Your Favourite Airline To/from LOS

[fisherd3]

I fly TG regularly, bit of a sucker for the air-miles now!

Has anybody been with Phuket Air? I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned. I think they fly direct from Gatwick, which is a bit of a trek for me. They're around £400 direct, which is good value but maybe you get what you pay for?

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I flew with phucket air in november 2004 from lgw to bkk, 747: old, landing: faultlessly smooth, service: OK, free Thai newspapers (in english) , eye candy:good, food: mediocre (by airline standards), alcohol: not quite forthcoming enough though free, legroom: not good not too bad (I am 6'), price v.reasonable GBP355 overall rating: An efficient budget airline, good value , nothing went wrong, would use again but then I am not rich. I believe they only fly LGW-BKK in the winter season.

[Diggerbasher]

I always fly Eva Air now as the food is absolutely amazing and the service fantastic.They never stop bringing drinks and the cabins are spotless.

[bob a job]

Hi All

British airways are the best, forget about the in-flight service this is not the real issue.

The issue is what the air line will do when things go wrong .

tickets and luggage are the main things that get &lt;deleted&gt;#### up.

after many years of long hall flights I can tell you all Ba are the stars of the lot

they are a bit snobby in the air but they come through when it matters

Ba are a great air line,

And no I don?t work for them, I just recognize a very good service when

Things go down. and they do when you travel a lot.

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Thanks Bob a job, best laugh I've had all week. You were joking, weren't you?

No Joke man.

BA gets my vote

[Diggerbasher]

Travel so frequently back to NZ that i usually only have hand luggage and so no worries about lost luggage.That said i've probably tempted fate and my hand luggage will go walkabout.

[chico]

There's been a bit of talk about airline quality the last few days so I started this poll.

What is your current sweetheart airline? Why is this so?

Which airline do you hate? What terrible crime did they commit to earn your wrath?

I've done my best to include all of the carriers but there's a choice limit in the poll. Also, as I fly regularly to and from Europe, that is the route I'm interested in.

Personally, I've only recently started using Thai air after years of long haul flights with other airlines. My first impression was favourable. Economy class has plenty of legroom although I'll fly business class next time. Bit dissapointed there were no TV's in the back of the seats though. Sexy little air hostesses however but a bit dizzy. Landing was as 'Smooth as silk'.

I loved Cathay Pacific when I lived in Hong Kong.

Sri Lankan used to be great when I bobbed between HK and BKK but now I think they've gone downhill.

Air New Zealand....F**kin' crap, Cabin crew had appauling attitude. Will never fly with them again.

You are right, Thai is probably one of the best, although Eva has excellent service, including screens for everybody, free games, and the routing, apart from movies and music.

One, you did not mention, Lufthansa, is also to forget.

They had good service, but this was ages ago, nowadays they are only expensive and arrogant.

Do you fly direct with the businessmen or penny pinch on the stopover routes with all the lager louts from England. As far as I can tell, there are only 3 or 4 airlines that fly direct to/from LHR (crap airport)....

....comments about Thai Air are particularly welcome.

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[udon]

Travel so frequently back to NZ that i usually only have hand luggage and so no worries about lost luggage.That said i've probably tempted fate and my hand luggage will go walkabout.

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erm, Basher, have you ever posted on this forum under another name ?

10 posts on the first (?) day with both guns blazing!!!

[Gazza]

I've used NW plenty of times going to and fro Saipan. Their connecting flight times are ok though. Arrive Narita from BKK and the Saipan flight has already left so get to stay a free night in Narita. Arriving Narita from Saipan their BKK flight is already leaving so another free night in Narita. Nice little breaks but can get boring after a while. Good for the kids to take them to Ueno zoo on the Saipan - BKK stretch.

I used to enjoy those overnights as well. In fact, I even put up a popular web page on what to do:

Narita Layover Page

Now that NW has the Saipan/Nagoya/Narita flights that arrive in time for the Narita/Bangkok flight you no longer get those free overnights at the Radisson....

Great site. It's a pity I didn't come across it before. Now I'll have to use up my NW airmiles going somewhere else if the layover in Narita is no longer. Shame really.

