Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Flying

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Flying

    Just worked out I am about to use my 13th airline. Hope Etihad are good. Flight time is 11 hours first leg, eight hours the second. pretty much the reverse of how it runs when you fly an Asian airline or Qantas.

    Mind you, 19 hours is good compared to my first trip out here which was London-Bahrain-Hong Kong-Perth and took about two days (slight exaggeration).

    Of the 13, Cathay Pacific the best and KLM the worst by some margin.

    #2
    Flying

    Have a pleasant flight.

    I can't compete with your numbers, so I won't.

    Comment


      #3
      Flying

      Goodness, several of the airlines I used to fly no longer exist.

      Comment


        #4
        Flying

        Same here. Including loads of dodgy charters from the 70s I can't even remember the names of.

        Comment


          #5
          Flying

          Goodness, several of the airlines I used to fly no longer exist.
          Same here. Including loads of dodgy charters from the 70s I can't even remember the names of.
          Did either of you ever fly in from Miami Beach with BOAC?

          My first ever flight was in January 1982 as an 18 year old student on an Intourist package holiday to Moscow and Leningrad. So it was with Aeroflot.

          Comment


            #6
            Flying

            oh, and have a good flight UE. And are you still on for beers in Cambridge on Thursday 9th?

            Comment


              #7
              Flying

              Amor de Cosmos wrote: Same here. Including loads of dodgy charters from the 70s I can't even remember the names of.
              Laker? Braniff? Canada 3000? WardAir?

              Comment


                #8
                Flying

                Yes, should be able to make the 9th.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Flying

                  Northeast, Eastern, Mohawk, Piedmont, Allegheny, PSA, Western, AirCal, America West, TWA, Northwest Orient, Continental, Midway, World, People's Express.

                  And that's just the domestic carriers off the top of my head. I'm sure that I am missing some.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Flying

                    My worst Transatlantic experience was, I think, with Northwest out of Minneapolis in the mid-90s. It was quite horrible. I'm glad they no longer exist.

                    The longest flight (+ regular, non-stopover, transfer) was recently from Johannesburg to San Diego via Heathrow. Each flight is about 11 hours, and coming from JHB westwards you land around 6 in the morning, and leave around 3:30 pm for San Diego. So, total travel time (excluding the 2 hours before flight at JHB and immigration at SAN) is around 32 hours. It's brutal. You feel like shit for most of the next week.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Flying

                      When we were doing the bicoastal relationship thing, the cheapest way between NY and SF was Northwest from Laguardia with a change in either Minneapolis or Detroit.

                      I grew quite fond of them and still am jarred to see that those airports have become Delta bastions.

                      I've never done anything longer than NY-Tokyo, which was plenty long for me, especially given that ANA still allowed smoking onboard.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Flying

                        WOM wrote:
                        Originally posted by Amor de Cosmos
                        Same here. Including loads of dodgy charters from the 70s I can't even remember the names of.
                        Laker? Braniff? Canada 3000? WardAir?
                        Wardair for sure. But Max Ward was an emperor compared to most of the charter operators back then.

                        My arrival in Canada was on a one-way charter — which were banned shortly afterwards — from (theoretically) Stanstead to Toronto. It cost £40. I probably saw it advertised in International Times or Oz. Two days before the flight I got a message from the company, the flight was going to have to land in Niagara NY, not TO, so I'd need a visa. Cue standing in-line most of the following day at the US embassy. The next morning — the day of the flight — another message: it had been delayed a week. The best part of the previous week had been about tearful goodbyes, and boozed up parties. "Why was I still there?" everyone asked? I felt like Banquo's ghost.

                        Eventually the antiquated 707 full of tired and grungy looking hippies did take off from the nissen hut that passed for London's third airport. We arrived around 3:00am to be greeted by the surliest bunch of US immigration officials north of the Mexican border. They weren't happy, and they made damn sure we weren't either.

                        Our charter company promised a bus to get us to Toronto, and so they did. What they didn't tell us, until we were in our seats, was that it was going to cost an additional $10 per person. This led to a spirited discussion between the company representative and the bus's occupants lasting several minutes. We arrived in Toronto mid-morning. I got off the bus, looked in the wrong direction, and was nearly run over crossing Yonge Street. Which I believe I mentioned in a thread last week.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Flying

                          I fly Egypt Air fairly often. Very rarely do they use newer planes on the Johannesburg - Cairo route; usually it's a 1978 Airbus (I think it's an Airbus). Which suits me fine, because the seats are bigger.

                          The best airline I ever flew was Luxavia from Luxembourg, in the 1980s. That was still a time when the Golden Age was a living memory. I recall on one flight, they served scallops. In economy.

                          Off the top of my head, I've gone with BA, Lufthansa, South African Airways, Turkish Airlines, KLM, Air France, Air Zambia, El Al, Ukraine International Airlines, TAP, Egypt Air, Olympic (my nominee for worst airline I've gone with) and Luxavia. Which equals Uncle Ethan's 13.

                          Plus several airlines for interrnal flights in South Africa. And one of the internal US carriers, but I forget which one.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Flying

                            The longest flight I've done wasn't really one. Had to do London - Dubai - Sydney and back the same week in February. I was in the air for something like 48 hours and in Sydney for something like 32 hours. Picked Qantas solely because they had a one-hour refuelling stop for the same aircraft, where Emirates changed you onto a different flight.

                            I can't contemplate long haul now without the panoply of entertainment systems, in-seat chargers, etc. The first time I flew long haul was London to Bangkok in about 1997, Royal Thai Air, no in-seat entertainment, just one screen showing Freddie Starr specials to some paralytically drunk Ukrainians in front of us.

