Originally Posted by graraps
Why? AF is massive (isn't it the biggest airline in the world?) and they 've been making quite a bit of money recently. That means somebody must be flying them. I can't imagine loads of people buying a service they aren't satisfied with. And AZ's network and J-class offers aren't too bad either.
I agree that I am probably not being very rational. However, customer choice are often down to subjective To me, AF and AZ are the symbols of what is wrong with overprotected and fundamentally impotent European aviation.
If you cannot imagine people paying money for crap service, maybe you should take a look at people paying crazy money for slow, dirty, crowded train services in UK.
Originally Posted by graraps
It appears you haven't been reading the news recently. It's been years since the words "Air France" and "insolvency" were last mentioned in the same breath. Alitalia has certainly had lots of problems, but would you care to guess the country that would have been suffering from the biggest airline collapses in history had it not been for state aid? Hint: it's not in the same continent as Italy.
Yes, true. BTW, I did not mean AF was facing insolvency, I was talking about being on strike being their habitual mode of operation.
Originally Posted by graraps
I've never flown SU, but FTers who have tend to be positive about their flight experiences with them. It's near impossible to argue that SU isn't the best airline in Russia/W.Asia and could even offer upgrades to *A and OW elites from walking to reach their destinations within/around Russia to have them get on a plane.
I flew Aeroflot a lot, and I think that many reviewers have a positive impression because of their extremely low expectations. After what SU was ten years ago, I am sure passengers are pleased when no-one is punching them in the face during boarding
And if you take an Airbus it will be superior to Tupolev or Yakovlev, even with the ugliest interior design in the world.
All I am saying is that the residual image and reputation of SU is a joke. Their improvement is slow and I think they will inflict a lot of damage to ST, publicity-wise, before they are regarded as a quality carrier.
Originally Posted by graraps
When you remember that a fair few OW carriers don't want FFs who buy anything less than full Y (BA's TEN cheapest booking classes earn fewer miles than a dozen packs of biscuits from Tesco), it kinda becomes clear that the only FF OW is really capable of helping is the premium class passenger travelling between London and the US with the occassional sidetrip to a major Asian capital and a little personal weekend travel to mainstream EU destinations. I wouldn't imagine that such a traveller would want much help from an airline alliance (apart from having somebody else bumped from a flight so that the FF could take their place).
True, true. However, I think in UK we economy travellers have the best of both worlds. I earn my BA miles through the proverbial biscuits and AmEx and Travelex and what not, but I tend to fly *A for earning miles through travel, because it is an insult flying BA to TYO and getting, er, 17 miles or something