[cookiephuket]

I fly HK to BKK 5 times a month, used to always use TG business. Last trip no space so I flew Emirates. Wow, was very impressed, now I will use them every time.

[Kathe]

I fly HK to BKK 5 times a month, used to always use TG business. Last trip no space so I flew Emirates. Wow, was very impressed, now I will use them every time.

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I shall fly first time with Emirates end of this month to LOS, I hope I have a comfortable and nice flight. Used to fly many times with Eva or Austrian but this time needed a budjet flight.

[chuchok]

A bloke sitting at an airport bar in New York, noticed a beautiful woman

sitting next to him. He thought to himself, "Wow, she's so gorgeous she

must be a flight attendant. But which airline does she work for?"

Hoping to gain her attention, he leaned towards her and uttered the

Delta Slogan, "Love to fly and it shows?" She gave him a blank, confused

stare, and he immediately thought to himself, "Nope, not Delta."

A moment later, another slogan popped into his head. He leaned toward

her again, "Something special in the air?" She gave him the same confused

look.He mentally kicked himself, and scratched American Airlines off the list.

Next he tried the United slogan, "I would really love to fly your

friendly skies?" This time the woman savagely turned on him, "What the &lt;deleted&gt; do

you want?"

The man smiled, then slumped back in his chair, and said....

"Ahhh, Air New Zealand!"

[jimmybcool]

I fly 3 times a year from the USA. Based on good service, competitive prices, and decent comfort in the various classes EVA all the way for me. A huge plus is the Evergreen Deluxe class between Biz and Economy. All I really needed was some more room and then save the money. Good deal. Under $1000 US roundtrip. And their flight times are perfect with arrivals in BKK at 11 AM instead of late at night like some airlines. Their food isn't great, but I don't choose airlines to feed me.

I also have an airline I HATE. Thai Air. Those SOBs allowed my wife and I to board a flight in Singapore to go to BKK right after Thailand changed their Visa on Arrival list. My wifes nationality was removed from the list. Let me just say Thai Air screwed us pretty good instead of accepting the blame. They overcharged us to fly to Kuala Lumpur so she could get a Visa. I will never forgive Thai Air for that and it will take something special to get me to fly them again.

[Erwin1011]

Up till now, I always used Thai. Like with all other airlines, cattle class does not get you much service, but at least the gold card was easy to maintain and handy for guaranteed seating, milesrules were relatively easy, so what the heck.... but now i noticed they have changed the rules, I start missing miles, got consequently downgraded, found out that upgraded is far much more difficult, service is now ever further going down. complaint letters are no longer answered...

think it is time to change...

[utapaortnab]

Up till now, I always used Thai.

Try EVA Deluxe Class. Costs about $180-200 RT extra above the coach price when travelling from the U.S. but REALLY worth it. Wider seats, (8 accross instead of 10 accross in coach), and separate check in lanes. Fewer people but just as many flight attendents as coach.

I also liked using Cathay Pacific. which like EVA offers morning or early afternoon arrivals, which have always helped me. I arrive in BKK, continue on to Chiayaphum or Pattaya Beach, have dinner then sleep, and the next day, my jetlag is almost over and yes, even China Airlines which also allows for a midday arrival. I HATE LATE EVENING ARRIVALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My very favorite airline is still Singapore Air, but don't take it when travelling from the U.S. because of the added total trip time.

I really hate NW, UA, American, Continental and all other U.S. Carriers. Unions have caused the air and ground staff to be very surly. I also don't like flying from the U.S. on to Seoul on Korean or Asiana mostly because of the very long transfer times in Seoul that only adds many hours to the overall trip time.

ANA and Japan airlines would probably be acceptable but I haven't flown them past Tokyo.

China Airlines is starting flights from Houston-Seattle-Taipei-BKK which I may try on our upcoming Oct/Nov 2005 trip but right now I'm holding a reservation on EVA again.

Ken Bower

San Antonio Texas

ex-Travel Agent (6+years)

have made 35 trips to Thailand to date

http://homepage.mac.com/mgnewman/KenLat/ Homepage

http://kenandlat.diaryland.com daily THIS AND THAT column

[jackr]

Emirates - superb. Flown with them many a time from Birmingham to Bkk. Good departure and arrival times, albeit a stop in Dubai, clean cabins, good food and nice dolly-birds.

