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Airlines - the good and the bad


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AirNZ has the worst service, old fat clumbsy terse cabin crew bumbling and fumbling around. I am constantly amazed everytime I fly the service gets worse.

Why cant they have mandatory retirement for the old hags? get someone younger, less clumbsy and less bitter.

The best service I got was ANA, simply phenomenal! (maybe had to do with the fact I was lone gaijin on a half empty plane to London, sitting next to the galley ;\) ) but the attendents were awesome and other times on ANA domestic flights I have met sincere helpful friendly attendents.

 

Reno Air in the US sucks bigtime, but they are filthy cheap.

Buzz.com in UK also suck, but again they are dirt cheap

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JAL is pretty shoddy.

I have flown From Syd - narita (stopover) Narita- Mexico city via vancouver.

All they seem to want to do is sell duty free ( more than any other airline) even on short domestic trips.

Also most planes used on the Tokyo-Oz cattle run are pretty old and never have any kind of personal entertainment on them. But most companies I have flown planes coming back to japan are usually crappy ones.. is that because japanese will pay the exy tix and not complain??

 

Ansett from Bali - Adelaide rocked! they filled us up with wine etc and gave us about 5 small bottles to take home! pity they are gone

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 Quote:
Originally posted by Indosnm:

I have flown From Syd - narita (stopover) Narita- Mexico city via vancouver.
christ mate, why didn't you go via Moscow just for the hell of it. what a route!

Is that the standard Sydney-Mexico City route?
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Quickest was Syd - L.A.

But coming back i couldn't get a few weeks in the Japanese snow.

sacrifice. But after enduring a 17hr flight I now can appreciate the 4.5 hr flight from Adelaide - Indo :p

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Oh, and I forgot to mention, I usually fly First Class or at least Business Class and my slogan for Cathay Pacific is "Why fly Economy with any other airline when you can be treated like shit on First Class with Cathay Pacific!"

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With KLM I've been overbooked 3 times, missed my flight due to connections being late (even though we were late coz of waiting for idiots too busy spending their holiday money in the duty free) 4 times (each time my plane was still there in front of me - I could see it - but they refused to let us on coz of security reasons that they had no time to get our suitcases from the other plane and hell, we could have realised they were going to do so so we'd have packed a bomb, a gun and a couple of knives just in case (no offence meant to anyone)) and every time I return to Britain my suitcases arrive on another later flight (what about the security risk then? - yeh I know its okay if we dont know its going to happen but it still sucks). What I dont get is, why is it such a priority to wait for some crumby passenger going from the UK to Amsterdam which makes half a dozen or more long haul passengers miss their flights when there are 6-8 flights a day between the UK and Amsterdam but only 1 per day (if ur lucky) between Amsterdam and the long haul destination!!??!!

 

Yep, still having that same bad day. Thanks for listening to me rant folks!

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Sunrise, dear, I'm not really rich, I just know how to live off credit, but money is not the limiting factor for my ski trips, it's the number of days off work I can manage to wangle.

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Really, nagoid? I am so surprised to here that. I have flown on all the major airlines and Cathay Pacific have proved to the worst by far. They seem to have an attitude like they're doing you a favour letting you fly with them.

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Strange that the quality of the billion dollar airline companies is judged almost entirely on the attitude and appearance of the person whose job it is to doll out the food.

Would they be the worst paid employees that airlines have?

In my limited experience I rate JAL, I mentioned to the flight attendant while chatting that I might not make my connecting flight cos the 1st plane was a bit late and I had never been in Osaka airport. When I got off the plane there was a JAL lady with a card with my name on it whose job it was to escort me through the airport and to my next plane to ensure I made it.

 

However, I have much more time than money and would accept a standing space near the toilets, BYO food and travel via Syria or Jordan to save a few hundred dollars.

