MSPeconomist

Another survey of the best airlines for 2015 was released today by AirlineRatings.org. Of the top ten for four categories, there were many overlaps but not a single airline based in the USA or generally North/South America was included.

Media are claiming it's because USA carriers have old planes and generally an outdated hard product. It was amusing to see local TV news discussing this as they showed a picture of a NW plane landing! Perhaps it's the TV station that's out of date.

Here are the winners according to CNN:

FC: ANA, Emirates, Etihad, JAL, KE, LH, QF, SQ, LX, TG

Business Class: AF, NZ, ANA, CX, Etihad, JAL, Qatar, QF, SQ, VA/VS

Premium Economy: AF, NZ, ANA, BA, CX, EVA, JAL, QF, SQ, VA/VS

Long Haul Economy: NZ, CX, Etihad, EVA, JAL, KE, QF, Qatar, SQ, TG

Note that these listings seem to be alphabetical within each category.

Note also that VA and VS were considered to be a single carrier for the rankings.

I wonder how many carriers offering either IFC or Premium Economy did not make the list. In other words, are these products widely offered by more than ten airlines currently. A partial answer is that AF has IFC as does CX. IMO both of these omissions are surprising; leaving BA off the list does not surprise me.
IIRC LH now has Premium Economy, but I can't immediately think of others.

Another comment is that not surprisingly, none of the mainland Chinese carriers made the list.

LondonElite

I don't think you can really argue too much with that list. Of course here on FT there will be massive disagreement based on some spurious anecdotes, but overall I'd say it's a fair assessment.

pricesquire

+1

vhrum

I'm surprised (non-spuriously, I think) that CX F is not on the list, while their J, PE and Y are on the list.

MSPeconomist

It looks like JAL, QF, and SQ are the only airlines on all four lists. NZ made the list for all cabin classes they offer, although the same might be true of a couple other carriers (Qatar and Etihad if they don't have Premium Economy).

KRSW

US Carriers aren't the best in the world? In other news, the sky is blue and s**t stinks.

kkjay77

I'm surprised with it as well.
And BR not being in one of the best J product is surprising too.
I mean, who serves Dom in J?

lhrsfo

Anecdotally, the list looks sensible. But I wonder how on earth it can be compiled as nobody flies every carrier in every class on more than one occasion to make a fair comparison.

Also, the list does not really distinguish between short haul and long haul - yet the products can be massively different.

1kBill

No surprises here. USA carriers are racing to the bottom and Chinese carriers, well, they try.

Yahillwe

Interesting that AF Premiere F isn't on the list.

Saw some photos and read a TR it looks amazing, reminds me of the service on the Concord.

BearX220

Which is why when USA carriers utter marketing statements like, "We're out to be the best global airline," it's just hilarious. They have no shot.

vhrum

Speak for yourself

I feel they absolutely could if they actually tried. But they have no economic need to be on the level of SQ and CX, and given that the US3 are the largest carriers in the world, it would cost a huge amount of money for them to implement that level of service, even if only on the mainline. But it would not be unreasonable nor unfeasible for them to emulate the top carriers for their international flights, even though it will not happen for the near future.

BuildingMyBento

I've never had an issue with FAs on Chinese carriers, but holistically, those flights are as unpleasant as ones with US carriers. The airport experience and the inedible meals throughout all classes of service certainly don't help things.

(Then again, the average passenger in China doesn't try to shove the rest of his/her life into the overhead, so that's a plus...)

MSPeconomist

In defense of some USA carriers, depending on the timing of the evaluation versus when new hard products are installed, I'd argue that DL's genuine flat beds with 100% direct aisle access should beat anyone--such as AF--that still has slanted beds or 2-3-2 seating on any aircraft in their fleet.

Also, the business class experience can be better if there's no IFC offered by the carrier or at least on your route. In fact, I would argue that in most cases, the business class product is better on airlines that don't try to do IFC as it tends to be more like business-first or enhanced business class, sometimes unfortunately for enhanced prices.

foxberg

AY didn't make the list???