Best and worst of *A
 

Thought I'd kick of this thread based on my relatively limited exposure to *A carriers - in each cabin class - to provoke some discussion about what you think about each of the member airlines: both in the ground and in the air.

Here's some suggestions...

The best and worst:

Lounges
Reservations
Loyalty program
Y / J / F cabins incl. seating
Food / drink
Customer service
Baggage handling
Routes on own metal
In-flight entertainment / communications

Just a list to prompt comment (and no, I don't work for a marketing outfit)

From my experience...

Lounges
Best - Silver Kris Lounge (Singapore)
Worst - Premier Lounge (Singapore)
Almost Nonexistant - Los Angeles International

Reservations
Best - United (well for Premier Executive at least)

Loyalty Program
For Regular J/F - Singapore Airlines PPS Club
For Mere Mortals - United Airlines Mileage Plus

Y / J / F Cabins and Seating
Best First - Singapore Airlines
Best Business - Singapore Airlines (though Air New Zealand might trump it later this fall)
Best Economy - Singapore Airlines (on A345s)

Food / Drink
Best - Singapore Airlines
Improving - United Airlines

Customer Service
No one really stand out. Maybe United because of my status.

Baggage Handling
No one stands out.

Routes on own Metal
Best - Singapore Airlines

In-flight Entertainment / Communications
Best - Singapore Airlines (hands down)

Strictly speaking I don't think this qualifies, as the Silver Kris lounge, while operated by a *A airline, is not a *A lounge...?

I agree with you on pretty much all other nominations, but for best *A lounge I'll cast my vote for the 2-level Thai lounge in BKK near gate 4X. 2nd prize goes to the SAS lounges at CPH thanks to the dayrooms & showers.

Baggage handling

Priority Handling on SQ ^

The best


Lounges : Silverkris
Reservations : SQ
Loyalty program : UA
Y / J / F cabins incl. seating : SQ / SQ / SQ
Food / drink : SQ
Customer service : SQ
Baggage handling : SQ
Routes on own metal : LH
In-flight entertainment / communications: SQ


^ ^ ^

I actually prefer ANA food over SQ...

Lounges

Not having had the pleasure of the SKL, I'd have to plump for The London Lounge, which I think is an excellent concept.

Reservations

Never use them directly.

Loyalty program

Best: BD Diamond Club, if only for Miles + Cash.
Worst: Don't really know.

Y / J / F cabins incl. seating

Best Y: NZ. The seat design and pitch make up for the worse IFE, and the cabin crew are fantastic.
Worst Y: LO. The cabin crew try hard, but the seats are awful.

Best J and F: SQ (although I'd like to try BD in J). The incline in Raffles is slightly annoying, but the seats are nicely designed. F is amazing.
Worst J and F: LO for J, they're just not in the same league as the other carriers. F, I don't know, I've only ever had the pleasure of SQ.

Food / drink

Best: OS (specifically NG). Although SQ had wonderful food, the Do&Co catering on OS is second to none. It's the closest to restaurant quality I've had on a plane.
Worst: UA/US. Where is it?!

Customer service

I can't say I've had particularly difficult dealings with any *A airline, so it's hard to judge.

Baggage handling

Best: SQ, easily.
Worst: No negative experience.

Routes on own metal

Best: LH has an excellent, expansive network for those based in Europe.
Worst: BD for its schizophrenic route strategy. And a slap to OS for using a 737 on VIE-DXB (and still selling C as a long-haul fare...)

In-flight entertainment / communications

Best: SQ by a country mile.
Worst: LO.

