Airlines

[ArkadiosV2]

Olympic Airlines:

Hardly reliable, always delaying, even for more than 24 hours. How many scenes of utter madness and despair by Olympic Airways i have seen in AIA i can't even remember.

Aegean Airlines:

Very decent prices. Good website with easy steps of buying a ticket online. Almost always on time. Very good food and new Airbus planes instead of old Boeings. Very satisfied.

Cyprus Airways:

EXPENSIVE. And since they merged their flights with Olympic always delaying. They sometimes even change the flight hour and don't even bother to inform you. Or your booking might get lost in optical fibres somewhere over Mediterreanian Sea. Once fined me 55 Euros for losing my ticket. STAY AWAY.

Helios:

Pure tragedy. Literally. I flew with the plane that crashed over Athens two years ago. It was old, unstable, smelly and they didn't even bother to bring my luggage and i got them the next day.

PS: After the crash the scums changed the name from Helios to AJET and focused on flights in UK but did not change its irresponsible policy and became the first EU-based airline reprimanded under the EU's new air safety system.

Czech Airlines:

Everything normal. Nice stewardesses.

EgyptAir:


Can't remember much, but everything seemed normal.

[Jan van Grabski]

Does anyone have any experience with Jet Airways ? That's Indian Company...I am about to book tickets, but there is some hesitation in my head.

[ArkadiosV2]

Going to New York?

[Jan van Grabski]

Going to New York?

Well yes i am very predictable, i know....

[ArkadiosV2]

NaF, check out Jet Airways

[Jan van Grabski]

NaF, check out Jet Airways

the guy is psycho, these kind of things can occur independent of airlines....but then again it depends how staff handles and reacts to the situation. i have witnessed myself similar situations, one was just a year after 9/11, i was flying from NY, the guy started to act strangely.....and i have to admit i was about to freak out myself.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

NaF, check out Jet Airways

if I were on the plane he'd be right on point
...imagine this starting right after takeoff, knowing he mostlikely won't stop for the next 10 hours

[Juan Carlos Nadal]

Last month I had the opportunity to fly with 3 airlines I hadn’t flown with before, so here are my impressions.

American Airlines: Lack of space. Man, did I suffer. It wasn’t my first time on a 767, but I swear the room on the AA 767s is less than normal. And if you are unlucky enough for the guy in front of you to recline his seat, then prepare yourself for a painful 9 hours. Food was not enough for a long haul flight. Otherwise, they are pretty OK.

TAROM (Romanian Air Transport): I was very pleasantly surprised with them. Fairly punctual, nice meals, clean aircraft. I also had to stay overnight in Bucharest airport and I was surprised at how tidy and comfortable it was. Too bad they rip people off by selling a small bottle of water for 3 Euros! Staff was also friendly. There was a mess-up with my luggage and one of them took care of my case personally and re-checked my luggage without me having to do anything. The only bad thing was that when we arrived in Bucharest airport, it took the company 20 mins to send a bus to take us to the terminal, despite (or maybe because of?) the little traffic at that time.

Alitalia: Oh boy. What can I possibly say? It is no wonder that it is universally accepted that they are one of the worse airlines around. I had been warned to avoid them but I thought that these were exaggerations. First they cancel my flight. Then they ask me to collect my luggage in order to re-check it in, but it never shows up. It takes them 3 hours to find the luggage, and this only after repetitive requests of mine. Ground stuff arguing with each other in front of me about whose responsibility it is to find my luggage. Half their employees didn’t even speak decent English. Their aircraft was old, dirty and dusty. I will try to never fly with them again.

[Jan van Grabski]

American Airlines: Lack of space. Man, did I suffer. It wasn’t my first time on a 767, but I swear the room on the AA 767s is less than normal. And if you are unlucky enough for the guy in front of you to recline his seat, then prepare yourself for a painful 9 hours. Food was not enough for a long haul flight. Otherwise, they are pretty OK.

Oh man, that's my favorite airlines in the category "what could go wrong during the flight". I had about 12 flights with them, during 11 of them there was something unpleasant: delays, lousy attendees, emergency landing, overbooking, damaged luggage, lost luggage, waiting in the airplane AFTER the landing for 3 hours someone to open the gate (i dont mind to wait, but it is a bit difficult from 2 AM until 5 AM), i dont even mention the food and sensational landing on the ice....Unforgivable experience. But maybe that's not their problem, i very rarely have flights when nothing goes wrong. Some of my friends refuse to fly together with me saying that i simply jinx everything around me


anyways, during my vacations i had he opportunity to fly for he first time with:

JetAirways: (Indian company) i have to say that i was pleasantly surprised, maybe because i feared the worst. First of all new and tidy Boeing 777. i have never seen so many beautiful attendees in one place in my life, also very good and quick service. Then INDIAN FOOD, good quality. Bollywood movies, lots of them, lol and there was no delays....except on the trip back and after the landing there was something wrong with the boarding bridge, so we had to wait for some time....they couldnt fix it, so we had to get out using the steps (but that's airport's administration problem, it has nothing to do with the airline).

