[lamborghini]

@Varun: I would firstly avoid Swiss air. I really liked their service and flights when I went on it last (May 08: Boston - Zurich). However, the flight has too many connections and you would be exhausted by the time you got to Birmingham, as you would be constantly running around and get the least sleep.

Secondly, I am quite happy with Lufthansa. The flights are always on time, clean, edible food, etc. I haven't faced any problems with the staff either and was treated quite well. However, there is a good chance there may not be any good inflight entertainment (like a personal screen). However, Lufthansa has good connections, and if entertainment isn't bothersome, go for it.
Also, if you are a smoker, the Frankfurt airport has smoking terminals which are quite good.

I would also give a miss to emirates, mainly due to their timings.

The two contenders I would thus recommend are Jet and Lufthansa. I have heard and experienced exemplary service on both of them.
Out of these two, I would suggest Jet due to better timings, and IIRC their on-board entertainment system is much superior.

[finneyp]

Varun, I would vote for Jet, next option would be Lufthansa.

[anekho]

go with Jet - reliable, timely, delicious and entertaining. My favourite international carrier.

cheers

[Sahil]

Check out this service, might be helpful to some:

Travel Butler

[shankar.balan]

my two bits

I like Emirates and Srilankan - great service every time I ve used them.
Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines etc are fantastic.

Alitalia, however is ghastly and Brit Airways doesnt generally treat us brown men terribly well.

[agentsmith2]

Originally Posted by Sahil

Check out this service, might be helpful to some:

Travel Butler

Really ? Unless its a plug - You got to be kidding. A flash page asking me to spend $99 for 'Short Haul' and $299 for 'Long Haul' trips is not my idea of a 'helpful' service.

But I digress.

In other news, just took a coast-to-coast Continental flight with a Southwest connection from Portland to DC via Houston. Continental was cool and Southwest was pretty OK as well. On time, courteous staff, nice jets - both were better than a Delta or United.

My 2c.

[agentsmith2]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

my two bits

I like Emirates and Srilankan - great service every time I ve used them.
Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines etc are fantastic.

Alitalia, however is ghastly and Brit Airways doesnt generally treat us brown men terribly well.

IIRC - there's an offer from SriLankan - Mumbai to Srilanka round-trip, all-in for about 5k. Mumbai-KL and back is about 12k - which is less than half of what a Malaysian or SIA would cost.

[Superleggera]

I vote for Emirates, courteous staff and the flights are always on time. For those who are travelling from/to USA thru Dubai and if the stopover time in Dubai more than 8 hours, emirates will provide free 96 hours tourist visa,accomodation,food and airport to hotel transit facility. Last month when i went to India (JFK->DXB->Calicut) I have availed this facility and met my friends and relatives in Dubai. They put me in Airport Millenium hotel, which was good enough for a few hours of stay !

[phamilyman]

Between Kuwait Airways (A300/A310) and EgyptAir/Jet (A330/737-800), which would you guys recommend? Any first hand experiences?

The former is about 3000 cheaper (27.5k vs 31k) - hence the question

/of course Fleet age Kuwait Airways - Airfleets scares me - 17 year old planes!
Fleet age EgyptAir - Airfleets - their A330 is only 4 years old!

[T_Girl]

My experience: I vouch for Singapore airlines and Emirates for international travel. Next undoubtedly would be Jet which is homely and cosy.

[greenh0rn]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Between Kuwait Airways (A300/A310) and EgyptAir/Jet (A330/737-800), which would you guys recommend? Any first hand experiences?

The former is about 3000 cheaper (27.5k vs 31k) - hence the question

/of course Fleet age Kuwait Airways - Airfleets scares me - 17 year old planes!
Fleet age EgyptAir - Airfleets - their A330 is only 4 years old!

Hey mate, I would advise you to first take the younger fleet anyday! 3k is not a huge difference and trust me, younger fleet is not just better safety, but also signifies a lot of other nice things.

[simply_sunny001]

Very Nice thread indeed but only if you look at it before booking which i dint.

anyways, last time between Delhi-London, i had a really bad experience with Jet Airways.

so booked Air India this time for a return trip between Lon-Del during Diwali(Mid Oct)

But seems i made a wrong call this time, so please share any reviews/experiences of Air India London-Delhi-London flight.

thanks

[phamilyman]

greenie,

My logic (since I work in the industry) is that a D check happens every 5 years and you get like a 80% new airframe (think of a new body for the car plus a chassis overhaul), not to mention the yearly tuneups.

So issue with older planes is:
a. Worse aerodynamics - raked wingtips etc on 737NG and A320 current version are much better in bad weather atleast for passenger comfort
b. If the maintenance is subpar, then old frames have an issue.

Now this route - how bad turbulence would it have? (Del-KWI-CAI)
And Snecma is their MRO partner - a very well respected French company so the planes should be broadly okay.

/of course that's too much detail for a flight ticket, but the decision is due only on Tuesday and I like Detail

[sujaylahiri]

I'll be visiting India next month on the 19th for few weeks. Although there were quite a few options for me in terms of airlines, I chose the one with the shortest layovers, as I hate waiting by myself at the airports.

So I'll be taking Edmonton-Calgary (Air Canada), Calgary-Frankfurt (AC), Frankfurt-Delhi (Lufthansa). And the return trip is similar, except that the Frankfurt-Calgary leg will also be done by Lufthansa this time.

As I've never been to Frankfurt airport before, anything I need to watch out for? My layover there is just under 2 hours for both the journeys, which is just the way I like it.

Sam are you listening?

[HPP]

Originally Posted by Nitin

Delta used to have poor reviews until about 2006. I've heard that they've improved since.

I just traveled by Air France, and I didn't like their service at all. The flights from Houston to Paris weren't crowded, but the seating comfort was horrible.Too cramped, and no space to move.Felt like we were in a cast of some sorts. And as for the CDG airport, thats another lousy place!So disorganized.

Its back to Lufthansa, or British Airways next time!

Originally Posted by varun911

Thanks finneyp
upon enquiry I found out that BA goes to London heathrow and does not have to Birmingham from Chennai. As of now my options are either Jet Airways or Emirates. Any pointers on these two?

Flying from the US to India here are some thoughts on airlines I/we as a family have flown over the years:

Emirates: Probably my favorite airline these days. Great service, good food, great entertainment, new planes, comparable prices.

Delta: Much better in recent years then in the past. For an American airline, it's pretty good, but wouldn't be my choice if one of the other foreign premium airlines was an option.

British Airways: Not a fan, kind of basic traveling(as of a few years ago), and the food is bland.

KLM/Northwest: Similar to British Airways as of a few+ years ago.

Kuwait Airways: Pretty good actually. Food was good and the service was also good.

Gulf Airlines: One of the worst airlines I've ever used. Planes and food was OK, but the timings and overbooking of every flight(being bumped off your own flight at every layover) makes this airline a nightmare.

Air India: Food was good, everything else is sub par.

American Airlines: Was pretty bad, but apparently in recent years has improved drastically(apparently pretty good). My brother is going to fly these guys to India this winter, we'll see how he likes it, but domestically he says it's the best American airline(one perk is it has wi-fi on their flights).

Lufthansa: My other brother loves this airline, but my mom flew it with him last year and she didn't like much. Kind of boring and the food was bland.

I've heard great things about Sri Lankan Airlines and Malaysian Airlines as well, but have no first hand experience. Also heard good about Jet, but again, haven't used the Internationally(only within India and that was good). Recently heard Etihad is OK, but not at Emirates level.