Airlines.

The Middle Easter companies are the ones to go with for sure. They pay proper rates to their staff, have impeccable maintenance and are not cost cutting everywhere.

Worst airline experience ever was Delta. Got stuck in the Atlanta hub for 2 days because of their incompetance. It is very much like Jetstar and Tiger but with less attention to detail and customer service. The level of montards and inbred is about the same though.

Best thing i found about Emirates was that I requested at booking that I not be placed within 10 ailes of children and they accomodated
 
@smeghead said:
The Middle Easter companies are the ones to go with for sure. They pay proper rates to their staff, have impeccable maintenance and are not cost cutting everywhere.

Worst airline experience ever was Delta. Got stuck in the Atlanta hub for 2 days because of their incompetance. It is very much like Jetstar and Tiger but with less attention to detail and customer service. The level of montards and inbred is about the same though.

**Best thing i found about Emirates was that I requested at booking that I not be placed within 10 ailes of children and they accomodated**
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That's fantastic. We've picked our seats ourselves so we're stuck with what we've got unfortunately. Luckily, we've bagged all the double seater rows on the 777's and the A380.
 
@alien said:
i remember once when wests tigers were playing on the goldcoast (i think it was the last year that the titans played at carrara - it was awful rugby league ground) i went to melbas afterwards. it was when gallant was fullback and i think fitzy was co-captain for some strange reason - i dont remember why. anyway i got drunk after the game and almost missed my plane that was leaving early next morning. i was going to cab it from the nightclub i went to after the game (melbas) to the airport but the taxi lines were way too long and i would have missed my flight. i was lucky i got this bus which i didnt know which direction it was going. the driver said to get on though, so i listened. when the bus stopped along this road which felt like the middle of nowhere he told me to walk 15 minutes in one direction, and i did, and i finally found the airport. i was so full of liquor i could hardly walk! im surprsied they let me on the plane - i tyed to act as sober as possible. as soon as i got on the plane i put my belt on, and then passed out. i didnt hear any of the safety instuctions stuff they go through before take-off. i woke up just as we were landing in sydney. it was like i closed my eyes for a minute and i was in sydney LOL
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Alien that's a classic! I've always wanted to do that (knock myself out) before a flight but i'm always way to worried i'll miss my flight or get kicked off. The reason for this is I'm as nervous a flyer as they come, i can not stand it. from take off to touch down i feel every little bump and think "this is it, we're going down!!" i think the reason for this steams back to one of my first international flights when i was 21 (10years ago) I was flying back from Hawaii to Sydney and the plane (Hawaiian Air) went through an electrical storm. After about 3 minutes of feeling like i was on a roller coaster all power cut out and we free fell for what seemed like minutes, but in reality it would have been a few seconds i guess. Without doubt the most terrifying experience of my life. (except for meeting the in-laws)

To make all this worse im a travel junky so i must force myself to get on planes to continue my globetrotting. All up in the last 10 years i'd have a conservative guess and say ive been to 50 odd countries and been on 40-50 International flights + 30odd domestic flights within Australia and within other countries. By far the best planes ive traveled on internationaly have been Middle Eastern airlines. so CB has chosen a good line to travel on. Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, Egypt Air are all top notch with service and comfortableness (is that a word?). In Europe i usually get around on smaller airlines like Austrian Air (first class service) and if you're in East Asia/Sth East Asia you simply can not beat the Malaysian budget airline, Air Asia for service and price.
 
I recently took a four-week trip to America. Sydney - San Francisco - Seattle - San Jose - New York - Sydney flying several different airlines.

Since Qantas dumped San Fran a few months ago to pick up Dallas/Fort Worth, the only non-stop flight SYD-SFO is with United Airlines. Being the crap airline they are, I looked for other ways to get there which meant connecting via Los Angeles which is a pain in the backside. Instead, I went with Air New Zealand via Auckland. Awesome way to do it. 3 hour flight to AKL then a 12hr flight to SFO. They were fantastic. Great service, comfortable new aircraft, on-time no fuss departure etc. Would recommend them to anyone.
Flew with Alaskan Airlines up to Seattle. Got a cheap fare on Expedia. Standard airline, nothing special, but were very efficient with both flights leaving 5mins early.
Took American Airlines across to New York. Been on them a few times and again, nothing special. Old cabin crew and even older aircraft, but the flight was only 2/3 full so I had a seat next to me giving the impression of a more comfortable flight.
Delta from New York to San Fran were terrible. Had several arguments about baggage allowances etc, simple customer service could have solved the problem but that doesn't exist at Delta. On top of that, the flight was delayed twice (almost missed my flight back to Sydney). The cabin staff were fairly friendly but their boarding system is slow and so inefficient. Cool thing though, I checked-in online and had the boarding pass sent to my phone so I scanned that when I got to the airport. Definitely a way of the future.
 
Jeez Alex, real mixed bag there. I have intention of ever visiting the US so I shouldn't ever encounter the likes of Delta et al.
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my longest flight was from sydney to san francisco. 16 hours straight. awful
 
@alex said:
I recently took a four-week trip to America. Sydney - San Francisco - Seattle - San Jose - New York - Sydney flying several different airlines.

