Your Favourite Airline To/from LOS

[Captain Chaos]

Emirates and Qatar are both outstanding. New jets, obedient and helpful staff, comfortable lounges (business & first class) I think Qatar wins the lounge award, they have their own separate building that your bussed over too for Business and fist class passengers, its huge with good food and not as crowded as Emirates in Dubai.

middle row in Emirates business has three seats

THREE SEATS in the middle!

I've never flown Emirates but I'd be horrified to board and see this! The Business class de-rigour is 2 seats together - I always take the upstairs also if on a 747.

a number of airlines who bought 777s ordered three seats in business middle row. applies also to Cathay Pacific

Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways' 777's also have the 3 in the middle - at least if they're in regional configuration

Personally, my first choice would be SQ as a rule - but their prices are a bit OTT. I can get a biz class return to Europe for about 40% less if I fly TG via BKK - and if you pick the route carefully, the new Airbus A340-500's will be present - TG's new biz class is as good as anything else out there imho. Swiss is another good option - a modern A340 on the SIN-BKK-ZRH route, and from Zurich I can easily connect to Chaos Central (Brum)

Done Emirates a few times as they fly direct into Brum from Dubai - only airline that flies wide-bodies into BHX so far as I know - and no complaints but I personally prefer one long flight and a short hop to two shorter flights. Horses for courses that of course...

CC

[deon]

Eva all the way, i went with thai airways once ,it was the first time i had ever been to Thailand .And i am sorry to say but once with them was enough for me .Since then every time i have flown its always been with eve from from the uk.

[davidxl]

I'm a big fan of Etihad , modern planes, great service, generous on baggage allowance, usually good stopover times at an Abu dhabi airport, can reserve your actual seat online at time of initial booking, by point and clicking on a diagram of the seating plan and they have a fairly good FF scheme. They are small enough to care, but not a 2 bit operation and are probably still subsidised by the Abu Dhabi Emirate Government.

I like Qatar too, but keep an eye on some of their 8 hour stopover times

Edited May 1, 2008 by davidxl

[Naam]

warning: flew last week BKK-MNL-BKK business class with PR (Philippine Airlines), all other airlines booked out. sh*ttiest business class i have experienced in many years row distance that i could not cross my legs comfortably, seat reclining (measured on top of backrest) max 15cm. price 51,000 Baht. ridiculous!

[Freddie_fly]

I had to vote SQ, everytime with them has been good, Cathay would be my second choice, but I was working in Turkey last year and Turkish airlines direct was excellent, new plane, great staff, comfortable legroom. Have never had any problems with SAS when I am working in the North sea, preferably through Copenhagen airport. Cant see why anyone would rate Thai anymore, 25 years ago they were excellent, now they are definatly third tier, maybe due to the number of Thai VIP's who get to travel free??

From Africa I am currently being flown with Ethiopean via Addis or South african/SQ via Joburg and Singapore. Only problem with working in Africa is the same as working in India, explosion in travel but crap 30 year old airport infrastructure that really cannot cope with the numbers anymore. Luanda/New Delhi have got to be my favourite pet hates as far as airports go.

regards

Freddie

[Goshawk]

Etihad

[RouxTheDay]

Thai, but only because it's a non-stop from LAX. Otherwise it'd be Singapore or Asiana all the way. Since usually business class, probably Asiana (seats are way better, tho' Singapore does have a special place in my heart!)...

But, when going between BKK and Dubai (etc.), it's Emirates, all the way, baby...

[Jack Jones]

Any airline where I don't have to get off half way through the journey. Thai, Eva, BA etc.

[cloudhopper]

I'm surprised China got even 4% - the worst. EVA all the way!

[ataloss]

EVA to America - really good service, rates and a range of convenient choices to either coast of Canada or the States. GOBAMA!

[marshbags]

Qatar business.

Hiya Naam,

I,ve decided to give them a try, Bankok / Manchester.

Any useful advice based on your experience please ?

I,ve checked the web page and it looks pretty good to me.

Are there any scary episodes of getting pulled on the middle east leg that are posted on T.Visa., not that i,m a druggy or anything, but like when i visit Singapore, i,m always wary of innocent third party stuff.

Especially important, the medications for my family to use lem sip and the like i carry, is it o.k. in the hold luggage ?

What are they like for baggage, is it keen and are the limits 30 kg hold, and 15kg,s for carry on still in place ?

Some airlines are now changing allocations as we all know.

Lounge facilities at relevant airports and snacks, when available.

Any other imput re Qatar from other members / posters appreciated.

Thank you

marshbags

Edited June 8, 2008 by marshbags

[thaiwalker]

cathay pacific for me back to the frozen tundra... i've heard JAL is cheaper and quicker from vancouver?

