I find myself largely in agreement with 10secondsurvey, with the caveat that I've never flown with JetBlue. That having been said, my decision process in selecting a flight is:
1. Is there a direct flight?
2. Which airport is used (e.g. always prefer Linate for Milan)
3. COST!
4. Service frequency - if I miss this one can I easily get another.
4. Airline preference (i.e. personal or anecdotal experience with reliability, punctuality and service standards).
There might be a 0. Safety, but this is only relevant in the third world (and even then it's very hard to make an informed choice).

So preference for my favourite airline(s) rarely plays a part in this process.

Domestic - Europe: VO -Tyrolean (though they fly under the brand name Austrian Arrows now :sad: :{ )

International: EK - Emirates (though the seat pitch in economy can be pretty bad the service is usually really good)

Come on boys and girls, am I the only one who remembers BOAC? They are still the best I've flown on. Having reminisced over that my current favourite is Asiana Airlines. I've just done a return to Sydney and back and I rate them the best in the sky in economy. Plenty of legroom, excellent food, excellent service, and the aircraft were clean. Yes I mean clean, all four aircraft I travelled on were clean. The loos were clean, de-odourised, and yes, clean! They were constantly being cleaned by the cabin crew throughout each of the four sectors there and back. The only time I've ever seen that was travelling first on Thai. The standard of service beats SQ, TG, and all other carriers I've ever travelled on. They will get my business again.

For me:

UK Domestic (full fare): BA from LGW or LCY
Domestic (lo-cost): Virgin Blue. In the UK, easyJet.
European: KLM
International: Malaysian
Puddle-jumpers: Aurigny

BA at their best are the best in any category - but at their worst they are awful. The Houston-Detroit leg of a LHR flight particularly sticks in my mind :rolleyes:

13Alpha

QANTAS anyday of the week

air india... anyone?

domestic : kingfisher/jet

international : lufthansa/air india...

I think whoever said there's no such thing as a best airline have got it right, but we all have preferences

USA Domestic: Alaska (not Alaskan - pet peeve) and Horizon (wines and microbrews still complimentary!)
European: SAS
Asian: Cathay Pacific and Singapore

Back on topic.........

UK Domestic Full fare : BMI
UK Domestic LoCo: EasyJet

European Full Fare : LuftHansa
European LoCo : Ryanair

Transatlantic Scheduled : Delta
Transatlantic LoCo / Charter : FlyGlobespan

US Domestic : Delta Connection
Canadian Domestic : AC Jazz

Long Haul Far East : Singapore Airlines


Donkey

Spain domestic: Spanair
Canada domestic : AC Jazz
Germany domestic: Lufthansa
Europe:
Lufthansa Eco
Air Berlin (they've done some good work on their service within the last years
Longhaul:
Air Canada First Executive
Lufthansa Business (We've tried their Longhaul Eco back from YVR last winter and never felt so uncomfortable - in service means - before. If that's their way to convince people to pay the extra penny for business - it worked just fine. ;-)

Ryanair, of course !

In Business Class..............Etihad :D - best business class seats I have ever had. Then Singapore Air and Cathay Pacific about level pegging - will NEVER get on another Emirates flight again - rubbish :=

Favourite locos:

USA : JetBlue
Europe : Air Berlin

Legacy carrier Long Haul: No favourites because I tend to fly KLM because they're convenient and I'm an FF with them. They have cheaper C Class fares for advanced bookings and I find the service and comfort acceptable for that price.

Having said that, I always find these kind of threads very subjective. It could only be of any significance if we all flew on every carrier in the world!

Cathay Experience
 

I just flew Cathay SYD - LHR - SYD.

The only sector that was anywhere near acccpetable was SYD - HKG with the new business seating. The remainder of sectors were flow with old seat barely acceptable for premium economy. Most of us fly business to be able to work when we get to the other end so spending a night (well 24 hours LHR - SYD) in the 'Z' seats is very counter productive.

I wouldn't mind if I knew what I was in for but Cathay advertise flat beds so to pay the same fare as BA and QF and more than Emirates is very disappointing.

To rub salt into the wound, the inflight entertainment system broke down on two of the sectors and the airline didn't even bother to provide ANR headsets.

I am sure there are reasonable explanations but at the end of the day it was an expensive way to learn not to fly CX until they have fixed their seating.

I have to say... QANTAS!
After going on 9 flights in the space of three weeks with QF I have to say them as they were ace... and seemingly more leg room than most.
Also I was lucky enough (and charming enough...) to get to go in the cockpit to chat to the four pilots at singapore... (made my whole trip that did!)

On the UK side of things would have to be Virgin Atlantic although I feel the service has slipped a lot in the last few years of flying with them.:ok:

Excalibur Airways!!!

1) BA for me long haul is best.
2) Monarch
3) Cyprus Airways

Worst (got plenty of those!)

Thomsonfly (ackkkk)
Easy (are okayyyyyyyyy)
Ryanair (crap)

Dont like any of em much if its bumpy even Concorde in its day i would have hated !!

oh i forgot 2 more crappy ones....

Air France
Iberia

... been on my first Ryanair flights in December, never thought I would go that "lowco". To be honest: will not be my favourite - but for a low cost I found it quite ok. And I was quite impressed by there C/C concerns for safety as I had a lady beside me who only spoke german, and the C/C was very attentive and concerned if she had understood the safety proceedures. Against my odds, I felt quite comfortable on my 2 Ryanair flights so far - maybe because of only about 60 people aboard on each flight ;-)

On longhaul, I'm going to try another longhaul charter extreme: Air Transat Club from FRA to YYC and back from YVR to MUC this summer - I'll be sure posting my opinion here ... watch for it in August ;-)

You should be OK with Transat. I've done a few transatlantic crossings with them in the past & they're pretty good. Apart from a couple of rabidly Quebecois cabin crew you shouldn't have any problems. Service is normally on a par with legacy carrier standard.

Virgin Atlantic number one! BA second :)