Egon Ronay ranks the airlines
 

From today's New York Times (business section)

"Egon Ronay, the London-based hotel and restaurant critic, recently surveyed the trans-Atlantic economy-class service of 10 United States and overseas airlines and, not surprisingly, found it sorely lacking.
"Mr. Ronay and his staff flew each airline at least twice between August and October, during the day and at night, and rated each for check-in procedures and efficiency, comfort and size of seats; friendliness and efficiency of staff; quality of food, in-flight entertainment and pilot's' in-flight comments, and the condition of lavatories.
"In a complicated ratings procedure, Virgin Atlantic came out on top over all with a score of 66 percent, followed by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (64 percent), Continental Airlines (59 percent), Air France and US Airways (58 percent), Delta Air Lines (57 percent), UAL's United Airlines (55 percent), British Airways (51 percent), American Airlines (48 percent) and Northwest Airlines (47 percent).
"In the food rating, Air France scored highest, with 54 percent, followed by Delta, KLM and Virgin Atlantic (50 percent); US airways (43 percent), American Airlines (38 percent), British Airways (34 percent), Continental and United (29 percent), and Northwest (25 percent).
"Mr. Ronay chastised all airlines for their 'lamentable attitude toward passengers' convenience and comfort' and called the seats 'corset-like and knee-crunching,' the food 'disgusting' and lavatories 'inadequate.'
"'We were surprised at the poor conditions and discomfort, redeemed only by the friendliness of the majority of in-flight staff and the sometimes good in-flight entertainment,' he said."

Mr Ronay obviously travels in business/first class most of the time! I was surprised that Lufthansa wasn't included, & Swissair would also have been worth trying out. Lufthansa has the world's most uncomfortable economy seats, should you ever be trapped in one overnight.

In the same section, the New York Times had an airline update, on deals, lounges etc.

I would be interested to see how each ranking was arrived at.

To me, the passengers being subjected to sit in a confined area that does not allow a person minimal movement is the worst. Being relatively small and not sitting in a center seats makes the trips at least bearable for me, but for a large or tall person in a center seat...I think it is almost inhumane on a long flight.

You can find more information at http://www.egonronay.com/ - there's a book for sale for $35... and a brief synopsis of their findings for each of the airlines surveyed.

This was a good posting, BaoBab. Have you noticed that if these airlines were "students" in school NO ONE would having
passing grades (the Closest is Virgin -- which I'm curious to see how Merry Flyer finds.)

The airlines do need to improve things whether crossing the Atlantic or going across
the U-S. I'm wondering if Egon Ronay has
"tested" U-S domestic service. The numbers
for quality may even be LOWER! CATMAN

I am surprised by the big difference among Northwest and KLM. I flew both airlines transatlantic several years ago, and would have rated the airlines very similar with Northwest having the edge in seat comfort. Maybe KLM is much improved now.

Nor have I been impressed by the cuisine in Air France the few times I flew with them. But then, I am not a wine connoisseur.

Egon Ronay is a restaurant critic, so he may have over-emphasized the importance of food and drink relative to the concerns of the 'average' economy traveller. But there is no doubt that a lot of airline food is awful, and they usually serve pretty grim wines in economy too. Comfort is a big factor in claiming upgrades, but good food & drink run a very close second for me!

Catman - MF may not be overly concerned with life in economy, as his hallowed tootsies never end up in there. He will argue (quite rightly) that BA's Club World and First Class are simply the best. After all, who else has that plush blue carpet?

Oh... you are so right! The last time I flew economy on a flight of more than a couple of hours was about a year ago.

I know this sound awful, but I just can't do it anymore. You get used to a certain standard and that is it.

I am also a big-fellow (Ok, I'm built like a rhino) and I need space.

On a more serious note, I would love to see what Egon has to say about transatlantic Buniness and First, it would be really useful.

Egon, has been really unfair to BA in the past, but I very much respect his views.

It is his guides which I have at home and use for choosing hotels, restaurants and PUBS (especially pubs, as it is those fine establishments which I spend my time at the weekend).

Egon's guides are great becasue they give a percentage ranking, which I find much more useful than just a narrative.

I still have every confidence that BA is and will remain King of the First Class. But whatever happens, I think I would rather fly BA economy than Virgin Upper Class.

Motto of the day....

Wether the carpet be Blue,
or wether the carpet be Red,
Whatever the carpet,
Wherever the carpet,
BA beats the Red anyday.

