Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I go out of my way on international flights not to fly domestic except maybe Delta. If you compare prices and value UA prem seats such as does AA. I'm flying Singapore Air and the service and seats for premium is outstanding. To answer your question I'd sit middle seat for higher class of flight. Just saying the 17.5 in with 3 in recline in Econ sucks on dom airlines. Flying international on most foreign airlines esp premium is like night and day v UA/AA. Unless you go business it's no question. As for miles you get it on the alliances and via cc points anyway to use on any airline. Consider this option.
I have heard this canard repeated a lot here and other places. It was generally true probably 10 years ago. Now, definitely not the case.
In economy, there is very little difference between seat size/space on any mainline airline. Pretty much all of them have on-demand seatback screens on their long haul planes. Yes you will get better food on Singapore, Air France, ANA, JAL than US airlines, and a bit better service, but still its economy, they aren't gonna cook a special meal for you or anything. On BA, Lufthansa, Iberia, Aer Lingus, the Middle Eastern airlines, there is going to be no substantive difference in your experience in economy vs the US big 3 airlines. And the Delta premium over AA/UA is pretty much gone now, at least for international service. In fact Delta's old 767s they run to Europe are a notable step down in business class from most of AA/UA's reconfigured planes.
Now, in business it's a much more mixed bag. Really depends on airline/route/plane type. BA and Lufthansa are generally worse than the US3, because many of their planes (all, in Lufthansa's case) are an older business class seat that doesn't allow aisle access from every seat. United has a strong consistent seat across their fleet now, and the Polaris lounges are excellent. But their food on board suuuucks. What about Emirates, you say? Well, if you fly business on the wrong plane (not their first seat, which they advertise a ton, but of course is hard to get), you may not even have a lie flat seat. Yes, Singapore is a step above pretty much everyone in the US for their business product, that's true, as is Qatar/Turkish/ANA/JAL. But the gap is much narrower than it used to be as the big 3 have almost fully converted their business class seats to lie flats with all aisle access.
In summary, yes some foreign airlines are better for long haul flights But not definitely not all, or even really most. Depends a lot on specifics. And in economy they are all very similar.
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