Which airline is best?

[MMDown Under]

I just checked Singapore's website. Although they do fly out of the west coast of N. America, they go there to Asia, not Aus/NZ. One has to be in Singapore to fly direct to Aus/NZ using Singapore airlines.

Going SFO-Singapore-AKL is a much longer route than SFO-AKL, don't you think?

 

Yes, definitely.

 

Singapore Airlines has been trying for years, without success, to get Australian government approval to fly direct on the lucrative US-Aus route.

[tak2]

.....The seat pitch and width of the economy seats beat Qantas or Air New Zealand.

......

 

Thanks.

33" & 19", sounds pretty comfortable.;)

[Aussie One]

Thanks.

33" & 19", sounds pretty comfortable.;)

 

Tac2 find time to visit s/pore its a great destination. then to Sydney or Cairns. take time to smell the roses Grumphy.

[dropanchor]

Tac2 find time to visit s/pore its a great destination. then to Sydney or Cairns. take time to smell the roses Grumphy.

Well said Grumpy, try and fit Melbourne in as well, Green Island, Margaret River..........oh to heck with it...........come for a long time and enjoy:D

By the way Grumpy, I feel at home quoting your posts as I have a T Shirt that says " Old N Grumpy" and I am proud of it too:D :p :) :D

Bruce

[Globaliser]

To each their own. I have to say that I found Singapore a sterile and boring place and couldn't wait to get out of it. I'd much rather spend more time in any Australian city.

[Aussie One]

Well said Grumpy, try and fit Melbourne in as well, Green Island, Margaret River..........oh to heck with it...........come for a long time and enjoy:D

By the way Grumpy, I feel at home quoting your posts as I have a T Shirt that says " Old N Grumpy" and I am proud of it too:D :p :) :D

Bruce

ive got one that say grumpy ol man melbourne cup soon i might be in Bali for it

[Aussie One]

To each their own. I have to say that I found Singapore a sterile and boring place and couldn't wait to get out of it. I'd much rather spend more time in any Australian city.

 

S/Pore is a great place for a stop over, then its only 12 hours to Europe' clean hotels and good faciltes. not like the third rate hotels in Uk and Europe.no crime. do drugs and they hang you. commit a crime and they use the rattan cane.there is plenty to do you can go into Malaysia on the bus for $2.00 or Indonesia on the ferry. plus warm weather. its my favorite Country. did you Know they import every thing if you want to see a pig or a chicken you have to go to the zoo. the cruise terminal is in Vivo City its huge check out on the net, www.singaporeflyer.sn this is 48 ft higher than the london eye boring i don,t think so Grumphy

[ConnMom]

Kathy,

Have you considered going from Boston instead of Bradley? Boston has nonstops to both LA and San Francisco, and while it much easier to drive to Bradley, we have found that taking the Logan Express shuttle from either Framingham or Braintree is reliable and relatively convenient, and helps us avoid extra stops enroute to the west coast.

At the end of the month,we will fly from Boston nonstop to LA a day early, stay overnight and then board an evening flight to Auckland. We are returning from Sydney though San Francisco, all via Qantas (and a domestic codeshare with American.) We would have preferred Bradley, but both price and time were much greater.

Good luck finding what you want. Pinning down air has been the most frustrating part of planning our trip.

[dropanchor]

S/Pore is a great place for a stop over, then its only 12 hours to Europe' clean hotels and good faciltes. not like the third rate hotels in Uk and Europe.no crime. do drugs and they hang you. commit a crime and they use the rattan cane.there is plenty to do you can go into Malaysia on the bus for $2.00 or Indonesia on the ferry. plus warm weather. its my favorite Country. did you Know they import every thing if you want to see a pig or a chicken you have to go to the zoo. the cruise terminal is in Vivo City its huge check out on the net, www.singaporeflyer.sn this is 48 ft higher than the london eye boring i don,t think so Grumphy

WELL said Grumps ! while it is not favorite it is right up there with them, no Drugs, Thugs, Fools, Gangs, and it is SO SAFE to go anywhere, even the tourists gotta behave themselves:mad: , very refreshing :) as for Cup Day I will be working coz I go 3 cruises booked n paid for in the next 5 months so its work before play here,havent been to Demps or Kuta for ages, arnt they about to shoot those 3 bombers,out come of that will be interesting Bruce

[Aussie One]

WELL said Grumps ! while it is not favorite it is right up there with them, no Drugs, Thugs, Fools, Gangs, and it is SO SAFE to go anywhere, even the tourists gotta behave themselves:mad: , very refreshing :) as for Cup Day I will be working coz I go 3 cruises booked n paid for in the next 5 months so its work before play here,havent been to Demps or Kuta for ages, arnt they about to shoot those 3 bombers,out come of that will be interesting Bruce

 

The bombers are apealing about being shot says it would be a painful Death Grumphy

[Globaliser]

no crime. do drugs and they hang you. commit a crime and they use the rattan cane.there is plenty to do you can go into Malaysia on the bus for $2.00 or Indonesia on the ferry.

no Drugs, Thugs, Fools, Gangs, and it is SO SAFE to go anywhere, even the tourists gotta behave themselves

I didn't say that Singapore is unsafe. I said it is boring. I agree about getting out to Malaysia or Indonesia; in fact, I'd agree about getting out of Singapore to anywhere. Rather give me dangerous and interesting any time!

