What is the best Airline and where is the Best Airport
 

A lot has been said about this topic, so I want to know what airline is the best in each region.

Skytrax has Emirates on the First Place.
I doubt this and want to see what the members think about this.

I setup a special form for the members of this forum to see what you think is the best airline.

I hope to get more than 10,000 votes so if anybody knows what the best is how to do this please let me know.

Also you may forward this link to friends who know something about airtravel or to your PR department of your Airline company where you work for.

I will keep you informed about the positions.

The link is:

Vote for the Best Nr 1 Airline and Airport

Vote for the best airline and airport
 

It goes ok but expected to have much more votes from this forum

Sorry to dampen your spirits but I would say that there are very few good airlines left.
The major players face two encroaching fronts:
i)terrorism;customer service suddenly doesnt count for much when you're talking survival.A passenger who boards late or who gets up when he/she shouldnt is no longer a case for diplomatic persuasion or accomodation,and thats quite understandable.
ii)Economics-the success of the budget carriers has forced the traditional airlines to rethink or face the inevitable.

The one airline which continues to shine in spite of everything is SWA;this is down to its CEO and his iconoclastic vision.
Other airlines that show a ray of hope include AA,Delta,a number of the FAR EAST majors(cabin crew excellence as opposed to management-pilot relationship),Qantas and Lufthansa(engineering and maintenance excellence). The rest are trying under very difficult conditions.

As for airports...KDFW and KORD(ATC excellence)...Munich (design and infrastructure).

Depends on what you intned by "Best"!
If you get sick after more than two hours at a stretch in the air,
nothing can beat Indian Airlines who operates some flights which gives you a sightseeing tour of sorts of transit airports if you are (un) lucky).
For eg, their weekly flight from Kuwait to Madras in India via Ras Al Khaimah , Calict and Trichy. Very highly recommended for those first time flyers who never want their flight to end!Ofcourse you get some food on every sector so you wont go hungry!And of course you dont have to change planes and your baggae has more chance of arriving with you, since it doesnt leave the aircraft once stowed.

And for all those claustrophobics who hate crowded airports nothing can beat the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Acres of space and dozens of gates but hardly any airlines to use them. You dont get a luxury of a gate being used for just two flights a day in many airports don't you!

Cheers

RSO

Was in Bulgaria 1998.

Our 737-300 (Balkan Bulgarian "Airlines") was cancelled due to so called bad WX (even though a BA 737-EFIS managed to make the trip at approximately the same time, and also back to EGLL). Suspect the Balkan MEL wasn't up to scratch.

Ended up 4 hours later (with no announcement in the meantime) on a Cold Failed-the-MOT type Bus from Sofia to the second major "city" Varna.

There, we entered a transit lounge, some of the PAX had been there *3* days!!!!! (Makes you even forgive EasyCrap) - with no end in site, and they had been bussed around 3 Bulgarian Airports in that time (Sofia, Varna, Bourgas).

Nothing infuriates a Bulgarian as much as addressing them in Russian (they all know it no matter how they pretend) - so as I speak Russian I demanded what the hell they were going to do about it... maybe not a good idea.

Ended up waiting 18 hours in a cramped cold 50's style transit lounge with 150 or so other PAX until finally we managed to cadge a lift to London on the 727-from-hell (aka TU-154M).

Come back Easy.. all is forgiven.

THX
 

Nice the votes are coming in

Best & Worst Airport
 

Hi Folks,
My sixpenny worth,

Best Airport from pax point of view for me is Changi / Singapore. I have always found very easy to use from the pax point of view. Only slight downer is that often on transiting from one flight to another, the two gates are often separated by quite a long walk.

Worst Airport, for me is without doubt 'LA' and I make this statement based on my experiences well prior to last September and the terrible events then. I found the staff at all levels at LA and the general treatment I received, disgusting, arrogant, agressive, and generally very unhelpful.

I last used LA having flown out from the UK to New Zealand, buried my father and returned back to the UK, all in the space of four days. On the way back while transiting through LA, I had a minor problem, but instead of receiving any helor understanding at all, I was treated with total distain and contempt. LA sucks as far as I am concerned and as Air NZ continue to use it as a transit stop, this is why I refuse to fly with them when going back home.

I might agree with the above, from a pilot standpoint, concerning LAX not being the best, but have not been thru there (or the insane CIVET Arrival with multiple runway changes and unbelievable punching on FMC+gear down at 10,000') in over three years. I had the impression, even on limited layovers that people in LA generally hate each other, or maybe just fear another murderous race riot.

On a more pleasant topic, from a passenger standpoint, Amsterdam's Schipol Airport has a really nice staff with good morale, and an excellent mix of shops/restaurants, we went thru about nine times on KLM and its Cityhopper, Eurowings, Austrian etc network. I would be embarassed if passengers and KLM crews here at our only southern hub, were to ask me where I'm based: morale is usually low or non-existent at several businesses. Even many US airliines are unable to quantify morale in their "cost accounting" procedures. And the Dutch often speak much better English than many of the 'staff' here in the US.