Since Qantas dumped San Fran a few months ago to pick up Dallas/Fort Worth, the only non-stop flight SYD-SFO is with United Airlines. Being the crap airline they are, I looked for other ways to get there which meant connecting via Los Angeles which is a pain in the backside. Instead, I went with Air New Zealand via Auckland. Awesome way to do it. 3 hour flight to AKL then a 12hr flight to SFO. They were fantastic. Great service, comfortable new aircraft, on-time no fuss departure etc. Would recommend them to anyone.
Flew with Alaskan Airlines up to Seattle. Got a cheap fare on Expedia. Standard airline, nothing special, but were very efficient with both flights leaving 5mins early.
Took American Airlines across to New York. Been on them a few times and again, nothing special. Old cabin crew and even older aircraft, but the flight was only 2/3 full so I had a seat next to me giving the impression of a more comfortable flight.
Delta from New York to San Fran were terrible. Had several arguments about baggage allowances etc, simple customer service could have solved the problem but that doesn't exist at Delta. On top of that, the flight was delayed twice (almost missed my flight back to Sydney). The cabin staff were fairly friendly but their boarding system is slow and so inefficient. Cool thing though, I checked-in online and had the boarding pass sent to my phone so I scanned that when I got to the airport. Definitely a way of the future.
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United look awful. Even when they were under 1k for travel to the US it wasn't cheap enough. When the wife and I are in the states we use SouthWest and Jetblue where possible. Not only do you actually get a luggage allowance and a snack, the prices are pretty good too.
 
Agreed - they still don't have personal TVs on their 15-hour Pacific flights. Pretty lousy hey?

But now that they have merged with Continental, they're about to revamp/update their fleet to bring it up to speed to compete with other airlines across the Pacific. Furthermore, once they get their new 787s, the first route they're sending them on will be Houston - Auckland non-stop. Again, all extra competition pushing down fares and giving us more choice to the Americas.
 
@alex said:
Agreed - they still don't have personal TVs on their 15-hour Pacific flights. Pretty lousy hey?

But now that they have merged with Continental, they're about to revamp/update their fleet to bring it up to speed to compete with other airlines across the Pacific. Furthermore, once they get their new 787s, the first route they're sending them on will be Houston - Auckland non-stop. Again, all extra competition pushing down fares and giving us more choice to the Americas.
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Yep. Overhead screens for a Aus-US flight is almost insulting in this day and age. I've also heard they use very dated and old plances. Delta apparently aren't too bad for international travel. Airfares are amazing. Cost me more to fly to London in 2003 than it does now. Likewise when I went to the US in 2006 the airfare was somewhere near $2000 (if not over).
 
@Yossarian said:
Yep. Overhead screens for a Aus-US flight is almost insulting in this day and age. I've also heard they use very dated and old plances. Delta apparently aren't too bad for international travel. Airfares are amazing. Cost me more to fly to London in 2003 than it does now. Likewise when I went to the US in 2006 the airfare was somewhere near $2000 (if not over).
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About half of United's 747 fleet which they operate to Australia were delivered between 1998-1999, making them about 12-13 years old. The other half were all delivered before 1994, so yeah, their planes are getting on a bit.

With V Australia and Delta now flying to the US, as well as pretty easy connections through NZ, there's a lot more competition which will result in cheaper fares. You can pretty much always grab a cheapy Europe fare too as we have the choice of any of the Asian and Middle Eastern airlines. I remember reading somewhere that flights from Aus-USA were 1.5x more expensive per km than Aus-Europe.
 
<big>Agency names world's 10 safest airlines</big>
Yahoo!7
August 30, 2011, 10:09 am

Air France-KLM, British Airways and Lufthansa are the safest airlines in Europe, according to a new study ranking the 10 safest airlines by the Air Transport Rating Agency (ATRA).

The safest US-based airlines are AMR Corporation, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways, while the safest from Asia is Japan Airlines, it said, without giving a ranking within the top 10.

The ATRA is a rating agency based in Geneva (Switzerland) dealing with aviation risk assessment and advanced data analyses in the aviation sector.

To obtain this classification, the first of its kind, ATRA examined publicly available information on 15 criteria, such as the average age of the aircraft used or the homogeneity of the fleet, it said.

The agency explained that to understand airline safety, one needed not only to look at accident figures, but also "technical, human, organisational and external" elements.

External factors such as environmental criteria are not taken into account.

"Even though the European Union publishes a 'blacklist' of dangerous airlines, there exists a real difference in safety between the other airline companies," ATRA added.

World's 10 safest airlines (in alphabetical order)

Air France-KLM

AMR Corporation (American Airlines, American Eagles)

British Airways

Continental Airlines

Delta Airlines

Japan Airlines

Lufthansa

Southwest Airlines

United Airlines

US Airways

http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/10143966/agency-names-worlds-10-safest-airlines/
 
What about Qantas? Never had an accident-related fatality?

And we all saw how lax security is on United's flights one sunny September morning ten years ago…
 
It's a very limited study and the criteria is not great. Taking into account the homogeneity of the fleet is going to count against someone like Qantas who run all sorts of planes (from props up to Airbus) compared to a US carrier who probaby run 2 different planes and uses partner airlines for the small stuff. Stuff like that doesn't always translate into safer flying.
 
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