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Im not too picky because Ive usually paid bottom dollar for the flight. In my humble experience:

 

Malaysia - great, personal tv screens, good food, nice people that bring lots of drinks

 

Korea - fine, decent food, ok movies, good airport, usually one of the cheaper so good. Slightly higher baggage allowance (24kg rather than 20) great

 

Qantas - absolutely shit. Grumpy workers, 1 movie in the 9 hr haul from Brisbane and I was in business class damnit! Bitchy women who think they are the shit

 

Air Pacific - friendly people, ok meals, getting a few nights in Fiji for the same price FANTASTIC

 

Air Niugini - one of the only ways to get to PNG so not being picky. Actually big comfy planes and helpful but not friendly attendants

 

JAL - pretty sloppy food and boring movies but helpful attendants. If I had to pick Id have helpful rather than friendly anyday! All the anoying Japanese oyajis on the plane suck though

 

Air NZ - ok. hearing kiwi accents great, footrests good, food good, flying home direct GREAT.

 

Ive never had baggage lost so it doesnt come into it.

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I hear you Jared, funny the way we judge an airline and also amusing that each person's experience can be so different.

 

Personally, i rate Cathay. I've only flown the Narita/HK leg only a few times but every time found the planes to be quite new and the service friendly.

 

Best all round would have to be Emirates. Anyone else had the pleasure?

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tis indeed a good point. those cabin punks do vary widely....

 

but i gotta say, business kicks arse. and i would happily have my arse kicked if the reward was a business seat. i've only flown it during one period (frequent flier trip around oz before the redemption rules changed) and i managed to notice that all the truly terrible aspects of the cattle truck down the back in 3rd class were minimised.

 

now money is pretty important to me, as i dont get lots, so i would never pay to avoid the uncomfortable hours, but should the winds of good luck blow my way again i will be truly thankful.

 

having said all that it should be highlighted that travelling encompasses both the good and the bad... it always gets u somewhere new, can be exceedingly uncomfortable, but it usually worth it. and i know all about it, cos i get majorly motion sick, yet continually subject my body to hours of grief for happy times at the end.

 

 

and re-focusing on ears.... anyone blown an ear on the way down? another experience to add to the list... ouch.

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Antonio; Emirate - yes had the experience, but can't say much as I was sleeping all the way from Osaka to Dubai.

 

zwelgen; those damn foot rests on ANZ are only good for short people! For a 190+ frame they are not foot rests but mere shin torture when up whenever one moves in your own seat!!! And too bloody close when they are down and make the experience more uncomfortable!! THEY SHOULD BE BANNED!

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I enjoyed the flight from San Jose to Tokyo with American Airlines. The flight attentant was vey nice and he made many kinds of cocktails for me. When we landed, we were announced it was the last flight for the pilot and burst into applause! clap.gif

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A couple of weeks back, I asked for the seat on the wing (with all the legroom) on Virgin but they wanted an extra 50 quid one way at checkin.

 

They didn't blink at a 35kg suitcase going with a 20kg bag for two people, so good on them. Great entertainment system on the plane too.

 

I'll happily pay extra for a direct flight, but other than that am not really bothered.

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Big & planes are not a good combi particularly if it is Coach and Asian airlines. Forget JAL as option. Butt right back in the seat and still have to stride the seat in front with legs invading others space. I don't allow those whose space I have invaded to complain to me mad.gif they can direct it to the airlines for giving the short balding prat the bulkhead seat!

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You shouldn't have allowed yourself to grow so big! So there! (It's not surprising your feet get so hot either - giantism always brings problems in its wake).

 

I resent being upgraded to better digs on the plane because then I feel bitter as hell when I have to file through the comfortable cabin to the slave quarters on the inevitable next flight and there's no champagne to greet me.

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I've been upgraded a few times...

 

once was a booking error by the airline clap.gif

 

once the flight was overbooked (very common), and I was randomly selected to be bumped...

 

once the flight was overbooked, and the airline was offering insane deals to anyone willing to give up their seat on the flight...that included a business/first ticket on the next flight they put me on

 

once was through an airline promotion (business for coach fare)

 

and a few times using frequent flier miles to upgrade...

 

I'll tell you, nothing beats business/first on a long flight...it is worlds apart from coach!

 

danz

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Once from LA to Tokyo, the flight was overbooked.

We had to wait for the next flight about 2hours.

I wasn't so happy, because my BF was waiting for me at the Narita airport and I didn't want to be late.

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