Free Flight, Free Speech

Hey there
Living abroad, I had the privilege of flying before I could crawl, much less walk or even talk.
Amazing exchange rates in Venezuela allowed a onetime business experience on Lufthansa, but now they only sell in USD, and no sane person ought to pay 18 grand for a flight. If anybody wants to get an amazing deal, move to Venezuela and buy CCS-MAD for something like $340 on a 747 on Conviasa! 340,000 bsf / 1000 = 340

My earliest memory of aviation is of sitting outside Miami airport security, crying (didn't want to take my shoes off, I presume), and watching the huge 747 nose in front (BA!).


What are your experiences and perceptions of the airlines you have flown?




United
Not so bad. DirectTV for pay only (not even flight map) on an intl flight is not a good thing for business. Food is not so dusty, and they serve excellent Canada Dry ginger ale. Pretty good for price tag.

American
Excellent. Catering out of Maiquetia is not a proper representation of the meals, but on the way back from Miami, they served a literally ice-cold sandwich. Dated interiors on older 737s. Nice ones on newer ones. Legroom sufficient, unless you are over 6ft. I hope to experience AA again on CCS-MIA-PHL-DUB, which will be the top choice of route next time...

Delta
Nice interior and legroom. Can't remember much, but according to flight reviews, Delta is a ''stylish'' airline, which matches my experience years ago. Pretty decent.

Air Canada
Poor pricing, but good service. Quite nice interior on the A319, I remember watching my first game of ice hockey on the way back in '09! Good IFE.

Lufthansa
Nice. New slimline seat perfectly comfortable, no idea why people complain. Experienced the economy, business (old), and business (new). Old business comfortable, though showing signs of wear. New business (actually first flight on D-AIKK!) very nice, fully flat, though I prefer the angleflat for sleeping. Food leaves much to be desired, too fancy! Green tomatto soup and octopus, thanks.

British Airways
Have not flown since '06 (aforementioned Miami episode): hope to fly again CCS-MIA-LHR-BFS as an alternate choice next year.


What have you flown, and what are your thoughts about the airlines?

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the US3 especially.
On the blogs, they are basically the worst thing ever. (Ben Schlappig though loves Lufthansa and calls BA 747 first class a decent business class :O)

However, in my experience, the prices are good, and service, though not as good maybe as the ME3 (ethiad, quatar, emirates), especially in food, they are more than sufficient for a nice flight.

best airline= ICELANDAIR!

Ryanair is from a comfort point of view very bad... the other airlines I flew with are more or less the same (Lufthansa, Air Croatia, SAS, AirBerlin). Wideroe, which I flew with quite many years ago was quite funny as far as I remember, we flew with a cute Q200 to Leknes Lufthavn which is also quite cute, though the flight was quite loud due to the propellers and our seats next to them.

I did fly Easyjet last year, and you get what you pay for. The seats are quite comfortable for a short flight, and for the price, you can't complain.
Don't want drinks? Don't pay a high price tag for the privilege of being offered drinks.

I echo D-ECHO

I have never have found an airline that strikes out all others in services offered and/or customers attention.

There's a basic service and every airline I've tried follow that industry line without seeking a higher gold standard, and without showing off a better services than others. I have flown some famous airlines and others much more obscure -- and even there, I have not found any major difference: Neither airline I've flown had stroke down the others for a comparison. (I am avoiding here the listing, for the same reason of irrelevance).

For that reason, today, when I look for a airplane ticket, I drop all "customer faithfulness" and become a discount-shopper. I go online and play the seeking machines for the best bargain. In reality, I have no major preference of any of the big names, and I don't feel any underdog can treat me any-worse.

My favorite flying experience (in terms of customer service) so far has been when I flew a chartered Challenger 650 to Las Vegas. That I can tell you, you become a happy customer. Even without flight attendants you already feel the companies have a higher degree of competition to gain the hearts of customers. And it shows. Services are excel.

IH-COL

Wowowow! Challenger 650 flight sounds fun
That's a wise thought.
You need to go look at the first class to see how an airline varies, from my point of view.
Emirates? Gold covered first class suite, a shower, and anciient champagne. United? A nice lie flat seat. Conviasa? None at all.
For sure, first class especially A380, is a dream to be experienced when one wins the lotterry

And for the ordinary Joe like pretty much all of us here? Economy is economy, and it's pretty consistent throughout all the airlines.

legoboyvdlp wrote:You need to go look at the first class to see how an airline varies, from my point of view.

I'm not paying the extra buck here. If someone else pays it for me, I'm game (thus the name "business-class")

legoboyvdlp wrote:And for the ordinary Joe like pretty much all of us here? Economy is economy,

My exact point. Therefore Airlines don't gain faithfulness from me. Give me the deal.

Othewise, my advise: Fly JAFVA!

Yes, economy class does not seem to make much difference at airlines. I have very little business class experience (not paid for by myself), so i can not compare that. What i learned from it is that i do not really need business class and am perfectly happy in economy. I am not the largest person, so legroom is fine for me. I never sleep on public transport. And i do not come for a good dinner. If i want that, i go to a fine restaurant. Much better than even first class food.

Just one word of advice on long flights in economy: Eat everything you get, because you never know if and when you get something again. Even though i do not like sweet, i eat the desert and cake they serve me.

Generally i am more concerned about whether the flying skills of the pilots are trained well. There are very few airlines that i am prepared to board. You will never find me on a domestic flight of some (more or less) obscure airline.

Kind regards, Vincent

You are probably right... tho when you have to, Aserca, Avior, Conviasa, Aeropostel, really have a not too bad safety record apart from missing luggage.

How would you feel about flying say an elderly 737-200 or MD88?