Business Class

[Alanslegal]

About to take a 'trip of a lifetime" to UK from Sydney and treating ourselves to Business Class

Why not go all out and just fly First Class. I'm sure with a bit of research the fare differential may not be thatt significant

Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Qantas are all up there

 

[Andyzx]

If your looking for somthing different in terms of route, try USA or round the world. I know there is a fair amount of angst against the travel requirments / imigration etc. There are a number of options ex UK to various cities in the USA and then connections direct or asia on the way to Sydney. Try New Your, Dallas, LA, SFO etc. Search DONE4 on here for the round the world comments.

Anyway just a thought for late Sundey night.

Andy
PS suggest that you also look at planes i.e. A380 or a 777 for an experiance. Most J class is such a step up from Y that it dosent make a lot of difference who you fly with, as long as it's a mainstream.

Not sure if you feel the need, but BA has good J, and we enjoy the "english" feel of their soft product and the flat beds are great.

 

[Sprucegoose]

]

As someone with an amateur interest I’ve noticed reports about the “poor pilot judgement” at Garuda (and some other carriers) in some places, including in the Air Crash Investigators series. That scares me just as much, if not more, than maintenance related accidents. If there is a cultural issue that causes, for example, the authority of the captain to go without challenge then they have a tougher issue to resolve than merely dodgy maintenance

There are deep cultural (read other....) issues at play here as you have alluded to Homer.

I also believe countries which don't have a healthy General Aviation sector generally do lack some balance in Pilot Selection. Military Pilots from some parts of the world can be very gung ho.

I have chatted with Garuda flight crew who are genuinely nervous about some of their pilots, now this is not good!!

 

[gillgirl]

Hi All

Thanks so much for all the thoughts / suggestions - terrifi feedback and certainly given me lots of new knowledge and info to make a dceision. I'll let you know who gots the 'prize' in the end and how they were. Thanks again for the info -

gillgirl!

 

[Jobu]

Think about where you want to transit too, eg Singapore or Dubai? And then when you book, make sure you get the best plane.

So if you fly with Qantas from Sydney, make sure you book on the A380 - a much better business class experience than the 747. Emirates also has a great business class product on their A380 compared to their 777.

Cheers,

J

 

[pauly7]

.

I guess I just don't get this Garuda bashing.

Our company maintains a list of 'no-fly' airlines and 'last resort' airlines i.e. only fly if a preferred carrier is not on that route (all based on safety). Garuda is classed as a 'no fly' airline.

Being a huge multinational we have specialised travel auditors and safety experts that review the list and have far more insight into airline operations RIGHT NOW not just a list of prior crashes.

Once a fairly well known 'safe' airline was put in the 'last resort' bucket as the safety team had inside word on of their maintenance operations suffering an internal issue....After about 6 months they were cleared again.

I beleive it also has something to do with insurance premiums which is interesting....

 

[straitman]

Our company maintains a list of 'no-fly' airlines and 'last resort' airlines i.e. only fly if a preferred carrier is not on that route (all based on safety). Garuda is classed as a 'no fly' airline.

Being a huge multinational we have specialised travel auditors and safety experts that review the list and have far more insight into airline operations RIGHT NOW not just a list of prior crashes.

Once a fairly well known 'safe' airline was put in the 'last resort' bucket as the safety team had inside word on of their maintenance operations suffering an internal issue....After about 6 months they were cleared again.

I beleive it also has something to do with insurance premiums which is interesting....

Some years ago now I was working in the aviation industry in Indonesia and all I can say is it was frightening to see some of the risks that the Garuda pilots took to get into places. It was a mix of training and culture.

More recently I was in a similar situation to pauly7 and working for a major multinational oil company that used the same type of auditing and lists. Needless to say Garuda did not feature well on the lists.

 

[straitman]

Now what was the topic again :?:

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Some years ago now I was working in the aviation industry in Indonesia and all I can say is it was frightening to see some of the risks that the Garuda pilots took to get into places. It was a mix of training and culture.

More recently I was in a similar situation to pauly7 and working for a major multinational oil company that used the same type of auditing and lists. Needless to say Garuda did not feature well on the lists.

(NOT a personal comment towards you sraitman) I hope the companies prohibited you travel by car! (how many times ore dangerous than even the worst airline?)

 

[straitman]

(NOT a personal comment towards you sraitman) I hope the companies prohibited you travel by car! (how many times ore dangerous than even the worst airline?)

Interesting you should mention that. They do have strict policies about car travel also.

 

[drmikki]

Interesting you should mention that. They do have strict policies about car travel also.

I hope the policy states "No employee is to drive a Proton or a Great Wall".

 

[straitman]

I hope the policy states "No employee is to drive a Proton or a Great Wall".

You'll never know :!: :shock:

 

[Sprucegoose]

Worthy of a separate thread. Look at the EU banned list. Every organization should follow that list unless there is a good reason not to. Please note Garuda is off that list now.

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air-ban/doc/list_en.pdf

Car travel, good point as well. In Africa we all had Mercs or BMW to minimize accident severity

 

[pauly7]

Worthy of a separate thread. Look at the EU banned list. Every organization should follow that list unless there is a good reason not to. Please note Garuda is off that list now.

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air-ban/doc/list_en.pdf

A collective group of large companies use a safety auditing service a bit more 'in the know' to rate airlines. But the EU list is certainly a good start.

 

[SamR]

Worthy of a separate thread. Look at the EU banned list. Every organization should follow that list unless there is a good reason not to. Please note Garuda is off that list now.

That's fascinating reading. Do companies publish their banned lists anywhere, or is it a confidential thing?

 

[farstar]

Worthy of a separate thread. Look at the EU banned list. Every organization should follow that list unless there is a good reason not to. Please note Garuda is off that list now.

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air-ban/doc/list_en.pdf

Car travel, good point as well. In Africa we all had Mercs or BMW to minimize accident severity

Didn't know PHILIPPINE AIRLINES (PAL) was banned from Europe.

 

[Sprucegoose]

That's fascinating reading. Do companies publish their banned lists anywhere, or is it a confidential thing?

Companies would have internally published policies, but they would not be public. Nor would be they be necessarily commercial in confidence either.

Our requirements, for example, were always a turbo prop over a piston and two pilots not one. No airlines in Angola or Congo.

We have obtained reports on in country airlines and charter companies prepared by an aviation specialist for major mining companies. These were allowed to be released. They make assessments on matters like maintenance, pilot training and certification, aircraft types and company policies and history in countries where the regulator could be subjected to poor performance and bribery.

These were not withheld as we all have a common purpose.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Didn't know PHILIPPINE AIRLINES (PAL) was banned from Europe.

I would fly PAL. before GARUDA. they did have some previous form but they have been clean of late.

Their pilots are often trained in the States, Lufthansa has the maintenance facilities in MNL, although they do the same in JKT.