Flying to England

My husband and I will be escorting our daughter to Britain in mid-September to start her first term at university. Ideally, we would either get a nonstop flight from San Francisco to London or take a few days' stopover in New York, returning in late September or early October. I've been checking around the Web and, given rising fuel prices, it seems like a good idea to book early. Since this trip is slightly complicated, requiring two round-trips tickets, plus a one-way, and a possible stopover, and we want to keep expenses down, would we be better off booking through a travel agent? If so, does anyone know of a knowledgeable agent in the Berkeley area? (Any other ideas about good airlines, websites, etc., would also be appreciated.)

Flight to Asia

My husband and I are planning to take our almost two-year-old daughter to the Philippines this summer. We are trying to weigh costs v. quality of flight. Any recommendations for child friendly airlines on long flights? Our options for airlines are Eva Air, Philippine Airlines, China Airlines, Northwest, Korean Airlines and Cathay Pacific. Thanks in advance, madeline

Merry
Has anyone travelled on ATA Airlines? Where are they based? Their current ads tout very low prices to the east coast ($146 RT to NYC), but I worry about their safety. Thanks

British Airways

We are going to Europe in early March with our daughter, who will just be turning 2 1/2. We are thinking about buying tickets with British Airways - does anyone have input re how B.A. is as an airline to travel on with a toddler? Any thoughts/input would be very appreciated. Ioana

Re: The note about United's new policy about children flying alone: Northwest Airlines does the same thing -- I recently paid an additional $60.00 for a one-way trip for my 9-year old to fly from Canada (the 60.00 was in US$, too - ouch!, even tho the trip originated in Canada) The fee had recently been half that. There was one plane change, and she did need to go to the minor's lounge due to a flight delay. The airline also called to let me know about the delay and to report that she was in the lounge. So I suppose I received something for my money.

Our long-awaited, relaxing family vacation was off to a bad start (and conclusion) by using Sun Trips. On both our flights there were not enough headphones to go around, so the films were broadcast over the loudspeakers! Aside from not being able to sleep, the worst part was losing all "parental discretion" about movie subject matter! The first flight began to broadcast "Grumpy Old Men," which started off with the two lead characters calling each other names ("Ass Wipe" comes to mind), exactly the kind of thing we are trying to teach our daughter not to do. Fortunately the head stewardess was sensitive to this and stopped the movie. However, on our trip back we were forced to listen to "Blues Brothers 2000," which has several scenes that take place in a strip joint, and other scenes where people are shooting at one another, among other things. Unfortunately, the head steward was too busy to talk to us until about 45 minutes into the movie and refused to turn off the movie since it would be unfair to the people who had been watching it that long! He offered us headphones to listen to their classical station, but obviously there is no way you can make a 4 year old do that. At least she could not SEE the movie; but we were extremely uncomfortable and it did take a lot of effort to keep her occupied and distracted for much of the film. We wrote a letter to Sun Trips and have not (yet?) heard a response, though we did get one from the FAA - they have a consumer complaint department (basically saying they don't control policies about films). So, another way that parents can register their complaints about airline policies is to contact the FAA's consumer affairs/complaint department.

Thai Airways

Does anyone have any experience flying on Thai Airways? They seem to have the best fares for flying to Japan right now, but I've never heard of them. Any feedback, positive or negative, would be greatly appreciated. Elizabeth I've flown on Thai many times and would not hesitate to do so again. Bear in mind, however, that you have to fly down to LAX to catch their trans-Pacific flights, which pass right back over Northern California en route to Japan. That makes the journey significantly longer, and connecting at LAX can be a hassle. Unless you're getting a significantly better deal from Thai, I recommend choosing a carrier that goes nonstop from SFO. BTW, if you do go with Thai, remember that they belong to the Star Alliance, so you can get frequent flyer miles on United, US Airways or any other carrier that belongs to the group. Morris

Just in the interest of another story: I have a parent child (teenager) travel story in which the United agents were heroes (and TWA employees the villains). This long involved story is a lesson in never trying to make parallel travel plans that involve connections. In short form, when I missed my connection back to SF (from Paris), I tried to get someone at TWA to help me get word to my daughter who was flying from Paris via Air France to NY, then on United to SF. TWA wanted me to fly to St. Louis, stay overnight, then go on to SF. Meanwhile my daughter, age 17, would have arrived in SF at midnight and I wouldn't be there. You figure you might want to discuss alternative plans. But no luck and no help: either getting me to SF that evening OR getting a message to my daughter.

I finally left the TWA terminal, walked to the next building, asked someone at the United counter to help me reach my daughter (you can't get out to the gates without a ticket), and in five minutes, the manager got me a ticket on my daughter's flight. She even APOLOGIZED because she couldn't seat us closer than two rows! And I had a TWA consolidator's ticket, so I don't even think United got anything for it. The flight was also completely packed, I don't know how they found a seat.

Anyway, as a result, I'm a big United fan. I'm not even going to complain anymore about the unaccompanied minor fees I've paid recently. Maybe the United employees have more leeway to bend rules, so you have to be sure to ask if you need something special. (The Air France person was helpful, too, checking to see if my daughter had left customs.)

I have also experienced the inability to preboard on United with my infant at least twice in the last year. Since I was already aware of their policy, I specially requested that they allow us to board ahead along with those who need extra help in getting settled. The answer was a firm "No", they do not make exceptions in deference to their business flyers. This probably happened about 3-4 different times (different legs, flights). On the positive side, United, like all the airlines I've flown, was helpful in attempting to get us a convenient seat for the flight. (At the ticket and check-in gates that is - they were *horrible* over the phone when I called shorty before my flight.) This still seems to be standard.

There have been negative posts in the last two digests about United Airlines -- just to be balanced, it seems only fair for me to mention that I had a very positive experience with them in the last two months. I was allowed to board early with a 3-year old and a 2-month old (I did ASK to do this -- it's true that they don't seem to be announcing it as policy anymore), and on the return flight(s) they also changed my seats so that there would be an extra (empty) seat for the baby. It may be that I just lucked out and got sympathetic gate agents..... if so, they need to know that policies that try to accomodate parents and children generate good PR.....

I, too, want to relay a positive experience flying United Airlines -- even though we fly cattle class. Earlier this week my wife (with 4 mo. old) returned from a RT flight to Boston. On both legs of the trip she was given excellent service by the flight staff. Seats were changed to provide her with an empty seat(s) for the baby, and the flight attendants were there throughout the flight offering to give her a hand. My wife was VERY impressed, and remarked that this was the best flight she can recall. (Of course, we've also had less than pleasant experiences flying UA and other airlines.)

My family and I are going to Britain for two weeks in the early spring. We want a round-trip, preferably direct flight, and a one-week car rental out of Heathrow. What are the good airlines these days? I've always like British Airways and Virgin; I also hear American Airlines has superior leg room, a real advantage for people as tall as we are.