favorite airline

[sverigecruiser]

 

Our first choice is always British Airways.

 

Heathrow is big but it's easy to connect there so that give us easy access to many destinations.

 

When we still flew economy food and drinks was included on BA.

 

Flying business or first on BA give us access to Cathay Pacifics lounge on Heathrow when flying to Miami or Barcelona. 

 

Most of the time I like the food they serve and they serve Champagne on their flights. Many airlines have a cheaper sparkling wine. 

[MSUjohn]

On 12/31/2019 at 2:18 PM, nini said:

LOL- I was just thinking of posting a thread like this.

 

Domestic- Alaska

International- really do not yet know. Last year was our first international

                         flight and it was British Airways. It was fine from SEA to LHR

                         but from LHR to FCO, pretty nasty and appalled.

 

So, hopefully more will comment on their favorites.

BA is NOT what it once was.

[sverigecruiser]

16 hours ago, MSUjohn said:

BA is NOT what it once was.

 

I agree. Can you mention any airline that is was it once was? (Except for newer airlines.)

 

The ticketprices are also much lower now than they once was.

[wowzz]

In some ways BA have suffered more than most, due to, on the one hand, competition from locos  (easyjet, ryanair) with their low cost base, on short haul routes, and, on the other hand, ever increasing pressure from the heavily subsidised ME carriers on long haul.

BA have had to try and compete against both these threats, without unduly alienating their highly profitable business clients. Whether they have done this successfully is a moot point - what cannot be denied is that their parent company is now one of the most profitable airline groups in the world

[sumiandkage]

3 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

I agree. Can you mention any airline that is was it once was? (Except for newer airlines.)

 

The ticketprices are also much lower now than they once was.

 

I would call Delta better than it was 5-10 years back- they've shifted a lot of routes from regional partners back to mainline (I used to call their ASA partner 'Satan's Commuter Airline'), their general reliability is meeting higher standards  and their customer service is also greatly improved. 

[MSUjohn]

8 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

I agree. Can you mention any airline that is was it once was? (Except for newer airlines.)

 

The ticketprices are also much lower now than they once was.

 

i fly delta airlines a lot and i find them to be great (for being a legacy carrier that is). this last October i flew BA for the first time on their "euro traveler" (which is roughly equivalent to mainline domestic service in the us*) product  from Heathrow to Copenhagen. i was not impressed at all. no seat back IFE, no complementary snacks or drinks & when i did buy a coffee for my father and myself it was a coffee bag with a cup of hot water.

 

have you flown SAS long-haul? even being an aviation geek, i never seem to hear much about SAS.

 

*by roughly equivalent i meant the size of airports connected, length of flight & number of passengers flying said route daily.

[MSUjohn]

8 hours ago, wowzz said:

In some ways BA have suffered more than most, due to, on the one hand, competition from locos  (easyjet, ryanair) with their low cost base, on short haul routes, and, on the other hand, ever increasing pressure from the heavily subsidised ME carriers on long haul.

BA have had to try and compete against both these threats, without unduly alienating their highly profitable business clients. Whether they have done this successfully is a moot point - what cannot be denied is that their parent company is now one of the most profitable airline groups in the world

 

i did not know BA was a holding of an airline group (which i looked into thanks). i discussed, as i chatted with the stewardess the other two things that you addresses; the ULCC and the ME3. it kinda looked like BA tried to go directly head to head with both...and that is not a flight to win.

 

bringing up delta again, it seams that they have noticed the results of this strategy and are avoiding even attempting to compete with the ULLC (which in the us are: spirit, allegiant and frontier) by making themselves a more upscale and comfortable airlines, knowing that they cost more. even on their international long-haul flights, they have been reducing the number of basic coach seats.

 

as for the ME3, well their is a reason that they do not fly to India.

[MSUjohn]

5 hours ago, sumiandkage said:

 

I would call Delta better than it was 5-10 years back- they've shifted a lot of routes from regional partners back to mainline (I used to call their ASA partner 'Satan's Commuter Airline'), their general reliability is meeting higher standards  and their customer service is also greatly improved. 

 

delta ordered 100 a220s that are largely going to reduce regionals. they have also been expanding their domestic seat back IFE (after the md88/90 is gone should be 100% of the fleet) while everyone else is removing them. they also increased inflight amenities for international coach. 

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, MSUjohn said:

as for the ME3, well their is a reason that they do not fly to India.

 

???

 

Emirates flies 4 777s and an A380 daily from Dubai to Mumbai.  Don't fly to India??

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, MSUjohn said:

 

i fly delta airlines a lot and i find them to be great (for being a legacy carrier that is). this last October i flew BA for the first time on their "euro traveler" (which is roughly equivalent to mainline domestic service in the us*) product  from Heathrow to Copenhagen. i was not impressed at all. no seat back IFE, no complementary snacks or drinks & when i did buy a coffee for my father and myself it was a coffee bag with a cup of hot water.

 

have you flown SAS long-haul? even being an aviation geek, i never seem to hear much about SAS.

 

*by roughly equivalent i meant the size of airports connected, length of flight & number of passengers flying said route daily.