Anyway, the folks who designed Schipol (same designers of the superb new terminal at NY's JFK) were intelligent-they built sofas or pairs of chairs where tired people can lie down and rest, not just sit upright in hard plastic buckets. My wife visited the medical facility upstairs:the nurse and doctor were efficient and helpful. In the US, without an emergency, we might have waited an hour for doctor, but we have the AMA.

Hasta la pasta.

I will take LAX over alot of other US airports. The Civet takes being flown about 2 to 3 times and its a piece of cake. DFW in the summer sucks. SFO controllers need to learn to sequence. WX in SEA sucks. SLC is mired in mollasses. PHX is good till the first drop of rain. DEN in the summer on a flaps 8 takeoff is an eye opener. ORD controllers are awesome, but its along way from the ocean. SAN is my favorite, even with the parking structure, perhaps its because its home.

Maybe you could add a 'worst airlines' poll and send em that - might help em look at where they're failing ? Presuming they give a ****.

By far the worst I've seen is Air Canada, where pax are purely an annoyance, obstructing their plan to make as much money as possible. I don't think I know anyone with anything good to say about them, who hasn't had a bag go missing or a totally apathetic staff member mess them about. At least you almost expect it with the budget crowd !

I'm told Lufthansa cut the mustard with pax care on long haul, but don't have personal experience.

Sorry to be the party pooper but these type of polls don’t really paint a useful picture unless all the voters have had the opportunity of flying on ALL of the world’s scheduled carriers and through ALL of the world’s airports. Anything less proves absolutely NOTHING.

I.O. From a pilot perspective have to agree with you on LA arrivals. Done the Civet/Mitts plenty of times. Shambolic and verging on dangerous. I think the most runway changes I can remember is 4. All below 10,000'. It's definitely become a lot calmer since 9/11 though.

BRUpax
 

Though many will agree with you, that its not totally 'fair', from a mathematical POV it actually doesn't matter much, the votes, thanks to the mass of voters, will actually end up in the right buckets. :mad:

And before anybody starts about why do we then end up with the politicians we have ... that depends on the rules for candidates and the fact that most of those who present themselves are not perhaps those you would really like to run the place properly (whatever the country). ;)

:cool: :eek: :p

I think Virgin Atlantic and Lauda air are the two best airlines currently on this planet

From an SLF perspective I find it hard to say which is my favourite airline. The most efficient airline was Swissair, as it was, - if you are flying Biz (as I had to for work) - your bags come off first!! Most pleasant? well that is difficult - I have found all cabin crew and those flight deck crew who have let me visit virtually all to be pleasant, helpful and professional. Only time I wasn't too admiring of CC was an Iberia flight (Madrid to Stockholm) where there were three of us in Biz and because the crew had very little to do they chose to do nothing and were very irritated when I asked for something to drink! The happiest? A BA flight from Moscow after my first (and solo) business trip there to find a pal in the lefthand seat at the pointy end... to hear Brit voices and know I was once more on Brit soil was great!

P.S. I base my judgement on flights with BA, Virgin, SAS, Lufthansa, Lauda Air, Austrian Airlines, SwissAir, Air France, Iberia, El Al, JMC, CondorFlug and (as it was) Airtours to long- and short-haul destinations.

As for favourite airport? hmmmmmm that is difficult..I am most familiar with LHR and LGW and that adds to the ease with which I can scooch through terminals and shopping. Airports are so different - for space but nothing to do, San Diego, for great shopping and good environment, Copenhagen..really dunno!

Great food-for-thought thread!!

:D

Has to be.....
 

British European for me as a disabled pax who's had enough of mistreatment on BA and BMI domestic flights. Longhaul probably BA though - but haven't used a lot of other carriers.

TR:)

MAS are good. CX can be good - but not always

Best airport is Hong Kong. Easily the most efficient I have ever used. Bags are often on the conveyor before I get to it.

I have to agree with kaikohe76 on best and worst airports. Changi is superb, apart from the distances. They will even take you on a free city tour if you have more than five hours to spare.

Bangkok is on a par with Changi but Singapore has the edge.

LAX - yeughh! What a dismal place to be stuck, surly staff, poor lighting, lousy shopping, I could go on.

I once waited in front of an American Eagle desk at Vegas McCarron, whilst the clerk hummed and typed and check bits of paper for ten minutes without ever looking at me, before saying "I'm not ignoring you sir" He did a really good impression of someone who was!

Best Airline IMHO is Singapore Airlines, very attentive and punctual

Worst Airline, Hawaiian Air. Spent an overnight flight from Honolulu to LAX with nothing but a cup of water and a cheese roll for service.

I have flown Southwest, Delta, AA, TWA, America West, and United (I think). By far, the best Ontime service is Southwest. best service is..Southwest, Cheapest...Southwest. Obviously Southwest is my favorite Airline I fly, and I try to Fly it all the time, if Southwest operates to where I want to go. Delta is #2, AA/TWA #3, United #4 and last..America West #5. America West had severe turbelence everytime I flew them, and their service was horrible. Over all, Southwest!!!

I just had a flight to Detroit and inspected the new Northwest Gateway. Absolutly the best in Amerika. A well done job for Northwest