Worst And Best Airlines

English Boards Aviation and Aerospace
41

Hi,

my list of airlines in order of preference:

TAP (have flown with them only once - FRA-LIS-OPO and the return OPO-LIS-FRA, on the way back the check-in agent offered to be rebook us on an earlier flight from OPO to LIS to avoid the short transfer time at LIS on her own initiative and for free…that’s what I call costumer service!)

Air Berlin (generally good service on short routes, have flown them several times within Germany, they have IFE on all A320 Series Aircraft and some B737 even on very short routes and offer snacks)

Tuifly (good service/food, friendly crew and rather cheap flights - their main problem is that they squeze 189 Seats into a 738, which results in insufficient space…)

Aegean Airlines (good airline, mostly on time and good service - anyway the food is not really my taste…)

Lufthansa (while they are a big airline their service is not good compared to f.e. Air Berlin, no IFE at all on short routes and sometimes rather rude crews)

Ryanair (when you book a cheap flight you often end up paying more than for a flight with a full service carrier and no service at all…anyway, I might book on their flights when doing a daytrip or so)

42

How do you book these good priced tickets on ryanair flights? AFAIK there are loads of tricks they use to take your money… I have never flown with them, but heard a lot of rather bad comments on their service and seating. Also, they are cheating with calling Memmingen Munich

Delta B762 over the pond was definitely the worst i ever had. No IFE except for these old TV-screens in both aisles, bad, really hard seats, and the complementary meal was rubbish.

43

[list=1][]Turkish Airlines - Every time I take TK I’m amazed about the excellent food. Even on IST-ESB, a 40-minute-flight, you can choose between a delicious salad box and a sandwich/cake/crackers box. Legroom in Y is excellent in 738 if you get one of the seats in the first ten rows. []Niki - They serve the best sandwiches you can get above 10.000ft… And it’s a nice feeling that sometimes the boss himself is chauffeuring you to VIE. []Ryanair - If you know what you are doing, you’ll have lots of fun. Amazingly this seems to be the airline with the most extensive in-flight lavatory usage []US Airways - Well, some years ago this was an Airline with good price/performance ratio on flights with no direct connection to Germany. No idea how this has changed but a colleague told me they now have the oldest cabin crew. Hopefully the Purserette doesn’t get a heart attack on duty… []dba - not existing anymore, but I remember the times enjoying super-hot complimentary coffee and a pretzel served out of a gigantic plastic bag - very stylish! []Sun Express - Although they are not a real alternate for flights from and to Turkey, you sometimes have no choice. I remember positively their safety understanding and helpful staff.[/list]

There are some Airlines like Pegasus, Sik-Ay Hava, Hamburg International which I cannot rate positively or negatively at all.

Last place goes to Lufthansa. In the morning I recognize the ignorant staff of LH commuting to FRA. When I definitely have no other choice or suffer from mental derangement I always complain to myself. On every single flight I had problems with them. On my first flight I had to change my return flight to another day. I knew that would cost 50 bucks, but they were not able to deduct the money from my credit card before I reached the airport. Instead, I had to present my credit card physically to LH staff at the airport office before I could check in. Aww… In addition, they managed twice to loose my luggage on a MUC-ESB direct flight. This is real art! During the ash cloud disaster two years ago they cancelled my connection flight and really offered me a camp bed at MUC after queueing for hours at the service desk. And it took not less than 8 months to get the refund for the cancelled connection flight… But I really started to hate them when these pricks caused a two hour delay of my TK flight to IST because we had to wait for customs clearance of an urgent spare part for a wrecked LH aircraft.

44

I have flown on Singapore, Qantas, Emirates, Royal Brunei, Thai, Malaysian, JAL, Airasia, Ryanair, Wizzair, Qatar, Jetstar Asia, Air China, Cathay Pacific

Based solely on my own experiences, in my opinion:

[b]BEST (Premuium Carriers)

[/b]

  1. Singapore Airlines (What’s there to say? No disputes here)

  2. Emirates (Although I have to agree the service standards fell over the past few years, it still undoubtedly offers one of the best Y/F classes products around. Comfortable seats, great food, state-of-the-art AVOD, multi-language speaking air crew and a relatively new fleet)

  3. Qatar (Similar to Emirates, but they have yet to convince me that they deserve being awarded Skytrax Airline of the Year)

  4. Qantas (Decent flight experiences, great IFE and a relatively new fleet, except for once where they failed to inform me that my card payment failed to go through online and I had to rush to the airport 4hours on the day fo the flight itself to pay by cash. Food is so-so and service standards not as good as asian carriers)

BEST (Low-cost Carriers)

  1. Airasia (Very new and clean fleet of A320s, on-time, efficient, friendly staffs and air crews)

  2. Wizzair (Similar to Airasia, but limited network)

WORST (Premium Carriers)

  1. Royal Brunei (No alcohol served onboard, Poor IFE, Poor transit location, long layovers, food is poor for asian carrier standards, very old fleet)

  2. Air China (Old fleet, although they are renewing it recently. Poor IFE, Poor attitude from staff and no information given when flight is delayed more than 8hours. Average food and service. Limited English-speaking air crews)

  3. Cathay Pacific (I have flown with them once SIN-HKG-TPE. Food sucks. no AVOD. old/ugly(sic) air crews. Poor handling of transit passengers and baggages. Not sure how they got 5-stars rating on Skytrax. Expensive for its standards)

WORST (Budget Carriers)

  1. Ryanair (I know you get what you pay for, but like previous posts had mentioned, FR’s service standards, ethics and PR is appalling. Avoid at all costs.)
45

Hopefully not to old a topic.

