Which are your 5 favourite airlines - and why?

[Bundy Bear]

In no particular order I don’t fly enough

1. Emirates, decent food and entertainment and good global reach
2. JAL pleasant the times I have flown them
3. Singapore seem to have kept a good standard
4. Jetblue, leg room and entertainment wins for me and inflight internet
5. Virgin Australia who else is going to keep Qantas accountable and economy X

 

[Scarlett]

Openflights shows me I’ve flown on 110 carriers, so:

TK
Then, the next four I’m due to fly with.
(except JQ)

 

[luxury-lizard]

I have not flown on anywhere near the number of airlines as most posters but so far my favourites - sometimes based on which ones I can get FF award seats:-

• SQ
• TG
• QR
• EY
• And RIP Canadian Pacific

 

[Beano]

I don't think I have ever flown on 5 airlines!

Actually in the last 20 years its been, in order (only 4)

EK (INT) by necessity. Great lounges.
Qantas (INT and DOM), by necessity and Golden Handcuffs
Air NZ (DOM) by necessity, equal with
Jetstar (NZ DOM and only one flight Aussie DOM)
Easyjet

OOPS, 5 after all

When I think about it, several others before that, and before most airlines became budget conscious and I a Frequent Flier.

 

[Tiki]

TK
QR
SQ
EK
TG

I have been lucky enough to fly J in all of these although the last 3 were pre-pandemic when it was easier to find awards and EK didn't have crazy co-payments.

 

[Beano]

The question assumes that members would have flown more than 5 airlines. Does that mean if you don't have at least 5 airlines you shouldn't even reply to this thread?

 

[chillbaby]

In no particular order:

1. Asiana - great food and service
2. JAL - great all round and my favourite
3. Singapore - for all the reasons people have been saying above
4. Cathay (not flown since COVID)
5. Emirates - some people don't love the "bling"; my wife and I do!

All relate to J or F

 

[Beano]

1. It doesn’t

2. What?

1. Yes, off course, you don't actually have to have flown on an airline for it to be a favourite!
2. Apologies, anyone can reply to any thread. I did.

 

[Jo145]

Finnair business class with the non recline lie flat seat plus the cabin service was my best ever flying experience !

So happy to hear this - am trying them for the first time next year,.

 

[Justinf]

About to try QR for the first time ever in January and in the q suite so no doubt this will change in a couple of months.

SQ: for the soft product in J. Consistently good. Hard product less so.
JAL: agree with one poster who said the cabins are overheated, but punctual and everything else is great.
KE: not a huge sample size but I’m a fan of Y and the J product was good.
Finnair: competitively priced, great service, very decent seats although will also be trying the nonrecline seat in January so we’ll see how that goes.
QF: always find domestic and international to be consistent. They get a lot of hate, and deservedly so in some cases, but I haven’t had a bad flight out of many.

Special mention to AS as a US domestic carrier although I’d like to try Jet Blue’s mint class.

 

[elanshin]

For me so far:

Overall
CX
SQ
EK
QR
JL

QR would be #1 if there's a guarantee of QSuite.

Economy:
JL
NH
EK
CX
KE

I feel JL's 2-4-2 config with ~33" solid all round Y is relatively unbeatable at this point on their 787s and if you can get their bulkhead (free for OW Ruby) that seat is almost a PE seat.

KE is a darkhorse most people don't know about but they have 3-3-3 config 777s in their fleet (and one of the few airlines with 747-8!) along with 33" in Y. I value seat size a lot in Y.

Also whilst QF didn't make the top 5 for me, I don't think they're that far down the list. They're still above average and solid. We just have a lot of choices in Australia with the best in the world all pretty much flying to our ports now (or be very close in Asia).

 

[mel-world]

A couple of mine are a bit old as I have been an SQ fan for many years, mainly in J, so:

SQ
NH
LX
CX

plus, I fondly remember the AN 747 in J when they flew to HKG before their demise. It was the equivalent to other airlines F at that time - in fact I still use their shoe protectors they handed out as amenity kits.

Finally, while working in London in the 90s, VS Upper Class across the Atlantic was just a 'plane' party - especially westbound.

 

[ronb]

From all the airlines I have flown...

