How was your flight?

[Collette]

Lots of great info on this post! So let me add my 2 cents: I've never really had a bad experience (although I have never flown AA so based on other posts, that is likely the reason!), but I would like to say if you are ever in Canada, you must fly Westjet! This is a domestic airline where the employees have stock in the company, and they REALLY care about customer service. On top of that, they are often the cheapest way to go, but have the nicest cabins (leather seats, lots of room), but best of all, everyone from the counter clerk at the airport to the pilot seems to love their job, and they will make you laugh! Here's Westjet's latest joke, enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4SkoJy3D0M

[IncaTrail50]

I also love WestJet! I was flying once with my sister because our mom was ill and our flight home was delayed. The WestJet gate check-in lady sang songs over the announcement intercom to amuse everyone while we waited (awesome voice!). Also, the standard in-flight safety announcement about placing your oxygen mask first when traveling with small children suggests if you are traveling with more than one small child, and a husband who is acting like a child, decide who you like best! So unexpected! Also, that floor lighting may come on in the event of an emergency, or if flight attendants decide to bust out a move! And that during take-off lighting will be dimmed, pause, to enhance the appearance of the flight attendants! Also, a friend from high school who flies for WestJet was a pilot in the Gulf War, flew combat missions into Iraq. When we spoke to him in the cockpit after the flight and reminded him that the last time we saw him he was mooning someone out the school bus window he laughed and said he might still do that now!
All-time favourite though is the rapping flight attendant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9lZV_828OA
And the New Zealand Airlines naked safety announcement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Mq9HAE62Y
When people are nervous, the jokes are appreciated!

[lesliew]

I flew KLM to Africa last fall (Chicago to Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro) and have nothing but rave reviews for it! I LOVED my flight! It was my first time on a non-U.S. airline. My flights were on time, had great in-flight entertainment, and plenty of food. I only wish I could fly KLM domestically within the U.S. As for American airlines, I've never flown on them but I've heard some bad stories. My mom is a travel agent and she has started recommending to her clients that they avoid American.

[christvdm]

I went to Peru last summer for the Absolute Peru trip and as I'm Belgian, I'd say that 80% of the time, the best way to travel is from Paris as I get the ticket is usually cheaper (Paris is in competition with Amsterdam and Germany to get the belgians on their flights ). And the train ticket from Brussels to Paris is included in the price of the flight. So I booked a ticket from Paris to Lima (direct flight) and I have to say that it was probably my best flight ever ! A few days prior to my departure, I had to work almost an 80 hours week as I was gonna be gone for more than 3 weeks, I got an e-mail from Air France asking me if I'd like to be bumped to Business class for 200 € more ! I directly said yes and I had the best flight, the food was excellent, the seat marvelous (as I had slept very little in a week, I put the seat in horizontal position and fell asleep over the Spain coast and woke up when we were already flying over south America !

If there are any belgians here, check out the belgian site of air france which is usually cheaper than the rest (not always ). But I'm leaving for China & Japan in 2 weeks and again took air france which was the cheapest (not really the cheapest but just after Aeroflot and 1) I prefer if I can find a direct flight for a little more money, 2) I want to arrive alive in a Boeing or Airbus rather than to pray for my life in a tupolev...

[jen_the_rockhopper]

well i somewhat dread flying United but at least it is not AA or Air Canada

Does anyone have any experience with Argentinas Aerolineas? Id be curous to know what they are like, especially on the baggage thing as I am needing to buy luggage for my trip to Antarctica and all I see is 15kg. Sooooooooooooooooooooooo flustermicated.

This is where I wish I could get my uncle to fly his nice little 2 seat Cessna from northern Ontario to Argentina

[ExplorerWannaBe]

The Aerolineas Argentinas flight is nothing special. They don't seem to enforce the 15 kg rule too strictly as long as you don't force them to notice that you're in violation (i.e., don't show up with two 100 liter rolling trunks!). On the other hand, don't pack too much -- I took two heavy sweaters with me and didn't use either. I also didn't use the polypropylene thermals once -- and this was the first trip of the season so not even the height of "summer" down there.

[thecakeisalie]

No real complaints with Aerolineas Argentinas, but two things did stand out. 1) They made me check my tripod. This was strange to me because I've always been able to carry it on any other flight (even though it is roughly 2ft long, it fits just about anywhere because of its shape, so I think most airlines just make an exception). 2) This was the warmest flight I've ever been on (Buenas Aires to Ushuaia). I don't know if something was broken on the plane, or if this was standard procedure, but I seriously thought I might black out from the flying sauna. I've never been so relieved to open the door of the plane in a cold place before!

[jen_the_rockhopper]

No real complaints with Aerolineas Argentinas, but two things did stand out. 1) They made me check my tripod. This was strange to me because I've always been able to carry it on any other flight (even though it is roughly 2ft long, it fits just about anywhere because of its shape, so I think most airlines just make an exception). 2) This was the warmest flight I've ever been on (Buenas Aires to Ushuaia). I don't know if something was broken on the plane, or if this was standard procedure, but I seriously thought I might black out from the flying sauna. I've never been so relieved to open the door of the plane in a cold place before!