[justride]

Flying to BKK from LAX on 6/14/08. Taking Cathay pacific it was the cheapest I was able to find from the LAX. Can’t wait to start trip. Best service on bord plane I every had was on Thai airways from LAX to BKK. Best flight was EVA from LAX to BKK.

[Kerryd]

cathay pacific for me back to the frozen tundra... i've heard JAL is cheaper and quicker from vancouver?

I used to fly JAL (YVR-BKK, through Narita). Quite enjoyed it.

How ever, last time I went to Vancouver (Nov 04), I took China Air. It was cheaper and had a better schedule.

This time (in August), I'm using Philippines Air. Mostly for the schedule, partly for the price. I priced the same trip out on a couple of airlines and PA was the cheapest (I would have preferred China Air or JAL again, but it just wasn't working for me, schedule and price-wise).

From Vancouver, I used FlightCenter to book my tickets (I do most of it myself these days, or have Tom at SaveFlights do it).

[tw25rw]

I've recently taken to flying Thai as I have been able to go business class and they have a generous ff program. If EVA were to join Star Alliance, I would possibly choose them instead.

[Tafia]

Qatar business.

Hiya Naam,

I,ve decided to give them a try, Bankok / Manchester.

Any useful advice based on your experience please ?

I,ve checked the web page and it looks pretty good to me.

Are there any scary episodes of getting pulled on the middle east leg that are posted on T.Visa., not that i,m a druggy or anything, but like when i visit Singapore, i,m always wary of innocent third party stuff.

Especially important, the medications for my family to use lem sip and the like i carry, is it o.k. in the hold luggage ?

What are they like for baggage, is it keen and are the limits 30 kg hold, and 15kg,s for carry on still in place ?

Some airlines are now changing allocations as we all know.

Lounge facilities at relevant airports and snacks, when available.

Any other imput re Qatar from other members / posters appreciated.

Thank you

marshbags

Flown many times with Qatar, never had a problem, I always check stop over times and have always been lucky enough to have no more than one to two hours stop over. No scary incidents!

[utapaortnab]

Qatar business.

Hiya Naam,

I,ve decided to give them a try, Bankok / Manchester.

Any useful advice based on your experience please ?

I,ve checked the web page and it looks pretty good to me.

Are there any scary episodes of getting pulled on the middle east leg that are posted on T.Visa., not that i,m a druggy or anything, but like when i visit Singapore, i,m always wary of innocent third party stuff.

Especially important, the medications for my family to use lem sip and the like i carry, is it o.k. in the hold luggage ?

What are they like for baggage, is it keen and are the limits 30 kg hold, and 15kg,s for carry on still in place ?

Some airlines are now changing allocations as we all know.

Lounge facilities at relevant airports and snacks, when available.

Any other imput re Qatar from other members / posters appreciated.

Thank you

marshbags

Flown many times with Qatar, never had a problem, I always check stop over times and have always been lucky enough to have no more than one to two hours stop over. No scary incidents!

[bkkjames]

IMO your poll is flawed.

No Etihad listed and btw, Canadian Airlines stopped flying into Bangkok about 7 years ago when they were taken over by Air Canada.

For the ones you did manage to list correctly, Cathay and JAL to the West Coast of NA for me.

Flown Emirates 10 times to the ME and Med and it's ok. Not fantastic but better than TG.

BA is alright to London but Heathrow is a joke.

[bkk_mike]

I'm sure I'm on this poll earlier backing Thai.

However, I have tried for the 3rd time to use the "free upgrade" that I got when I requalified for Gold last year, only to be told, for a third time, that I couldn't on the flights I wanted to fly on. (I can understand this in high season, but this time and last time, it wasn't high season).

In the summer, I switched to Qantas when travelling with the kids to London, after seeing Thai's prices, and finding Qantas more than 10K baht EACH cheaper. I hadn't flown Qantas in years, but had heard good things about their upgraded cabins. (I didn't want to do a stopover with the kids, so restricted myself to direct flights).

I found Qantas a little short of leg room (I'm over 6ft), but way better than BA was last time I flew with them. Add in that the seat back TVs with a decent selection of kids movies kept the kids quiet.

Even my Thai wife was effusive in praise of Qantas, especially the little bag of snacks you get for the night part of the flight - far better than Thai's cellophane wrapped mystery sandwiches.

After my latest failure to get my free upgrade, I left the Thai office and have booked on Emirates for my next flight. (It was so much cheaper than Qantas / BA / Thai, that I wondered what was wrong, until I realised they didn't have a 20,000 baht fuel surcharge being added to their prices... - The oil price has dropped dramatically, why are fuel surcharges still so high.

