Austrian Air or Air France?

[Love 2 Travel]

I am looking at air and the best prices and connections seem to be with either Austrian Air or Air France. I was wondering if anyone has any opinions about which airline is preferred...Are either Vienna or Paris easy airports to get around? Any info is appreciated. We will be flying multiple destinations... leaving from JFK to TelAviv, then after our Israel visit, from Tel Aviv to Barcelona for our Meditaranean cruise and then post cruise from Venice to JFK.

 

One other question... we will be flying to JFK w Jet Blue. Does anyone know if Jet Blue will book your luggage all the way through to your final destination or as an independent airline, will we have to pick up luggage in NY and check it ourselves with whatever international flight we decide upon. If that is the case, how long should I plan on between flights at JFK?

 

We appreciate your thoughts...Thanks for your help

[JJPNYC]

I can't answer the question of Austrian vs. Air France. One thing to consider possibly though is which Frequent Flyer program you're in so you can accrue the miles.

 

As for JetBlue, last I heard is that they do not interline checked baggage. So that means you'll need to claim your luggage and then manually recheck it at JFK with your connecting airline. But from experience, that may actually be better as I've known many people to have a bag left-behind at JFK when transferring airlines and leaving it up to the airlines to transfer the bag. You'd be amazed how many bags fall off the little baggage trucks en route from one terminal to the next.

 

For connecting time at JFK, I'd give at least 2 hours, if not 3 to be on the safe side. Between collecting your luggage from Jet Blue, getting on the airtrain and transferring to the other terminal, & rechecking your luggage, the time will fly right by.

[greatam]

Just to add to JJPNYC's comments:

 

I have flown Air France. Nice planes, decent service. Paris airport can be a nightmare, if you are not familiar with airports and flying.

 

Do a search under "user" and find Vivian02's comments about CDG (Paris) airport.

 

Don't know whether you know this or not but here goes (if you have been to Israel previously, you know this). When you fly to Tel Aviv, ask them to stamp your passport separately. There are some countries in the world that will either not let you in or will hassle you a lot if you have Israeli passport stamps.

[Host Mike]

I have traveled both airlines. By far I think you will be happier on Austrian.

The aircraft is equal to Air France. The service and personality of the staff is much better on Austrian.

Then you ask about connections at airports. Trust me on this, Vienna is waaaay better then Paris.

[Love 2 Travel]

I love these boards....everyone is so extremely helpful in sharing very useful information. We can't thank you enough for offering your insight into our questions.

 

Thanks for the tip about Jet Blue. We thought that would be the case and even though I don't relish having to recheck the luggage, it is nice to know we may have less chance of losing a bag ;-). Perhaps, I will actually do as I always promise myself I will do- pack light!

 

We will most likely book with Austrian Air. Anything that will make this long trip easier is good for me. Especially with our lack of international travel experience. We have been all over the US and Canada but as far as Europe goes, have only been to London.

 

My husband has been to Israel once but back when he was 18 and we will not talk about how long ago that was. I am not familiar with having the passport stamped separately idea. I was also unaware that we could have problems. Could you elaborate on that for me? I really want to be aware of all possible gliches ahead of time.

 

We are so excited about this trip. I love the reading and planning ahead of time. Travel really is an addiction, isn't it?

 

Thanks again for your help.

 

Gail and Paul

[greatam]

 

My husband has been to Israel once but back when he was 18 and we will not talk about how long ago that was. I am not familiar with having the passport stamped separately idea. I was also unaware that we could have problems. Could you elaborate on that for me? I really want to be aware of all possible gliches ahead of time.

 

 

Gail and Paul

 

There are countries in the Middle East where you will ABSOLUTELY be denied entrance if you have Israeli stamps in your passport. There are also countries, some in Africa, some in Southeast Asia, which will hassle you with the Israeli stamps.

 

Israel will give you a separate piece of paper, attached to your passport, with the stamps. Then, if you ever go to a country which either does not recognize Israel (Lebanon, Syria, etc. etc) OR you are going into a country where you may get hassled (Egypt and Jordan sometimes, Malayasia and Indonesia, usually, weird little countries in Africa-always), you can just remove the paper before you leave the US. DO NOT loose it in Israel. You could have a hard time getting OUT of the country.

 

You will be fine for this trip. But some of the cruise ships are now stopping in Syria and Libya, so just a heads up so you don't have problems in the future.

 

Enjoy!!!! Your trip sounds fantastic.

[Love 2 Travel]

I understand. Actually, when I mentioned what you said about the separate stamp to my husband he understood right away. It sounds like a reasonable thing to do. One never nows where you may end up visiting in the future or what worl events will occur for that matter.

 

We will be visiting Paul's sister and many neices in Israel as well as touring on our own. I am almost on overload learning about so many places.

 

We are considering going to jordan to visit Petra. Have you have been? it looks like an amazing place.