Friday February 17, 2012

Which airlines are your favorites and why; and which airlines do you think are among the worst and why?

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  • 0

    madammiz

    Favourites? Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand Worst? hmmm tough question...not a big fan of Chinese airlines, some American airlines and Aeroflot!

  • 0

    masterkun05

    Korean Airlines are my favourite. The planes are modern and the flight atendants are very courteous and kind. I also like their food and in flight music. The prices are good. I especially like their advertisements in particular the ones with the muted pale blue tones. They have this subtle sense of elegance in sophistication. As for the worst airlines well British Airways lost my bags twice although I did get them back a few days later. Perhaps thats more a problem related to Heathrow though. I still think they are a very good airline. Probably the worst airlines I have flown on are Singapore and JAL. I found their flight attendants to be very arrogant. Still thats not much of a complaint. I really dont care as long as I get there safely and on time. Given a choice I will fly Korean Air. Just love that hot bibimbap and the Euro music channel.

  • 0

    marcels

    I,ve flown JAL many times and they are very good in terms of service, food and actually very punctual... Also singapore are a fantastic airline the flight attentands do their job well and always have a smile.... Jetstar are a budget airline i have flown probably 10 times in the beginning they were terrible always late on departures and the flight attendants hadn,t much of an idea on how to do their job,,, but you get what you pay for, so for what it,s worth i think Jetstar is on the way up...

  • 0

    borscht

    marcels, I agree with your assessment of Jetstar. As long as I get there alive, I'm happy. (Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing.) And they are improving. Also, try shift-7 for that pesky apostrophe in conjunctions.

  • 0

    tensaicanadian

    Korean air serves the best food in my mind so it is my favorite. They are also very nice. I dislike Air Canada the most.

  • 0

    ratpack

    Malaysian were great. Asiana are great if you are in business class. American Airlines flight crew LOL...wow don't dare push the button and ask for service. You might get the death stare from the frumpy flying waitresses.

  • 0

    farcus

    Best = Singapore, ANA, Air New Zealand. Worst = QANTAS, American

  • 0

    neverknow2

    JESTAR IS THE WORST!!!!!! Don't fly Jetstar. It's cheap for a reason!

  • 0

    timorborder

    Singapore airlines is a carrier that I like. The worst flight I ever experienced was as youngster flying with the old Aeroflot (circa 1980) out of Moscow (after visiting a friend whose parents were posted to the Australian embassy in Moscow). It was really scary. We traipsed out to an old Ilyushin jetliner in the middle of a snow storm that sounded like it was going to have kittens while still at the ramp. Half of the cabin crew was swaying before we took off (been into the beverage cabinet) and they all seemed to be named Sergei or Irina. They also all seemed to have mustaches (that is not a joke). Looking out the window, the refueling crew were all puffing away on their cancer sticks, while pumping aviation fuel into the tanks. Real scary stuff. The best thing about the whole experience was that the in-flight movie was unavailable. I don't know if it is true, but in the program it was listed as "Airport" (the movie with Burt Lancaster).

    Then again, we were better off than the locals, whom between the sheets of snow I saw being herded onto some form of transport aircraft. I also swear that I saw one old woman getting onto that aircraft with her goat as carry-on luggage.

  • 0

    LostinNagoya

    the ones I have flown with:

    Best: Korean, Thai

    Worst: Alitalia - my God, all the flight attendants smoked!!

  • 0

    D0713

    In the U.S, Southwest. They have too much fun and don't charge for bags...:-)

    Japan, I guess JAL. I haven't flown ANA yet.

  • 0

    D0713

    The worst...Umm...United.

  • 0

    antsjnr76

    Best, Cathay pacific, Air New Zealand, JAL. Worst Quantas, Korean Air. Those two being the worst are only because they made me pay for a plane ticket twice after the travel agent did a runner with my money. Apart from that Korean air staff are good.