[scoli]

Talking about Airlines. 2003, I fly with Cathay Pacific from New York to Vancouver, then to Hongkong it was nice plenty of food for 12 hours and 45 minutes flight
all flight attendants are very nice. The worse Airlines are Delta and Northwest. We are on Detroit run way for an hour, then we turn around and back to the tarmac then, we've been waiting for another hour or so. Then we get off from the airplane waiting for the annoucement what terminal, is the next flight going to the eastcost, and it said terminal 71B , and change to terminal A3. It's getting late it was 11:30PM and we have no dinner, were hungry, were thirsty and we don't get any information what time for the next flight? Ended we all sleep in the Detroit airport until the next day. We don't get any help from any airline employee, at all. Six months after, the northwest has filed a bankruptcy which is sounds good to me. Since then, never fly with northwest airlines. This was happened 2004.

2005, I fly with Japan airlines good service and we had enough food for the 13hours flight, from Chicago to Tokyo. 2006 I fly with Delta from Virginia to New York. They were delayed for one hour and no apology has been mentioned, plus the ugly nasty flight attendant. On my way back home, all domestic flight has been canceled with out any announcement, the international flight has been delayed for hours and hours. It took us 3 hours or so, waiting for our luggage to pick up. Me and my fellow travelers ended to take an Amtrack intead of flying. Later, they filed a chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

This past June, I fly with American Airlines from Virginia to Fort Worth, Texas. Its a morning flight they served us a drink, but we have to purchased for a breakfast ($4.00 ). Texas, to Japan. It wasn't that bad, but the food it was not enough for a 13 hours flight. For a dinner, one dinner role with 1 slice of cheese and 1 slice of lunch meat. Breakfast 2 croissant bread with a jelly or jam or butter, 1 slice of slamy kiwi, 1 slice of pine apple and a day old mandarin orange in can ( just a portion of it ), and a 6 oz orange juice.

All domestic flights they don't serve breakfast, lunch or dinner anymore unless you have to purchase it.

The good Airlines are, Japan Airlines, (ANA) An Nippon Airline, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Philippine Airlines, Luftansa, Canada Airlines, British Air. United Arab Emirates. I recommend to bring your own food when you fly, you never get hungry. Also, try not to fly with a small airplane, because they don't have a lavatory. It happened to me from Baltimore to New York. When we landed in La Guardia, New York. I have to run and looking for a bath room. Its that terrible?

[Khalid80]

The airlines that I remember flying with are:

MEA: I don't want to say this cuz i'm from Lebanon but our airlines are quite descent (good service, very friendly stewardesses (some are quite hot ), food is good). The only thing that bothers me are the other Lebanese passengers who keep on complaining just for the sake of complaining (True incident of a guy I overheard: U only have chicken or beef. Don't u have any shrimps ). Of course you can't compare MEA to Qatar Airways or Emirates Airlines since they're both ranked in the top 10 airlines in the world. Downside: Tickets are expensive.

Emirates Airlines: Probably one of the best airlines in the world. I never got to try their Boeing 777 but they got the whole package especially if u want to talk about the entertainment sector (I flew with them a few years, so i'm sure their services are even much better now).

British Airways: Service is good if ur a drinker . The bloody marys that the stewardess served me were quite nice. Of course out of all the people the guy next to me turned out to be Scottish and he was drinking like a fish and I couldn't understand one word coming out of his mouth . Food though wasn't the best (no duh since I never really had a good meal when I lived in England).

Olympic: Descent airlines. The ticket prices where really good (That was in the late 90's). Food was good (I like feta cheese )

Alitalia: Really hot stewardesses. Service is good as well as the food.

KLM: Very nice. Everything was great (can't remember details since that was in 1988).

Iberia: Weather was horrible and we had quite a bumpy ride right after take off. We were on our way from Barcelona to Los Angeles so the flight was very tiring as well. As for the airlines I don't remember anything specifically bad (That was back in 1991).

Cyprus Airways: The flight from Beirut, Lebanon to Larnaca, Cypus is 25 minutes and even though i've been to Cyprus like 5 times I used to consider the flight as a cruise. They even barely had enough time to serve us juice.

Swiss Air: Can't remember anything except that the stewardess gave me one of those big toblerones (that was way back in 1985)

AeroFlot: I don't believe that I actually flew on a Russian Airline (Also way back in 1982, i was still a toddler back then).

Tunis Air: The food was a bit spicy and had eggs (I prefer not to eat eggs on a plane ). Sevice was ok. Overall: Nothing special.

Oman Air: Probably the worst airline i've ever been with (maybe cuz it was very recent). Bad service, small seats, and food sucks. I went with them cuz that was the only airline that my company could find for me to Dubai (all other airlines were fully booked) as I had to attend a seminar for 1 week (That was last year, 2007).

