The World's Best Airline

H

heeha

New Member
I know this may be a subjective question, but in your opinion, what is the world's greatest airline in terms of quality of service, profitability, diversity of routes, etc.
 
From a pilot's perspective it's one thing, from a passengers perspective it would be another.

For pilots one would have to include Britsh Airways, Air France, and Lufthansa since they have a good combination of short haul and long haul flying with very diverse route structures. I think it used to be KLM that paid pilots based soley on longevity. The younger guys tended to fly long haul and the older guys who got tired of that would fly short haul since there wasn't an issue with pay. Personally I quite like that concept because some of these Ultra Long Haul flights are a killer and I really don't want to be doing them when I'm 60 years old.

Cathay Pacific, Singapore, and Emirates are all widebody airlines so most of their flying is medium to long haul. Emirates scores good from a pilots point of view in that you can usually average about one landing every 5-7 hours of flight time. That means personally getting about 4-8 landings per month as the pilot flying. No issues with currency that way. It scores bad in the fact that there is a lot of night flying which is quite fatiguing.

I personally haven't run across a better in-flight entertainment system than what Emirates has ( and yes I've ridden on Cathay and quite few other foriegn airlines ). Roughly 600 on demand channels of movies and music to choose from along with video games for kids ( and adults ). The personal cabins in first class are awesome and the new lie flatish seats in business are quite good. Last time I rode on Cathay they weren't even close to EK's standard for IFE or seating, but I know they have a newer product which I haven't seen yet. I haven't ridden on Singapore so can't compare, but I know it's quite good. EK can be hit and miss on customer service with both ground staff and cabin crew. Part of that reason is the very diverse national and cultural differences among the staff one runs across. Cathay and Singapore tend to be more dependable since it's primarily Asian staff.

Virgin Atlantic should get good mention as they have some nice amenites on their long haul fleet, massage therapists being one of them.



Typhoonpilot
 
typhoonpilot said:
Emirates scores good from a pilots point of view in that you can usually average about one landing every 5-7 hours of flight time. That means personally getting about 4-8 landings per month as the pilot flying. No issues with currency that way. It scores bad in the fact that there is a lot of night flying which is quite fatiguing.
Click to expand...
I know an F/O at UA who flew for EK for a few years. In his eyes the best thing about it was the food. Since most of the flights were long haul, the pax got elaborate meals, and the crew would get a menu where they could select several courses which would all be presented to them on fine china.

That alone sounds just great.
 
ChasenSFO said:
I know an F/O at UA who flew for EK for a few years. In his eyes the best thing about it was the food. Since most of the flights were long haul, the pax got elaborate meals, and the crew would get a menu where they could select several courses which would all be presented to them on fine china.

That alone sounds just great.
Click to expand...


Yep, you're right. I tend to take that for granted after 8 years. It is certainly way better than the U.S. airlines in terms of how the flight deck crew are taken care of. At EK the first class galley operator must contact us at least once every 30 minutes to see how we are doing as well as offer anything to drink or eat. We don't always get the first class food though, only if there are leftovers or extras.


Typhoonpilot
 
well, if this past week was indicative, it sure as hell ain't Delta. 4 legs to Geneva and back for EBACE and EVERY leg had problems from ragged ass 747 to reservations screwed up/canceled/erased. And arriving back in ATL, sat on the ramp for :45 waiting for our SCHEDULED arrival gate as it was occupied by a maint-delayed dept and the wizards couldn't figure out how to let our flt go on an open gate.
 
The same airline can be very good on a long haul flights but can suck on a medium-short one.

Singapore on long haul is amazing, but there short haul sucks. I flew on them between Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

I flew on about 25 different airlines as a passenger and my favorites are, in most of them I flew both buisness calss and couch:

Latin America:
Copa
TAM

Europe:
Swiss (for flights between the US and Europe it's the best)
Alitalia (no I'm not joking)
KLM

Africa:
SA

Asia:
Singapore
Malaysian
Thai

Middle east:
Turkish

North America:
Delta
 
WOW I have to dissagree with you there.

Alitalia had the nastiest filthiest aircraft I have ever been on. The boarding procedure was the most unorganized convoluted thing I have ever seen and the seats were so close to each other I had to sit sideways to be even somewhat comfortable. My knees were pressing into the back of the seat in front of me if I would of sat normally. I had an open seat next to me and they put carryon luggage secured by the seatbelt in the seat because they ran out of room in the overhead.

My vote... one of the WORST airlines ever.
 
Whatever airline is taking me away from Kansas City. Preferably to the West Coast or Texas.

I have had delightful flights on Varig, Aerolineas Argentina, Air France, and SWA.
 
Kestrel452 said:
AA, they put DC outlets in their seats!
Click to expand...

AA is Satan's own airline.

Am I the only one that kind of likes NOT having cell/internet on an airplane? I mean, I can go old skool and read a book or a magazine. I don't have clients bothering me. It is like a 2.5 hour vacation. Of course, getting ready to land I know that I am going to have tons of emails when I turn on the BB and probably only a couple that I actually want to see - but it is kind of nice to at least have a little time to yourself.
 
I would also like to know if there is a ban on slim people flying. On 3 legs of this recent trip the cabin was replete with lardassians including ones sitting next to me.
 
Orange Anchor said:
I would also like to know if there is a ban on slim people flying. On 3 legs of this recent trip the cabin was replete with lardassians including ones sitting next to me.
Click to expand...

In-n-Out has an extensive "off menu" menu. Much like that SWA has extensive "off menu" items available for more money...like no sitting by fatties, or kids or old people. This is available at the gate for extra money.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top