To be honest,  flying economy in Europe is much of a muchness, and I am struggling to think of any operator offering IFE on short haul routes. BA introduced BoB a couple of years ago in economy, but did at least  source their sandwiches  from M&S, so at least the quality is OK, if not the availability. On flights of less than 3 hours I don't think the lack of an inflight meal is an issue. Most regular travellers take a sandwich from Pret on board with them.

 Personally I like the coffee - much better than the awful stewed beverage that used to be served.

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, MSUjohn said:

as for the ME3, well their is a reason that they do not fly to India.

I don't understand this comment - there are a myriad number of flights flying to India via Dubai, Qatar etc.

[MSUjohn]

2 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

???

 

Emirates flies 4 777s and an A380 daily from Dubai to Mumbai.  Don't fly to India??

delta airlines does not fly to India because it cannot compete with the ME3.

[MSUjohn]

50 minutes ago, wowzz said:

To be honest,  flying economy in Europe is much of a muchness, and I am struggling to think of any operator offering IFE on short haul routes. BA introduced BoB a couple of years ago in economy, but did at least  source their sandwiches  from M&S, so at least the quality is OK, if not the availability. On flights of less than 3 hours I don't think the lack of an inflight meal is an issue. Most regular travellers take a sandwich from Pret on board with them.

 Personally I like the coffee - much better than the awful stewed beverage that used to be served.

 

in the US American airlines and united airlines new short haul planes do not have IFE, and their older planes are having theirs removed when they go in for a rebuild.

 

delta airlines is not only retaining theirs, but expanding the domestic ife to basically 100% of the fleet as the md88/90 retire.

i didn't mean a meal which delta doesn't really do for domestic coach, i meant the refreshment service a drink, and a snack of some sort (fruit, biscof, nuts). coffee and a biscuit are a nice touch.

[MSUjohn]

52 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I don't understand this comment - there are a myriad number of flights flying to India via Dubai, Qatar etc.

i was discussing delta and their strategy for competing with both ulcc & the ME3, that they formed partially from the missteps of BA.

 

GUEss my syntax could have been a little better.

[FlyerTalker]

4 hours ago, MSUjohn said:

delta airlines does not fly to India because it cannot compete with the ME3.

 

DL 24 leaves JFK every evening and arrives 15 hours later in Mumbai.

 

 

[wowzz]

7 hours ago, MSUjohn said:

i was discussing delta and their strategy for competing with both ulcc & the ME3, that they formed partially from the missteps of BA.

 

GUEss my syntax could have been a little better.

What do you mean by "mis-steps" of BA? One could argue that their current level of profitability means that in fact they took the correct steps.

[wowzz]

7 hours ago, MSUjohn said:

, i meant the refreshment service a drink, and a snack of some sort (fruit, biscof, nuts). coffee and a biscuit are a nice touch.

A nice touch, but one which adds complexity, and above all cost,  to the price sensitive traveller. 

[FlyerTalker]

6 hours ago, wowzz said:

A nice touch, but one which adds complexity, and above all cost,  to the price sensitive traveller. 

 

A former regular here, Globaliser, introduced me to this delightful video.  I'm posting the link to the version with subtitles, so you might easier understand the accent.

 

https://youtu.be/HPyl2tOaKxM

 

[sumiandkage]

14 hours ago, wowzz said:

What do you mean by "mis-steps" of BA? One could argue that their current level of profitability means that in fact they took the correct steps.

 

Profitability doesn't necessarily sync with providing a high quality product. Allegiant of all carriers has some of the highest margins of the US carriers and until they recently replaced their ancient Mad Dogs with newer Airbus models, they were under very tight supervision by the FAA because of excess mechanical issues with their flights. 

[wowzz]

8 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

A former regular here, Globaliser, introduced me to this delightful video.  I'm posting the link to the version with subtitles, so you might easier understand the accent.

 

https://youtu.be/HPyl2tOaKxM

 

. Why do you think I would need sub-titles?  Perfectly clear! 

Edited January 4, 2020 by wowzz

[wowzz]

37 minutes ago, sumiandkage said:

Profitability doesn't necessarily sync with providing a high quality product.

Of course it doesn't,  and I never suggested it did. You could argue that the key to profitability is to offer the lowest possible quality at the highest price the market will accept. Some would argue that Ryanair is the perfect example of that strategy.

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

. Why do you think I would need sub-titles?  Perfectly clear! 

 

For the other readers of this forum.

.

 

[wowzz]

3 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

For the other readers of this forum.

.

 

OK - but I thought the vast majority on here spoke English.  The audio is perfectly clear. 

[MSUjohn]

23 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

DL 24 leaves JFK every evening and arrives 15 hours later in Mumbai.

 

 

ok, the must have resumed recently because they disengaged for YEARS do to being uncompetitive with the ME3.

 

edit: like two weeks ago.

Edited January 5, 2020 by MSUjohn

[MSUjohn]

19 hours ago, wowzz said:

A nice touch, but one which adds complexity, and above all cost,  to the price sensitive traveller. 

 

yes, as I stated, delta is not trying to compete with the 3 US ULCC, but is positioning themselves to be more of an upscale choice.