|
John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints |
Based on our own experiences, we can recommend Virgin, British Airways and KLM/Northwest. The last offers flights direct from London Gatwick or from numerous UK regional airports via Amsterdam. On 30-Sep-03 Air France announced a takeover/merger of KLM but according to reports the KLM name will remain in use for some years.
Besides their prices and their range of destinations the other factors that influence our choice of airline are the times of their flights, their record regarding punctuality, the general quality of their service, the seat pitch (the distance between the same point on adjacent rows of seats, which affects legroom) and how soon before travelling they send out the tickets. Virgin score particularly well on the legroom factor, although not (I believe) so well on their Florida flights.
Quite a few years ago we flew on several occasions with Continental Airlines since they had a direct flight to Denver and their prices were competitive. However, I must say that in my opinion at that time they scored rather poorly on most of the above criteria. They may have improved since.
KLM UK offers feeder flights from a number of regional airports in the UK to Amsterdam. In recent years we have flown from Norwich to Amsterdam with KLM UK (previously called Air UK), then on to the USA with KLM or Northwest. Being able to use our local airport is a major advantage. We have found KLM's service and reliability significantly better than Northwest's, although both have deteriorated noticeably in the last three or four years. Although not so far suffering ourselves, Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport has recently developed a very bad reputation for baggage not being correctly transferred between flights. Two separate parties of friends of ours have been affected by this problem; in both cases the missing items arrived later. One of these parties also suffered a horrendous serious of delays when flying with Northwest and KLM back from Orlando to Norwich, eventually arriving home 48 hours late having spent two night in hotels en route at the airline's expense. To be fair, Northwest were having problems with their mechanics union at the time.
With flights now almost always fully booked and transfer times between flights often being far too short, any problems with delayed flights and backlogged passengers will rapidly ripple out to affect an airline's entire system. This is an example of the all the common modern disease of a company's accountants being responsible for policies which result in false economies and disgruntled customers.
To the enormous relief of the many people who cannot abide the smell of cigarette smoke, smoking is now completely prohibited on all flights across the Atlantic and on all American and Canadian internal flights. Because of the enormous safety hazard from a potential fire there are extremely severe penalties for smoking in toilets on planes and judging from what we have observed during several flights it will be detected and dealt with immediately in no uncertain terms.
If you are planning a fly/drive holiday from Britain to the USA or Canada, be sure to check out the combined airfare and car rental offers available from the fly/drive or holiday company associated with each of the major airlines. These are usually much less expensive than the package holiday operators' offerings or purchasing the flights and car rental separately. The accommodation and motel vouchers offered in these brochures are not recommended however because they tie you in to the more expensive motel chains.
The following list is not complete. It was compiled in the spring of 2001 and may now be out of date, especially with the reduction in air passenger traffic and routes in the autumn of 2001 due to the global recession and the terrorist attacks in the USA. The list of non-stop destinations for each airline may not be complete. This information has been compiled from various sources and is not guaranteed to be totally correct.
Update: On 9-Dec-02 United Airlines entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection but so far is continuing to operate
| From | To | Airlines |
|---|---|---|
| Air Canada | ||
| Air France | ||
| Canadian Airlines | ||
| Icelandair | ||
| Amsterdam (with connecting flights from UK regional airports) | Boston | Northwest Airlines |
| Amsterdam (with connecting flights from UK regional airports) | Chicago | KLM |
| Amsterdam (with connecting flights from UK regional airports) | Detroit | Northwest Airlines |
| Amsterdam (with connecting flights from UK regional airports) | Houston | KLM |
| Amsterdam (with connecting flights from UK regional airports) | Los Angeles | KLM |
| Amsterdam (with connecting flights from UK regional airports) | Memphis | KLM |
| Amsterdam | Miami | Martinair Holland |
| Amsterdam (with connecting flights from UK regional airports) | Minneapolis/St Paul | Northwest Airlines |
| Amsterdam (with connecting flights from UK regional airports) | Montréal | KLM |
| Amsterdam (with connecting flights from UK regional airports) | New York (JFK and Newark) | KLM |
| Amsterdam (with connecting flights from UK regional airports) | San Francisco | KLM |
| Amsterdam (with connecting flights from UK regional airports) | Seattle | Northwest Airlines |
| Amsterdam (with connecting flights from UK regional airports) | Toronto | KLM |
| Amsterdam (with connecting flights from UK regional airports) | Vancouver | KLM |
| Amsterdam (with connecting flights from UK regional airports) | Washington DC (Dulles) | Northwest Airlines |
| Birmingham | Chicago | American Airlines |
| Birmingham | New York (JFK or Newark) | Continental Airlines |
| Brussels | Various | Delta Airlines |
| Glasgow | Chicago | American Airlines (May to Oct only) |