Don't get me wrong - at the same price, I'd probably still fly Thai - they have better leg room in economy than most, and far better food (so long as the curry is one of the options). But the lack of seat back TVs is getting stale. I first flew Thai 10 years ago, and was shocked then at the lack of seat back TVs. And they're still not there on their flights to London.

Thai should wake up and realise that people really will stop flying with them if things don't improve. (Given my last flight was Qantas, and my next flight is Emirates, I seem to have stopped flying with them myself, and I have a gold card.)

If Emirates joins Star Alliance (just look at who their partner airlines are - United, Continental, SAA, - they're mainly Star Alliance (or about to be in Continental's case), I'd even get back the lounge access that I'm currently giving up.

[Groongthep]

IMO your poll is flawed.

No Etihad listed and btw, Canadian Airlines stopped flying into Bangkok about 7 years ago when they were taken over by Air Canada.

And Delta as well, they have no service to Thailand.

[tw25rw]

Note the date that the poll was initiated...

[steve w]

over the years i,ve flown with klm,swiss,qatar,turkish,emirates,malaysian ba/quantas and etihad.

best etihad and emirates.

worst swiss and turkish IMHO

[Peterpan]

This is for all you Guys and Girls who think Etihad are good

THE TALE OF THE ARAB FLIGHT CREW Written by To The Point News Friday, 16

May 2008 The brand spanking new Airbus 340-600, the largest passenger

airplane ever built, sat in its hangar in Toulouse , France without a single

hour of airtime. Enter the Arab flight crew of Abu Dhabi Aircraft

Technologies (ADAT) on November 15, 2007 to conduct pre-delivery tests on

the ground, such as engine run-ups, prior to delivery to Etihad Airways in

Abu Dhabi . The ADAT crew taxied the A340-600 to the run-up area. Then

they took all four engines to takeoff power with a virtually empty aircraft.

Not having read the run-up manuals, they had no clue just how light an

empty A340-600 really is. The takeoff warning horn was blaring away in the

cockpit because they had all 4 engines at full power. The aircraft computers

thought they were trying to takeoff but it had not been configured properly

(flaps/slats, etc..) Then one of the ADAT crew decided to pull the circuit

breaker on the Ground Proximity Sensor to silence the alarm. This fools the

aircraft into thinking it is in the air. The computers automatically

released all the brakes and set the aircraft rocketing forward.. The ADAT

crew had no idea that this is a safety feature so that pilots can't land

with the brakes on. Not one member of the seven-man Arab crew was smart

enough to throttle back the engines from their max power20setting, so the

$200 million brand-new aircraft crashed into a blast barrier, totaling it.

The extent of injuries to the crew is unknown, for there has been a news

blackout in the major media in France and elsewhere. Coverage of the story

was deemed insulting to Moslem Arabs. Finally, the photos are starting to

leak out.

[Kerryd]

I've flown in/out of LoS on 6 of the airlines shown and 3 not listed (Air India, Philippines Air & Lufthansa).

Air Canada ? Even if they code share with Cathay, it's still an Air Canada flight, with the same crap standard and over paid, bitchy attendants. I'd take Air India over them.

Air India ? Only if my only other option was Air Canada. Last time I flew with them, they had passengers sitting in the crew seats (those flip-down, backwards facing seats with no trays or anything!) Not to mention that they bumped me off one flight, despite me re-confirming my ticket 3 days in advance !

Lufthansa ? That was a few years ago. Excellent flight. Soon as the wheels were up, the no smoking light went out and the stews started serving drinks (even though the plane was still in a high climb, and they had to use the brakes on the carts to keep them from rolling back into the galley).

JAL ? Used to use them for the Vancouver-Bangkok trips, through Narita. Good prices (at the time), good service. No complaints. During one (9 hour) layover, they provided me with a room in their hotel (free) as they determined it was their fault they didn't have any flights departing sooner to my destination. (I also noticed the ground crew bows to the plane as it is being pushed back from the gate.)

China Air ? Again, excellent flights (Bangkok-Vancouver and back). I checked in a 56kg suitcase in Vancouver and wasn't charged a penny for excess weight. For the Taipei-Bangkok leg, I got upgraded (free, didn't even ask) to 1st class.

Thai Air ? Used to use them for the Dubai-Bangkok flights. Still would, depending on schedule and prices. Never had a complaint about the flights or service, though I did write to them once about their boarding procedures. Instead of letting families, handicapped and Business Class passengers on first, they just let everyone flood to the doors at once. Very disorganized. I received a letter back apologizing for that and promising to change things in the future (like most other airports I've flown in/out of).

Philippines Air ? My only complaint was the stews that kept bugging me to see if I was OK or wanted anything else (when all I wanted was to get some sleep). Had they been a bit better looking.....never mind.

