Originally Posted by francophile
Andrius,
You are absolutely right on spot. When I am planning my flight itineraries, first and foremost I regard the attractiveness of a plane to be the most important factor in my decision of which airline to take.
Forget petty details like cabin comfort, direct routing, good inflight service, generous mileage programs, airport lounges, efficient ground crew, all I care about is whether or not the plane looks attractive.
God forbid if I had to board a plane that was as ugly as say, Darleen Druyun.
I get your sarcasm, but you may be surprised how different people are.
When I plan my travels, I firstly look at mileage earning opportunities,
and then I look at what aircraft I am going to fly, and 747 is my favourite.
Direct routings? They're of minor importance to me. On the contrary, I
enjoy (as God is my witness) connecting flights because I savour every take-off and landing. Yes, this increases the probability of lost or delayed luggage, but this is the price I am willing to pay for the excitement of one more acceleration at take-off.
Lounges? I spend little time in lounges; but it's just me. I prefer to walk around airports and look at stuff.
Ground crew? I think it depends on the country, not airline. ALL my travels through Japanese airports, with any airline (and I've flown through eight airports in Japan), was a joy. ALL my travels through any Russian airport, with any airline (domestic AND international), were nothing but a stinking, deplorable humiliation of a passenger.
And yes, the beauty of an aircraft is important to me. That's why I am not very keen on flying Korean: I think the sickening blue colour they use is a pain to look at.