Best:

  1. QANTAS. I fly the regional link Rockhampton<->Brisbane fairly often and they are the only full service airline on that route (and I enjoy in-flight beer) and the Dash 8s make for quick loading and unloading. Flew first class Sydney to Perth 10 years ago, which was probably the best flight I’ve ever had. Never flown them long haul, but I’ll try to fly them domestic when I have a choice.

  2. Qatar Airways. Only flown them a couple of times between Doha and Abu Dhabi and Dubai (about 20 minute flights) but they’re always up there in terms of service. Though the deficiencies of Doha Airport (lack of jetways and need for buses) get to me, they do have an A&W store there.

  3. Virgin America. The advantages of a premium airline without the cost. I remember paying $39US for a flight between LAX and SFO.and it was just a nice flight. Modern fleet, AVOD and WiFi make for a pleasant experience.

  4. Royal Brunei. Fly them ALOT. Or did before they discontinued service to Brisbane. In contrast to what JL was saying above me, I think they have a decent product. Fleet of 777s are old, but not noticeably so. Food is forgettable but nothing awful, IFE has a good selection of up to date movies. And I paid $1000 return Brisbane to Dubai last year, which is extremely good value for money. I know Brunei doesn’t have the greatest airport, but for $5 you get your transit visa and just enjoy Bandar for the day. Customs and all that in Brunei are painless.

  5. Thai Airways. Been a while but on the Perth->Bangkok route all I remember is exemplary service and a multitude of drink runs.

Worst:

  1. US Airways. Flew from San Francisco->Phoenix->Dallas->Charlotte->New York LaGuardia. So very awful. Poor service, uncomfortable, oversold 3 of the flights I was on. And not particularly cheap either.

  2. Sri Lankan Airlines. My short flight from Dubai to Kuwait was delayed 4 hours in Colombo. Service was average, though apologies were made for the delay. Food was inedible, gave it to the man next me.

  3. Kuwait Airways. Similar story to Sri Lankan, though delay out of Kuwait was only 20 minutes. Food isn’t good and planes are old. Flown 4 or 5 times between Kuwait, Bahrain and Doha.

  4. Jetstar. I fly them every week from Gold Coast to Melbourne and I can usually just accept the low cost disadvantages of such a short flight. However that flew out the window when I flew them long haul to Osaka. Flight attendant didn’t speak great English, seats uncomfortable and aging plane. That said, they are getting better with newer planes and their iPad IFE is actually decent, but not enough content to fill a 9 hour flight.

46

Best:

Air Berlin

Lufthansa

Singapore Airlines

Easyjet

Worst:

Iberia

Air Europa

47

fascinating how different every coustomer see their flights or how different every flight can be :blink:

48

too right

49

  1. Emirates: Nice food ,seats and amazing ife

  2. Jet Airways: Lovely food, new fleet and homely service

  3. BMI: Never had a bad experience

  4. Continental

  5. Aero Mexico

Worst

  1. ryan air…Just NO ryan air Just no…

  2. Lufhtansa

3.Swiss

4.EasyJet

  1. US Airways
50

Adding to my favorite airlines now is a new one: Virgin Atlantic

We flew LHR-PVG-LHR this month and I must say that I was impressed by

-the helpfulness of the staff (i.e. ALL their staff we met [Check-in, crews, ground staff])

-managed to check our luggage through from PVG to MAD although the Iberia flight was in no way connected to Virgin

-you feel respected and valued as a customer

-nice service with the british touch

-complementary meals are OK to good, depending on the caterer

-good IFE

-the planes are kept in good shape, our A340-600’s at least were clean and tidy

51

Best

  • Singapore Airlines (Flights: Munich -> Singapore, Singapore -> Hanoi, Ho-Chi-Minh-City -> Singapore, Singapore -> Munich)

  • Aero Lloyd (RIP; Munich - Rhodes)

  • Air Berlin/Lufthansa (MUC - DUS/MUC - LHR)

  • Vietnam Airlines (Hanoi -> Danang, Húe - > Ho-Chi-Minh-City: No service for 1h15mins flight but you get a refreshing tissue and a bottle of still water (0,5L) but on time)

Worst

  • Condor (Fankfurt - Montego Bay; horrible seats with really bad seatspace, even in the new cabin of the 763ER)
52

Best:

Delta

BMI

Worst:

El Al!!!

