Okay, time for my annual review of airlines to see who I give top and bottom billing to. I rate every airline on every flight i fly vis a vis their offerrings from booking to landing. On my rating scale 5 out of 5 is an almost perfect travel experience. Any airline with:

• 4.7 or more out of 5 is Superb
•  4.4+ Excellent
• 4.1+ Good
• 3.5+ Average
• 3+ Below Average
• Under 3.0 Poor

Superb and Excellent List

1. Emirates once again scooped the pool for me with 5.0 out of 5.0 Consistently good service, food, entertainment, safety means I trust. Disappointed in 2011 that they did not recognise and match my Qantas frequent flyer status
2. Air New Zealand at 4.9 out of 5. This is an airline that is always a joy to fly. Amazing customer service, great food and wine and so many innovative attempts to make flying fun.
3. V Australia – now rolled into Virgin Australia plys the International routes. In all three classes, the V product is excellent earning then an average 4.8 out of 5.
4. Qantas Airways -still came in with 4.8 out of 5. There has been a lot of talk about a decline in Qantas service. On board, I still find the Qantas customer service focus to be there. I cannot say the same with upper management and the disgraceful grounding incident earlier in the year, almost had me remove Qantas from this list.
5. Cathay Pacific- still one of the best in the world though their service has become less consistent recently, their seats are not very comfortable (and are being replaced) and I had a run in over their online booking system in 2010…still get 4.7 out of 5 from me
6. LAN (about to merge with TAM) gives many carries a run for their money with service, cleanliness, food and entertainment.  4.7 out of 5
7. Lufthansa  My 2011 Lufthansa experience was very disappointing but overall I still give the German carrier 4.7 out of 5
8. JetBlue- for me, this low cost carrier has never compromised  servcie, courtesy or on board offerings. There are horror stories of  a grounding in the snowstorms a few years ago which I believe JetBlue learnt from: 4.7
9. Virgin America- the carriemr doesnt make any money but manages to fly customers around in amazing aeroplanes with great service and and an amazing eneternment system. A light in the dark US domestic scene: 4.7
10. Singapore Airlines- othe rpeople rave about Singapore and place them higher. I am satisfied with my 4.6 scoring.
11. Frontier- another low cost carrier makes it into the top ten list. Whether its the free on board chocolate chip cookie, groovy planes, or warm mid west hospitality, Frontier always delivers.

Out of my favourite airlines, three are One World,  three are Star Alliance, two are Virgin linked, three are unaligned and none are Skyteam

My Least Favourite airlines

1. Tiger Airways Australia – my last flight with them was a non event. Arriving 42 minutes before the flight, I found that check in had closed (they have a 45 minute check in cut off and didn’t offer online check in). They had no interest in accommodating two marginally late passengers insisting we buy new tickets. Coupled with their grounding in Australia last year and crappy on board project, Tiger comes  in for me with 1.5 out of 5 which I wonder if it is too generous?
2. Alitalia- enough said with 1.5 out fo 5
3. Ryan Air sits next. Their cheap fares attract but their legendary lack of care for customers, desire for revenue at all other costs earns admiration as a business model but one wonders if its really sustainable long term or will people continue to fly to save a few Euros, pounds or dollars even treated worse than cattle? (2 out of 5)
4. American Airlines. Grumpy service, aged planes and their  built in online ticketing rip off for Australian kept American in the list of worst carriers I have flown. Will bankruptcy improve them? (2.9 out fo 5)
5. US Airlines-How many airlines cancel a flight and invite you to drive  193 miles [310km] for an alternative flight. My US air flights were marginally better this year than my overall experience with them over years. (2.9 out fo 5)

Worthy of Comment

1. I have rated Air Asia at 3 out of 5 but think its time I revised this as people around me rave about them
2. United Airlines- my question in the United/Continental merger is will the Continental part raise the overall standards of United.  Pre merger, I gave United 3.5 out of 5 and Continental 4.7. For my nine 2011 United flights in 2011, I gave the new carrier an average of 3.7 out of 5. This means United is no longer in my bottom carrier list- just. Don’t get excited – they only just make average!
3. After a long absence, in 2011, I began frequenting Delta again. Boy am I impressed. Delta’s overhaul over the last few years has moved them from my no fly list to Good. I would rank them as the best US domestic carrier!
4. Etihad who I flew six times in 2011 were my biggest disappointment. I gave them a solid 4 out of 5 suggesting they are an average carrier. For all of their awards and marketing, I found the hype did not love up to a fairly ordinary global product.

