What was the best Trans-Atlantic or Trans-Pacific airline you traveled by?

by Hellsangel Tue May 10, 2011 4:33 pm

And why?

by harharmahadev Tue May 10, 2011 4:47 pm

Singapore airlines...great service, great chics, reasonably good food....clean, spacious seating.

by SomeProfile Tue May 10, 2011 4:58 pm

On the Trans-Atlantic side, Emirates seems to be the best. Perhaps, better than even Singapore. I felt they had better service than S'pore, friendly Middle Eastern chics, good food, newer aircraft and equipment all around, spacious seating.

by Guest Tue May 10, 2011 5:23 pm

Only travelled trans-atlantic... so many different airlines, can't remember which was the best... only some memories

Kuwait - ughest. bad planes, bad service.
Qatar - decent airlines for its price.
Continental/lufthansa - never had an issue. It's direct for us, so works.
British - late enough to make u miss the connecting flight, if not late, makes u walk endlessly in London, lost luggage.
Air Italia - not so great food. Airport ok.
Air France - service was bad initially, but they responded well on complain.
Delta - no complains.. was ages ago.
Air India - first flight to US on this... was too excited to register what all the fuss is about.
KLM - this one was v. good actually. Friendly service, etc.

by charvaka Tue May 10, 2011 5:41 pm

Hellsangel wrote:And why?

TPAC - Singapore. Great service, decent food, good entertainment. Their business class is awesome. Even their coach can sometimes feel like UA business.
TATL - Emirates. Great service, good food, excellent connections to India from SFO. Generous with upgrades. Only way I can get to HYD in under 24 hours door-to-door. Took it when my dad was really ill, and was home less than 36 hours after I first heard about his medical emergency. (They are actually polar more than TATL, but that's OK.)

by charvaka Tue May 10, 2011 5:42 pm

SomeProfile wrote:On the Trans-Atlantic side, Emirates seems to be the best. Perhaps, better than even Singapore. I felt they had better service than S'pore, friendly Middle Eastern chics, good food, newer aircraft and equipment all around, spacious seating.

Yeah, EK's coach seats are in better condition than SQ's. But if you get the 380 of either airline, that's a different deal altogether -- brand new everything.

by Kris Tue May 10, 2011 10:03 pm

Hellsangel wrote:And why?

>>>> Transatlantic: Virgin and Emirates
Transpacific: Singapore

Virgin - excellent service,
Emirates- convenient from the west coast - one hop to Dubai and then to India- food pretty good (I flew from Zurich to Dubai once and found the seating to be extremely comfortable; don't know if certain routes are better than others in this regard)

Singapore: Food good, stopover in singapore very convenient with the day room and all that
I will add Malaysian was ok too, altho I have flown them just once

by Guest Tue May 10, 2011 10:07 pm

Just remembered... Swissair experience was also good... we spent time in a kiddies room when daughter was about 3...

by Guest Tue May 10, 2011 10:12 pm

Transpacific : Cathay.

Singapore is alright but I had a really bad experience with them once and I still haven't forgiven them.

Flew Transatlantic only when I was a grad student.

by Kris Tue May 10, 2011 10:20 pm

My experience was the other way around. I had a bad experience with Cathay- long wait in HK, altho, it wasn't their fault. They tried to get me on an earlier connection to s'pore, but had to make sure that Indian Airlines would take me on an earlier flight (some airline regulation). The Cathay gal kept trying the iA # in singapore, but the IA idiots had left the phone off the hook. I guess it is misplaced anger .

by Guest Tue May 10, 2011 11:57 pm

Kris wrote:My experience was the other way around. I had a bad experience with Cathay- long wait in HK, altho, it wasn't their fault. They tried to get me on an earlier connection to s'pore, but had to make sure that Indian Airlines would take me on an earlier flight (some airline regulation). The Cathay gal kept trying the iA # in singapore, but the IA idiots had left the phone off the hook. I guess it is misplaced anger .

Is this a recent experience? Were you stuck at the new airport or the old one?

In addition to the one really bad exprience I had with Singapore Airlines, the last time I transited through Singapore with two cranky, sleepy kids, they deplaned all of us from their brand new A380 after boarding, made us wait for nearly 4 hours while they fixed the technical snag. Since we were all checked in and security cleared, we could not wander around the airport and had to remain within the gate.

That wasn't fun.

by charvaka Wed May 11, 2011 12:12 am

blabberwock wrote:In addition to the one really bad exprience I had with Singapore Airlines, the last time I transited through Singapore with two cranky, sleepy kids, they deplaned all of us from their brand new A380 after boarding, made us wait for nearly 4 hours while they fixed the technical snag. Since we were all checked in and security cleared, we could not wander around the airport and had to remain within the gate.

That wasn't fun.

