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Off topic: The best and worst airlines Thread poster: biankonera
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biankonera 
Latvia
Local time: 03:52
Italian to Latvian
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Travelling by plane is a really quick and easy way to get from point A to point B when it comes to long distances and I think it depends greatly on the airline if the journey will be a pleasant one or not.
So I was wondering what are the best, worst and average airlines you have travelled with?
For me they would be:
The BEST:
- Finnair,
- Czech Airlines,
- KLM.
AVERAGE:
- Airbaltic
- SAS
The WORST:
- Alitalia ... See more Travelling by plane is a really quick and easy way to get from point A to point B when it comes to long distances and I think it depends greatly on the airline if the journey will be a pleasant one or not.
So I was wondering what are the best, worst and average airlines you have travelled with?
For me they would be:
The BEST:
- Finnair,
- Czech Airlines,
- KLM.
AVERAGE:
- Airbaltic
- SAS
The WORST:
- Alitalia (that was the worst experience ever - starting from the people at the airport and ending with the flight attendants).
Stella ▲ Collapse
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| It is actually relative | May 28, 2007 |
A few years ago I would have said:
Best Airlines:
Emirates
Worst Airlines:
Air France
Today, I'll give Air France another thought... after all, last time I flied Blue, it was a really nice experience quite unlike my earlier experience. But Emirates is still the Best.
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| Another vote for Alitalia | May 28, 2007 |
WORST:
Alitalia. Plagued by strikes and bad service. I flew once (thank God on a domestic flight) with AZ and the flight attendants were rude and utterly impolite. When I asked one of them if I could have another teeny-tiny pack of cookies (3 in number inside the package), she came back (very bored) and literally tossed the pack of cookies in my lap.
Tarom. The flight attendant who looked like a mix between Broomhilda (same height and weight, the only thing missing was... See more WORST:
Alitalia. Plagued by strikes and bad service. I flew once (thank God on a domestic flight) with AZ and the flight attendants were rude and utterly impolite. When I asked one of them if I could have another teeny-tiny pack of cookies (3 in number inside the package), she came back (very bored) and literally tossed the pack of cookies in my lap.
Tarom. The flight attendant who looked like a mix between Broomhilda (same height and weight, the only thing missing was the pointed hat) and Edna Mode (from the movie "The Incredibles") was pretty rude and ridiculous, ordering people to shut up and sit down with a querulous high-pitched voice.
BEST: Swiss (in time, decent food, good service, they even served Lindt chocolate in coach class!) ▲ Collapse
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| Best and Worst | May 28, 2007 |
Best
KLM
Worst
Air France and ALITALIA (personnel is not very kind)
But I agree with Ritu it can be relative.
[Edited at 2007-05-28 08:26]
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Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:52
Russian to English
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In memoriam | Best: Singapore Airlines | May 28, 2007 |
Flew London-Singapore-New Zealand & back with them last year and was very impressed.
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Nesrin
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:52
English to Arabic
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| Best and worst | May 28, 2007 |
Food-wise the worst airline has to be Alitalia (again, sorry).
Last year we flew from London to Cairo with a stopover in Milano. London-Milano we got one slice of bread with 2 slices of cold meat. Milano-Cairo we got a small zucchini sandwich. The zucchini tasted tangy and had obviously started going bad.
Thank goodness we had barely enough time to get ourselves something warm to eat in Milano.
Service-wise it wasn't such a pleasant experience either. The flight attendants (as ... See more Food-wise the worst airline has to be Alitalia (again, sorry).
Last year we flew from London to Cairo with a stopover in Milano. London-Milano we got one slice of bread with 2 slices of cold meat. Milano-Cairo we got a small zucchini sandwich. The zucchini tasted tangy and had obviously started going bad.
Thank goodness we had barely enough time to get ourselves something warm to eat in Milano.
Service-wise it wasn't such a pleasant experience either. The flight attendants (as Liliana pointed out) were quite impolite and snappish. I may be wrong, but I felt an increase in their impoliteness on the Milano-Cairo trip, when most of the passengers were Egyptians. Don't get me wrong though, I've been to Italy several times and love the Italian people and of course Italian food, which made the flight experience all the more disappointing.
Best: Varig (Brazilian airlines) - great food, great staff
[Edited at 2007-05-28 09:12] ▲ Collapse
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Olga Watkin (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:52
English to Russian
| From my experience | May 28, 2007 |
Absolutely the BEST:
Singapore Airlines
In my opinion (shared by the majority of expats in Singapore) no airline can beat their service, comfort and safety. Their long-haul flights are extremely comfortable and are always on time (or even before the schedule!). And their attitude towards children is just amazing! Food is excellent, too.
GOOD at times, but still with lots of problems:
British Airways
BAD:
Transaero
... See more Absolutely the BEST:
Singapore Airlines
In my opinion (shared by the majority of expats in Singapore) no airline can beat their service, comfort and safety. Their long-haul flights are extremely comfortable and are always on time (or even before the schedule!). And their attitude towards children is just amazing! Food is excellent, too.
GOOD at times, but still with lots of problems:
British Airways
BAD:
Transaero
WORST:
Sri Lankan Airlines (extremely dirty toilets for one thing)
Not from my experience, but I have read a lot about KLM not being child-friendly, so will never give them a try, at least until my children have grown up!
[Edited at 2007-05-28 09:00] ▲ Collapse
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biankonera
Latvia
Local time: 03:52
Italian to Latvian
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TOPIC STARTER
Nesrin wrote:
..I've been to Italy several times and love the Italian people and of course Italian food, which made the flight experience all the more disappointing.