Gulf Air ? Nowadays I think I use them more than any other carrier, primarily for the price and schedules. They use a really nice plane for the 1 hour Dubai-Bahrain route, and then an older, less well-equipped plane for the 7 hour Bahrain-Bangkok route. Last flight I wrote a suggestion on their comment card to increase the number of movie options available. They have one set for the outbound, and a different set for the inbound, and if you've seen it (or don't want to see it) that's it. No other choices.

But as that is my only complaint, it's bearable. The cheaper prices (even travelling Business Class) and better schedules make up for it.

Emirates ? I would use them every time, if Gulf wasn't offering better schedules and slightly better prices. I've flown business class on some airlines (i.e. Korean Air) that were worse than Emirates economy class. Excellent lounges, separate check-in and Immigration facilities. For most airlines, you can't check in until (about) 3 hours before the flight.

On Emirates, if you are travelling Business Class (or 1st), you can check in pretty much when ever you like. I've checked in over 8 hours before my flight, then had a 5 hour snooze in one of the bedrooms in their Business Class lounge.

Interestingly, Emirates and Thai used to have a code-share (Thai Air operated) flight from DXB-BKK at 23:30 every night. I've booked that flight through both Thai and Emirates. I found that booking through Thai, for the exact same seat on the exact same flight, was hundreds of dollars more expensive ($400+) than booking the exact same seat/flight through Emirates.

Kind of like my last trip. Philippines Air from Bangkok-Manila-Vancouver and back. Booked my father for the Vancouver-Manila-Bangkok and back flights. His tickets cost over $300 dollars more than mine, because his flight originated in Canada !

Note: Haven't flown Qatar Air yet. Mainly because for some reason, they only offer the option of economy or 1st class from Dubai to Doha (and back) and that increases the price of the overall ticket dramatically, despite it only being a 1 hour flight.

Not sure who I'll go with next time (December I think), but my primary criteria will still be schedule, then price, then "extras" (though that usually isn't a consideration).

[G54]

Cannot vote for Etihad ????

[tw25rw]

Cannot vote for Etihad ????

Not many had heard of them in 2004.

[rampo]

Just flew Korean Air economy from Washington, DC, to BKK via Incheon (Seoul). I was very impressed with Korean's 777-200 on the ICN-IAD legs. Latest audio-video on demand, generous (for economy) legroom, and nice service. The flights between Seoul and BKK were not quite as impressive - older 777-300s with the old style everyone-watch-the-same-movie, but those are the flights on which I tend to zonk out anyways. Pretty good price as well - $1200 through a travel agent. I still miss Thai Air's JFK-BKK nonstop, but Korean provided a decent (and less expensive) substitute.

[Tatler]

This is for all you Guys and Girls who think Etihad are good

THE TALE OF THE ARAB FLIGHT CREW Written by To The Point News Friday, 16

May 2008 The brand spanking new Airbus 340-600, the largest passenger

airplane ever built, sat in its hangar in Toulouse , France without a single

hour of airtime. Enter the Arab flight crew of Abu Dhabi Aircraft

Technologies (ADAT) on November 15, 2007 to conduct pre-delivery tests on

the ground, such as engine run-ups, prior to delivery to Etihad Airways in

Abu Dhabi . The ADAT crew taxied the A340-600 to the run-up area. Then

they took all four engines to takeoff power with a virtually empty aircraft.

Not having read the run-up manuals, they had no clue just how light an

empty A340-600 really is. The takeoff warning horn was blaring away in the

cockpit because they had all 4 engines at full power. The aircraft computers

thought they were trying to takeoff but it had not been configured properly

(flaps/slats, etc..) Then one of the ADAT crew decided to pull the circuit

breaker on the Ground Proximity Sensor to silence the alarm. This fools the

aircraft into thinking it is in the air. The computers automatically

released all the brakes and set the aircraft rocketing forward.. The ADAT

crew had no idea that this is a safety feature so that pilots can't land

with the brakes on. Not one member of the seven-man Arab crew was smart

enough to throttle back the engines from their max power20setting, so the

$200 million brand-new aircraft crashed into a blast barrier, totaling it.

The extent of injuries to the crew is unknown, for there has been a news

blackout in the major media in France and elsewhere. Coverage of the story

was deemed insulting to Moslem Arabs. Finally, the photos are starting to

leak out.

Lucky no-one else was on board!! a nice 200 million dollar mistake

[GeorgeW]

The brand spanking new Airbus 340-600, the largest passenger airplane ever built, sat in its hangar in Toulouse , France without a single hour of airtime.

I guess someone's never heard of the Airbus A380. A quite shoddy bit of journalism.

[Peterpan]

Look at the dates what was first delivered the 340 or the 380, I bet you have been on a lot of planes havent you.

But I dont think so some how.