[robbe]

Emirates Airlines: Probably one of the best airlines in the world. I never got to try their Boeing 777 but they got the whole package especially if u want to talk about the entertainment sector (I flew with them a few years, so i'm sure their services are even much better now).

Took them from and two China, nothing to complain about. A340 is comfortable anyway, good - as you say - entertainment sector, really good airline.

[damelo]

Ryanair had a problem today on a flight from Paris I think to Spain,
plane lost pressure inside and lost 8500m in 5 minutes. It landed in Limoges 26 people are in hospital for ears problems.

One more plane problem in Europe in the recent days. Not big one, but, still...

[ricodgame]

Saudia Airlines.. well our aircraft is not one of the best, but our agents, especially in Manila are great..

[Juan Carlos Nadal]

CSA: I have had a few rough experiences with Czech airlines too (lost luggage, delays) but I can't really hold it against them because they are cheaper than their competitors. I also like them cuz I get the chance of a daytrip to lovely Prague when my connecting flight is not until 6-7 hours after my arrival at Ruzyne Airport (which usually is).
WizzAir: Really annoying absece of a seat allocation policy. They don’t even give priority numbers so entering the plane reminded me of the old days at the school bus when we were kicking each other for who was going to get the seats at the back…. Otherwise a fine service for a £40 (tax incl.) London-Sofia return trip.
Ryanair: Surprisingly I only used them once and it was for a short trip (Edinburgh-Dublin) so I cannot comment too much about them. No major complains other than the annoying Donegal accent of the pilot.
Easy Jet: Their prices have gone up lately I feel. Never had any problems with them.
British Airways: You get what you pay they say, and BA is no exception. New aircraft, fairly (but not always) punctual, and reasonable service. The fact that their food is mingin’ comes as no surprise, being british.
Lufthansa (and Augsburg): It has been a long time and I can’t remember much. Pretty standard and decent service.
Swissair (and Crossair): Top-notch airline. No complains.
Olympic: A delay is a must but it’s the only airline where the food actually made me feel satiated.
Aegean: Great food once more. Fairly punctual.
KLM (and Transavia): Only flew once with them and they lost my luggage. Can’t blame them though as it was two days after 9/11 and there was a chaos at Schipol, plus my two connecting flights were too close to each other and there wasn’t enough time for the luggage to be transferred. They delivered the stuff 4 days later…
Air France: Really annoying refund policy (but what airline doesn’t have one?). Love the cheese selection on board . I once bought a ticket (Sofia-Edinburgh) that included an overnight stay at a Paris hotel for the return leg, which I thought was cool.
Fly BE: Small planes, silly luggage policies, great prices.
NovAir: Lllllllovely swedish stewardesses, nice aircrafts, and functional video displays with flight info even for short flights.
American Airlines: Lack of space. Man, did I suffer. It wasn’t my first time on a 767, but I swear the room on the AA 767s is less than normal. And if you are unlucky enough for the guy in front of you to recline his seat, then prepare yourself for a painful 9 hours. Food was not enough for a long haul flight. Otherwise, they are pretty OK.
TAROM (Romanian Air Transport): I was very pleasantly surprised with them. Fairly punctual, nice meals, clean aircraft. I also had to stay overnight in Bucharest airport and I was surprised at how tidy and comfortable it was. Too bad they rip people off by selling a small bottle of water for 3 Euros! Staff was also friendly. There was a mess-up with my luggage and one of them took care of my case personally and re-checked my luggage without me having to do anything. The only bad thing was that when we arrived in Bucharest airport, it took the company 20 mins to send a bus to take us to the terminal, despite (or maybe because of?) the little traffic at that time.
Alitalia: Oh boy. What can I possibly say? It is no wonder that it is universally accepted that they are one of the worse airlines around. I had been warned to avoid them but I thought that these were exaggerations. First they cancel my flight. Then they ask me to collect my luggage in order to re-check it in, but it never shows up. It takes them 3 hours to find the luggage, and this only after repetitive requests of mine. Ground stuff arguing with each other in front of me about whose responsibility it is to find my luggage. Half their employees didn’t even speak decent English. Their aircraft was old, dirty and dusty. I will try to never fly with them again.

A few more airlines to add to my list.

US Airways: One of the few airlines where you have to purchase even your drinks. An OK service otherwise. I have used them for short services only though. I don't know how their long-haul product looks like.
American Airlines: I have used them mainly for long-haul flights and they have been pretty good.
Northwest: They have been quite punctual and very generous with their drink service. The seat pitch on their 757 is plain hideous though. Seat pitch in their Embraer is pretty good.
United Airlines: Only used them on one occasion and they have been OK.
Alaska Airlines: Very friendly crew and interesting Alaska-themed aircraft interior. A bit annoying that you can't use cash for any food purchases. Pretty impressive hub at Seattle.