What little-known airline pleasantly surprised you?

[Mattg]

There's lots of discussion on AFF about Qantas, Virgin and the big international players like SQ, QR, EK etc.

But there are lots of smaller, niche airlines around the world. Have you ever flown on one of those - perhaps you'd never even heard of the airline before buying the ticket - and been surprised in a good way?

One such airline that comes to mind for me is Air Astana, the flag carrier of Kazakhstan. I'd never heard of them before visiting that country, but have since taken several flights with them and the service was consistently excellent. They have modern planes, friendly trilingual crew and provided hot meals and even amenity kits in economy on a ~3 hour flight! Their business class is also superb and they have a good safety record. Their airport lounges and loyalty program could use a little work, but other than that it's a quality airline.

 

[Pushka]

Vietnam Airlines. Much more leg room space, plane looked brand new, and wonderful food.

 

[Seat0B]

I must get out more! so far I’ve only flown on mainstreams unless you count Royal Jordanian as a “lesser known”. The staff were so friendly and welcoming and tried really hard to give a good experience when we flew cattle class from DXB to AMM. The Queen Alia airport had beautiful architecture too.

Seat Son regularly flies Royal Brunei DXB-MEL and says the main draw back is the dry flights and having to stop in Bandar Seri Begawan In both directions. However the price is very good.

he also flew Aeroflot (also not really a lesser known airline) a couple of years back from somewhere (escapes me just now) to JFK and said it was “grim”.

 

[Buzzard]

We flew Mango Air from JNB to DUR.
A 737, there was ample leg room in Y, the staff were friendly and I'm pretty sure we were given a snack. The flight was also inexpensive. Unfortunately the airline is currently grounded I believe, financial collapse.

 

[flyingfan]

I won’t be able to compete with those who’ve flown in remote parts of the ‘Stans etc, but Bangkok Airways was pleasantly surprising with outdoor ‘lounges’ for everyone.

 

[vetrade]

Recently flew CPH - PMI with Heston Airlines on an A320. We booked with Norwegian but later received notice that they were leasing Heston metal and crews for some routes on a temporary basis. Flight time and number were not affected. Google informed me Heston is a newly formed airline based in Lithuania. We had no complaints and would happily fly them again - pleasant staff and better legroom in Y than QF.

 

[only4tehlulz]

Flew SkyExpress within Greece and was quite positively surprised. New fleet (at least their A320neos) and decent service. Not bad to have some extra competition for Aegean locally and within Europe.

 

[jboy90]

Back in the day, Kingfisher airlines on a domestic flight in India. Full meal service for a sub 2 hour flight, and included inflight entertainment at a great price.

 

[Ade]

Back in the day, Kingfisher airlines on a domestic flight in India. Full meal service for a sub 2 hour flight, and included inflight entertainment at a great price.

IT even had the domestic first class seats ... loved those and the meals were absolutely awesome in IT.. too bad they are not around anymore ... IT was considered the standard for customer service, inflight service and everything that is missing these days ... India had other full service airlines like AI, 9W, Indian Airlines (way too long before), but IT was considered the standard ... sometimes I would come off a 9W and take a IT for the next leg and the differences were stark ...

 

[Daver6]

Vistara in India. Having said that, my experience was in Y+ but at only 10% more than Y (domestic flight within India) it's well worth it.

New aircraft, pleasant crew, fast meal service. Really nothing to complain about an a bargain when a 2 hour flight is ~$110 AUD in Y+.

 

[moa999]

Bangkok Airways was pleasantly surprising with outdoor ‘lounges’ for everyone.

Agreed Bangkok Airlines is pretty nice, particularly at its Samui airport which it owns and almost exclusively uses.

Many years ago, but had great service on Air Nostrum (Iberia Regional) with a full meal on a 1hr J hop.

Always liked Virgin Atlantic when they operated SYD-HKG (got upgraded 3 times as a VA Plat).

Garuda J also fairly impressive, particularly when they had immigration officers on board to preclear.

 

[exceladdict]

@Mattg I am loving your discussion topics!

It is not that uncommon an airline, but I am a fan of 5J, having taken a fair few short flights - and won a fair few of the quiz games - island hopping in the Philippines.

Edit: my first "first class" experience was on AS, after a status match and a complimentary upgrade at the gate. AS are a bit more known now with their mergers and entry to oneworld, but were new to me at the time. We flew ORD-SEA and I sheepishly walked back to Y to drop Mrs Excel some snacks. When we arrived quite late in SEA, I was ready for bed, having had a decent meal on the flight - but we ended out until 2am because the rest of our travelling party still needed dinner!

 

[Mattg]

@Mattg I am loving your discussion topics!

It is not that uncommon an airline, but I am a fan of 5J, having taken a fair few short flights - and won a fair few of the quiz games - island hopping in the Philippines.

I definitely would not have guessed that someone would nominate Cebu Pacific!

Their long-haul A330 experience looks horrendous. Perhaps flying with 5J is more enjoyable on a domestic hop.

 

[Tiki]

I had some domestic Indonesian flights and all went smoothly, on time departures and no dramas.
DPS-UPG Citilink
UPG-TTE LionAir
TTE-CGK Garuda

 

[AIRwin]

VLM from Luton to Waterford in a Fokker 50

 

[jase05]

Xiamen Airlines had easily the best product I’ve been on direct to China. J seats are amazingly comfy and staff were fantastic. Food was excellent and just great all round flights on both trips. Would definitely fly with them again

 

[Bundy Bear]

Fly Corporate on the SAAB340 was pretty good
Vietnam Airlines wasn’t too bad other choice was Jetstar Pacific so easy choice there.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I’ll second Kingfisher! Short flight on an ATR72 provided all passenger with a hot breakfast! The tray came with two tiny 10cm by 10cm ramekins, one with fresh fruit, the other with a hot indian breakfast dish. Cute!

Kingfisher First was also way OTT. Sparkling apple juice served pre departure in champagne flutes, elaborate menus for even short 90 minute flights (choice of four main dishes), gifts, and a ‘glasses cleaning service’… just prior to landing cabin crew would circulate with a spray bottle and cloth to clean your [reading] glasses!

The other airline that was impressive was Crossair. For some reason many of their flights were catered and served as business class only, despite being on a economy fare. Made for some nice flights around europe

 

[emilbulls]

Was flying W2 once from GRZ to GOT in a Dornier 328
The interesting part was, that this flight stopped in between in INN and HAJ.
This meant three rounds of drinks and snacks for a short hop within Europe.
W2 ceased operation in 2017.

Was also surprised by 9N, Tropic Air
The connect heaps of airports within Belize, nice terminal in San Pedro and clean aircrafts.

 

[henleybeach]

For me it was Azerbaijan Airlines on the A340-500 from Baku to Istanbul and the seats in economy were very comfy with plenty of legroom.