What have been your experiences? Next Thursday:  Cities Visited in 2011

I am Wild about Flying and thanks to my friend Tony (see separate story), I have a very accurate record of my travel. This means I know for a certainty, that as at today’s date I have flown 812 times in my life-   111 times in 2011.   Question: Do I need to fly 112 times next year? 111 times in a year is about twice per week. In total a scary 412 hours of my year was spent in aeroplanes- two and a half weeks!!

Distance Flown
I  travelled 304 560 km  (189 245 miles). That number is meaningless to me as a quantity but it is 7.6 times right around the earth!!!  This is the most I have flown in my life and brought my total miles flown in my life to:  1,161,075 miles/  1,868,569 kilometres.  At current flying patterns, I will hit two million kilometres by mid 2012! Like to bet when?

The Overall Experience.

For me, flying was not quite as good an experience as it was in 2010, but way better than the first five years after September 11. My overall score for flying in 2011 was 4.3 out of 5 (86%). Flying is made more pleasurable for me by looking for the good in it, not checking bags in, having high frequent flyer status and seeking after exit row seats as much as possible. Its let down by crappy US airlines, US security lines and proceses (although TSA personnel are much happier now).

Greenhouse emissions

My plane travel resulted in a staggering 39.4 tonnes of greenhouse gas, which I offset 110% by purchasing 163 trees. We also added offset to some tickets as we bought them from the airlines. Its kind of like double dipping in a good way.

Airports Visited 

The airports I visited the most were Melbourne and Sydney (Australia), Los Angeles, Auckland and Perth, I added a lot of new airports in the year mostly in South America and the Middle East.

Airlines Flown- Qantas drops from my most flown airline

In terms of the 27 airlines I used in  2011, the Virgin Australia group were the ones I was with the most travelling with them 20 times for 61 000 km. Qantas came second 15 times for 43 000km, While a lot, my Qantas flying has firmly dropped – see the table below of annual Qantas travel which shows a reduction from a peak of 61 to 43 to 15 flights over the last three years).

I had quite a sour taste in my mouth about Qantas due to

1. my perception that the Qantas management have been less focused on customer service
2. the dilution of Platinum status frequent flyer
3. a dramatic improvement in the Virgin Australia product within the Australian domestic market
4. more flights to the middle east and South America where Qantas has no presence

I am curious as to how many other Qantas Platinum customers have done the same reduction in travel.

New Airlines

Experienced Etihad  for the first time (trip report to come), as well as V Australia (now part of Virgin Australia, Royal Brunei and Royal Jordanian and Korean Air. In total in my life I have now travelled with 81 airlines- some of which are defunct. See my blog tomorrow for my top (and bottom) airlines of 2011.

The Big One – The Planes

The fact I flew on 24 types of planes is a little humdrum in view of the real excitement (for me) in 2011.

The first was my 7** sequencing. I managed to time my 737th, 747th, 757th, 767th and 777th flights of my life to be on the aircraft of the same number:

• Southwest 737: Portland to Spokane - brilliant flight
• Qantas 747: Excellent
• United 757: awful
• Qantas 767: okay
• Air New Zealand 777- Auckland to Los Angeles- Perfect Experience

I was very excited by this achievement

Little disappointed that I didn’t manage:

• 707 – I don’t know John Travolta well enough to ask to go in his 707
• 717 – I didnt manage to get an Air Tran flight timing right
•  727  -The only airline with 727 in regular service is in Iran a
• 787- the first B787 flight ended up being after my 787th flight and despite lobbying efforts I did not get near it

The other was an additional three A380 products: korean, Air France (to come) and Lufthansa.

34 of my 111 flights were on 737s– mostly shorthaul.