Also liked Swiss, SAS, and Thai not bad.

QANTAS - generally awful service, while AA are absolutely the worst. Rattly old cabins, even older trolly-dollies, and no free drinks.

Never flown with BA to los but if I wasn't so tight I wouldn't think twice as whenever I've flown with them, be it Trans-Atlantic or within Europe, they've been top-notch.

OT, but Flew with Air New Zealand once from Dorkland to Honolulu and it was the best flight I've ever had. Thought the staff - least the ones that were serving me and me mate - were fantastic .

OT again. Must add Royal Brunei Airlines. Got upgraded from Business to First (company paying) and filled the bags with goodies, including Champagne, from the first class lounge. The air hostess said it was fine for her to serve us drinks (dry airline) but we had to give them to her first to put in her fridge...ideal! Arrived in Bandar pissed to meet the boss who was far from pleased.

Edited January 17, 2005 by jackr

[bkk_mike]

Up till now, I always used Thai. Like with all other airlines, cattle class does not get you much service, but at least the gold card was easy to maintain and handy for guaranteed seating, milesrules were relatively easy, so what the heck.... but now i noticed they have changed the rules, I start missing miles, got consequently downgraded, found out that upgraded is far much more difficult, service is now ever further going down. complaint letters are no longer answered...

think it is time to change...

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The difficulty in getting upgrades in the last year is the fault of Star Alliance...

Basically they gave all Silver and Gold cardholders in the UK (with ANY Star Alliance airline) upgrade vouchers valid until the end of February 2005. This included people who had gold with another airline and got status matched on a short haul flight on BMI.

This meant that, on virtually every Thai flight from London (and probably other places in Europe) to Thailand, there were always a few people with these upgrade vouchers, so Thai frequent flyers didn't get upgraded as often. (I'm lucky in that my Frequent Flyer card is registered in the UK, so I got vouchers - but those were the only upgrades I've had in the last 11 months), where I was used to getting upgraded on about 1 in 3 flights in the past... (although oddly - I got upgraded BKK->LHR very often, but virtually never upgraded LHR->BKK - go figure).

My last flight from London, despite having a gold card, and knowing I'm in TG's computer as wanting a Window seat always, I got a middle seat.

Hopefully things will be back to normal after February... If not - I think I'll use up my saved miles with a free return in Business or First, then start flying with another airline. Just hope I can find one that will match my gold status when I switch...

[trajan]

My favorite airlines:

1. Cathay Pacific

2. Singapore Air

3. Thai Airways (will bump up the list once new BKK airport opens and new Airbuses and Boeings are delivered with upgraded seats )

<http://www.smarttravelasia.com/airlinepoll.htm>

[peter991]

Been Perth (Australia) to LOS a few times. Not happy with Thai Air (no smiles), could not fault Singapore Airlines (quality plane with pleasant staff). Internally I fly Air Asia because it's cheap (if never on time). Coming back in two weeks and trying out Royal Brunei Air (alcohol free flight - but I don't drink, so I don't care).

[Jack Jones]

Thai Airways (will bump up the list once new BKK airport opens and new Airbuses and Boeings are delivered with upgraded seats

Any idea when these are scheduled to be delivered by Thai?

[fisherd3]

Thai Airways (will bump up the list once new BKK airport opens and new Airbuses and Boeings are delivered with upgraded seats

Any idea when these are scheduled to be delivered by Thai?

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The Thai authorities tried to tie the confirmation of the Airbus order to a reciprocal increase in business from Europe that included the lifting of the ban on Thai chicken products after the 'bird flu' outbreak.

Anyone have any further knowledge on this ? Have they ordetred the planes or is it still up in the Air? (sic)

[rickshaw92]

Cathay Pacific is good and cheap, and they aint stingey with the booze.

Aeroflot? Well ya get what you pay for.

Canadian has been gone for a while, Air Canada is passable but does not fly to BKK

I have always liked B.A.

Air France sucks.

Thai Air is good, I flew from Mae Hong Son to Chiang Mai for a fiver. Not bad eh? Flew with them from BKK to HKG and I got a cool key chain

Korean is O.K. although you may want to skip the jely fish.

