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Commenter RH Dailey asked me for a list of direct flights from the west coast to Europe and to let him know which ones have flat beds in Business Class.
There are direct flights from five west coast cities plus Vancouver and Las Vegas to Europe.
These flights are operated by all the major transatlantic players and by some airlines that perhaps you’ve never heard of.
For each North American city, I’ve listed the European cities served and by which carriers. Here I’ll list where to search for award space on each carrier and whether it has flat beds in Business Class.
- American Airlines: aa.com, yes from Los Angeles to London
- Aer Lingus: Expert Flyer, yes starting in 2015
- Air France: delta.com, no
- United: united.com, yes
- British Airways: aa.com, yes (you will pay huge fuel surcharges to book British Airways flights with any type of miles)
- Virgin Atlantic: delta.com, yes
- KLM: delta.com, no
- Lufthansa: united.com, on some aircraft
- Scandinavian: united.com, no
- Swiss: united.com, yes
- Turkish, united.com, on some aircraft
- Aeroflot, airfrance.us, no (fuel surcharges)
- airberlin, aa.com, on some aircraft
- Air Tahiti Nui, Expert Flyer, no
- Air New Zealand, united.com, yes (never releases business class award space)
- Delta, delta.com, yes
- Alitalia, delta.com, on some aircraft
- Iberia, ba.com, no
- Air Canada, united.com, yes
- Air Europa, Expert Flyer, no (fuel surcharges)
These next seven airlines don’t have award space that can be booked with traditional miles, and I don’t think any of them have flat bed business class either. You can, of course, book these airlines with your Arrival miles from the Barclaycard Arrival PlusTM World Elite MasterCard® since you can book any airline with Arrival miles.
- XL Airways France
- Transaero
- Norwegian
- Condor
- Icelandair
- Edelweiss
- Thomas Cook
What are the routes from the west coast to Europe?
San Francisco
- Dublin (Aer Lingus)
- Paris (Air France, United, XL Airways France)
- London (British Airways, United, Virgin Atlantic)
- Amsterdam (KLM)
- Frankfurt (Lufthansa, United)
- Munich (Lufthansa)
- Copenhagen (Scandinavian)
- Zurich (Swiss)
- Istanbul (Turkish)
Los Angeles
- Moscow (Aeroflot, Transaero)
- Dusseldorf (airberlin)
- Paris (Air France, Air Tahiti Nui)
- London (Air New Zealand, American Airlines, British Airways, Delta, United, Virgin Atlantic, Norwegian)
- Rome (Alitalia)
- Madrid (Iberia)
- Oslo (Norwegian)
- Stockholm (Norwegian)
- Copenhagen (Norwegian)
- Amsterdam (KLM)
- Frankfurt (Lufthansa)
- Munich (Lufthansa)
- Zurich (Swiss)
- Istanbul (Turkish)
San Diego
- London (British Airways)
Portland
- Frankfurt (Condor)
- Amsterdam (Delta)
- Reykjavik (Icelandair)
Seattle
- London (British Airways)
- Reykjavik (Icelandair)
- Frankfurt (Condor, Lufthansa)
- Amsterdam (Delta)
- London (Delta)
- Paris (Delta)
Las Vegas
- Paris (XL Airways France)
- Frankfurt (Condor)
- Madrid (Air Europa)
- London (British Airways, Thomas Cook, Virgin Atlantic)
- Zurich (Edelweiss Air)
- Glasgow (Thomas Cook, Virgin Atlantic)
- Manchester (Thomas Cook, Virgin Atlantic)
- Belfast (Thomas Cook)
Vancouver
- London (Air Canada, British Airways)
- Frankfurt (Condor, Lufthansa)
- Munich (Lufthansa)
- Amsterdam (KLM)
- Reykjavik (Icelandair)
- Zurich (Edelweiss Air)
I used wikipedia, your secret weapon for travel planning, to compile these lists.
RH Dailey, I hope this helps.
Does anyone else have a topic that they’d like me to tackle? No promises, but I do love to write posts that people request.
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KLM flies SFO-AMS and has new flatbed business as of May-ish. My SO flies that route every month and is flying again today. She likes it.
Hi Scott,
will you do one for the East Coast readers?
Thanks a bunch!!!
No thanks! There are about 10x the flights. The easiest thing to do is check out your airport’s wikipedia page.
Wow … Thanks so much Scott for doing all the work for us; this info is most welcome – really appreciate it !
Since the SFO-AMS flight on KLM has flatbeds, I guess the YVR-AMS flight also is equipped the same ?
I thought IB had lay flat business LAX-MAD?
I guess it depends what you call “West Coast”, and no flat beds, but Icelandair flies from ANC to KEF.
Sure would love an update! Thanks!