Post: #26

(03-21-2012 11:37 AM)Aliblahba Wrote:  Just discovered FlyDubai. Sort of the Southwest or Easyjet of the Middle East. Stewardess' were hot, planes were clean, and the ticket was cheap. They didn't pop up on most of the major booking sites. I highly recommend if in the region.

They were advertising flights all the way out to Tbilisi for around $240 rt. Interesting.

http://www.flydubai.com

There is also http://www.airarabia.com

Post: #27

Quote:Emirates generally has really nice planes but the plane from Dubai to Hyderabad isn't so great. Also, Emirates doesn't let you pick your seat online unless you have FF account with them and you are putting your miles on that account -- this is irritating.

I agree that Emirates are generally good. I always fly with them when going from UK to Asia, usually the cheapest and the best service too. However what you're saying about not being able to pick your seat online isn't true. I don't have a frequent flyer or any other sort of account with them and I always pick my seats online and have done for years.

Post: #28

I think some context is needed here, I see people making very definite statements without mentioning what their sample size is.

Personally I'm a frequent flyer with hundred thousands of miles under my belt. My experiences come from flying these airlines dozens of times in several classes.

Post: #29

Spirit airlines is the worst POS airline I've even been on (including in EE and SEAsia backwaters).
Not only do they not provide food on international flights- they also charge $3.50 for water - for a 5 hour flight!
Also, staff is rude and airplanes are old. NO wonder they are making south am their main destination.
It is cheap though.. and I did sign up for their Credit Card just to get 3 free flights before cancelling it.

Post: #30

I just flew a trip with Norwegian.

- Great service. I was 4kg over my limit and she let me check it with a wink.
- Norwegian hostesses are hot. Blonde with a big thick braid. Uniforms are not sexy, but almost like an apron (or dirndl) which heaves the tits up. Could be sexier (think Thai or Cathay).
- New Boeing jets with free WIFI above 10,000m.
- In flight entertainment is budget (who cares with good WIFI)

Post: #31

(03-21-2012 05:34 PM)Vicious Wrote:  I think some context is needed here, I see people making very definite statements without mentioning what their sample size is.

Personally I'm a frequent flyer with hundred thousands of miles under my belt. My experiences come from flying these airlines dozens of times in several classes.

Show off.

Post: #32

I'm about to book my ticket to HKG for September as I want to visit Hong Kong and Southern China for a reconnaissance business trip. I'm looking at prices and the cheapest I found for a return flight from YYZ-HKG was on United Airlines for about 1200$ (while the direct flight with AC is about 1800 and with Cathay, 2k). I usually do my best to avoid flying through the US and using US airlines but this time seeing how my last flight with Air Canada from HKG to YYZ was, I'm tempted to give United a try as they're also part of the Star Alliance programme. Anyone in here has flown with United to Asia? Preferably their NYC-HKG route? I'd like to hear about your experience with flying them to Asia.

Thanks guys!

Post: #33

I flew Air Berlin from NICE to jfk and i was impressed. Most of the people were german and they said everying in german and english which can be annoying, but it was a new airbus plane, food was good, they fed u twice on a 7diet hr flight, coffee serice ect. You can get miles on american since they are partners.

Post: #34

When flying business or first, BA is still my favorite one. LHR gets very bearable with their insane lounges... got a 3hr layover? No prob, get a free massage lol

Post: #35

The worst airline I have travelled with is by far Airosvit.They have cancelled at least 5 flights at last minute without any warning.In one case I would be stuck in Minsk because they cancelled the return flight Kiev-Athens without notifying.(Belavia did the flight Minsk-Kiev).I had to travel through Poland Warsaw to Athens having to lose all the money spent in two flights.(no compensation).

In another case they showed us in Ukrainian TV in rage mode when a flight Kiev-Athens was cancelled due to airport workforce strike.They kept us the passengers like cattle in the airport for 12 hours and transferred us by military plane to Cyprus and from then to Athens.I swore in Ukrainian TV that I will never fly with Aerosvit again.
Another time they cancelled the flight from Dnipropetrovsk to Kiev without any announcement at all.The flight simply vanished from the tables!To our questions what happened the airport employees did not give a clear answer.Then I started shouting to employees who kept cold(two gorgeous Ukrainian females in heels) and after some minutes of shouting the employees started crying!I did not expect this slavic oul reaction so I had to comply with a 6 hour postponment to board on the next flight to Kiev.(which meant that I would lose the flight to Lvov so I had to change it as well).Guaranteed without Russian I would be completely lost there was nothing on tables no announcement at all and every employee in airport spoke no English.