  • 0

    suebe36d

    Aeroflot was terrible just last year. Departure delayed 3 hours; toilet out of order; passenger name list inquiry retorted with I don't know, missed transit passengers herded with intimidating commands like come! go! follow me! NO!!!, overnight hotel musty, caught unaware by showerhead clotted with feces, lukewarm rusty water in unused portion of hotel locked at end of passageway & guarded by 7-foot giant.

    However, must commend one overworking Japanese staff who loaned me his keitai to call my family; in contrast, his Russian counterparts looked to be malingering; and one albeit Russian stewardess who rushed to pick up my eyeglasses before their being crushed underfoot then rushed on with her duties without expecting thanks.

  • 0

    suebe36d

    Daughter warned me of Aeroflot but I mis-thought 2009 should have seen Aeroflot reformed

  • 0

    masterkun05

    @timorborder. I know what you mean. I flew from Dusseldorf to Rostov on Don with Donavia in 2000. We were driven by bus to a Tupolev 154 waiting on the tarmac. After we got off the bus the pilot started the engines up and had them absolutely screaming for 15 minutes or so. The noise and fumes had my head spinning and adrenalin pumping. Better the engines malfunction on the ground than in the air I guess. The plane was a bit tatty inside but the food and service was great and everyone clapped and shouted with delight when we landed. A thoroughly enjoyable trip.

  • 0

    cleo

    Aeroflot - happy, misty memories of travelling with them between Japan and the UK way back when I was an impoverished student and they were far and away the cheapest. I always thought it was like being on a rather shaky, ramshackle bus and the stewardesses were formidable. But the food was always surprisingly good.

    Now my favourite airline is ANA, because they fly to Okinawa which is my favourite place.

    And BA, of course - it's always a pleasure to hear the cabin staff speaking real English with no grating accents.

  • 0

    timorborder

    Real English with no grating accents

    But what can one do, there are just so many Scots around.

  • 0

    AzabuSamurai

    Best = JAL (service is top class)

  • 0

    Kwaabish

    Favourites - SQ, NH, JL, CX Great service, clean/modern aircraft, attendants are pleasant to the eyes. (e.g., on ANA, the attendants kneel to speak to you so that they do not talk down to you; the attendants clean the lavs every hour; liquor is no charge even in Y class; attendants close the overheads and would never bark orders to the passengers to do the same, etc.)

    Worst - UA, AA, NW/DL, MX, BA To start, US carriers don't know the meaning of customer service, the aircraft tend to be dirtier and usually something with the seat is broken. The attendants are fat, ugly and surley. UA doesn't even have AVOD. AA attendants take infinite breaks and are not seen after the meal service. Etc.

  • 0

    Monkeyz

    I don't care if the attendants are fat, ugly, or wearing jumpsuits as long as they don't step on my feet or drop things on me. Which happened the last time I flew (NW). Best flights have been Singapore and Continental. Worst ... Northwest, Delta, United, and Malaysia.

    To be fair to Malaysia, they seem to have changed their policies since that time, but when I flew with them it was a smoking flight. My program must have gotten a low rate on our seats by having them 2 rows in front of the smoking section. Twelve hours to Japan with people behind you puffing away the whole time was ... interminable.

  • 0

    ahemmm

    Worst ariline in my experience: China Air - hands down! Also, US-based airlines have lousy service - no wait, make that "No Service". Best: Qatar and Singapore, in terms of service.

  • 0

    sharpie

    best: ANA, Thai, Singapore

    worst: anything american and air canada as well. they just don't understand what customer service is.

  • 0

    McC72

    Best NWA (Nashawn Wade Airlines) of Soul Plane fame. Worst JAL

  • 0

    XXXXX

    The worst must be RyanAir.

  • 0

    marushka

    I don’t like Aeroflot in terms of service but I have to admit, they have less accidents then some other airlines. I try to avoid Air France, British Airways and Alitalia. I like SAS, KLM and Finnair: good connections and punctuality

  • 0

    pawatan

    Thai and Malaysia are my faves - great service, comfy seats. I have found both ANA and JAL to be good as well.