ACK!!! That heat worries me. Good chance I will pass out as I am very heat sensitive. I hope that was a one off thing as I will be on that same flight. I dont want to melt to death!!!!

[laurako]

I'm flying Emirates from Denmark to Dubai, and from Dubai to Entebbe, Uganda. Both flights are medium long with 6 and 5 hours respectively, but not the longest I have been on a plane.

Does anybody have any comments or generel knowledge about Emirates? I have never been flying with them before.

[georginal]

I've only used them once from the UK to Dubai and then onto Bahrain. Excellent! Really good service, you have no worrys.

[bexonthebeach]

I flew with Emirates recently from the UK to Sri Lanka. I loooooved their entertainment system - starts as soon as you w=sit down, no more waiting to cruising to get stuck into a film. And there was a good range to watch too.

I flew LHR-DXB on their Airbus A380 which was huge. It was spacious inside, yes, but the crew were hard to flag down for assistance when needed as they were always running around further down the cabin. Also, it seemed about half of the pasengers were aged under 5. I find nothing more irritating on flights than fidgity, whining babies and kids. The woman next to me even had the audacity to let her child rest its feet on my legs while sleeping!

Malaysian are soon launching and ADULTS ONLY section on their flights - I cant wait! If only I could travel to my next few holidays with them...slight detour to go to Africa via KL tho

[kcupp95]

Air New Zealand Brisbane-Auckland-Vancouver-Auckland Brisbane (3hr flight and 14 hour flight both ways) was absolutely wonderful!!! Friendly staff, big seats with lots of legroom (I'm 6 foot tall and slept 8 hours coming home in economy), great food.

Travelled WestJet, Air Canada, United and Delta domestically through Canada and the US. They're really just a public bus in the air, just average. Though Delta did leave me with little faith when the flight attendant had to read the safety announcement from a large book.....

[bioteach]

I can echo the positive comments about Westjet in Canada. I recently took a domestic flight from Toronto to Newfoundland. Check in was fast and efficient both ways, and the crew had us in stitches with every announcement.
Internationally, the best flight I've had was on South African airlines from Frankfurt to Capetown. We received a goodie bag with socks, eye mask, toothbrush and toothpaste. Food was excellent, and every hour or so, the flight attendants came around offering you water or juice if you were awake.

[collywobbles]

hiya

One I would rate up there would be Briitsh Airways . My flight to Calgary this year . Plenty of legroom. a little goodie bag with socks ,toothpaste, tooth brush, and eye mask. Plenty of good service. good food and drinks and plenty of good films. what more does one need

cheers

[AdamfromCanada]

I can echo the positive comments about Westjet in Canada. I recently took a domestic flight from Toronto to Newfoundland. Check in was fast and efficient both ways, and the crew had us in stitches with every announcement.
Internationally, the best flight I've had was on South African airlines from Frankfurt to Capetown. We received a goodie bag with socks, eye mask, toothbrush and toothpaste. Food was excellent, and every hour or so, the flight attendants came around offering you water or juice if you were awake.

I've found that domestic flights with Westjet keep getting worse. They are completely no frills now. No movies, no meals. Everything is pay-as-you-go. The service is often better than Air Canada, but that doesn't say a lot.

That said, both Canadian carriers are better than most of the American airlines. I was on United to and from Chicago in July. Both ways, no TVs on the planes! With a 4 hour flight it would have been nice. It also took ages to get my luggage in Chicago.

I did a RTW ticket this year through American Airlines, which was interesting because of the diverse airlines we ended up flying with. We were with American Eagle, LAN, Qantas, Silk Air, Cathay Airways, Kenya Airways, British Airways and Turkish Airways. Huge variation in service level, quality of the planes, etc. The best were probably British Airways and Silk Air. Kenya Airways was by far the worst. Two hour delay on Dubai-Nairobi-Kampala flight turned in to SIX hour delay, including four hours sitting in the plane. We had to rush to make a connection in Nairobi Airport, and our bags didn't make it. Went three days without luggage. Then flying from Nairobi to Stone Town, we were repeatedly held up in line as they rushed other people in front of us. We got to the front finally to have the lady at the counter tell us they'd just closed our flight and we were out of luck and would have to wait until the next flight, possibly tomorrow. We were lucky that there was one guy who took action and managed to get us through. We had to carry all our luggage and run through the airport to our gate (although we then sat and waited 45 minutes before boarding). Finally, coming back from Stone Town, our flight was cancelled without any notice given to us. We got to spend six hours waiting for the next flight.

All in all, the trip was amazing and the airline snafus were hardly a big concern (and guaranteed to happen to anyone who travels enough) but I don't know that I'd recommend Kenya Airways to anyone, and certainly our guides in Africa were pretty critical...(the guide in Uganda said he always cringes when he knows he's picking up someone from that airline, because there's way more often problems).