That's awful. Every time I pass through Changi, I am amazed and like the place a little bit more. I usually get into the city for a nap and a meal with friends (the Hyderabad connection is usually 9 hours after the SFO flight reaches there.) I am always amazed by how quickly my bags show up. Never had to wait for my bags at Changi. They are there by the time I get there. And never a long line at immigration. They make it feel almost magical.

by Guest Wed May 11, 2011 12:47 am

charvaka wrote:
That's awful. Every time I pass through Changi, I am amazed and like the place a little bit more. I usually get into the city for a nap and a meal with friends (the Hyderabad connection is usually 9 hours after the SFO flight reaches there.) I am always amazed by how quickly my bags show up. Never had to wait for my bags at Changi. They are there by the time I get there. And never a long line at immigration. They make it feel almost magical.

Yes, Changi is efficient. So is Chep Lap Kok.

I like Singapore. We've been going there every 2 years or so because my kids enjoy the bird park and the zoo. They are awesome. I also like the quay area. In the evening, we usually go to the Merlion and take a long walk by the river and have dinner at one of those outdoor restaurants at the quay, by the river. One place I have avoided so far is Sentosa. I feel it is just a commercial trap. I also like the Orchard Road region.

The only area I hate in Singapore is the Little India region. It is comparatively dirty with a lot of rude people. Once when I was there, we hailed a taxi and as we were about to open the door, someone rushed in from the other side and got in, leaving us feeling quite stupid!

by Kris Wed May 11, 2011 1:13 am

Is this a recent experience? Were you stuck at the new airport or the old one?

>>>> It was the new one, not kai tak. My flight landed at 6 in the morning and flight out was at 6 in the evening. I didn't realize this at the time I booked it. There were earlier cathay flights to singapore, which they were willing to accommodate me on, but had to ensure the onward journey from s'pore. I had to keep checking with them to see if they had been able to get a hold of IA at Changi, so I couldn't go into the city either.

In addition to the one really bad exprience I had with Singapore Airlines, the last time I transited through Singapore with two cranky, sleepy kids, they deplaned all of us from their brand new A380 after boarding, made us wait for nearly 4 hours while they fixed the technical snag. Since we were all checked in and security cleared, we could not wander around the airport and had to remain within the gate.

>>> That can be a bummer. I have been lucky with s'pore airlines, I guess..

by Kris Wed May 11, 2011 1:16 am

Every time I pass through Changi, I am amazed and like the place a little bit more. I usually get into the city for a nap and a meal with friends (the Hyderabad connection is usually 9 hours after the SFO flight reaches there.) I am always amazed by how quickly my bags show up. Never had to wait for my bags at Changi. They are there by the time I get there. And never a long line at immigration. They make it feel almost magical

>>>>> Usually we do the same when we go as a family. The past couple of times, we have stayed the night, once in Changi Village and once at the Crowne Plaza at the airport (since we had a very early flight).

by Kris Wed May 11, 2011 1:27 am

I like Singapore. We've been going there every 2 years or so because my kids enjoy the bird park and the zoo. They are awesome. I also like the quay area. In the evening, we usually go to the Merlion and take a long walk by the river and have dinner at one of those outdoor restaurants at the quay, by the river. One place I have avoided so far is Sentosa. I feel it is just a commercial trap. I also like the Orchard Road region.

>>>> Me too. I like the orchard rd area. Last time, we tried some of the street food in one of the open malls. I would like to spend more time next time we go.

by charvaka Wed May 11, 2011 1:35 am

Kris wrote:had to ensure the onward journey

That requirement reminds me of my all-time worst travel experience. I was based in India, on a short business trip to New York. My I-94 said I had to leave the country by 9/15. Then 9/11 happened. All airports closed. They opened Newark on 9/14, to close it again because of a scare. A CNBC India reporter wanted to interview me because I was trying to help track down some unfortunate Indian guys who were working at Cantor Fitzgerald. And I was on the phone with every airline I could think of all night on 9/14, trying to get me a flight to India. United, which I had taken from Delhi on my way in, summarily decided to cancel all India flights. They simply told me, you find another airline to take you to India, and we will endorse your ticket. Meanwhile, my company lawyers started scaring me that I should do everything possible to leave before I became out of status. Late that night, I somehow found room on UA to London. And Lufthansa put me on standby Heathrow-Frankfurt-Delhi. So I show up at Newark airport on 9/15, wait in line for hours to reach the counter. And then spend a full 90 minutes at the line talking to the lady about my situation. She was kept on hold by Lufthansa, and she couldn't give me a boarding pass for London until LH confirmed my seat out of London. People behind me in the line hated me, but at the end, she succeeded in getting me out of there, with BA for London-Frankfurt, and LH for Frankfurt-Delhi. Three airlines later, I get to Delhi, and some random guy walked off with my suitcase mistaking it for his. And I had to choose to wait for the guy to come back, or take my connection home. I just went home, and my bag showed up a couple days later. It happened almost ten years ago, and I have flown hundreds of times since, but I still remember those two days vividly.

by charvaka Wed May 11, 2011 1:38 am

blabberwock wrote:
I like Singapore. We've been going there every 2 years or so because my kids enjoy the bird park and the zoo. They are awesome. I also like the quay area. In the evening, we usually go to the Merlion and take a long walk by the river and have dinner at one of those outdoor restaurants at the quay, by the river. One place I have avoided so far is Sentosa. I feel it is just a commercial trap. I also like the Orchard Road region.

