Best airline Europe/London - Tokyo

[(mjb)§0.41100]

Considering which airline to book with. As I live in Italy, using Alitlia from Milan or Rome is logical but I've never flown with it before and for a long haul I'm cautious.

I could use London Heathrow and BA or Virgin (the latter I've not used before).

The euro price for the Alitalia works out about the same as the Sterling price.

Any advice welcome regarding these services or JAL or others etc.

Thanks.

[thatkidpercy]

I've recently booked a return flight with Emirates from London to Japan for £400 including taxes; the only catch is that you can't land in Tokyo, but either Nagoya or Osaka. Details are here if you're interested - http://www.gendai.co.uk/en/component/option,com_flights/task,showFlights/airline,EK/id,26/Itemid,2/

My girlfriend is Italian, and when she left a couple of months ago (she's working in Tokyo at the moment), she flew with Austrian Airlines. She's flown with Alitalia and BA in the past, and said there isn't that much difference between them, regarding comfort/food etc. in economy class at least.

[martinj]

Flown to Peking, HK, Tokyo, Bangkok with different companies, and not much of a difference. I just didn't like Lufthansa, but JAL, BA were good. No real difference. I am going now with Qantas, and a lot of friends use Cathay and say they are good.

[andreas]

KLM is the most logical choice for me cause I'm Amsterdam-based (the only other non-stop AMS-NRT option being Japan Airlines). But other than that I love flying their Boeing 777 which has a fab inflight entertainment program...makes time fly...and I hate long-haul flights.

[sybaritical]

Pick up snap sales from BA when they run them - you have to be on the ball but you can get London Tokyo return for £200. I know, cos I did.