The best

Lounges : Silverkris
Reservations : UA
Loyalty program : SQ (f/j) / UA
Y / J / F cabins incl. seating : SQ / SQ / SQ
Food / drink : SQ
Customer service : SQ
Baggage handling : SQ
Routes on own metal : LH
In-flight entertainment / communications: SQ

Best:

Lounges SQ/NZ
Reservations
Loyalty program
Y / J / F cabins incl. seating TG/SQ,LH(New)/LH
Food / drink NG
Customer service
Baggage handling LH/SQ
Routes on own metal
In-flight entertainment / communications Y SQ/ C and F SQ/LH

Worst:
Lounges UA
Reservations SQ
Loyalty program M&M
Y / J / F cabins incl. seating SQ/?/UA
Food / drink UA
Customer service SQ
Baggage handling UA
Routes on own metal
In-flight entertainment / communications Y LH

BEST:

Lounges:
for * Gold access: TG BKK
Otherwise: LH HON lounge/terminal

Reservations: LH SEN Line

Loyalty program: BD Diamond Club

Y / J / F cabins incl. seating:
F: NH
J: NH/SQ
Y: SQ

Food / drink: LH

Customer service: TG
Baggage handling: SQ/TG

Routes on own metal: LH

In-flight entertainment / communications: SQ

My Best

Lounges - Silverkris F lounge, and of those for * Gold mortals, the London Lounge
Reservations - LH Senator line
Loyalty program - LH M&M still pretty good, but BD Diamond Club has some great awards. If you are N America based I can see the appeal of MP.
Y / J / F cabins incl. seating Y - TG though UA's E+ is rather nice, J - tie between NH and SQ, F - tie between NH and SQ
Food / drink - BD's The Business, followed by NZ
Customer service - OS
Baggage handling - SQ by a country mile
Routes on own metal - LH
In-flight entertainment / communications - SQ by a country mile again

BEST:

Lounges:
for * Gold access: TG BKK
Otherwise: LH HON lounge/terminal

Reservations: Nothing good!

Loyalty program: SQ PPS Club, Miles and More

Y / J / F cabins incl. seating:
F: SQ
J: SQ
Y: SQ

Food / drink: SQ

Customer service: SQ
Baggage handling: SQ

Routes on own metal: LH

In-flight entertainment / communications: SQ


Worst:

Lounges: CAI for LH flight

Reservations: LH, UA

Loyalty program: SK Eurobonus

Y / J / F cabins incl. seating:
F: UA old on B763
J: LH old, TG
Y: LH, Varig

Food / drink: UA

Customer service: LH
Baggage handling: LH

Routes on own metal: TAP Portugal

In-flight entertainment / communications: LH

Count yourself lucky, the one next door for BA is even worse!!!

BEST
Lounges
SK *G lounge CPH

Y / J / F cabins incl. seating
NZ, SQ, SQ

Food / drink
SQ or BMI (both in C)

Baggage handling
SQ

In-flight entertainment / communications
SQ


WORST
Lounges
UA RCC lounges

Y / J / F cabins incl. seating
LO, LO

Baggage handling
SK

Lounges: SKL, NZ lounge in Sydney
Reservations: never used
Y / J / F cabins incl. seating:
F: SQ (NH?)
C: SQ (NZ later this year???)
Y: SQ
Food / drink: NH
Customer service: SQ
Baggage handling: SQ
Routes on own metal: SQ
In-flight entertainment / communications: SQ

I second that.

Well, it has no loos, ok, but compared to the public areas in CAI it is the best you can get there - at least not as bad as I had expected from all the horror stories floating around here. And the two servers at the bar really have a hard job :p :D

Lounges

Best overall: NZ for generally high quality lounges complete with decent food & wine (important for a constantly hungry alcoholic like myself), with honorable mention to SQ for usually having a decent range of food (and good ice cream)
Best individual lounges: OZ and SQ in ICN, NZ in SYD, NZ in WLG (my fave domestic lounge)
Worst overall: UA (even the US lounges I've seen are better)

Loyalty program: Horses for courses really. I like AC for easy status earning and fairly well priced awards, UA is strong overall, NZ is good for its innovative redemption policy of any seat, any flight but premium awards are pricey.

Y / J / F cabins incl. seating

Best Y seats: NZs 744s by a mile. UA Y+ also gets honorable mention (though the seats themselves are pretty basic and not very comfortable), plus AC's A340 seats and OZ's 777s are not bad either.

Worst Y seats: UA Y-, SQ 744

Best J seats: I've never really been wowed by any long haul J seats, and I've not tried the spacebed yet. UA probably wins overall, AC for space, SK for funky cabin design (incl bathrooms!). NZ's new J suites look fabulous, though.