    Worst: I loathe AirAsia. Unreliable, unsafe. Even the locals in Thailand won't fly them as they value their lives more! I had a bad experience with some a**hole staff at Asiana, but I only flew them one time. I don't like KLM or most of the US airlines, though they occasionally have their moments.

  • 0

    nisegaijin

    from my personal experience. Based on check in counter/procedure efficiency, service, food, entertainment, price, flexibility of staff, landing smoothness, seats, legroom, cleanness, etc. Absolute Top class - Virgin Atlantic (upper) Very good - ANA (business), Cathey Pacific (economy) Decent - Quantas (economy), Virgin Blue (domestic) Below average - Jal (economy), Northwest (economy), Continental (economy) Nightmare - Aeroflot (economy), Jetstar (domestic)

  • 0

    Patrick Smash

    Best: Virgin Atlantic by a huge distance. Great entertainment, excellent food, good legroon in economy, new planes and always on schedule. Good choice of beers too, often including Guinness and always have plasters available for head injuries... Worst: Air France. BA is poor in economy and cannot get my enormous frame (6' 10") into the seat at all, but the food and service are surprisingly good.

  • 0

    marushka

    Frankly speaking: if I get cheap ticket I don’t really care about quality of service, food etc. the most important: no strikes ( that’s reason why I don’t use air france any more) which will have impact on your trip with delays etc and safety arrival of luggage

  • 0

    GG2141

    The worst must be RyanAir.

    Yas gets what yas pays for....

    Most hated for me is JAL. Great planes, very efficient, lovely and clean and left me to freeze to death in Korea when the flight was cancelled due to weather. Late at night, Chingbong airport closed. No complementary hotel. GFY JAL.

    Worst service. Air Egypt. EPIC bad service.

  • 0

    kodaiflow

    It is hard to compare carriers that have prices that range from USD800 to USD4000 for the same flight. Of course for 2K I'd cook my own meal and clean the jet on the way out:)

  • 0

    alladin

    I use to like Japan airlines until they changed their service quality and raised their prices. Now I have come to the decision to fly China Airlines because although they don’t have the best service as Japan Airlines use to have, at least their quality of service is up to par and their prices are reasonable.

  • 0

    DeepAir65

    I try and avoid national carriers these days and anything out of America because the staff seem to think that they are more important than the customers.

    Virgin Atlantic is probably my favourite - great staff, great entertainment system, great food. Last time I flew back to the UK I travelled down the back and ate everything on offer - never done that on another airline, not even the one time I flew first class on BA...

  • 0

    pamelot

    Best: ANA, Thai, & Singapore. Legroom seats negotiable... Host/esses are civil. Worst; AA, UA, NW/Delta. Harshes my cool.

  • 0

    delrennich

    Best: ANA-Air Canada, Eastern Airlines. Worst: United, Northwest.

  • 0

    sfjp330

    I fly frequently and to me they are all close be being same. If they take the logo out of the plane, you wouldn't notice. As long as you get there safely, it really doesn't matter. However, Asiana has the best looking flight attendants. United has senior citizens (almost) still working as flight attendents. I guess equal opportunity prevails at United with no age discrimmination.

  • 0

    2020hindsight

    Virgin Atlantic, Air New Zealand, Cathay, Singapore Airlines, ANA are all good. I don't like most American airlines.

  • 0

    BurakuminDes

    Best - Virgin, Cathay Pacific. Worst - NWA.

  • 0

    motytrah

    Depends on what class of service you're flying. A lot of airlines have crummy coach class. Some have better booze or food, but most are about the same. Cramped seat, so-so entertainment, and blah food.

    Business class and First class. That's were the differences really are. JAL doesn't do a half bad job. Delta/NWA is okay in Business.