[Tornado]

I would say my best flight to date, would be with Singapore Airlines. I also thing Malaysia and Thai are also great. Quantas = crap!

[Tornado]

I fly between Bangkok and Sydney four times a year and prefer Singapore Airlines for the following reasons:

Its inflight entertainment system is second to none

I get to stop in Changi airport and buy all sorts of discouted crap

It was surprisingly the cheapest (compared to Thai Airways and Qantas/BA which is a bullshit airline anyway).

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I agree with the inflight entertainment and ofcourse Changi Airport is a great place to be held over for a few hours.

Quantas (my national carrier) is well below par compared to any Asian airline.

Edited January 29, 2005 by Tornado

[udon]

Quantas (my national carrier) is well below par compared to any Asian airline.

Jeezus H..... Call yerself an Aussie and you can't spell QANTAS!

Shame on you Torno! Get the dunce's cap out

[libya 115]

FROM UK: Emirates is best; Qatar a close second.

From Japan: forget JAL because ANA are great.

Avoid at all costs: BA

Lufthansa aren't bad from Frankfurt.

PAL are good from Manila.

Egypt Air: Avoid

Saudi/Kuwait: Avoid

PIA: Forget

Views welcomed for Etihad and Gulf??

[mrtoad]

From the UK : I prefer Singapore, as I don't mind a stop in S'pore and I have never had a bad flight with them over the 16 ort 17 years that I have used them.

I've also used Qatar and Emirate(Short Stop over) and Thai (Direct) which are also good IMO, although it would be nice if Thai had a decent entertainment system in cattle.

I have also flown with QANTAS(So-So), BA (&lt;deleted&gt;, overated and overpriced), KLM (not bad) and Gulf (Cheap, but never again), none of which I'd go overboard about using. KLM was more for convenience as I could get a flight from my closest airport (Bristol), with a brief stopover in Schippol, but on the way back the 5 hour wait at 3am in the morning at Schippol isn't much fun and the entertainment system sucks.

Have flown with a fair few of the Asian airlines as well, Cathay very good, MAS okay, EVA I have found to be good value as well..

Steer clear of PIA(Student days, never again), Biman(Student days, never again.Possibly the shitiest place I've ever been in), Air India (Unless you want a proper stop over in India, which I did and enjoyed).

For regional flights, most of the budgets are pretty good considering what you pay although Mrstoad isn't too keen .

[meandwi]

I fly out of Miami Florida. Tried every airline in everyway. What makes the trips so terrible, is having to fly in the jet stream, that takes me from Miami, to Atlanta Georgia, up and over Alaska, down the Russian coast, to Soul Korea or Tokyo, then to BKK, then to Krabbi. 31 hours plus the 12 hour time difference!

Finally! Thaiair flies direct from New York City direct to BKK in only 17 hours! Hoooray! They got my vote!

[zorro1]

Probably the vote for Aeroflot was somebody having a bit of finger trouble.

But 15 years ago, Aeroflot was my favourite from London to the Far East.

I tried them first because they were, by far, the cheapest.

All my acquaintances said they had read about them having an appalling safety record; but, when I looked into it this, they were fine on the international routes (as of then, but more about that later).

Their accidents were in Russia, having to try to land in whiteouts in Siberia (because their alternative landing place had also been shutdown by weather), and not having navigation aids or maintenance backup in remote places, etc etc.

But, on the international routes, Aeroflot were using well-maintained (though admittedly old) aircraft. I forget their designation. They were of the vintage, and looked quite similar to the VC 10, with the engines mounted on either side of the tail, like two pairs of spectacles. They were quiet for the passengers (rear engines), their landings were smooth as smooth can be; and their takeoffs showed up all the richer airlines with the later generations of commercial aircraft. Where those lumbered off and away, the Aeroflot job belted down the runway and positively zoomed up into the sky.

A thing that I particularly liked was the maturity of the Aeroflot crews.

The flight crews were grizzled veterans (like I was turning into).

This was in great contrast to BA, where you were being flown by callow youths.

BA's grizzled veterans had grabbed the early-retirement package and gone to fly for airlines like Royal Brunei.