1. Singapore Airlines
2. Emirates
3. Korean Air
4. Lufthansa
5. Thai Airways

 

[Daveller]

No order…
Qantas, LATAM, Emirates… they have been so kind to me and they all make me feel like we are family! We had a great time chatting at the galley.

 

[flyinpod]

All J flights
1. Emirates
2. Oman air ( was a long time ago i flew with these though)
3. Qatar, had a few with these recently, pretty good in all seat layouts, we had to turn back due to a techinical fault just after take off, they had us all on another flight in 2 hours.
4. Turkish ; has some fabulous flights and some a bit hit and miss. Great food
5. QF , when theyre good theyre really good
6. SQ, their early lights out policy from Manchester bugs me
7. Phillipines, only flown J once but was impressed however i was on a no climb over someone flight
8. BA ; like QF when theyre good theyre good
9. Etihad, never really had a bad fight.. best steak butty anywhere!
10: Fiji airways, couldnt fault them, food just ok
11. Malaysian , again not brilliant but couldnt complain
10. China Southern, good prices, got caviar and very overfed but really tight with alocholoic drinks.. they gave out an inch of champagne. Free accomodation on long layovers
11: Sri Lankan, a couple of good flight in J but the toilet police and miserable attendant put me right off.
11: Lufhansa : meh!! perfunctory and nothing special.
12: Air Asia ; not really J but lie flat. Budget for a lie down
13: Jetstar, staff actually very good but looses cred on seating.

 

[Oceanic]

I have flown on 148 carriers over 74 years

My favourite 1st and J class airlines are: Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Japan Airlines, Cathay, Oman Air

I miss: UTA, PanAm, British Calendonian, Air Jamaica, Canadian Pacific

 

[Daveller]

@Oceanic ...I also miss: Canadi>n Pacific, Australian, Ansett Australia, Air Berlin and Eastwest!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Errr… I just flew QSuites for the first time… and I seriously don’t know what all the fuss is about?

The crew were fine (good: pleasant, efficient, happy to provide service, interactive), and the presentation of the meals was good (mostly), but the rest?

The qsuite is showing its age, lots of scuff marks everywhere and some of the doors not functioning. The headrest!!?Goodness… it doesn’t sit flush with the seat! Not ideal in bed mode. The seat is hard, and lumpy. The IFE selection is maybe a 5/10. No armrests! And the bed itself is in the shorter side of what’s out there. Liked the air vents.

The food… presentation was great. But the quality was lacking. I suspect that’s partly due to dine on demand. And the lounge at DOH… eh? Huge, yes. Very high staff-to-pax ratio: check. The à la carte menu was good, but the buffet? ummmm. And the lounge(s) are so huge you have to walk miles for drinks or WCs. Gimme a lounge where you just have to walk 5m to get what you want!

Admittedly, my QR flight followed 2 Turkish flights… where the catering both on board and in the lounge was far superior to QR’s. Sure, the TK mains were pre-plated on the shortish flights, but that helped deliver a consistent and tasty product. TK’s IFE is 4K with screens the same size or larger than the QR suite, even on their narrow bodies. And with greater content.

Maybe it doesn’t help that one of the TK flights was on the ex-Aeroflot Collins Horizon suite. That was a much more spacious suite, with sliding door, but with a flush headrest for better sleep, and longer. But, no armrest there either It felt like a distinct dinegrade to go from the Horizon to the Qsuite.

QR seems to be the result of good PR??

 

[jase05]

QR seems to be the result of good PR??

I don’t know about that.
I couldn’t care less about what PR there is, I make up my own mind.
If o don’t like a product I’ll avoid it and personally I think the QSuites are easily in my top 5 seats and overall I rate the whole QR product at the top of the tree.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I don’t know about that.
I couldn’t care less about what PR there is, I make up my own mind.
If o don’t like a product I’ll avoid it and personally I think the QSuites are easily in my top 5 seats and overall I rate the whole QR product at the top of the tree.

Agree…. but the PR matters for first time flyers (and QR ain’t cheap out of Australia), and perhaps the PR enforces the experience on those that have flown but aren’t able to compare across a range of products?

Objectively, there are better seats in the market.