Has anyone flown overseas on American Airlines? Right now they have the cheapest flight from Savannah/Atlanta to Beijing and back. I have not flown with them. I usually use KAL. I get my Delta Sky miles with KAL also. I have had the best experiences with them. Do not like United Airlines. I also like the 747 better than the 777. More seating room. Before i decide which airlines, I would like this info on American. Thanks.
My experience is that it's hit and miss with all the airlines. In the past, I've found AA to provide ok service, but their equipment tends to make me wonder. That said, I haven't flown with them for a long time.
To be honest, you will find that you can have a bad experience with all the airlines. I've had negative adventures with Singapore Airlines, Qatar and Cathay, all "5-star" airlines. Depending on what the price difference is, if it's big, then take your chance, but make sure you sign up for a FF membership first. That said, here is some advice I would put forth for everyone who hasn't flown a lot...
1) Try to stick to your alliance if at all possible. Flying in the same alliance will help you build your points faster which you can in turn use for future flights.
2) Visit your local travel agent who specializes in trips to that region (so for example, I would go to one of the chinatowns in Toronto and visit a chinese travel agent for my trips to China). Often there are promotions that they will know about that are not online. Also the travel agents you get to use regularly will often keep an eye out for you if they know you and know you like to visit a certain territory.
3) Pay by credit card... if your agent's company goes fubar (as has happened here in Canada), you're usually protected...plus you can also collect on the points if your credit card has them.
4) Travel insurance is a must. The agents might seem like they're pushing it, but for less than $100 (at least for me), I'm medically covered for the two or three weeks I'm out there. Important if you get really sick.
5) Often you can book your seat in advance...do your research on sites like
www.seatguru.com...
6) Book between two weeks and a month ahead of time. You can book even further ahead, however many people don't plan that far ahead. If you try to book less than two weeks in advance, often you will find the prices much more expensive.
7) Airplane food tends to be overspiced. There is a reason for that. Way up there, your tastebuds tend to be surpressed. So to compensate for this, the cooks overspice the food so it doesn't taste bland. The down side of this is that the extra spicies will usually come back to haunt you.
Keep an open mind and have fun. Keeping a grudge, even when it's just a perceived one will ruin your trip.
I'm not a frequent world traveller, but those are just some of the things that I've picked up on my travels and what I've heard about. There are also many other tips, but I'll leave that for another adventure.
