AirlineRatings.com's top 10 airlines for 2018

[MindYerBeak 73]

Thought this was interesting...

 

 

http://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/airline-excellence-awards-2018/index.html?iid=ob_lockedrail_bottomlist

[nealmac 260]

Never flown with them, but I'm surprised Emirates aren't on the list, considering the amount of publicity they get and the way everyone raves about them.

[Fielder 3,642]

9 of 10 from the Middle East and Far East where people meeting each other bow. Natural hospitality of the flight crews makes a good impression on most everybody traveling  !

[Chock 17,769]

What a shock that Ryanair aren't on the list 

[Guest]

Interesting link ... no big surprises there, all very good airlines.

I was surprised by a recent domestic flight I did from KOAK to KLAS ... $55 ticket so wasn't expecting much, all coach but the seats were nice and comfortable and both times only 90 passengers on a 737-800 so middle seats were empty, even had wifi ... SouthWest, better than the Alaska Air flight I took last year.

I've always enjoyed British Airways and Qantas.  KLM was "ok" (not bad, not great) but love the accent/language.  The worst experience I've had was with TWA (back when they were around, late 70's I think, and I don't think it was a regular route) going from EGLL to OBBI ... just bad flight all around.

Here are some long haul flights in a related link that I'd love to do:

http://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/world-longest-air-routes/index.html

London to Perth in an 787 ... on my vacation list and if the QW 787 comes out for P3D, it'll be my first virtual test flight.

Cheers, Rob.

[MarkW 1,490]

If by chance Air Canada made the list then the list is worthless.  

[garrett_frank 150]

Tyler Durden recommends United.

[WingZ 547]

5 hours ago, Rob Ainscough said:

some long haul flights in a related link that I'd love to do:

The two longest-duration flights in there both terminate in Auckland.
I can confirm the west-bound leg is a crusher - over 17 hours.
You will be crossing two jetstreams is why:
https://www.ventusky.com/?p=-31.4;124.8;3&l=wind-200hpa
If you are bigger than the 95th percentile human, best you spring for Business Class otherwise risk Deep Vein Thrombosis. Heck, save up for 1st class because the taps are gold-plated and the doors close :)

But the uncontested Best in the Sky is Air New Zealand's B777 Bizclass.
Laid out in herringbone fashion you are hardly aware of fellow passengers, or even being on an aircraft.

I think they got Best Airline because of the Safety Videos, though :)

 

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

41 minutes ago, WingZ said:

The two longest-duration flights in there both terminate in Auckland.
I can confirm the west-bound leg is a crusher - over 17 hours.
You will be crossing two jetstreams is why:
https://www.ventusky.com/?p=-31.4;124.8;3&l=wind-200hpa
If you are bigger than the 95th percentile human, best you spring for Business Class otherwise risk Deep Vein Thrombosis. Heck, save up for 1st class because the taps are gold-plated and the doors close :)

I have a friend in Wellington that is a Defense Lawyer, and anyone who knows those guys they work a 120 hour week at least, His phone is constant ringing of course and around the clock. So for a getaway he booked Wellington to Prague and back with Emirates on Business Class. He only booked 8 hours in Prague so he would get to walk around and see some of the sights, then back on the planes and back to Wellington again.

I asked why only 8 hours at your destination for your vacation? Because the Aircraft is actually his vacation, when they close the doors it doesn't matter what happens you cannot get a hold of him, and Emirates pampers you and you can nod off and sleep. The 8 hours in Prague you can get a hold of him so really he is just walking around and looking at the sights with his mobile going off

I asked why Prague? He just shrugged and said "I've never been to Prague" 

[YukonPete 580]

Ive traveled on 5 of those airlines. All between Australia and North America. I liked Virgin Australia the most

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

"All of the top five airlines in the Skytrax 2017 rankings -- Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, ANA, Emirates and Cathay Pacific -- have huge international route networks for which they favor newer aircraft (Boeing 777-300ERs, Boeing 787s, Airbus A380s and Airbus A350s, for example). 

These feature mostly consistent on-board experiences where passengers can expect on-board power, entertainment systems and newer seats."

And a couple of those airlines are heavily and unfairly subsidized with government funds.

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

6 hours ago, jabloomf1230 said:

And a couple of those airlines are heavily and unfairly subsidized with government funds.

Funny how this view keeps coming up. Yes the US Government doesn't do it but the USA is only 4.4% of the worlds population. So how is this unfair when less then 5% of the world doesn't agree with it? In this case I would say majority rules, this is just how the rest of the world does business is all, and the US does benefit from other Government Subsidies as well and here is how:

Air New Zealand ranks top for the 5th year in a row and it is with a 777 and 787 fleet, they are innovative in the cabin without having any A380's and that innovation has worked. Part of the strategy is Government Funding because of course the New Zealand Government wants to bring more people here being Islands at the bottom of the world, so that is a challenge. Also if you look at the cost of Aviation Fuel, Auckland Airport is one of the lowest for Jet Fuel, also this is subsidized by the New Zealand Government as a strategy to get more people here. For the past 7 years New Zealand has had record breaking tourism as a result.

American Airlines and United Airlines have opened up routes into Auckland just in the past few years, main reason was because Auckland was selling fuel for a lower price, also Air New Zealand was hitting record profits on the Auckland to LA route so they wanted some of that market share as well. Therefore those two US Carriers are benefiting from a New Zealand Government Subsidy as well. I end up paying slightly more at the gas pump so more people can pay less to fly here, but my business also benefits from more people coming here so I don't complain about the strategy. Also Boeing benefits from New Zealand Government Subsidies as well because they end up with a pretty awesome airline that buys really cool planes from them, and paints some of them All Black that really stands out above any other aircraft on the tarmac. Another win for a US company from a foreign subsidy.

So is all of this unfair? or just strategic and beneficial for all involved? I would say not unfair at all as everyone benefits including the US partners involved. For the Americans that come here it will be a vacation of a lifetime....win win win all around of you ask me 

[BlueStar 323]

20 minutes ago, Matthew Kane said:

American Airlines and United Airlines have opened up routes into Auckland just in the past few years, main reason was because Auckland was selling fuel for a lower price

Source please. 

blaustern

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

6 minutes ago, Bluestar said:

Source please. 

blaustern

http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/81440091/american-airlines-auckland-flight-takes-off

http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/81380312/united-airlines-launches-auckland-san-francisco-route

 

Oh yes and I forgot to mention the USA also benefits with Kiwi's coming to the US in return due to lower ticket prices, this benefits both nations tourism

[Guest]

7 hours ago, jabloomf1230 said:

And a couple of those airlines are heavily and unfairly subsidized with government funds.

Considering oil subsidies in the US, one could easily reverse that debate  ... unless of course you go by Forbes definition of subsidiary which is "slanted".  In terms of oil subsidizers the US is ranked #2 (around $600B/yr all said and done) in the world (China #1 at $1.8T).  New Zealand oil subsidies are so low they don't even rank ... given that fuel is the highest percentage of overall operation costs of flight/airlines (at about 40%), you could argue US and China airlines have the overall highest governmental subsidized support.

Cheers, Rob.