Best Airline for Travelling Overseas

Travel International Travel
1

I have been on several different airlines for traveling from the US to both Asia and Europe. I was wondering which airlines do people prefer for a) service, b) price, c) availability, d) flexibility, e) time.

My personal favorite was Sabena which was a Belgian airline that recently went bankrupt.
My least favorites are China Airlines and Delta, China Airlines because of poor and inadequate flight services. I dislike flying with Delta internationally because I have found their airport attendants rude and impersonal, and that’s at several airports. Air Canada was okay, but they managed to lose my luggage. Northwest is pretty decent and their flights are greatly managed and run with friendly ground service.

Another question: which airlines would you choose to fly to the following destinations from Taiwan (if you have a preference)?

Canada

the United States

South Africa

Australia

Beijing

Shanghai

Bangkok

Malaysia

Vietnam

Europe

2

I have always preferred EVA to and from Taiwan (to London) because of their reasonably priced Economy Deluxe class. Unfortunately this time I can’t afford the extra

3

I’ve had good luck with Air Canada. Good prices, reasonable service, poor entertainment. Japan Airlines (JAL or Japan Air Asia) was excellent. The service was great and the food is the best I’ve ever eaten in economy. Only complaint is that one time I flew on one of their older 747s and the seats were a little cramped. I’m not too tall, only 183. I think JAL flies newer planes than JAA but it could just be the luck of the draw. Inflight entertainment was the best I’ve ever had as well. Each seat had it’s own screen and numerous movie channels and games. I almost wished the flight was longer!

I’ve had better than average food/service on Turkish Air, too.

I guess if I was going to the West Coast I’d fly Japan Air if I could get a cheap ticket. Maybe EVA or AC if the money’s tight!

4

On my regular flights from Shanghai to Taipei between Nov last year and April this year, I liked the Air Macao connections. The food wasn’t special but okay, the flight attendants would be very nice and speak reasonable English. And going through Macao seemed to save time as the airport is much smaller and everything went faster (no long ways for transfer). Coming here from Shanghai, they seemed to be a good deal, going to Shanghai from here, they seem more expensive. I didn’t particularly like the Philippine Airlines connection I had a while ago, awful food, broken sound system, flight announcement boards not working in Manila, no computerized transfer system.

As to Europe flights, I’ve never gone straight to Europe from Taipei. I had two flights to Europe from Shanghai in the past 18 months, one with Air China (supposed to be a shared Lufthansa flight, but bad service, flight attendants without languages skills, bad movies, bad food, and when my friend took her 2-year-old the other day, they didn’t even have fresh milk on board of an oversea’s flight!) and one with Air France. Air France had great food but the flight attendants weren’t exactly overly nice. And there’s always a problem with connecting flights. Many of my friends had problems with their luggage on Air France, too.

Going around in Asia, I liked the occasional KLM, Thai and also Cathay flights as a welcome alternative to the dreary Dragon Airlines, EVA Air and the like flights. Better food, nicer flight attendants.

HTH
Iris

5

Prefer Asian Airline, MAS, Singpapore Airlines or Thai Airways though I usually go for Lufthansa when flying to Germany (got a Frequent Traveller Card from them which is one step above the usual Frequent Flyer cards). Service on LH is fair but booking last minute is difficult, usually have to make a reservation months in advance. Used Cathay once only, no complaints.

Don’t like KLM and BA, they probably don’t know how to spell service …

6

I guess I should have specified that this would be coach/economy/cattle/screaming baby class…poor widdle ol’ me can’t afford to fly any better at this time.

7

I don’t fly a lot so I can’t say I have tried every airline but I usually try to book on THAI and I am very happy with their service.

I have flown on China Airlines from Taipei to Hong Kong a few times and there isn’t much service, but it’s only a short flight.

EVA is good. I think their service is probably equal to THAI.

Air Canada’s service is not as good as EVA and THAI.

I have flown a few times in China on China Southern and Xiamen Airlines. They seem to cram the passengers in to economy class. They have only been short flights so I can’t really assess the service that well.

8

Northwest to the USA. Great mileage program. One roundtrip to the USA gets one free trip in ASIA. Usually. Many times they also have double miles. They are usually the cheapest too. Their new hub in Osaka is nice as is their Detroit hub in the USA. Their business class to the USA is the same price as EVA deluxe to the USA but you can fly all the way to Detroit if you go the East coast like me. On Eva deluxe you switch to economy from the west coast to the East coast.

In Asia I usually fly Thai or China Air as they are the cheapest, although I have never seen any airline with as good of a mileage program as Northwest air. By the way, Thai sometimes has a really cheap biz class ticket only marginally more expensive than economy.