Another time in a grotesque case Airosvit cancelled their flight from Athens to Kiev and told us we could be transferred to Donetsk if we wished by Donbass airlines.So instead of Kharkov I arrived to Donetsk and then called a girl in Mariupol I was going to come and stay with her and her girlfriend.The trip had good end despite missing the orgy I had organized in Kharkov.

Another bad airline is LOT.They do every nonsense they can to make you upset.Some incomprehensible things.
MALEV must be the worst EU airline with inumerable delays.I was warned by Czech girls not to use it and when I made the mistake I had to deal with an old woman in the Budapest airport who was responsible for international flights information and spoke no English!Unbelievable incompetence.That is why MLEV has some of the cheapest prices.
The best airlines I have experienced are Austrian airlines,Lufthansa and Czech airlines.Very reliable.(Czech airlines is furthermore manned by former fighter pilots so their planes always arrive earlier than the expected time).

Post: #36

As I literally just got back home from Dulles, I can say with many thousands of miles under my belt that Air France is one of my favourite airlines (was just in Paris and Beirut). Top notch service all the way, just don't have any business conversations if you're seated in business class or higher.

Re: Air Canada - They're disgruntled because the Canadian government is trying to forcibly renegotiate labour contracts without any benefits or protections (without the resultant savings to the consumer) and there's always the language issue.

I don't have enough miles on Air Berlin or Fly Dubai to give an objective rating, but I've had good experiences with them.

Post: #37

LOT - solid, but nothing more than that, improvement through the couple of years is noticeable

RyanAir - cheap airlines, good only for a short-distance flights or when your budget is tight, anyway don't expect any fireworks

Lufthansa - very recommended, when flying with them, I always gotta feling i'm someone important and they do care, not the cheapest but the quality comes with the price, 'Ordnung must sein'

British Airlines - great business class with superb entertaining part, but nothing more than that

Emirates - , same thing that with Lufthansa but the stewardesses are prettier, top quality handling, never disappointed me

KLM - expensive, quality/price ratio is unprofitable

Air France - very solid, good business class, probably with the best menu you can get, great staff

Virgin Airlines - always on time, very aesthetic insides, helpful personnel and the best part is the price

Post: #38

(08-13-2012 03:58 AM)polish rumble Wrote:  LOT - solid, but nothing more than that, improvement through the couple of years is noticeable

RyanAir - cheap airlines, good only for a short-distance flights or when your budget is tight, anyway don't expect any fireworks

Lufthansa - very recommended, when flying with them, I always gotta feling i'm someone important and they do care, not the cheapest but the quality comes with the price, 'Ordnung must sein'

British Airlines - great business class with superb entertaining part, but nothing more than that

Emirates - , same thing that with Lufthansa but the stewardesses are prettier, top quality handling, never disappointed me

KLM - expensive, quality/price ratio is unprofitable

Air France - very solid, good business class, probably with the best menu you can get, great staff

Virgin Airlines - always on time, very aesthetic insides, helpful personnel and the best part is the price

I forgot to mention KLM and Lufthansa. The former is overpriced and comparable to how NWA used to be in the U.S., the latter is just as great as Air France. I wish my travels would let me take Virgin Atlantic more often, but if I'm going to London I'm almost always forced to take United.

Post: #39

Flying First/Business for the first time ever.

First from Ord to Atl have a 9 hour layover so plan on taking the cnn/coke tour
Then have Atl to dubai business class leaving at 10pm

Can someone who flies first/business often or does those sky lounges give me some tips or pointers? I used my airline miles so probably only time ever flying first/business.

Also I plan on going custom suited but that 14+ flight from atl to dxb is making it a little painful. Should I not go suited and look out of place but be comfortable or look like I belong? Flying with Delta

Post: #40

(08-12-2012 04:07 PM)Greek kamaki Wrote:  MALEV must be the worst EU airline with inumerable delays.I was warned by Czech girls not to use it and when I made the mistake I had to deal with an old woman in the Budapest airport who was responsible for international flights information and spoke no English!Unbelievable incompetence.That is why MLEV has some of the cheapest prices.

Malev has gone out of business. I flew with them once and it was okay.

Can't understand why you guys like Lufthansa. They are just okay in my opinion. The business class is quite poor and cannot compete at all with the likes of Emirates. Though better than the business class of Icelandair which you wouldn't recognise as such, if they didn't tell you...

For me, Emirates is clear #1. Etihad is also a good choice.

To chyamor:

The business class of Delta in Atlanta is nothing special. Apart from that it's big, as it's their main hub. A suit is not required but doesn't hurt at all. You won't feel out of place.