C'est le vie!

MF

My appologies for the use of the French tongue in that last posting.

I am of course suffering from jet-lag at present (it's either that or I've developed cateracts over night!), under other circumstances I would not sully this fine forum with any phrase in French.

Please Note: This excludes the word Concorde, which is now English!!

MF

Merry,

Vous n'amie pas la lange francaise??? Pourqois pas? (boy is my french rusty!!!)

Remember the Waterloo ;o)

Matt - it is common for English people to study French and/or German while at school. They invariably take great pride in butchering the French tongue, as befits old enemies, while making more of an effort to master the tongue of their German cousins (the two world wars notwithstanding) The Royal Family may have had to change their name because of the slight awkwardness of going to war with their relatives, but there is still a strong Germanic streak in the English. This can be witnessed in the modern Europe by observing how the Germans & English are conspiring to control the Eurobond market while excluding the French...

Don't worry: the French similarly despise the English. These two great nations wouldn't know what to do without having one another to hate.

Ok.... had enough of BS, I will try BA. *s*

A wise decision if ever there was one ;-)
MF

Has Egon Ronay done a survey of the Trans-
Pacific airline flight quality? that might
of interest for our Pacific flyers.

It's a pretty good website. Lately though
teh opinions I'm trying most are from FlyerTalk folk like Baobab, Merry Flyer, Jaws43, Rudi (SNIFF) etc.

The cat's ready to roar that we've gone from
Ebon Ronay to second languages. But I took
Spanish in H.S> and College since one out of
four in U-S will be of Latino descent by the year 2000. Should be ashamed since I am French.

Actually, I speak JERZEE! CATMAN

Your FRENCH?

I can't cope anymore. We loose Rudi at the weekend and then Catman comes out as a closet Frog.

Just a thought: DO Cat's and frogs get on ok?
MF

Actually Merry Flyer, I am American with French, German, English, Polish, Russian,
Italian, Canadian and probably many other routes. But the family name is french and I
think Paris is my favorite city.

The cats would eat the frogs.

But I consider myself "international" -- a person of many nationalities and interests
and friends and loves so I can cover everything!!!

Please Merry Flyer, it's no big deal. I'm still CATMAN!

MF - where does the name Merry come from? Are you a descendent of Santa Claus or Old King Cole?

Okay - I'm ducking!

Baobab: Ok you asked so I am going to tell you a little story...

The name Merry is very unusual, there are not a lot of us about, and those that exist are related.

The name can be traced back to Henry VIII, when his '7 day wife' Lady Jane Grey had her court banished to Bradgate Park in Leicestershire (about 5 miles from where I live) she needed something to keep her spirits up, and it was her Court-Jester who did this for her.

Lady Jane Grey was so pleased with her Court Jester that she honoured him with the name MERRY.

Well there you have it. The name Merry origionated in Leicestershire from court.

I bet you wish you hadn't asked now don't you.

Not a hint of French or anything else for that matter!!

Ahhhhhh... the relief.
MF

Egon Ronay is my/THE PUB-BIBLE for decades now before I do (on business - yes your jealousy is justified) my yearly London-Pub-crawl (the next is next weekend).

MF - that is a fine tale - a true blue Englishman indeed.

Makes me think that instead of being the Machiavelli of the FlyerTalk court you should be the jester, as befits your pedigree...

Hi all

I realsie that these airlines don't fly thr route chosen but I thought if we were discussing airlines we should have some south east asian input.

To date I have flown Cathay, Ansett, Air New Zealand & Qantas Domestic. I would rank them overall as follows

1. Cathay
2. Ansett or Air New Zealand (tied)
3. Qantas

I should add I have also flown Compass (Mark 1) which was quite exceptional but alas is no more.

I flew Cathay from Melbourne to Sydney to Hong Kong and then back Hong Kong to Brisbane to Melbourne. I was genuinely impressed with the standard of service provided and felt that the staff were genuinely concerned with the welfare of their passenegers. I do not recall the standard of food (my flight was in 1990) but would not hesitate to fly Cathay again. Given that the airline was started by an Australian I am not surprised at the above results.

cheers Peter

ps I shall be flying United soon, about whom I have heard good things. It will be interesting to compare to with the other I have flown.