9

If you fly across the pacific or to Europe, I recommend EVA Delux, it’s only about $150 more return than standard economy, the size of the seat is about the same as domestic business class in US but you get similar services as economy. Having flown both Delux and Economy, I found Delux is a huge step above economy (the economy seats are so cramped and I’m not tall or fat at all), you get a lot of amenities that Y class passengers don’t.

By all means, when you book the ticket early enough, ask EVA for seat arrangement if possible, best rows are 20 to 25, take a look at the chart

evaair.com/image/global/chin … 00-386.jpg

Although all seats have the same width and pitch, the front section of the 747 is much quieter, after 26 and 27, you’ll be awaken constantly with crying and screaming babies as groups of families tend to be there.

10

[quote=“vincewy”]If you fly across the pacific or to Europe, I recommend EVA Delux, it’s only about $150 more return than standard economy, the size of the seat is about the same as domestic business class in US but you get similar services as economy. Having flown both Delux and Economy, I found Delux is a huge step above economy (the economy seats are so cramped and I’m not tall or fat at all), you get a lot of amenities that Y class passengers don’t.

By all means, when you book the ticket early enough, ask EVA for seat arrangement if possible, best rows are 20 to 25, take a look at the chart

evaair.com/image/global/chin … 00-386.jpg

Although all seats have the same width and pitch, the front section of the 747 is much quieter, after 26 and 27, you’ll be awaken constantly with crying and screaming babies as groups of families tend to be there.[/quote]

Northwest AIR business class is better because it is about the same price, you get double miles and if for example you are flying to the East coast of the USA, you can fly biz class all the way for no extra charge.

EVA econ delux you must switch to economy class in California for the remainder of your trip. EVA air also does not have a generous mileage program. Check the prices, if they are about he same, you should choose Northwest Biz class.

11

[quote=“Hobart”][quote=“vincewy”]If you fly across the pacific or to Europe, I recommend EVA Delux, it’s only about $150 more return than standard economy, the size of the seat is about the same as domestic business class in US but you get similar services as economy. Having flown both Delux and Economy, I found Delux is a huge step above economy (the economy seats are so cramped and I’m not tall or fat at all), you get a lot of amenities that Y class passengers don’t.

By all means, when you book the ticket early enough, ask EVA for seat arrangement if possible, best rows are 20 to 25, take a look at the chart

evaair.com/image/global/chin … 00-386.jpg

Although all seats have the same width and pitch, the front section of the 747 is much quieter, after 26 and 27, you’ll be awaken constantly with crying and screaming babies as groups of families tend to be there.[/quote]

Northwest AIR business class is better because it is about the same price, you get double miles and if for example you are flying to the East coast of the USA, you can fly biz class all the way for no extra charge.

EVA econ delux you must switch to economy class in California for the remainder of your trip. EVA air also does not have a generous mileage program. Check the prices, if they are about he same, you should choose Northwest Biz class.[/quote]

Hobart:

Right, it also depends on where you live, EVA is way cheaper flying from USA than from Taiwan. I’ve mentioned earlier that my MSP-TPE fare (LAX-TPE on EVA Delux) is $850, and I don’t mind economy in domestic sector, which is only a few hours. This price is about the same as NW to TPE from MSP on economy (astronomical for business class from US), sometimes even more, I guess in general it’s more expensive to buy tickets from airlines of the country of the original destination.

12

Just be careful with EVA when drinking out of the trays of cups they provide during midflight. I was on a delux flight recently and while stretching out near the flight attendents station, I saw them refill some used plastic cups others had already drank from, with juice. After confronting the ladies about this, the one who did it became very nervous and apologetic and threw the cups away while another attendent next to her became very beligerant to me asking why I am not in my seat and watching them…etc.:shock:

So make sure you take alot of vitamin C before and during your flight to protect from the colds you’ll be exposed to.

13

yo the same thing happened to me, i think, with the dirty cup thing…

i’m seated in a row all to myself (imagine that) last monday (right smack dab during the new year…) on china airlines. since i had heard all that was to be heard about china air, i decided that - if i was to die a tragic death by airplane accident as is prone to happen once a quarter - i’d at least be semi-drunk for it. so i asked for some red wine which tasted like red-colored piss but n-e-way, back to the story, the flight attendant poured the glass and then noticed that it was dirty…at which she dumped the wine out and i think just simply wiped the glass clean and then refilled it with wine - her and another flight attendant were muttering something about something being “hen zang, hen zang” but since my survival chinese is only resurfacing in my brain after a week here i was at their whimsy…

and so i gulped down the "piss’ (perhaps it was the zang part of the wine) and tried to curl into a ball to sleep…or to prepare for the crash. luckily i arrived safely.

my vote: 1 for china air, since i arrived safely…

praise god/allah/buddah/tao/moonmen…