Toward 2012

• I know the China Southern A380 is on my list
• I also plan a 40% reduction in travel next year. What that means in terms of actual flights, I am not sure yet!
• I do want to add States 47, 48, 49 and 50 in the USA
• I want to add five new countries- Japan, Turkey, Denmark, South Africa and ?
• I expect to fly 3 or 4 new airlines
• I hope to be able to share all this with you….thanks for being Wild About Travel!

As I stood at the Check in counter, I watched a gentleman return to the check in counter in a very agitated state. He attempted to clamber onto the luggage conveyor belt over the check in desk and was grasping at bags. He was exclaiming loudly:  ”I have left ny passport in my luggage”

Sigh! Passports never live in luggage, along with Medicines and Jewelry.

The man was restrained from going any further with promises being made that his bag would be retrieved.

I have been systematically working my way through all of the airlines that have A380 products. So far I have flown (in date order) Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Emirates and  Lufthansa. Today’s (late) trip report: Korean Airlines A380.

Korean was founded in 1962. For a long time it had a very dubious safety record with 16 aircraft involved in serious incidents and accidents in the 1970s to 1990s. Total loss of life:  700. Their safety has improved enormously, with the last incident in 1997. They have also received several awards for their service with Skytrrax rating them four stars. They are a member of Skyteam Alliance, along with Delta and Air France.  I have never flown them until this year. Their A380 flight was my second with them.

Booking:  ? out of 10

I initially searched for flights at Korean’s website. I thought the search feature was very nifty as you could look for Business Class, Full economy and discount economy seats easily. I found re entering some of the data a little tedious. As I was intending to upgrade my flight using Delta points, I was searching for Full Economy. I actually made my booking 24 hours before I flew and discovered that  you cannot make an online booking five days or less before travel. I rang the Korean Airlines call centre in Sydney. Their service was professional, friendly, prompt but I was given the wrong advice. I ended up paying full fare economy but never got my upgrade despite my rigorous efforts. Read more in Delta/Korean Fare Codes and Upgrades mean Downgrades. It is hard to rate the booking experience. I want to fail it but the process itself was largely excellent.

After confirmation of my booking, my next task was seat selection. Even as a Delta Gold Medallion®  customer, I could not request an exit row seat.

Check in: 10 out of 10

Korea’s Incheon airport is huge. Apart from gates, terminals and check in area, apparently there is a a golf course, spa, ice skating rink, a casino and a Museum! Korean Air uses the massive main terminal which has 44 gates- all of which can cope with the A380.

As I was searching for the priority check in area, I came across a check in booth for passengers with no luggage. It had two staff waiting for passengers – and no line! The service was very friendly and very helpful. Again, I asked for Exit row but they were not available. . While, there was no direct acknowledgment of my Skyteam status except to note it was in the booking, the woman organised to block the middle seat off in my row (row 32) so that there would be an empty seat between myself and the next passenger. Thank you!

I gave  Emirates (EK) 10/10, Qantas   (QF) 9/10 and Singapore (SQ) 8/10 Lufthansa (LH) 7/10 for their A380 Check in processes.

 Boarding: 10 out of 10

Security was impressively efficient. I boarded with the Skyteam elites so I missed the main boarding. The gate lounge felt very relaxed and orderly. Welcome on board was very warm. Cabin crew were very attentive all the way through the plane with welcomes, advice on how to find seats and where to put luggage.

True to the check in staff member’s promise, I had an empty seat between myself and the next passenger.

EK: 10/10, QF: 9/10,  SQ 7/10, LH 7/10

Takeoff: 10 out of 10

I cannot express enough the absolute pleasure of an A380 take off and Korean gave a perfect rendition.

On Board: 10 out of 10

Korean’s a380s are brand, brand new being delivered between July and September of this year (my flight was in November). I knew already that Korean’s is the least densely packed of all of the A380s choosing to focus on Business Traffic. Seeing the configuration up close helped me understand how much room they have provided.

The airline has chosen to place the First and Economy cabins on the lower level with 12 First suites at the front of the plane (I didn’t see them) and 301 Economy seats in a 3/4/3 arrangement. In addition, Korean have placed a duty free store at the back of the lower deck.

On the upper deck, Korean have 94 flatbed Business seats. The interiors, even in Economy, felt very spacious. Seat-wise, Korean seats are 18″ wide and there is a 34″ pitch between the seats. They are the most generous economy seats of all of the A380 operators I have been on. Compare the space to Lufthansa’s mean  17″ by 31″ pitch.

