Best Airline?

I have to agree - we've flown with them twice to New Zealand and back and they are really outstanding. Much better than the BA/Quantas trips we've made. I can't say I've flown with all airlines but I travel quite a lot and Singapore Airlines are clearly ahead of the competition in our opinion.

Ian

Never flown Singapore but love to travel with Emirates. Great food, plenty legroom. Can't say that the stewardesses were drop dead gorgeous though.

I travelled last month with Emirates and while they were good, they have still got some way to go to catch up with Singapore. IMHO of course.

The best airline is Club Class

Another vote for Singapore - their economy class is better than some business class I've flown with...

quote:

Originally posted by nini:
Another vote for Singapore - their economy class is better than some business class I've flown with...

I totally agree. I flew cattle class and it was better than BA/Lufthansa business class.

I've had some shocking flights with singapore airlines. however, next opportunity they had, they *really* looked after us. I'd rate them as pretty good. 5 years since my goldmember status lapsed though, so I guess it's a different world now. I've had a couple of excellent and very memorable trips on JAL in economy - nearly as good as QANTAS business international.

It's all so very situational - my friend used to fly transatlantic regularly and really rated virgin atlantic. OTOH we tried them and the plane just about fell apart leaving heathrow after 2 weeks in the hangar in servicing. subsequent service provided a 'never again' policy. go figure.

Living in Asia and travelling all over the place I'd place Singapore at the top too.

After that its....
Thai
a tie with Malaysian / Emirates ( except their 777's - seats are crap)
BA aren't too bad but ways down the list comes Qantas and not even on the list is KLM - unspeakably bad - fly at your peril (and only preferable to any US based airline I have ever flown which are so bad it almost seems deliberate).

Agree Singapore best followed by Emirates (have not tried Thai/Malaysian).

Lufthansa tend to have good seat pitch but fall away in other areas.

Lufthansa have really raised the ante with their new business class.

I have been disappointed with Singapore.

Air Canada is rubbish.

The best was Cathay Pacific, First Class back in the early 90s. The emphasis here is on "was," as they are now pants.

Never tried Singapore, but heard good things about them.

Emirates used to be fantastic, but now it's just a national carrier, like most other airlines. Royal Brunei is the best airline I've flown with. I've always thought Cathay Pacific was good too (but that was in the early 1990s, so Huwge may well be right).

Of obscure airlines you think would be crap, Air Ethiopia was surprisingly good when I flew withem four years ago.

Worst I've ever been on are Ryan Air (of course), Turkish Airlines, TWA and Continental.

K

In terms of Business Class, all flown within the last 3 years:
Singapore business class = Probably The Best!
Emirates = Disappointing the 4 long haul flights I've had with them. Particularly as I'd heard so many good reports, I was very disappointed with their overly complicated seats and in-flight entertainment, seats that don't go horizontal, fair food, OK service but not a patch on Singapore in my experience.
Virgin = Very good (Australia return)
bmi = Superb (several flights to Chicago return)
Cathay - terrible seats
Thai - terrible seats
QANTAS - poor seats
Malaysian - poor seats

By poor seats, I mean ones you keep hitting your head when you try to move in the seat, over complex controls, 16 degree angle when "flat" which means you end up in a heap in the footwell.

Agree with Blythe on all counts. I flew Cathay to China in January and their "Business Class" reminded me of the old school bus that I used to catch back in the day...

BR, Jon

Well, It's very interesting to read of everyone's experiences as an airline employee and I have to say that my experience of a great deal of airline travel over the years has led me to conclude that one of the most important elements of the overall experience is the crew and that can be very variable on all airlines.

In my experience though (and as an ex employee I admit) I rate BA as overall consistently the best airline for overall service consistency i.e. 95% of the time they provide a professional and friendly service. I also would suggest that the new Club World flat bed is the best business class seat in the air and has revolutionised business class seating (all other airlines are now playing catch up).

BA First has always in my view offered the best First Class experience with unparalleled luxury and excellent food and wine (although the food is not in my view nearly as good as it was going back ten years or so). I have never flown SIngapore though.

I found US Airways poor, American poor except on one memorable flight in economy where the crew were just wonderful. I found Lufthansa crew absolutely awful, unfriendly and terse. Aer Lingus crew vary from excellent to awful and on most of the others the catering in economy is either dreadful or none-existent.

I did fly RyanAir once and never again! My recent experience of being in the air as a pilot and hearing the huge variety of nationalities with a poor command of English flying their planes would worry me enough not to put my family on them. It's one thing to have two Japanese pilots flying together on JAL, or two Germans on Lufthansa or two Dutch on KLM but putting a mix of Eastern European and Spanish crew on the same flight deck as RyanAir, many of whom seem to struggle to understand ATC instructions let alone each other is in my view unwise.

Jonathan