There they flew brand new planes out of BSB in a morning to Singapore, Bangkok, Manila, and Hong Kong and flew them home later in the day. They had the bliss of being home every night . Some of them used to sweetheart their wives into making up some bacon sarnies to take with them so they could avoid the airline food!. (Whoever was rostered to Singapore might find a note asking him to pop down to the TUC Supermarket in the basement below Changi Airport to collect some packets of bacon, as it wasn't available in Brunei),

On Aeroflot , the cabin staff were mature, too. They were very motherly (except for those who were grandmotherly).

I could go on for pages nostalging over some of funny, and some heart-warming, incidents that occurred on around twenty round trips with Aeroflot.

But, as Buddha pointed out to us, all is impermanent. Those crew members retired and it all went to pot. Sure, Aeroflot got things like a few new Airbuses. But also they got pilots like that idiot who let his son sit in the left-hand seat and the situation went to pieces, and the co-pilot was young and inexperienced and useless, and there was the most shaming disaster that I have ever read about. Those veterans who had flown me a few years before must have felt awful to see such crass unprofessionality where they had had such high standards.

But by that time I was using Royal Jordanian.

Well maintained, comfortable planes.

Mature flight crews (also holding senior military-reserve commissions, like the Aeroflot ones had done).

Really tight security.

And cheapest on the route (except for no-noes like China Airlines).

When I added up the scores, and decided who I would go with, many things, like food, TV in the seatback, eye candy, and free booze, didn't rate a single point (though absence of yoiks and yobs amongst my fellow passengers would have rated if I could have predicted it).

So my favourite always was:

whoever amongst the safe, secure, and adequately comfortable was cheapest.

But one years favourite might well drop by the wayside next year. The new carrier joining the route might undercut the others in order to get established. But then their prices would go up when they were well-enough known to get full loads.

P. S. We had some visitors recently who I think beat even the chap from Detroit for length of haul.

They had a 3-hour drive to Halifax, Nova Scotia and a flight to New York before they started heading West across the States and the Pacific.

And they are coming back next year.

I have suggested they look for a suitable bargain in the Round-The-World bucket.

Excellent post. Tragic how that kid bought down the plane. He disconnected the horizontal roll axis on the auoto pilot and the plane went into a roll and the pilots were to late trying to figure out what was happening. Back to to the topic, I fly approx 12 times a year bkk-syd and Always go with the Thai economy. IM very tall so always request an exit row (unlimited leg room) and get one 99% of the time.But to be honest their in flight service after the trolley service is finished is pretty much non existent having nearly blown out the light bulb on one trip so I figure your gonna have to walk to the back of the plane for a beer and after my third I realised that it was an excellent form of exercise. I also have a Gluten intolerance and Thai have an amazing choice of food preferences to be ordered when booking. And they are the cheapest nearly always and the the star alliance lounge in Sydney which is the air new Zealand lounge really is spectacular especially the the N.Z`wines

Edited March 9, 2008 by zorro1

[edh]

NYC-BKK with Cathay Pacific is good

NYC-BKK with Korean was good too - new inflight entertainment system + seats

BKK-MIA BA/Qantas Very good buisness seats and service

Emirates - short haul BKK-HKG sucked!! Never use tham again. Heard they are better on long haul.

Scandinavian (SAS) very poor service but good economy extra seats

Finnair - Very poor. Old jets etc. etc

[stevemcqueen]

I chose Singapore...always on time,clean,great service,and comfortable.

I'm surprised how many votes Thai got.Useless

I'm tired of them.but I have to use Thai Airlines now and again.

[Zpete]

libya 115 , How deep didja dig, to find this thread?

Neva care, could be good to see some updated comment.

AKL - BKK, gimme Thai.

Did Qantas/BA one trip, via SYD. 6 hour stopover let me see peeps.

Qantas sux........., BA, brand new plane, good food, staff great.

Air NZ, fave, but dun do BKK.

Used Royal Brunei AKL - BWN - BKK and it was good, but NO BOOZE, I arrived on top of the weather, sheeeeeesh.

Short hops from BKK, normally Air Asia.

Once One-2-Go start from Swampy, they will be back in my sights. May have started already, saw flyer saying BKK - HKT flites were on soon.