I am going to add flying with an Asian or Middle Eastern carrier to my “bucket list.”
– CNN reader Robb1371
Source: The world’s best airline for 2012 is …
Like in a lot of other arenas, America’s airlines too have fallen way behind their Asian and Middle Eastern rivals.
World’s Top-10 Airlines
1. Qatar Airways (#1 for second year in a row)
2. Asiana Airlines
3. Singapore Airlines
4. Cathay Pacific Airways
5. ANA All Nippon Airways
6. Etihad Airways
7. Turkish Airlines
8. Emirates
9. Thai Airways
10. Malaysia Airlines
Source: 2012 Annual Skytrax World Airline Awards
By the way, Bucket List (Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman) is a nice movie, a tragi-comedy.
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Qatar dhan no. 1…small country but still.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Yes, for the second year in a row Qatar Airlines is #1 in the world.
Now, you can bask in the airline’s reflected glory.
You must have flown on Qatar Airlines several times, right?
Is it really that good?
Frankly, the services to Indian sector is at best, ok.
Timings are highly inconvenient, but daily flights are available.
The US and Europe sector is very good.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Big achievement, nevertheless.
#1 airline in the world for two years in a row!
The U.S. airlines are nowhere in the picture. 🙁
No surprises that none of the US airlines made it to the top.
They all suck in varying degress. Poor customer service, ridiculous baggage fees, high on delays, no food even on long distance flights, inconsistent entertainment options. They only perform the most basic operations which is flying and hopefully periodic maintenance.
No surprises about Singapore Airlines making it to that list. Everyone I know who has flew Etihad or Emirates has nothing but praise for them.
Wonder where Air India is languishing in that list 🙂 or maybe they will call another strike protesting their non-inclusion in the top 10 😀
SearchIndia.com Responds:
I still remember the good ol’ days when we’d get good food and free booze even on domestic flights here (i.e. U.S.).
AI is a joke that survives on govt. largesse and Gujju stupidity (all those elderly semi-literate Gujaratis making annual trips to Vadodara and Mehsana)!
“Poor customer service, ridiculous baggage fees, high on delays, no food even on long distance flights, inconsistent entertainment options.”
That sucks big time.
No food on long distance flight?
How do they manage to survive despite such shortcomings?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
The U.S. airlines are not surviving…they’re merging and on life-support.
I have an NRI friend who regularly flies to Qatar from Chennai and he once told me how great the crew and service were.
I’ve flown on Singapore Airlines abt 6 years back and found it good. The air hostesses were friendly and the food was decent. The flight, though, got delayed by abt 30 mins.
Air India seems to be the worst airline in India. The only benefit of travelling in AI is the low cost.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
A lot of semi-literate Gujjus here are comfortable flying Air India.
These Amit-bhais, Sumit-bhais, Meena-behns and Sita-behns keep AI afloat on the U.S.-India route.
Knew that Asiana Airlines (South Korea), Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong) were good. Even Emirates. Didn’t expect Qatar Airways to beat em all. 🙂
What about the European airlines like Lufthansa, SWISS, Air France, etc. ??
SearchIndia.com Responds:
The European airlines come up in top-10 in some categories.
See http://www.worldairlineawards.com
The first superstar of Bollywood Rajesh Khanna ] has passed away
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Thanks.
I was not aware of it and found out only by reading your comment.
Watched his Anand recently.
Lovely film. Most likely, his best.
RAJESH KHANNA IS NO MORE….BABU MOSHAI…
SearchIndia.com Responds:
For many years, Aaradhana (Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore) was my favorite film.
I must have listened to Mere Sapon ki Rani and Roop Tera Mastana million times.
Anand – Rajesh Khanna’s Finest Hour
As someone who has flown in many of these airlines from the US to the Indian subcontinent, the onboard entertainment system on Emirates called ‘ice’ is probably the best out there.
Emirates flies the Airbus A380 from JFK to Dubai, cabin is excellently noise proofed from the engine noise, minimizes body fatigue.
Business and first-class fliers on Emirates can use their lounges in Dubai which are world class, and for the well heeled with cash to burn what better place than Dubai-duty free !
(BTW, I am not an Emirates employee !)
I would rate Qatar airways a notch below Emirates. The airport in Abu-Dhabi leaves a lot to be desired, so I would deduct points from Etihad and Qatar for flights to the subcontinent via Abu-Dhabi.
MAS and SAL are good, but flying from the US east-coast to KL or Singapore and then retracing the flight path back to India/Pak/Bangladesh is laborious. Great options for US west-coasters though.
Another decent option from US NA to India is Jet. They do a competent and satisfactory job. Convenient for flying to South Indian cities. Hard to get tickets on short notice bookings, I guess folks from NJ flock to Jet coz they fly out of Newark.
If there is an airline that could beat AI for the lowest spot that would be Kuwait airways, I have also heard horror stories about PIA – Pakistan intl. airlines as well, similar to AI. I would assume that they cater to the AI equivalent demographic on the Pak side.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You’re right on Emirates high quality entertainment.
For the eighth consecutive year, Emirates ‘ice’ inflight entertainment system won the ‘World’s Best Airline Inflight Entertainment’ award at the 2012 SKYTRAX World Airline Awards.
Source: http://www.emirates.com/us/english/about/news/news_detail.aspx?article=927119&offset=0