The only area I hate in Singapore is the Little India region. It is comparatively dirty with a lot of rude people. Once when I was there, we hailed a taxi and as we were about to open the door, someone rushed in from the other side and got in, leaving us feeling quite stupid!

I like Orchard too. My wife lived there for a bit, and I spent time there with her. I used to love walking from the quays all the way to Orchard (a long walk, but interesting.) Never been to Sentosa. I liked eating in Little India, but that was when I was a grad student, and a 2 sing dollar "meals" wasn't easy to pass up.

by Kris Wed May 11, 2011 2:00 am

It happened almost ten years ago, and I have flown hundreds of times since, but I still remember those two days vividly.

>>>> This sort of confusion has happened to me twice, both times in India. One was a few years ago. I was scheduled to leave early next morning, but someone from the airline knocked on the door and said I had to leave that night(!). It was some Indian airlines or air india connection to a flight to SF out of singapore. It was some nonsense about not scheduling enough haj flights which resulted in them having to scramble in the last minute. Not surprisingly, the flight didn't happen that night and i had to fly to b'kok to seoul and eventually caught a flight home from there, after hours at the seoul airport, which was pretty much dead that night. The other time was in bombay when i kept getting bumped off flights. I also got sick and after shuttling between the hotel and the airport for 2 or 3 days, i walked into the british airways office and told them i had to get out that night. They put me on business class and the flight was delayed and missed the connection to LA in London. They asked me if I wanted to stay in london that night. I lost it and told them i needed to be in LA the next morning, come what may. They put me on a pan am (they were still around then) flight and the girl at the counter told me it was up to me to communicate that to whoever was going to pick me up. I told her 'no, it isn't, call this # in LA and let them know' and walked away, totally ticked off. My roommate came to pick me up and said 'man, you must have read them the riot act or something, judging from how polite they were on the phone'.

Thankfully, these experiences have been few and far between.

by Guest Wed May 11, 2011 2:12 am

Kris wrote: but someone from the airline knocked on the door and said I had to leave that night(!). It was some Indian airlines or air india connection to a flight to SF out of singapore.

Someone knocked on your door? Wow! No phones?

by Kris Wed May 11, 2011 2:19 am

They didn't have my dad's #, but had the address, probably from one of the forms you fill in triplicate when you go thru customs.. More than that, this idea of moving the flight up was even more weird. Of course, the final nail was that the flight didn't happen that night anyway. The airport official gave us some dinner coupons (there were a few passengers in the same boat) and kept invoking 'god' i.e. "by god's grace, i can get you on a flight by the morning " etc

by charvaka Wed May 11, 2011 2:38 am

Kris wrote:They didn't have my dad's #, but had the address, probably from one of the forms you fill in triplicate when you go thru customs.. More than that, this idea of moving the flight up was even more weird. Of course, the final nail was that the flight didn't happen that night anyway. The airport official gave us some dinner coupons (there were a few passengers in the same boat) and kept invoking 'god' i.e. "by god's grace, i can get you on a flight by the morning " etc

AI once moved my flight up, and neglected to inform me. We got to the airport at the appointed time, and they quietly told us, "your flight left already." Of course, we were going BOM-SIN-SFO, so we missed our flight home from Singapore. Thankfully, they put us on Cathay all the way through. That's the last time I flew AI and I hope to keep it that way.

by The Absolute Zero Wed May 11, 2011 9:57 am

Very first flight From Madras (the then) to Bombay. Flight time 8 AM. Delayed by 8 hours :-) Gave us lunch coupons and departed at 4.30 PM landed at Bombay in heavy rain. Had to repack bags (within 40 minutes) to leave for next flight on Lufthansa. Decided never to fly Indian Airlines again.

Lufthansa has been OK though once they spilled a complete coke can on my shirt and did not even say sorry. BA, I agree with Tracy. Always delayed for the next flight and deliver you in the 11th hour. Once Lufthansa gave me free upgrade from economy to BZ class ;-) (DC To F.F)

Good experience though was with Jet airlines within India. Their dosa/idli is incredibly small and funny to look at ;-) Most of the ladies did not seem to understand what I asked (only prob with me, not with others). I asked for additional napkins to clean something kid spilled but they gave me a fresh packet of cloth napkins and said - yes you can take them home! :-)

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