Exactly my feelings. Italian people are absolutely wonderful which made it a very very unpleasant surprise to find out that Alitalia has none of those qualities. And also when coming back from Milano it was the first time when I wasnt registered for the second stage of my trip (luckily I had 4 hours in Amsterdam to do it at the transfer desk).
If in the future Alitalia improves their service I might reconsider but for now Im avoiding them at all costs.
Ps: makes me think that the second worst should have been Easyjet, but then again you kind of are more or less prepared for possible consequences when flying cheap airlines.
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Olga Watkin (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:52
English to Russian
| Easyjet not too bad | May 28, 2007 |
bramasole, I was actually quite impressed by Easyjet when I used it last year (Bristol-UK - Barcelona). Probably, because I expected it to be much worse!
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Niraja Nanjundan (X)
Local time: 06:22
German to English
This is very unpatriotic of me, but the worst airline I have ever flown on is Air India! I've had several nasty experiences with them, such as flight delays lasting two days, and I'm determined never to fly with them again.
Best airlines I have flown on:
Jet Airways (an Indian airline that mostly flies domestic routes, and provides excellent service)
Singapore Airlines
KLM
Lufthansa
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| personal best | May 28, 2007 |
British Airways
with them I went through an emergency landing in Edmonton (I was flying to San Francisco) and everything ran smoothly.
Another time I had a nasty flu with very high fever. I was feeling extremely sick and the hostess were soooo kind. I couldn't help laughing, though, when one of them handing me a blanket, stared at me and remarked briskly: what you really need is a nice cup of strong tea. So very British, at least to my Italian eyes...
raffaella
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| Gandalf - Alitalia | May 28, 2007 |
I've never flown in business class but the closest I came to was with a small airline (not existing any longer if I'm not wrong) called Gandalf. Food was delicious and the plane had just 30 places or so, there was an exclusive atmosphere
Unfortunately I had a bad experience with Alitalia a few months ago, a 2-hour delay for some technical problem. On the other hand, I was thankful to the Alitalia staff when many years ago th... See more I've never flown in business class but the closest I came to was with a small airline (not existing any longer if I'm not wrong) called Gandalf. Food was delicious and the plane had just 30 places or so, there was an exclusive atmosphere
Unfortunately I had a bad experience with Alitalia a few months ago, a 2-hour delay for some technical problem. On the other hand, I was thankful to the Alitalia staff when many years ago they allowed me to carry a huge bag as hand luggage ▲ Collapse
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biankonera
Latvia
Local time: 03:52
Italian to Latvian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Olga Watkin wrote: bramasole, I was actually quite impressed by Easyjet when I used it last year (Bristol-UK - Barcelona). Probably, because I expected it to be much worse!
Well, I suppose it depends on destinations then.:) The only route they offer here is Riga-Berlin-Riga and I must say the one word that comes to mind regarding that experience is - confusion (in Riga there is no system to board).
On that trip I had the most hopeless flight attendant there ever - if the space would have allowed that he would crawl under my front seat to "make sure" there is no luggage there (poor guy tried to perform the manouver some 3 times with no success).)
In general that experience was not bad, it was more amusing Id say.
Stella
[Edited at 2007-05-28 09:45]
[Edited at 2007-05-28 09:46]
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| Talking about "cheap" airlines... | May 28, 2007 |
Hi everybody,
I wasn't sure so-called "low cost" airlines could be included in this post, but as Easyjet has already been mentioned, I couldn't resist temptation and I had to dig in.
Every time I've used Easyjet (mainly on the Barcelona-London and Barcelona-Paris routes) I've been pleasantly surprised, and in some cases I almost forgot I was supposed to be flying low-cost.
However, the absolute opposite for me is Ryanair. The worst ever possible airline. Ye... See more Hi everybody,
I wasn't sure so-called "low cost" airlines could be included in this post, but as Easyjet has already been mentioned, I couldn't resist temptation and I had to dig in.
Every time I've used Easyjet (mainly on the Barcelona-London and Barcelona-Paris routes) I've been pleasantly surprised, and in some cases I almost forgot I was supposed to be flying low-cost.
However, the absolute opposite for me is Ryanair. The worst ever possible airline. Yes, I know, it's cheap and dirty but it takes you places and to small airports that were not accessible before. Fair enough, many people are very happy flying with Ryanair and can now travel much more often and visit their friends and relatives whenever they wish. However, this approach seems to warrant all kinds of abuses, from dirty planes and rude staff, to having to pay excessive prices for absolutely everything (I think you had to pay 10 pounds per luggage item last time I checked, not to mention the prices of beverages and food on board).
Having lived in Ireland for 5 years I've used Ryanair extensively flying between Ireland, Spain, France and the UK, and almost every time I've had problems either with flight delays or arguing with ground staff because I had to pay some extortionate charge because my luggage was 16 kgs. instead of the 15 kgs. they allow (hold on a second, I thought it was 20 kgs. in "normal" airlines...) . For me Ryanair has become the last option to use when flying, in favour of others (like Easyjet or Flyglobespan, a Scottish low-cost that I have only used once but that I will definitely use again!).
Have a good day!
Ramon ▲ Collapse
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Best: Air Berlin
I love flying with Air Berlin. You even get a small sandwich and something to drink (at least you used to). It's a low cost airline with better service than you pay for.
You can even take your dog or cat on the trip, something that is impossible with other low-cost airlines.
I am not too fond of Easyjet, as I always feel uneasy having to stand around waiting for boarding, I feel like cattle on its way to the slaughterhouse ...
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