53

I’m fly only in Europe mostly with germanwings

they are cheep and they are "flying autobus"

they fly in time and that is important for me

54

I fly over 90 flights per year, so my list is tweaked to the sense of flying charter and for business

business top 5 in random order all in Economy class

Singapore Airlines, Thai, KLM, Lufthansa and Emirates

Worst

AirFrance, Iberia, BA, Scandinavian, American Airlines

Business top 5 in C-Class

Singapore, KLM, Lufthansa,

Worst in C-Class

Scandinavian, United, Delta

Charters

Good, Arkefly, Transavia, Old LTU( now AirBerlin)

Bad charters. To many to write

55

I flew ~400k miles in the past 3 years so here’s my picks. (albeit only about 60k in 2012)

(all rankings in order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; second line includes how many flights I’ve had with each service in recent memory)

Best Long-haul F: Asiana, Lufthansa (new), All Nippon, Cathay Pacific, Thai (ex-BKK only for Royal Orchid Spa)

OZ: 1, LH: 1, NH: 1, CX: 3, TG: 3

Worst Long-haul F: [b]United /b, Lufthansa (old, unless ex-FRA for First Class Terminal)

UA: 1, LH: 1

Best Long-haul C: Cathay Pacific (new or old), Singapore (77W/388/345), Turkish (77W), British Airways (CWLCY only), Virgin Atlantic

CX: 14, SQ: 4, TK: 2, BA: 2, VS: 4

Worst Long-haul C: Aer Lingus, United (old 777), Lufthansa (old)

EI: 1, UA: 1 (old), LH: 2

Best Premium Eco: Turkish, EVA

TK: 4, BR: 2

Worst Premium Eco: China Southern, Air France

CZ: 2, AF: 2

Best Long-haul Y: Turkish, Singapore, United (E+ on refurb 777), Air Canada

TK: 1, SQ: 2, UA: 2, AC: 4

Worst Long-haul Y: Air France (3-4-3 on 777), United (747), Aeroflot

AF: 1, UA: 10, SU: 2

Best Regional/Domestic F or C: Delta BusinessElite JFK-SFO/LAX, Singapore, United p.s., All Nippon, Air China

DL: 2, SQ: 4, UA: 2, NH: 3, CA: Countless

Worst Regional/Domestic F or C: US Airways, United, Delta, American, Air Macau (although most of these are still better than intra-Europe "C")

US: Countless, UA: Countless, DL: 4, AA: 2, NX: 1

Best Regional/Domestic Y: Dragonair, Cathay Pacific, Singapore, Air Canada, Virgin America

KA: 2, CX: 10, SQ: 4, AC: Countless, VX: 2

Worst Regional/Domestic Y: China Estern, United (legacy UA equipment), Air China, US Airways, American

MU: 2, UA: Countless, CA: 5, US: Countless, AA: 4

So to sum it up, Asian carriers good, European carriers okay, American carriers bad and Chinese carriers inhumane, with some exceptions. I am not permitted (nor want) to fly Gulf Carriers or El Al so I can’t speak for those. I’ve also only included stuff from the past 3-4 years and excluded defunct airlines. I also do not fly charters and very rarely fly LCCs.

56

Flying in Asian Regions and haven't tried any European Airline though. 

My Best on Full Service Carriers would be:

1.) Etihad - 9.0

2.) Thai Airways International - 8.5

3.) Emirates - 7.5 

4.) Philippine Airlines - 7.5

Never encountered a really bad experience with other airlines though.

57

very nice topic

been lucky enough to fly in norther Canada 3 week on and having 3 week off i fly a LOT around the world 

the best Consistent experience was 

1- swiss

the worst experience

air France  ( far ahead)

air Canada ( slowly improving )

lufthansa 

58

No one sayed about Russia airlines (or I can’t read)

I have floan by Rassia airlines and I know what is realy bad airline (for example Krasavia have 50-ear old planes)

So I don’t like every Russia airlines

And I like every airlines wich are not based in Russia.

59

Best at long-haul: 

- Air Canada (B777-300ER are very beautiful *-*)

  • Lufthansa / AirBerlin (New Cabindesign of AB)

- Emirates

Worst at long-haul:

- American Airlines

- Air Berlin (old Cabin)

  • Delta Airlines / Air France

Best Regional/Domestic:

- Air Canada (PTV's on all Seat's)

- Lufthansa / AirBerlin

- Emirates

 

Worst Regional/Domestic:

  • American Airlines

- Delta

- US*Airways

60

Best airlines:

  • Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss

  • Condor (new 320 fleet),

  • Singapoor Airlines,

  • Emirates,

  • Turkish Airlines (777)

Worst airlines:

  • United (747),

  • Air France,

  • Alitalia,

  • TUNIS AIR!!!