Longhaul Flights Appraisal

[mcgillianaire]

Since my arrival in Montreal I have now flown with five different long-haul aircraft carriers in my quest to get home to Oman and back. By far and without a doubt the best of these has been British Airways and the worst, Al Italia. Inbetween there has been Lufthansa, Swiss and Air Canada. There's only KLM and Air France left to try out... :)

I definitely recommend flying British Airways, but the only problem with their flights to Oman is the untimely arrival in London Heathrow with respect to my connecting flight to Muscat - otherwise for pure service, comfort and airport quality, they outscore all the others quite comfortably.

Economy class, no doubt. In business/club and first class there is a lot less difference between the airlines, although I must admit I've only flown it once on BA and once on Lufthansa so I can't say for sure about them.

This week I flew with Swiss International, for the first time since the previous carrier Crossair/Swissair closed down a couple years ago. Initially I wasn't looking forward to the 6 hour transit in Zurich but luckily Switzerland has virtually the same visa regulations as other EU countries so getting out without a visa was not a problem. As such I was able to meet up with a friend who I hadn't seen in a couple years and she was able to show me and a couple friends from my highschool around the city. It's such a pretty little town set amidst a beautiful lake, snow capped mountains in the distance and a chilly fresh air...

The major downer with Swiss are its tiny seats. I had a very uncomfortable journey from Muscat to Zurich but the 2nd leg to Montreal was much better... or maybe it was the presence of a aesthetically pleasing passenger sitting next to me. ;)

The movie choices are amazing in BA, pathetic in Lufthansa, Air Canada and Al-Italia and several but old with Swiss. BA always has the latest movies on offer which has me confused why the others can't follow suit...

What I did enjoy about Swiss the most however was its choice of games. I must've spent a good 2-3 hours playing Who Wants to be a Millionaire along with several rounds of Multiplayer Trivia and other goodies...

Moral of the Story, take BA for longhaul flights.

Comments

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

How Was Air Arabia?

[dubaiwalla.livejournal.com]

Nothing special. But then it's a budget airline, and the fares are far lower than on other carriers.

[dubaiwalla.livejournal.com]

Also, nothing special is still a lot better than say, Indian Airlines, or Olympic.

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

Hey, I like Indian Airlines. They've provided me with some of the best service when I've flown them! If you wanna pick an Indian airlines, choose Deccan. That's the worst of the lot.

[dubaiwalla.livejournal.com]

The only other domestic Indian airline I've flown on was Jet Airways, and despite a small, noisy plane, they were awesome.