There are several major U.S. carriers who make regularly scheduled U.S. to Europe flights including American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, U.S.Airways, and United Airlines. These airlines all fall into the three-star rating category for their service levels, on board amenities, equipment type and industry reviews. With hubs throughout the U.S., these airlines tend to travel several main routes to Europe with capital cities as the destination. Direct flights on U.S. carriers can be found to the most popular capital gateways on the Europe side including London, Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, Madrid, Geneva, Berlin, Brussels, Athens and Dublin. Other top non-capitals are Venice, Barcelona, Milan and Glasgow. From the U.S. the top gateways are New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle and Dallas. In addition to these major cities, seasonal flights are offered into vacation destinations such as Malaga, Lyon, Nice and Reykjavik.
With so many U.S. and European carriers joining into code-share agreements, many flights are offered under both company names, with two different flight numbers for what turns out to be the same flight on the same plane. There are, however, still many flights to and from the U.S. operated by European carriers including Air France, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Finnair, KLM, TAP Air Portugal, Iberian Airlines, Alitalia, Swiss Air, Aer Lingus, Scandinavian SAS, Lufthansa, Turkish Airways, Iceland Air and Austrian Airways. Since the European airlines are almost all state owned and operated, those with smaller economies are services by smaller regional carriers and major foreign companies.
Once on the continent, travelers can connect to any destination with regional and budget carriers some of which operate under the umbrella of their larger cousins, and others who operate independently. Frankfurt, Paris and London are the most common connection points for international flights terminating throughout Europe.
There are some airlines which are located neither in the United States, nor Europe, but which still service both thanks to connections made on either or both continents. Air India is one such airline which runs daily service from New York City to Mumbai, via Paris CDG. Another such flight is operated by Etihad Airways which operates a flight from New York City to Paris and on to Abu Dhabi for purposes of refueling and traffic demands. While not typically the most practical way to travel, sometimes these flights can be selected for the leg you need at a great rate when compared with direct carriers.
