Which are your 5 favourite airlines - and why?

[AFF Editor]

AFF editor Matt and writer Stephen recently came up with a list of each of their five favourite airlines. You can read the full lists and the reasons they each chose the airlines they did here:

Stephen Gray's 5 Favourite Airlines

AFF writer Stephen Gray shares his five favourite airlines and the reasons why they stand out from the pack. Stephen's picks are totally different to Matt's.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Matt Graham's 5 Favourite Airlines

AFF Editor Matt Graham reveals why Air Astana, Turkish Airlines, Singapore Airlines, JAL and Lufthansa are his five favourite airlines.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Unlike Skytrax rankings (or, depending on your perspective, perhaps exactly like the Skytrax rankings!), these lists are subjective. Everyone has their own preferred airlines and their own reasons for choosing them.

What are YOUR top 5 favourite airlines in the world, and why?

 

[Beano]

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

 

[RooFlyer]

Out of 67 airlines flown, my favourite 5 are these. Based on in-flight experience (say 50%), lounge experience (say, 25%) and usefulness of their FF program (say, 25%)

1. Qatar Airways (no surprise there ), 38 flights.. 5+2+2 = 9/10

2 Singapore Airlines, 34 flights, 4+2+2.5 = 8.5/10

3. Turkish airlines, 7 flights, 4+2+2 = 8/10

4. Finnair, 10 flights, 5+1.5+1.5 = 8/10

5. Japan Airlines, 6 flights, 3.5+2.5+1 = 7/10

 

[JRB]

AFF editor Matt and writer Stephen recently came up with a list of each of their five favourite airlines. You can read the full lists and the reasons they each chose the airlines they did here:

Stephen Gray's 5 Favourite Airlines

AFF writer Stephen Gray shares his five favourite airlines and the reasons why they stand out from the pack. Stephen's picks are totally different to Matt's.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Matt Graham's 5 Favourite Airlines

AFF Editor Matt Graham reveals why Air Astana, Turkish Airlines, Singapore Airlines, JAL and Lufthansa are his five favourite airlines.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Unlike Skytrax rankings (or, depending on your perspective, perhaps exactly like the Skytrax rankings!), these lists are subjective. Everyone has their own preferred airlines and their own reasons for choosing them.

What are YOUR top 5 favourite airlines in the world, and why?

Without a doubt Singapore Airlines. Never had a bad experience in over 10 years of flying with them. In japan, domestic flights with All Nippon (ANA) can't be beaten as well.

 

[MarqueOne]

I must say that I haven't really flown enough recently but based on my last five years or so of flying:

1. Oman Air
2. Qatar Airways
3. Turkish Airlines
4. Finnair
5. Singapore Airlines

 

[Kremmen]

My selection criteria is basically: Which airlines do I actively look forward to flying, especially in business class. This is mostly a combination of comfort, service and good food (esp. whether garlic bread is hot and crispy). It also includes good lounges. (e.g. SQ and UA having sleeping rooms in some lounges.)

1. Singapore Airlines
2. Thai Airways
3. Qatar Airways
4. United Airlines
5. Fiji Airways

Notable mention to both ANA and JAL, but they both miss the cut because they often overheat their cabins.

(Matt has flown on twice as many airlines as me, so my selection pool is smaller. But I think the hundreds of domestic 737 flights he's taken have warped his brain.)

 

[Oceanic]

Out of 148 carriers, my 5 favourites, Emirates, Singapore, EVA, Cathay and Air France.
Notable mention, Air Astana, Turkish, Royal Jordanian, KLM
Those no-longer, British Caledonian, Air Jamaica, BWIA, UTA, PanAm, Canadian Pacific

 

[ronlon]

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

 

[jase05]

It’s a hard one and there is some that people definitely won’t agree with but over the years I’m probably going to go with the following.

1) Qatar Airways, always had great service and just a cut above
2) Cathay, Pacific, again fantastic flights, great lounges.
3) Oman Air, several great flights
4) Vietnam Airlines, surprise inclusion as I rate them as a 4 star airline but plenty of domestic flights and a few International flights and have been looked after amazingly and they are a pleasure to fly with.
5) China Airlines, Comfortable seats and get good sleep plus find the F&B to be decent

Too many others to mention but shout out to BA who although I don’t fly long haul much with we use them pretty much exclusively in Europe and for Euro J we have had many exceptional flights

 

[Clayton]

QR - love , love, love Qsuites and 1st class , not in love with their other J class cabins. Service mostly great, occasionally slightly disorganised. Also love their DOH lounges especially the newer Al Mourjan Business Lounge – The Garden
SQ - love the super consistent soft product, the hard product is less delightful in J, except for the bulk head seats with the metre wide leg space. I always take a self inflating hiking mattress on these as the fold over seats are unbelievably hard, but tolerable with the mattress support.
JL - newest 1st class is unbelievably fantastic. Only flown it twice, SIN-HND and HND-CDG. both flights blown away by the space, technology, delicious Japanese cuisine and perfect service.
CX - back in the pre-COVID days 1st class and J class, despite aging hard products the service was always spot-on, friendly and instantly respond to the call-button
EK - 1st was fine on award bookings before their cash component blew them out of the water.

