Does anyone have a favourite airline?

GGizmo

GGizmo

GGizmo

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On the heels of the favourite airport thread, I'm wondering does everyone have a favourite airline company?

The airlines I've travelled on were;

BMI
British Airways
US Airways
United Airlines

I know at least 2 of those are defunct these days.

But my favourite was BMI (I think it was called British Midlands originally, but not sure). They always called me by my first name. I think it might have been them that had a built in game boy console in the chair arm.

My flights were all heading to the US and back, so I never got to experience the ones going to Europe and beyond, and also the budget airlines.

Does anyone else have an airline you prefer to fly on?
 
Singapore or Virgin usually for me.

Done loads of US trips
For me BA were by far the worst. Probably as flew Manchester to Chicago; ancient 757 with basic ife (virgin had seat back a decade before) and service was just awful.
Delta hold a special place as give me my only buisness class upgrade and was on a super budget last minute deal (was Manchester to Vegas with hotel for £500 alone)
US Airways were always cheap and average.
American Airlines were below average
Singapore did the Manchester to Houston route probably my most flown, used to give ammienty kit even in economy and just genrally good feeling.
Virgin even in economy seemed to come around with drinks more than all the others (maybe just water and juice but helps with dehydration) and IFE was always good.

Since doing more buisness.
Singapore A350 was really nice, but with so much buisness seating didn't feel special
Singapore A380 felt really dated. And again whole top deck seemed to be buisness / first so didn't feel special but overall not a bad experience.
Virgin A330(ceo)/787 is ok but really dated. Its a good bed but a crap seat imho
Virgin A350 is really nice and does make you feel a bit special
Virgin A350 in the "holiday" config is my fave. 4 rows of buisness does make you feel really special
KLM / Lufthansia on 747/A330 seemed to be same seat, dated but i like the old non pod design if with someone feels far less clasutrophobic but annoying if alone for privacy, climing over people go bog etc.

Did a few premium flights inbetween
Singapore A330, luckily only cost £70 to upgrade not really better than economy
Virgin 787, nice wide seat and a bit more legroom, meals far nice. Only bad thing is if person in front reclines you lose the extra leg room
Virgin A350, crap conpared to the 787 narrowed the seats and same problem with recline.
 
Not sure I have a favourite company. But the best flight I ever took was operated by KLM - Heathrow to Vancouver, they were on a Chinese kick so the in-flight meal was actually edible.

Second best flight amusingly was a Ryanair one from Perpignan to Birmingham. It had been delayed pretty badly. I struck up a conversation with an incredibly pretty flight attendant as we were boarding, commiserating with her about the day she was having. She then came up to me before takeoff and offered me a seat in the emergency exit row, so for once I flew home with my legs stretched out instead of my kneecaps being pressed against the seat in front of me :)
 
Emirates for me.

Never had a problem with them, even when my bag missed its flight they helped me out as much as possible.

Just good service all round. The budget airlines are awful though.

Virgin the way to go when hopping across the pond!
 
Never really allowed to fly business despite travelling around 100 days a year. Prem economy mostly for long haul though.

Qatar is good (but no prem economy). Also like Cathay, but Emirates is good as well, but not One World so rarely fly them.

Qantas also are pretty good, but only really fly them if I’m going to Singapore (or onto Oz)
 
If you want a flight that you can be sure will be quiet and well-behaved and secure and you're travelling in that part of the world then look at Royal Brunei: they carry the Gurkhas. They weren't so hot on the service, nor the quality of the seat, but it was 20 years ago.
 
I don’t fly enough to really have a strong opinion and when I do fly it tends to be BA due to having air miles/companion vouchers to spend.

Having said that, flying economy is always a hateful experience while flying business is almost always pleasant on intercontinental flights.

My best flying experience was with Korean Air about 15 years ago. I got to sit upstairs on a 747 and the flight was deserted so the service was stellar. I ate and drank like a king.
 
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Anyone but Korean Air is fine.

I'd booked flights a year in advance to go to Japan. Got to the gate and they flatly refused to let me board as I couldn't present the card I'd used to buy the tickets. It had expired in the meantime.

I had to either cancel my holiday or buy tickets again and try to claim it back. It took six months of grief to get the refund.

**** Korean Air.
 
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I was a huge BMI fan actually; used to fly mainly for work from Edinburgh to Heathrow every week and they were brilliant; always remember having changed from the 06:30 Monday flight to a Sunday lunchtime and being the only person in Business/Flex Economy - they brought in their Boeing 757 they used for the London-Moscow Route at the time and I was the only one sitting in the business class cabin - was brilliant!!!

Always quite liked Flybe for flying across to Northern Ireland, although partly because I preferred going into City than International.

Mainly fly BA or Easyjet these days and find them much of a muchness.
 
Aegean had pretty good food when I flew with them, Virgin were ok in comparison but definitely had a good drinks service and I have to say they were excellent when I raised a concern about the welfare of a fellow passenger, where they sprung to action and clearly demonstrated that they are very well trained.

I can't complain about easyJet for the low cost travel option into Europe.

The only one I'd generally avoid is Ryanair.
 
Sone said:
Although when they give you the little booze house don't you find it a bitannoying when they give you a 5 minute story on it. Sometimes they do sometimes they don't
Click to expand...

I didn't get the story. What I did get when I flew KLM was a French wine from an AC I'd actually visited.
 
I tend to use Virgin for US/SA and I am lucky that I fly up front but they are still mixed. Some of the older planes show their age, not being well maintaining or cleaned and some of the new ones, like the A300 Neo with the new cabin layout feel cheaply constructed, even the brand new Retreat Suite which tough spacey felt cheaply built and was already feeling tired when I used it this August.

I have just (as in today) compared them to BA 350 and their new Business Class which is a touch nicer but BA in my experience is not great though their newer planes with no more First Class are now on a par with Virigin, though service isn't as good based on this week and food either.

I used AerLingus often but only to get to Dublin and back so not really a view on their long halls.
 
Ive only every flown to mostly European countries, so used the awful easy jet and the like, but when flying to America, I have used Virgin every time and can't complain!
 
I’ve flown BA the most, by far, they get a lot of flak but I find them to be pretty decent. The most generous luggage allowance for economy. With its one Terminal in LHR, it makes the process a little nicer.

But the rest of them, United, Delta, Aer Lingus, Air France, TAP, Asiana, Jetstar I’ve only flown with them once (or twice with return), are much of muchness.

If all airlines are going on the same route I’ll probably pick Singapore, ANA and then Cathays.
 
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