Post: #41

Anyone has flown Cathay from NA to Hong Kong? I'm looking at flying with them from either NY or Chicago. The cheapest fare I found is with United through NY but after a quick search online, they are an atrocious airline specially for a 16 hour flight it would be hell. I don't mind paying more for more leg room, better service/food and of course, safe and reliable aircraft. So thoughts on flying Cathay Pacific for a Trans Pacific flight? Appreciated guys.

Post: #42

Take a look at going through Seattle. on my trip to Seoul via Korean air I noticed Chicago to Seoul used the older planes (smaller tv screen, less legroom, no power, etc) while the planes going from Seattle used the new 777 and was great.

More people fly from the west coast to asia so chances of you flying in the newer better aircraft is higher.

Post: #43

Lufthansa & Swiss are great IMO, they have also very good policy for upgrades: If the economy class is overbooked then the frequent fliers would be upgraded to business class in no charge.
Their computer rates the frequent fliers and the top ones would be 1st for this automatic upgrade.
I normally get this upgrade 1 out of 4 legs. 25% of time. If you book business and it is overbooked you are upgraded to first, happen to me several times.

Post: #44

Air Canada has a nice free in flight entertainment system that doesn't turn off until the plane is literally on the ground

Delta has horrible $150 change fees but its skymiles never expire for any reason

Post: #45

(08-13-2012 12:28 AM)mauditanglais Wrote:  As I literally just got back home from Dulles, I can say with many thousands of miles under my belt that Air France is one of my favourite airlines (was just in Paris and Beirut). Top notch service all the way, just don't have any business conversations if you're seated in business class or higher.

Re: Air Canada - They're disgruntled because the Canadian government is trying to forcibly renegotiate labour contracts without any benefits or protections (without the resultant savings to the consumer) and there's always the language issue.

I don't have enough miles on Air Berlin or Fly Dubai to give an objective rating, but I've had good experiences with them.

This provokes my curiosity. Why no biz conversations? The rich people freak out and clam up?

Post: #46

(08-18-2012 05:48 PM)bacan Wrote:  Delta has horrible $150 change fees but its skymiles never expire for any reason

That must be a new policy. I had 30k skymiles expire back in December of 2010. I also don't like their $50 (or is 75?) fee to book a ticket within three weeks of travel. I also found is very hard to find a flight costing only $25k miles. When I fly Delta now, I put my miles on my Alaska Air account which has an excellent FF program for people based in Seattle.

Post: #47

(08-15-2012 09:52 AM)Marco Wrote:  Lufthansa & Swiss are great IMO, they have also very good policy for upgrades: If the economy class is overbooked then the frequent fliers would be upgraded to business class in no charge.
Their computer rates the frequent fliers and the top ones would be 1st for this automatic upgrade.
I normally get this upgrade 1 out of 4 legs. 25% of time. If you book business and it is overbooked you are upgraded to first, happen to me several times.

This is standard fare for just about all major airlines today. At least in the Star Alliance.

Post: #48

So after doing some research and founding out in the process that 1) United is one of the worst airlines in the world for service and 2) NY is one of the worst airports to have a connection, I booked my ticket to HK with Air Canada where I'm going on a direct flight. Usually that ticket goes for at least 1500 or 1600 and a few hours before I booked it, the direct flight was for 1900 but somehow, by getting creative, that is flying direct to HK and on the way back, flying from MNL via NRT, the airfare dropped to 1200. It almost looked too good to be true so I just went ahead and booked it. I called Expedia and they confirmed it was real. What a steal!

Vicious,
I also fly frequently but I have never been upgraded to business or first class. What is the best approach for that? Do you ask for an upgrade at check in? Or do you call the airline directly? I'm a frequent flyer with AC and with the Star Alliance group so I hope this would give me some leverage with them. Even getting bumped to business on a 15 hour flight to HK would be sweet.

Post: #49

I was just bumped to first class on a SAS flight from Copenhagen to Toronto. Economy was overbooked. There were four frequent flyers but only two were going to get first class. I watched carefully to see the process.

They kept the FF off to the side while they filled coach. When all the non FF were off, they set out the four FF boarding cards and matched names to faces. The two who were bumped (myself and another guy) were dressed sharp. The other two were not dressed well.

What are thoughts on American Airlines vs United? I would rather travel Star Alliance but the United flight is $750 compared to AA at $630.

Thoughts?

Post: #50

They are pretty much equivalent. It comes down to wheter you want the points/status on star or keep the money. Flight times are usually the tie breaker.