Patrick

Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean to say Dave F isn't out to get you.

You ruined all my fun on that thread, what do you write on toilet walls - killjoy was here.

Now if YOU emphasised the wrong WORDS by putting them in upper CaSe and used half arsed american/english phraseology like "I am a southern belle lady" (either your a southern belle or a lady, make your mind up) then I would be worried and I would be all ready to nail my balls to the wall again (or do I have to chop my penis off now?)

Patrick

CitySimon

Sorry about that!!! I kind of got bored of watching them make a fool of themselves.

I promise I won't do it next time!!

I AM a SOuTHERN bEllE!!!

Yorkieabroad

We did BA back at Xmas. (Scroll down now to skip "the rant" and see the answer on legroom) Our choice was basically down to KLM (Houston - Amdam - Teeside) or BA (Hou - London - Teesside). BA was marginally more expensive, but we went with them purely because of the TV sets and we were travelling with 2 toddlers. Unfortunately BA didn't have a plane available, so they chartered a total heap of crap from European Aviation (who?) and gave us a £25 voucher to spend on board on duty free to apologise. But guess what, no duty free! And what was worse, no TV's. And no kids meals. And no vegetarian for my wife. (or kosher for the guys acorss the aisle). Cabin crew were the worst I've ever travelled with (and I've travelled some shite in the past), and to top it all, they wouldn't let us use the car seats we'd taken for the toddlers - even though we'd bought an airplane seat for them, the seats are FAA, CAA and EU approved, and we had an email from BA confirming we would be allowed to use them!! Apparently European Aviation in their infinite wisdom feel they are unsafe, and that toddlers are much safer restrained by a lap belt. Tossers. And the icing on the cake was when we mentioned it to the BA 'meeter and greeter" at Heathrow her reply was " well it was a charter flight so BA aren't concerned about the safety - we just take the cheapest available"!!

Anyway, to answer your question, I don't know about the legroom on BA, but European Aviation legroon was OK on the bulkhead seats and crap in the rest of the plane.

Lion in Winter

Would you consider adopting me? Otherwise I'll have to ask Patrick but he keeps talking about doing strange and uncomfortable things to assorted body parts and its quite putting me off my breakfast.

Tone

I agree I flew from Altanta- Manchester at Xmas and they were bad, but not as bad as Northwest, I flew Gatwick-Detroit with them and they are without doubt the worst

NC Penguin

I've flown BA, AA, Continental and Virgin transatlantic since about 96.

Virgin was pretty good up to about 99 'cos they had the individual TV screens and you could choose your own entertainment. I stopped flying Virgin after 99 when those TV screens got even smaller and also the food got worse.

AA certainly does have the edge over other transatlantic carriers I've flown with because coach class passengers do have noticeably more legroom.

Continental is pretty poor in my opinion. Their meals are absolutely crap. On the outbound flight from London to the US, the choice was chicken or beef and on the way back it was the same (not identical dishes but again it was chicken or beef).

I try to avoid BA and only flew once transatlantic. I have no recollection of those flights. I guess that's not a bad thing. In any case, I have no reason to fly BA these days since they don't even fly via RDU in any case.

Bluegrass Lass

I've flown AA from Chicago, Continental from Newark and United from Dulles. All of them had tv's in the headrest, and were fairly reasonable in leg room. The best by far though was AA. It was the most comfy and never had an issue with asking for anything from the flight attendants. The AA flight was probably a little more pricey than the others though.

Good luck in finding a flight. BA has some good deals going right now. My fiance got a flight from London to JFK (opposite route from you, but prices could be similar) for around £250 I believe.

Muswell Hill

I fly across the atlantic for business and fun and have flown every (i think) airline. It's true standards are now shite compared with 2-3 years ago. I have a 3 year old and flying with young kids is the worst form of torture. I bought some Phenergan (a motion sickness medicine which makes kids very drowsy) and he gets drugged before the flight and sleeps the whole way there. I thoroughly recommend it.
BA used to be good but now the leg room, food and service is shite, i avoid it like the plague. AA, Northwest, Continental, KLM, are all aweful. I refuse to fly Northwest as there are no TV's, and the flight crew are all Saddam Hussein charm school graduates.
Virgin i have always found to be good, but the stewardesses are very snooty. British Midland from Chicago is good. Air India and aerolineas Argentinas are both cheap and cheerful and the service isn't too bad to London. Best curry i ever ate on a plane with air India!
Cathay and Singapore show how an airline should be and i try to take them wherever possible, but the airline i use most to the UK is US Airways. All the Airbuses have seat back TV's, OK food, friendly cabin people ( the men are ALWAYS gay), and i have been upgraded a few times for free, but the down side is they make you buy, yes buy, the earphones to watch the TV for $5. So if you do fly with them take your own. They are good helping out with little kids, but id they are drugged, like mine, sit back and sip the G&T!

geordiegirl2

Patrick and City Simon you'll get into bother making references to scousers and their wives ,
I have flown my kids with a variety of airlines from the uk and the best was BMI manchester to chicago,they had tv's, nintendo,good kids packs and meals and most importantly free booze.!!

Big Vern

By far the worst that I ever flew with was Sabena via Leeds-Brussels-Boston.

The cabin crew were the most sour faced, unhelpful, unpleasant, miserable set of dullards I have ever come across. Both ways, four planes.

I actually cheered when they went bust!

Manc

Lion in winter.

I have flown in and out of Chicago a lot.

BA were ok, nowt special. But not too bad either.

BMI were excellent, and great as I was flying to Mancheaster, they do have lots of connecting flights to Heathrow also.

Flown United also, and were very good.

Northwest flies in and out of Detroit to Amsterdam, and the price is usually ok, but will mean a lot of changes of planes. However they just bought a load of new Airbus A330's which are very comfy and have the TV sets.

Also Air India fly direct from Chicago to Heathrow, and apparently aren't bad at all. But I've never flown on them so don't take my word for it.

Flown Delta into JFK and thought they were ok, but CitySimon, I'll agree with you on Continental and Newark...........bobbins.

Never flown AA so can't comment.

Englishmum

Just a word of warning about Phenergan.

In most cases it will make kids sleepy.

However, it can have the oppostie effect and make the kids hyeractive instead!

Not much fun in a confined space 35,000ft up!

Manc

I think that only happens when they get put on the plane to Leeds

CitySimon

Sorry. I was trying to make a comment based upon what Patrick had said rather than what Dave F's wife had said.

I never said a single word against Liverpudlians in this thread or the "Unemployment Benefit" thread. If it is considered that I did, then I apologise to anybody who took offense to my comments.

Pimpbot

I personally use United most of the time for trips to and from America. Thats just because I racked up some nice frequent flyer miles for upgrades. But I do like their service and seating. If you sign up for their mileage plus scheme and get to the airport early, you can get into the premium economy seats that have about 4 inches of extra leg room for free. AA's extra leg room is very nice and As BA are the only airline that fly direct from London to Phoenix, I have tried them a few times and was very pleased with everything over all, after having a real bad flight with them back in 96 where I swore I'd never fly with them again.

I have heard that Virgin has the the worst seat pitch of any trans atlantic airline. Cannot say if thats true, as it was 97 since I last flew with them. I'd avoid US airways, Continental and Northwestern if you want a seat back TV.