| Glasgow | New York (JFK or Newark) | Continental |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Atlanta | British Airways, Delta (from Gatwick) |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Baltimore | British Airways |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Boston | American Airlines, British Airways, Delta (from 1-Jun-01), United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Charlotte | British Airways, US Airways (from Gatwick) |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Chicago | Air India, American Airlines, British Airways, United Airlines (from Heathrow), Virgin Atlantic |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Cincinnati | Delta Airlines (from Gatwick) |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Cleveland | Continental Airlines (from Gatwick) |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Dallas/Fort Worth | American Airlines, British Airways |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Denver | British Airways |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Detroit | British Airways, Northwest Airlines (from Gatwick) |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Houston | British Airways, Continental Airlines (from Gatwick) |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Las Vegas | Virgin Atlantic |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Los Angeles | Air New Zealand, American Airlines, British Airways, Continental Airlines (from Gatwick) (?), United Airlines (from Heathrow), Virgin Atlantic |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Miami | American Airlines, British Airways, Continental Airlines (from Gatwick) (?), Virgin Atlantic |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Minneapolis/St Paul | Northwest Airlines (from Gatwick) |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | New York City (JFK or Newark) | Air India, American Airlines, British Airways, Continental Airlines, Kuwait Airways, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Orlando | British Airways, Continental Airlines (from Gatwick) (?), Virgin Atlantic |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Philadelphia | British Airways, US Airways |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Phoenix | British Airways |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Pittsburgh | US Airways |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Raleigh/Durham | American Airlines |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | San Diego | British Airways (from 26-Mar-01) |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | San Francisco | British Airways, Continental (from Gatwick) (?), United Airlines (from Heathrow), Virgin Atlantic |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Seattle | British Airways |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | St Louis | TWA (from Gatwick) |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Tampa | British Airways (?) |
| London Gatwick or Heathrow | Washington DC (Dulles) | British Airways, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic |
| Manchester | Atlanta | American Airlines, British Midland (from 21-May-01) |
| Manchester | New York City (JFK or Newark) | British Airways, Continental Airlines |
| Manchester | Philadelphia | US Airways |
| Manchester | Washington DC (Dulles) | British Midland (from 30-Apr) |
| Milan | Boston | Alitalia |
| Milan | Chicago | Alitalia |
| Milan | Los Angeles | Alitalia |
| Milan | Miami | Alitalia |
| Milan | New York (JFK or Newark) | Alitalia |
| Milan | San Francisco | Alitalia |
| Milan | Toronto | Alitalia |
"The results of the annual ranking of major U.S. airlines by Wichita State University and the University of Nebraska at Omaha were released yesterday. The top 10 airlines, from best to worst, were: Southwest, Alaska, Continental, American, United, Delta, Northwest, America West, TWA and, U.S. Airways."
The seat pitch may vary between different aircraft operated by the same airline, especially as planes are often loaned between airlines and sometimes airlines (British Airways, for example) sub-contract the operation of some scheduled service "holiday destination" flights to other airlines.
Sometimes aircraft used on certain routes have a poorer seat pitch than those used on other routes of the same airline. In general, planes used for long-haul flights tend to have a greater seat pitch than short flights.
The code-sharing partnerships between groups of airlines mean that the airline you book with may well not be the same as the airline you actually fly with.
Even within the same class on the same plane the seat pitch may vary, with the best seat pitches usually being nearer the front.
The information in the following table is from a Travelbag brochure dated 1-Nov-97 and presumably only applies to normal priced seats (i.e. not business or first class). The comments are my own.
| Airline | Seat Pitch | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Air Canada | 32 inches | |
| American Airlines | 32 inches | |
| British Airways | 32 inches | |
| Canadian Airlines | 34 inches | |
| KLM/Northwest | 32 inches | I suspect that KLM might have been 34 inches in the past, however they seem to have reduced their seat pitch over the last two years, with a flight from Schiphol to Los Angeles in summer 1999 having an unacceptably tight seat pitch for a long-haul trip (the return flight from San Francisco to Schiphol was much better, however). |
| United | 32 inches | |
| Virgin | 34 inches | Reported as being less than this on their Florida flights |
The following table of seat pitches for economy class on long haul flights appeared in the Daily Telegraph Travel supplement on 16-Feb-02 and 20-Apr-02. Not all these airlines fly between Britain and North America. One of the accompanying articles quoted a legal minimum seat pitch of 26 inches.
| Airline | Seat Pitch |
|---|---|
| Air 2000 (charter airline) | 30 inches |
| Air New Zealand | 34 inches |
| Airtours International (charter airline) | 29 to 31 inches |
| American Airlines | 34 to 36 inches |
| Britannia (charter airline) | 30 inches |
| British Airways | 31 inches |
| Cathay Pacific | 32 inches |
| Emirates | 32 to 34 inches |
| Japan Airlines | 34 inches |
| JMC (charter airline) | 30 inches |
| Malaysia Airlines | 34 inches |
| Monarch (charter airline) | 30 inches |
| Qantas | 32 inches |
| Singapore Airlines | 32 inches |
| South African Airways | 34 inches |
| Thai Airways | 32 inches |
| Virgin Atlantic | 31 to 32 inches |
As well as seat pitch, the seat width can also vary, with planes of the same type operated by some airlines having more seats across each row than those of other airlines.
The TravellerOnline web site has a useful table of airline seat pitches (external link verified May-02).
Code sharing is the use of the same flight number between the different members of an alliance, although with their individual airlines' letter prefixes and in some cases also an extra numerical prefix (a small airline may use a two digit number; their bigger partner may need to use a four digit number because they have many more flights). Although code sharing is intended as a simplification, the use of different codes by different airlines for the same flight often actually makes things much more confusing.
The following is a list of some airline alliances in effect as at October 1999. In the main, only major airlines are included here. In most cases major airlines also have alliances with a number of small regional airlines. It would appear than some airlines currently belong to more than one alliance.
External Links - Airline Company Web Sites
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Most recently modified 5-Jan-04