If you mean for your YYZ-MAD, then it’s operated by Air Canada. Lufthansa does not operate that. National airlines (mostly) still operate from hubs in their home countries. Now if the flight was to Frankfurt or Munich from Toronto, it very well could be Lufthansa (or Air Canada) operating it.

LH and AC are not only partners in the airline group called Star Alliance, they also codeshare on a lot of each others’ flights. That means you might actually get a ticket issued by Lufthansa, but the actual airline operating it could be their codeshare partner Air Canada.

As for the general question, I have not yet flown AC (that I recall?) but LH is good—both transatlantic and intra-Europe.

Thanks, Don, that makes a lot of sense.

I love how quick you always are with your answers
I appreciate it! Thank you!

H.

Whichever one’s cheaper.

And to add to Don’s advice… when you do your flight searches, let’s say you’re looking for airfare from Chicago to Paris, and Orbitz/Expedia/Travelocity finds you a two-leg “United” flight from Chicago to Paris via, let’s say, Toronto, then the second flight definitely won’t be United. The ORD-YYZ flight could be United or Air Canada, while the YYZ-CDG flight definitely won’t be United and will probably by Air Canada. If United is selling you a seat on an Air Canada flight (code share) then Orbitz/Expedia/Travelocity will say underneath the flight information “operated by Air Canada”.

Not that this should make a difference. All the major North American and European carriers are exactly the same, IMO. So when people complain, take it with a grain of salt. A lot of people complain just to boast about the fact that they flew and traveled somewhere…these are usually novice travelers that don’t know shit about code-share agreements, airline alliances, hub airports, 3rd or 5th freedoms, Boeing and Airbus, Embraer or Bombardier, IATA and ICAO, and so on and so forth. Not that I’m as knowledgeable as Don on the industry; I’m just saying that most people who complain about the airline they flew to the Carribean last year, they’re most likely people who barely travel and don’t understand all the intricacies of flying: for example the same carrier will have different aircraft, some older and some newer, some more comfortable than others, and which one you get is a hit or miss; and that delays could very well be due to a busy airport, not necessarily the airline…there’s a lot of things to consider, and someone who’s taken one trip to the Carribean may think he’s got it all figured out, but he doesn’t.

The carriers that get the highest customer reviews nowadays are all based in the Pesian Gulf region (Qatar Airways, Etihad, Emirates, for example) or East Asia (Singapore, Thai, Cathay Pacific, Asiana). As long as they get me there safely, Air Canada and Lufthansa are both fantastic.

Thank you for the comments

I flew Air Canada form San Francisco to London and Zurich to San Francisco and it was fine; The entertainment choices were really good. I agree that there aren’t as many differences between carriers as some would have you believe. I think the biggest would be in the costs & choices for food and entertainment, especially if you have a domestic leg before a connecting transatlantic flight.

Whatever you decide, I do NOT recommend Delta.

From my experience today I would say LUFTHANSA. The reason being is I booked with AIR CANADA and a friend booked with LUFTHANSA, we both had the same planes they were codeshare flights, however the return we both wanted to fly earlier and this is where the policies of the airlines are important to READ. We both flew from Athens To Toronto Canada and back. LUFTHANSA offered my friend 100euro’s + airport tax difference to change their flight however it wasn’t the same direct flight from air canada at all and I found out why. When I tried to change the flight with air canada they wanted $150cad(same as 100euro) but they also wanted me to pay the difference of the price of the new fares so they wanted $700cad and my friend paid only $175cad just to change the return flight to 3 weeks earlier. I have a feeling they were charging me for the price change of the initial flight that I already flown air fare difference. The policies also
for the flight schedule changes, air canada said they will offer the next available flight free of charge, I believe lufthansa was +/- 7 days. You really have to read the policies of the airlines but from this experience I think LUFTHANSA would be the best if you want the insurance of changing the dates for 100euroes and not having to pay the change in price of the airfare. However when you do change the tickets I noticed with lufthansa they will not give you the BEST flight maybe 3rd or 4th best for example my friend had a direct flight to athens greece AIR CANADA, it was changed to a reroute flight to frankfurt then to athens greece and also waiting 5hours in the airport instead of a direct flight, AIR CANADA will give you whatever you want but they will charge you for the fare price of the difference on whatever flight you choose. I also noticed I saved almost 40% for flights to athens greece to toronto and back by booking a flight i will leave immediately and make the return flight far into the future ie I booked with AIR CANADA/LUFTHANSA pretty much same price +/- $50cad for codeshare, last year when I left Athens, Greece November 2010 and my return was in end of June 2011 and cost was around $1,000cad, to book the same flight to go to greece from toronto in June now and say come back the offpeak season is $1,400 (almost 40% savings!!!). I suggest anyone who goes to another country consider doing the reverse and just risk 100euro’s having to change the date if you really need to on the return flight with LUFTHANSA. In November the prices are very very cheap $1k range cause no one is flying and booking the return the following year which will be dirt cheap in October/November. Another neat thing is lufthansa serves one or more times the beverages than you would get on air canada. From this experience I had I know how I am maximizing my savings and policies/insurance deal I get from the airlines on changing the dates. Another freaky thing with this method I did was in June 2010 year when I went back to greece from toronto, I was probably the only person at the airport the entire year that was allowed to check in 2 bags no charge onto the airplane with AIRCANADA for the flight to athens greece from toronto when they changed the policy to 1 bag but since I booked far into the future again I saved another $50
for not having to pay for the 2nd luggage for economy class aircanada for not having to pay for it on the return flight because I bought the ticket in 2009 november and again 40% savings on the tickets.