Take off was followed by the distribution of amenity kits which included by the crew. Korean provided a pair of slippers for each passenger. Initially, I was sceptical because my feet are so large. The slippers turned out to fit well. It is part of Korean custom but I really liked the feel of the slippers and it was nice to wear something else to the lavatories.

Speaking of the lavatories, the staff cleaned them very regularly through the night. They were always spotless.

I asked one of the staff what she thought of the plane and she seemed pretty excited about it. She didn’t seem too interested in talking about comparisons with other A380s.I found the staff while very very friendly and courteous did not interact with the  passengers.  The exception being the Cabin Manager who came down to welcome the high status frequent flyers personally. I noted he did not welcome similar status passengers from other Skyteam airlines.

EK: 10/10, QF: 9/10,  SQ 8/10, LH 7/10

Meals: 6 out of 10

On this flight, I chose a Korean meal: Bibimbap for dinner. The Korean woman sitting in the same row in seat 32A, chose a Western meal. This meant we  could both compare notes! Even though, I have eaten Korean food before, I appreciated that my meal came with instructions for how to prepare it. Both meals were delicious and presented very very nicely BUT the portion size of the meals were dismally small! This was the same for my other Korean flight. I was hungry for most of the two flights I did with Korean. I discovered, after many hours that the staff will make you noodles in a cup and that there was a small range of snacks available. This was not mentioned by the crew. Reading other reviews on Skytrax, there are a lot of comments about the food portions.

The breakfast the next morning was also very miserly, consisting of a a small omelet with hashbrowns and tomato, a small yoghurt  and muffiny cupcake, water and two (count them- see below) two slices of fruit.  I left the flight feeling very hungry.

EK: 10/10,  SQ 9/10. LH 8.5/10, QF: 7/10,

Entertainment: 8 out of 10

The entertainment system is called Sky Program. It offers Movies, Short films, Music (Approx. 500 albums), A Children’s World, games, and in-flight duty free shopping functioned well but  I felt the quantity of TV programming was a bit limited. While there were a lot of albums, there were not many that ended up grabbing my attention.

SQ 10/10, QF 9/10, EK: 8/10  LH 7/10

Landing: 10 out of 10

We landed early into LAX with a perfect touchdown right on time.

My rating overall: 86%

Out of all of my A380 flights, Korean came third- just. EK: 92%, QF: 87%, SQ: 83%, LH 80% (4 out of 5).

Positives:  Ease of check in, nice layout of A380, great leg room

Negatives: Lack of sufficient on-board TV programming, entertainment,  miserly meals. My  other negative comment is that my frequent flyer points have taken a long, long time to come through.

Would I fly them again? Yes,but would eat beforehand and bring my own snacks

I am off to Sydney, Australia today flying up front with Virgin Australia (Seat 1A). Not sure which aircraft. Hoping a new one. I will be up in Sydney for Christmas with various branches of the family (and one or two I am trying to avoid!).

Not decided where for NY Eve. I actually wanted to be on the Sunshine Coast, Australia but that didn’t work out so my options are curently:

• Paris, France
• London, England
• Brisbane, Australia
• Lismore, Australia
• Sydney, Australia
• Hobart, Australia
• Melbourne, Australia

Nice to be spoiled for choice. Any advocates for any locations?

I don’t know carrier, location or even if its genuine. Holiday Greetings everyone

Virgin Australia now has formal approval for an alliance between itself and Singapore Airlines Ltd.

What does this mean for us passengers?

Velocity Platinum and Gold members (thats me!) receive complimentary entry on day of travel into Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer Gold Lounges at Changi Airport, Singapore when travelling Economy Class with Singapore Airlines. Travelling Business or First class means access to the much nicer SilverKris lounge (Yeah in this case the Gold lounge is far inferior to the Silver. Normally Gold trumps silver, I thought). The good news is that outside of Singapore, Platinum and Gold members will have entry to the SilverKris Lounges worldwide. On the Singapore side, KrisFlyer Elite Gold and PPS Club and Solitaire PPS Club members and  guest receive entry to Virgin Australia’s lounges.