Worst J seats: TG's old ones, any intra-Europe J.

Best/worst F seats: I've only ever tried TG, woe is me. Old but very comfy.

Food / drink

Best: NZ, not least for the decent wines. SQ I find a bit disappointing. OZ probably win for quantity, in Y at least. SK business class food/wine was impressive, Y was pretty basic. TG endeared themselves to me by offering Dom Perignon in F, but breakfast service wasn't the best. AC's vodka based cocktails in Exec First are also worthy of a mention.

Worst: In Y, UA are usually OK but sometimes truly terrible, ditto AC, but for J catering UA is a disgrace whereas AC is quite good. Wines on both are woeful. Meanwhile on US I've never been served any food at all! LH win prize for most boring shorthaul food - mit ham or kase, sir?

Customer service

Best: a tie between NZ and OZ - both very good despite very different styles. NH is very very close behind.

Most overrated: SQ - they seem to lack warmth, individuality or initiative, though they are certainly efficient.

Worst: UA on a bad day

Baggage handling

Best: SQ

Worst: US

Routes on own metal

Best: LH, SQ, honorable mention to UA

Worst: BD, for constant and illogical changes

In-flight entertainment / communications

Best: An easy win for SQ, though NH's AVOD equipped system is good too. I'm curious to see NZ's new AVOD system coming out in a few months.

Worst: TG

I'm adding some awards of my own...

the inflight magazine

Best: SK - genuinely worth reading, though occasional slight lapses into 'English as a second language'

Worst: OZ - yaaaaaaaawn

Frequent flyer card design

Best: NZ - very funky. Honorable mention to BD.

Worst: AC's elite design 2003, UA's for being boring

Uniforms

Best: SQ - I must admit, they are gorgeous.

Worst: SK shorthaul - the poor women have to wear grey sacks!

Aircraft livery

Best: BD by miles. I quite like US as well, and am fond of NZ's (probably only because of moments seeing it in foreign airports and being reminded of home). SK and LH are both very plain but quite smart, especially on their larger a/c.

Middle of the road: TG, SQ, UA (old & new)

Worst: OZ is pretty bad, OS is probably the dullest, new AC livery is the tackiest (I quite like the old one, though, especially on an A340).

Another thing--I have always liked their idea of colour-coding the rank structure; you can see at a glance who is who, without having to look closely at the name tag.

cheers,

Henry

Now there's a fun list :D ^ . Well done, mad_atta. My additions to your nominations:

I also like the redesigned SQ cards; the non-PPS ones were horrid before (though not blindingly ugly like AC's new batch of elite cards). The BD cards have grown on me since I first saw them. I like them now.

True for SQ female uniforms, I think false for the male uniforms. The powder-blue blazers never cease to leave me aghast (and embarrassed for the lower-rung male FAs).

I'd add the new TG livery (posted in the TG forum) to the worst list. Yuck.

One more category: best catalogue. My vote goes to LH (although SQ is a very close second, as shown by healthy additions to my KF account after my trips to Asia).

Let me get this straight: you're complaining that you didn't get Champagne for breakfast? ;)

Yes, agree. I also find it embarrassing as they might think I'm looking at something other than their name tag. Of course, I would never do that. ;)

Au contraire, copious quantities of the aforesaid Dom were indeed consumed on our breakfast flight. It was just the food (after all, we needed something to soak up the champagne) that was disappointing.

jjpb3, you're right about the male SQ uniforms, they are pretty foul. IIRC the TG ones aren't much better...?

Worst: TAP Portugal Victoria FFP redemption

LH FRA-CPT-FRA in F for 300000 miles. No kidding, play around with their spend calculator.

http://www.tapvictoria.com/FFP/CDA/t...1_0_1_,00.html

Best FAs: Austrian and Lauda Air have/had some very good looking young ladies, sometimes even in jeans that were probably rather uncomfortably tight ;)

Haven't had a chance to try out TG. Even while I was a mere *S, SQ's service level, tier bonus and multiflight schedule to MNL locked me in pretty tightly. ;) I hope the same management who chose the plane livery don't try to re-design the cabin crew's outfits! :p