Oh and one other thing should Cathay be reading my posts

Whilst I am not in any way influenced by freebies, gratis flights or other complimentary gifts I will happily accept two complimentary return tickets Melbourne to Hong Kong so that I can show my wife what great service Cathay gives and what a great place Hong Kong is.

cheers Peter
[email protected]

Peter: Excellent!

Only one problem, Cathay although HK based is privatly owned by the English, therefore I am affraid you stand very little chance of a freebie.

We English are all as tight as... well you can work that bit out.

But I think you are very lucky having access to the Airlines you do, they are all world class!

I think if I were to rank my favorite airlines for Business/First service it would look like this:

1. BRITISH AIRWAYS(you can't image how long I agonised over truth and loyalty with that one).
2. EMIRATES (I give the free pottery to my colleagues, it reduces my feeling of guilt).
3. CATHAY
4. MALAYSIAN
5. SINGAPORE
6. SWISSAIR (I love those grey leather seats).

That should make Rudi (oops IDOR) a happy bunny.
MF

Interesting to see such support for Emirates. They just had a 2 for 1 offer here in Melbourne. $A777 got you two return tickets Melbourne to Singapore - an awesome price. If I wasn't going to NZ already I woudl have jumped at the offer. I have only heard good things about Emirates from my friends. I'm a bit lost on the pottery bit.

Perhaps an Emirates representative reading this post will feel inclined to give me a couple of free tickets Melbourne to Dubai return. I've already failed with Cathay so may as well have a dip with Emirates!

Actually there are a couple of interesting reason why I'd like to fly Emirates. 1. To see whether their air hostesses do in fact wear veils a la I Dream of Genie 2. To find out more about this free pottery and 3. To see whether the service in Economy is really as good as everyone keeps telling me. My friends reckon you get your own video screen on which you can see takeoff and landing!

cheers Peter
[email protected]
Who knows

Interesting to see such support for Emirates. They just had a 2 for 1 offer here in Melbourne. $A777 got you two return tickets Melbourne to Singapore - an awesome price. If I wasn't going to NZ already I woudl have jumped at the offer. I have only heard good things about Emirates from my friends. I'm a bit lost on the pottery bit.

Perhaps an Emirates representative reading this post will feel inclined to give me a couple of free tickets Melbourne to Dubai return. I've already failed with Cathay so may as well have a dip with Emirates!

Actually there are a couple of interesting reason why I'd like to fly Emirates. 1. To see whether their air hostesses do in fact wear veils a la I Dream of Genie 2. To find out more about this free pottery and 3. To see whether the service in Economy is really as good as everyone keeps telling me. My friends reckon you get your own video screen on which you can see takeoff and landing!

cheers Peter
[email protected]
Who knows

Interesting to see such support for Emirates. They just had a 2 for 1 offer here in Melbourne. $A777 got you two return tickets Melbourne to Singapore - an awesome price. If I wasn't going to NZ already I woudl have jumped at the offer. I have only heard good things about Emirates from my friends. I'm a bit lost on the pottery bit.

Perhaps an Emirates representative reading this post will feel inclined to give me a couple of free tickets Melbourne to Dubai return. I've already failed with Cathay so may as well have a dip with Emirates!

Actually there are a couple of interesting reason why I'd like to fly Emirates. 1. To see whether their air hostesses do in fact wear veils a la I Dream of Genie 2. To find out more about this free pottery and 3. To see whether the service in Economy is really as good as everyone keeps telling me. My friends reckon you get your own video screen on which you can see takeoff and landing!

cheers Peter
[email protected]
Who knows

now Emirates can't overlook it anymore.

This language thing is interesting. I learned Russian back in the '50s, thinking that there was going to be a war, and I'd be able to talk to the winners. Still speak it like a Russian, and what good is it doing me? I can talk to the winners!

philforest, who is winners? :/

Peter: Emirates do have individual video-screens, with channels that show a front and rear video shot from the aircraft, they also have a map which shows you which way Mecca is!

I'm affraid they only wear national dress in First Class, quite why I don't know, most of the in-flight staff always seem British to me, so you may be a bit dissapointed on that score.
MF

PS: The pottery bit is if you travel Business/First you can choose a free pottery model of a Middle Eastern Building (Houses/shops/mosques/souks etc), I think there is about a dozen to collect.

Oh ok

Note for Emirates: When you supply my wife
and I with our free tickets to Dubai please
can we have first or business tickets so
that we can heck out your pottery.

cheers peter