 

[Dalliance]

I used to like Singapore, but the seats on the newer fleet are too narrow and uncomfortably hard.

In no order;

Turkish makes the grade as the seats are wonderfully comfortable. The food is hit or miss (depends on departure place), and staff assistance is almost negligible.

I like Cathay, again, a comfortable ride.

Surprisingly, Hainan Airlines is a cut above. Sadly, English isn't widely spoken by staff.

I can't separate Oman Air and Vietnam Airlines. Each gains merit on different attributes.

And, I like ANA. I love their screenview of take-off and landing.

 

[cory]

No particular order but here are mine:

SQ - Just consistently consistent in both economy and business. Always good catering even in economy.
CX - Similar to SQ above.
EK - Never really had a bad experience with them, good products both up the front and down back.
QR - Generally very good, have had one poor experience but overall very positive.
VN - Bit of a surprise packet here, flown them a lot in economy and they've always been great. Good seats, service and food although entertainment is lacking.

 

[Flyingwombat]

I'm probably biassed towards carriers that I have mostly flown in Business or Premium - my list is:
1. Emirates - amazing business class upstairs on A380s and tasty food. I actually like the gold bling
2. China Airlines - excellent value premium economy and do have a soft spot for little Taiwan
3. Cathay Pacific - love their business and premium products
4. JAL - service is excellent and the Japanese bento meals are outstanding
5. Vietnam - great value premium with the huge caveat that the 787s are much better than the A350s

Honorable mention - China Southern - yep you get what you pay for but they are so cheap and fly everywhere. We had great economy flights this year for the price paid and love a stop in CAN.

 

[elanshin]

JL/NH has a touch (even in econmy) that very few airlines have. If you miss a meal because you were napping, you'll wake to find a sticky note in front of your seat noting you missed your meal and to call the cabin crew if you want it when you wake up.

 

[kpc]

1. Qatar
2. JAL
3. Singapore
4. Cathay
5. Emirates

All are related to J class travel

6. Qantas

 

[Melburnian1]

1. Oman Air - despite being six across in business class, window seats have their own passageway to the aisle. Great food and service.
2. Philippine Airlines - catering excellent, staff can be fantastic, rating applies provided it's an A333 or (two only) A359 with 1-2-1 in J, the other A333s have a horrible and odd 2-2-2 layout. B773ERs: huge pitch but dated, and 2-2-2.
3. (previously) Virgin Australia - but no longer has a service to the USA and no longer flies widebodies.
4. Singapore Airlines - catering generally good, FAs pleasant, but hard J seats in lie-flat mode on the B773ERs are not up to its usual standard
5. (previously) Canadian Pacific Airlines - long disappeared, but was a reliable carrier with a wonderful railway heritage, the latter continues to this day.

Like everyone else above bar one contributor, Qantas doesn't rate, and neither do Etihad (staff perfunctory), Air NZ (too politically correct, and too much risk of flights being cancelled due to aircraft shortages) or Air France (good staff, but catering, surprisingly, wasn't as good as hoped but perhaps expectations unrealistic).

It's too many years since I've used Thai to include or exclude. Malaysia Airlines doesn't rate due to safety concerns. I don't like Emirates' 'bling' despite having flown in J . I have not flown Qatar or United Airlines. Cathay Pacific good but only one return trip. Cebu Pacific's widebodies with 459 seats are too cramped, while AirAsiaX forgettable.

 

[Quickstatus]

If 5 different airlines are required
SQ
JL
AY
CX
QR


If not:
SQ
SQ
SQ
JL
JL

 

[clifford]

As far as No. 1 is concerned, I'm with Stephen on CX.

Never thought that would be the case, but there you are.

 

[dajop]

It really is horses for courses based on cabin class, routes, preferences etc. Never flown QR (apart from a fifth freedom return in Y from SIN-DPS well before they joined oneworld), so can't really comment on them, being based in Singapore, the ME3 don't really get a look in from me, as the stop between here and Europe (often in the middle of the night) is more painful than a nice long non-stop flight (so I can see what QF is doing with Project Sunrise), and have a preference for non-stop or going via a nearby port.

I would say not in any particular order

Singapore Airlines
JAL
Cathay Pacific
Swiss
EVA (limited experience on this one though).

I would have put AirNZ up there in the distant past, but apart from not flying them recently, I think their fleet problems, slowness to upgrade J offering and confusing TT offer mark them down, despite having terrific staff. Also EK marked down because of their 3-4-3 (Y) and 2-3-2 (J) configurations.

 

[Quickstatus]

I base my opinions on how Im treated as a customer regardless of cabin class or status.