                            The best flight I ever had was a free upgrade to first class on a BA flight from New York to London. The facilities weren't all that, but I remember asking for, and getting, endless rounds of bacon rolls and champagne. I'm a bit jealous of a friend who got enough points to fly whatever the top Emirates class is - he had an actual cabin, bed, shower, etc, on his flight. His cabin looked nicer than my house, and not much smaller.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Flying

                              I think I've at least done: Aer Lingus, BA, Ryanair, easyJet, Flybe, LOT, Iberia, Alitalia, Vueling, TAP, Air France, Turkish, China Eastern, China Southern, El Al, Croatia Airlines, Etihad, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Lufthansa, Air Europa, Gulf Air and Cathay Pacific.

                              I quite like Turkish, with the food there being nice, although congestion at IST is a problem for delays and connections. Etihad has been nice and comfortable. And I've always had a soft spot for easyJet, after working for them for a while; their flights have always been pleasant and clean for me.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Flying

                                Mine are mostly UK, and Eurocheap, all the way back to British Caledonian, and Air Scotia.

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Flying

                                  British Midland, Monarch, whatever airline flies to the Scilly Isles, BA, Ryanair, Easyjet, Vueling, KLM, Lufthansa, Virgin, Qantas, Singapore, Air France, Swiss Air, Aeroflot, Air Canada, TAM, Iberia, Alitalia, American, United, Delta, Continental, TWA, Pan Am.

                                  The best flight I ever had was a free upgrade to first class on a BA flight from New York to London. The facilities weren't all that, but I remember asking for, and getting, endless rounds of bacon rolls and champagne.
                                  I had a similar experience coming back from Beijing.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Flying

                                    According to one estimate I remember hearing, around 700,000 people are in the air on flights at any given time (a number that presumably gets even higher during peak western summer holiday season, when the package airlines operate, and must be increasing all the time as China and India take to the skies). It's an amazing thought.

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      Flying

                                      I know that I am missing a few, but here goes what I still can recollect:

                                      Aerolineas Argentinas, Air France, Air Transat, Austrian Airlines, BMI Regional, Brussels Airlines, EasyJet, Finnair, Germanwings, Iran Air, KLM, LAN, Lufthansa, Onur Air, Qantas, SAS, Singapore Airlines, Swissair, Tiger Airways.

                                      The best was Singapore Airlines, by a country mile. The worst is a tie between Iran Air and Tiger Airways.

                                      Since I had a couple of seriously bad experiences with low-budget carriers, I'm typically trying to fly with the flagship carrier of a country. I like KLM a lot, since I live relatively close to Schiphol, and KLM flies directly to an impressive range of destinations from there (direct daily flights to Osaka? No problem!). I'm flying with them quite often, and never had a real problem, so UE, I'm curious to learn what they did to you.

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        Flying

                                        BA
                                        Emirates
                                        Etihad
                                        Oman Air
                                        Kenya Airways
                                        Rwandair
                                        Turkish
                                        KLM
                                        Air France
                                        Brussels Airlines
                                        Air Mauritius
                                        Qatar
                                        Gulf Air
                                        Aer Lingus
                                        Ryanair
                                        Easyjet
                                        PIA (easily the worst)
                                        Thai Airlines
                                        Bangkok Airways
                                        Korean Air
                                        Virgin Atlantic
                                        Malev
                                        Ariana (Afghanistan's national airline)
                                        Alitalia
                                        Swissair
                                        Albanian Airlines
                                        Lufthansa
                                        Egyptair
                                        Royal Air Maroc
                                        Precision Air (not so precise)
                                        AirKenya
                                        Fly 540
                                        Safarilink
                                        UNHAS (to Kabul and Mogadishu)

                                        There's a few low-cost airlines that have disappeared that I've forgotten.

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          Flying

                                          Euro normal
                                          BA
                                          Iberia*
                                          Air France
                                          KLM
                                          Lufthansa
                                          TAP
                                          Tarom
                                          Malev*
                                          CSA
                                          Alitalia
                                          Swiss
                                          Austrian
                                          LOT
                                          Turkish
                                          Virgin

                                          Euro lowcost
                                          Wizz
                                          EasyJet
                                          BlueAir
                                          Vueling

                                          US
                                          Continental
                                          SouthWest
                                          US Air
                                          Delta
                                          United
                                          TWA*
                                          Alaska

                                          Asian
                                          Etihad
                                          Emirates
                                          Qatar
                                          Gulf
                                          Thai
                                          Singapore
                                          Cathay
                                          Air Vietnam
                                          Uzbek
                                          Korean
                                          Garuda
                                          Air Lanka
                                          Nepal
                                          Air Astana
                                          Biman
                                          Air Asia
                                          Malaysia

                                          Other
                                          Qantas
                                          Jetstar
                                          Air NZ
                                          Air Nauru
                                          GOL
                                          TAM

                                          (*= now defunct)

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            Flying

                                            Some absolutely brilliant randoms in those lists.

                                            For myself, I've forgotten a lot of the charters (Air 2000 was one that I do remember, later became First Choice) but the worst I've flown on was OnurAir, and the best was probably Silverjet, the very short-lived all-business class operation that flew from Luton to Newark.

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              Flying

                                              I have a feeling some of ad hoc's 'airlines' were like the seaplane Indiana Jones sprints to in the opening act of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                Flying

                                                On one flight back from Oz the movie between Australia and KL was 1492. Luckily they movie in the KL to London was 1492, the unabridged version. I have never wished more desperately for a parachute.

                                                Comment


                                                  #25
                                                  Flying

                                                  Just a couple that I can remember that I don't think have been mentioned so far:

                                                  JAT - Yugoslav airlines - Gatwick-Dubrovnik (return) in 1986.
                                                  Aurigny - Channel Islands hopper - Guernsey-Jersey in 1988.

                                                  Comment

                                                  Working...
                                                  X