British Airways

[jammai]

BA - no problems with the on plane services however every flight i took was delayed

aira asia - cramped and didnt buy any of the add ons which was a mistake, at the time kl-stanstead dirt cheap

emirates - no problems at all, however did have a long wait in dubai but that was my fault for not checking when i booked

Oman air - no tvs on the plane bad food, however were given a food voucher at our stop over

Thai airways - same as the general opinion on here, old aircraft and terrible food

Air France - ok, good transfer times, my tv was broke i was told to watch the persons next to me which i found rather odd

Swiss Air - by far the best airline i have flown with, was worried as i looked up some reviews after i booked and it didnt look promising but my expereience was the opposite.

[scorecard]

We fly regularly with BA and have nothing but good to say about their service - Also the little GH's occasionally fly solo with BA, it's the only airline we'd feel comfortable to take that option.

I've flown EVA a number of times, I think their service is overrated - little substance behind the claims and crap food. Thai airways has for too long now been receiving criticism from it's customers, most vociferously from Thais themselves (most the Thai language forums have pages of rants about poor service from Thai Airways).

Pretty trolley dollies are nice - but when it comes to family safety I'll choose well trained professional staff every time.

I agree. Whilst the cabin girls may not be as pleasing to the eye their service is the best.

Have to disagree with this- i find the service on Thai (and other asian airlines) to be far superior to BA (and other western airlines). Yes, the the Western airlines have more experienced air hostssess (plenty in their 40s, 50s) but generally the service they provide is grumpy and the minimum compared to Asian airlines air hostess who are younger (and prettier:-) and are more keen to provide good service. Its also down to the opportunity costs- a Thai airways hostess gets a salary equivalent to a doctor in Thailand, a BA hostess salary is pretty average in the UK- the financial incentive to give good service much higher for Thai hostesses.

However, the thai planes them,selves are very old inside which is a big negative.

I think your missing a vital point. If there was a serious incident on Thai would you have confidence that the Thai cabin crew would react quickly, calmy, and make a solid focused contributiuon to evacuating the aircraft. My own answer is definitely NO.

All airlines (at least the supposedly credible ones) have regular retraining on responses to various dangerous incidents, crashes, landing on water, air rage, etc. And such retraiing is required by various international regulations covering air travel.

I know for a fact:

- Singapore airlines crew cannot continue work if they have missed retaining.

- It's easy for cabin staff from one specific airline (one guess) to easily skip retraining.

On another point, I know Singapore Airlines, Qantas, and Cathay Pacific have very specific training in regard to taking care of youngsters travelling alone, and when there are such bookings those airlines ensure that a specifically trained cabin member is assigned.

I have a colleague in Singapore who has used this service (on Singapore Airlines) numerous times for his two youngsters to travel from S'pore to US and back. He gives Singapore Airlines a glowing report for their care and their thoroughness.

Perhaps the OP should call the airlines he's considering and ask whether they have specificlaly trained staff and is there a guarantee that such staff member will be assigned to the flight carrying his kids.

Quote from above "Its also down to the opportunity costs- a Thai airways hostess gets a salary equivalent to a doctor in Thailand, a BA hostess salary is pretty average in the UK- the financial incentive to give good service much higher for Thai hostesses."

Sorry I don't buy this for one second. Until a few months ago I travelled all of Asia (out of Bkk) for 12 years with average of around 8 flights a month, both economy and business class, 85-90% of flights on Thai (because of company policy).

I could write books about poor service on Thai, laziness, rudeness, avoidance of service, absolute obvious arrogance displayed to my Thai professional colleagues travelling with me, etc etc.

Edited September 16, 2010 by scorecard