We can earn frequent flyer points and status credits at the same rate as with Etihad and Air New Zealand. Virgin’s Velocity rewards points can be redeemed with Singapore. Alas, no ability to use points for upgrades on Singapore.

Virgin Australia also has links with Air New Zealand, Delta and Etihad. With these linkages, Virgin have announced they expect their share of international passnegers into and out of Australia to reach 30percent. This is higher than Qantas/One World share.

I wonder how close we are to a Virgin move into Star Alliance. If that happened, it would mean a rethink of the Delta airlines relationship but they would have access to United (ugh) instead. My next thought is when will Etihad go for Star Alliance? I am most sad that Virgin/Etihad didn’t buy BMI in the UK. That would have been an interesting game changer and allowed BMI frequent fliers to stay in Star Alliance.  If Etihad went to Star Alliance would Emirates try for One World and Qatar for Skyteam?

(image from Virgin Australia blog)

My second favourite airline Air NZ has been losing $NZ1 million per week on long haul traffic. It is now investigating ways to cut $NZ100 million out of expenses. Some of the rumours I have heard are:

• reducing London flights  (NZ flies to Heathrow via Los Angeles and via Hong Kong every day)
• pulling out of London altogether handing sectors over from LAX and HK to Virgin Atlantic
• slashing hundreds of jobs
• halting all “large  projects” (the message from Air NZ CEO Rob Fyfe: “no sacred cows”)
• reducing the quality of meals and service in Premium Economy and Business

Any bets on what may happen?

The good news is that its domestic and trans-Tasman routes are making money and overall the company to make an $NZ81m profit after tax this year.

Once upon a time (August, 2000 to be exact), a new airline was launched in Australia to challenge the two long standing carriers: Ansett and Qantas.

That airline was Virgin Blue. The name was chosen in a competition playing on the Australian custom of calling a redhead Blue or Bluey. I flew Virgin Blue 12 times around Australia and rated them 4.4 out of 5. They initially used a low cost Southwest/Easyjet model with some quirky Australianisms and the Virgin feel.

In 2003 Virgin Blue started Pacific Blue, a New Zealand based subsidiary which provided services between NZ, Australia, Phuket, Bali and Pacific Islands. They also flew domestically across NZ for a short time. I flew Pacific Blue, a mere four times and rated them 4 out of 5.

Polynesian Blue

This airline was created in 2005 to take over the international part of the Samoan Government’s flag carrier Polynesian Airlines, after its  ill-fated expansion bankrupted the carrier and was costing the government of Samoa half its annual budget to stay afloat! This new airline, a joint venture between the government of Samoa and Virgin Blue gave Samoa international flights to Australia and NZ. I never flew these guys.

V Australia

In 2009, saw the arrival of V Australia flying between Australia and the USA, followed by South Africa, Thailand and Abu Dhabi. The story goes that Singapore airlines with their interest in Virgin Atlantic and control of the Virgin name did not want the Virgin brand on that sector. (There has been intense debate between Singapore Airlines and the Australian government over Singapore’s desire to fly directly between Australia and the USA). So after another public competition, V Australia was the name. I have flown V Australia four times now and I have loved them every single time. I rate them 4.8 put of 5.

So what next in the story up to?

Following a change of CEO in 201o a new strategy was unveiled for the airline moving it from low cost carrier to full service airline. As part of that strategy, Virgin Blue became Virgin Australia in February 2011.  I have now flown Virgin Australia ten times (4.4 out of 5).

Last week

The Virgin Australia name replaced Pacific Blue and V Australia. Polynesian Blue became Virgin Samoa. Consistent branding will take some time to roll out so expect to see Planes, napkins, uniforms and boarding passes in various iterations.I like the uniforms and colour schemes.

Two Questions:

1. Will these changes make money for Virgin?
2. For me, I wonder how I keep on rating Virgin Australia from now on? Do I start again or combine their previous scores into one score? Oh the dilemmas of an airline geek!

Love to see the answer to this

@VirginAustralia flying from Sydney to Perth. Can I bring a pair of rollerblades onboard in addition to the carry on bag? #virginaustralia

She probably can if she was wearing them?