spread out and get some good sleep
I have flown to Europe several times on a number of different airlines. Of the ones I have flown, British Air and Virgin Atlantic were the best, while Air Lingus, American, Lufthansa and United were okay. I would not recommend Al Italia.
On all of the airlines, except Al Italia, you should expect competent service and decent in flight entertainment. Seating seemed better on Virgin Atlantic and British Airlines.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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just in case someone is coming to thread for Which Airline is the best for international flights??
in order of my choice (YMMV)
Emirates
Qatar
Singapore Air
Thai Air
Lufthansa
I always pick the shortest flight—unless the airline is really bad. For example, if the Turkish Air flight connects in Turkey, you’re flying very far east to turn around and fly west back to London. It would have to be an incredibly cheap ticket to make it worthwhile. Iceland and Ireland are not bad stopovers because you won’t have to backtrack.
If you’re specifically going to London, British Airways, Virgin and US carriers (Delta, American, United) are certainly the most direct. You could also choose a carrier if you wanted an extended layover. I often fly KLM and spend a day or two in Amsterdam. It’s super easy to get from the airport into the heart of the city and it’s much less expensive than other European capitals.
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