  • 0

    mrsynik

    Best - Asiana Airlines. Great service, decent food and friendly/attractive stewardesses.

    Worst - Any American carrier, and Jetstar.

  • 0

    Badge213

    I agree it depends on what class you are flying. Delta/Northwest often gets bad review, however I've flown them without problems before. Yes, the flight attendants are old, service is minimal, but, I never had a problem getting from point A to B, plus their tickets tend to be the cheapest.

    I've flown business class with them (international business class) and I would say the service there was a million times better then economy.

  • 0

    bobbafett

    I like Qantas. The staff on Qantas dont mind getting you a bit drunk so long as you are a happy drunk. Really easy going if are polite to them.

    Air NZ is ok like that too.

    Never had an issue with JAL much either.....Infact, I can never rember taking a bad flight in my life.

    Even if I took the plane during difficult times, the flight has always been good.

  • 0

    jipster

    I think the best in general are Virgin Atlantic.Nice planes,good crew and interesting food All the American carriers have stuck up crew. I flew ANA to paris last year,managed 10 beers and two bottles of wine in the galley..really friendly crew,only let down by the bland and boring food.

  • 0

    Sarge

    "I flew ANA to paris last year, managed 10 beers and two bottles of wine in the galley"

    If you'd flown Delta, United, American or Continental, that would have cost you an extra 60 bucks.

  • 0

    shanabelle

    The now de-funct (spookily enough)Royal Tongan Airlines is my favorite...about 7 years ago on a flight from NZ to Sydney... the plane arrived two hours late, so we boarded 3 hours behind schedule...then on arrival in Sydney they could not open the cabin doors from inside ....so it took about 90 minutes to do so, and an exterior can opener may have been utilized... we truly needed 10 beers and then some, but there was no drink service...

  • 0

    Bootsy

    Virgin and SQ for me. Was on the SQ A380 up from Singapore last month - just a fantastic flight!

  • 0

    LIBERTAS

    Absolute worst: It's a tie between Continental and JAL. Lousy service, inflexible luggage rules and usually filled with folks like Al Bundy and Rosanne Barr, whether American or Japanese.

    Best: Swissair and Lufthansa: Large (normal size) seats and leg space in coach. Friendly, courteous staff, usually good pricing and a fair and balanced luggage policy.

    That said, traveling used to be fun. Now it's an endurance test.

  • 0

    Cyborg009

    Worst: Continental Airlines, because once I traveled from Brazil to Vancouver, and my lugagge was open. Airport handlers or somebody else stole some of my stuffs, and Continental Airlines, didn't refund me back the value. Instead, they gave me some Ticket Value, so that I could travel using it, but I could never travel. In other words, Continental Airlines didn't compensate me with my damages.

    Best:JAL(Japan airlines) - their services are very good. Varig(brazilian airline)- I don't know if they are still in service - anyway, they used to have very good services.

  • 0

    LostinNagoya

    Cyborg, I don't know if I am correct, but open bagagge is an airport problem (ground staff), and has nothing to do with airlines. I had my bagagge open in two occasions: NY-JFK and Milan. In NY I missed small things - design pencils!! (I wonder what would someone steal that for).

  • 0

    anderstungtwist

    The ones with the best job security for their air waitresses are generally awful.

  • 0

    warallthetime

    You can blame the fat elderly United flight attendants on unions.

  • 0

    doitsujin

    Best: Virgin and Star Alliance (esp. ANA and Lufthansa) are my favorites. Professional service, great business class, friendly crew (not merely polite and distant).

    Worst: Japan Airlines could be among them. The crew at the international check-in often does not speak English. Flight attendants are too polite, always giving me a robot-like fake smile. Definitely does not feel like coming home when embarking the aircraft.

  • 0

    mark71

    there are several websites where you can review and share your experience with airlines: SkyTrax: http://www.airlinequality.com Airlikes: http://www.airlikes.com/

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