 

The Qantas/BA lounges in the airport are nice though.

[AussieSunGirl]

I have flown Qantas to LA five years ago and flew to NYC twice last year once on Air Tahiti Nui and once on Korean Airlines. The Air Tahiti Nui was by far the best long distance flight I have taken (many trips to Europe in early years) and wouldn't hesitate to use them again. The services was fantastic food was great and the planes were very comfortable with plenty of room. We were to fly them again but unfortunately they changed their timetable this time last year and the new timetable was designed for a night stop over in Tahiti which was impracticle for us I am not sure if that is the case with this years new timetable because we are cheating and taking a cruise from our own shores. Both Air Tahiti Nui and Korean had back seat entertainment systems as I believe do the majority of flights to both the US and Europe now. I would rank Air Tahiti Nui 1st, Qantas 2nd and Air Korea 3rd. Air Korea was terrific for the price we paid but is third simply because the stop over in Seoul is no comparison to the brief change of planes I had in Tahiti (was there less than thirty minutes and a nice open airport). Staff on Air Tahiti Nui were the friendliest most relaxed I have ever come across would recommend them without hesitation and after paying $1200.00 return for a flight to NYC were definitely the best value I have ever had.

[Globaliser]

I would rank Air Tahiti Nui 1st, Qantas 2nd and Air Korea 3rd.

I take it that you really do mean Korean Air (or Korean Airlines as it used to be known), and not Air Koryo? :D

[Aussie One]

I take it that you really do mean Korean Air (or Korean Airlines as it used to be known), and not Air Koryo? :D

 

I note you like giving people spelling lessons. you should post what Qantas meens you can look it up in Google have a G/day Grumphy.

[Globaliser]

you should post what Qantas meens you can look it up in Google

I know very well what Qantas "means". It's a name.

 

If you're referring to what the letters QANTAS originally stood for, when it was still an acronym, then yes, I know that too.

 

And yes, we have all posted this here before.

[oz cleopatra]

As a well-traveled Aussie since I was two years old and now residing in the USA, I have traveled virtually every ariline there is repeatedly. If it didn't come down to usually choosing based on the best fare, I would choose ANY Asian airline HANDS DOWN. They simply cannot do enough for you whilst onboard, the planes are newer, (My mother and I did Qantas separately a few years ago and the planes were both old and smelly), they all have those individual tv systems and the staff just really seem very grateful to be there. Which they are. They are less spolied than people from the US and Australia. Those decent jobs are harder to get and therefore the staff and a lot of appreciative and friendlier. I also flew Qantas last year. On the way down to Oz it was great. On the way back we were ignored and it was horrible. I want consistency. My mother did JAL and adored it. I love Malaysian. I am sure Singapore is great too.

[dropanchor]

As a well-traveled Aussie since I was two years old .................I would choose ANY Asian airline HANDS DOWN. They simply cannot do enough for you whilst onboard, the planes are newer, (My mother and I did Qantas separately a few years ago and the planes were both old and smelly), they all have those individual tv systems and the staff just really seem very grateful to be there. Which they are. They are less spolied than people from the US and Australia. . I also flew Qantas last year. On the way down to Oz it was great. On the way back we were ignored and it was horrible. I want consistency. My mother did JAL and adored it. I love Malaysian. I am sure Singapore is great too.

I am on the other foot so to speak, I live in Oz and travel to the USA at least 5 times a year to my USA home in CA so I am actually still flying regulary. I disagree to a few of your thoughts, NOT ALL Asian airlines are good, the food on some is TERRIBLE and the Stench unbearable:eek: One of my favorite foods is Chinese but boy some of the garbage that is given is just plain lousy...........I flew Garuda and ended up in a Singapore Hotel for 4 days a few years back with food poisoning !!! As I have earlier mentioned IMO Singapore is a hands down 1st pick, Malaysian and Cathay are also there but if you are a westerner then I would say select carefully. As for your statements re Qantas I am a lifetime Club member however I do agree the crew can be either GREAT or simply lousy, however I do think in the last 24 months or so they have had a big prod to produce a little better service and with the new aircraft with self serve etc etc coming on latter this month I think that will be great, NEVER had a smelly plane with Qantas :confused: my biggest beef with Qantas is their "monopoly" and straglehold :mad: :mad: they have on the flightpath to the USA West Coast & I have jumped ship because of this alone................I long for a few more airlines to come into the sector and bring a word Qantas simply doesnt know on this route,competition

Bruce

[Aussie Gal]

If you fly from New York on Singapore airlines you have two choices. One is the direct flight to Singapore and you can only get a Business Class seat on that plane, there is no economy so you are up for quite a few dollars. It is a great flight, we did it back in 2005, but it is very long - over 18 hours.

 

The other way is to fly via Frankfurt and I don't think you want to take a RTW flight to Australia for a cruise.

 

I agree that Singapore airlines are the best but another way of coming down here from Canada is via Hong Kong. We went to Vancouver in September and went through H.K. We used Qantas F.F. points to H.K. and then went Cathay Pacific. We did the same on the return journey. Mind you Cathay in our opinion is not as good as it used to be but it was still quite comfortable.

 

Qantas was excellent and we enjoyed our two flights with them. I agree, going through L.A. is the last thing we ever want to do and that is why we went with Qantas and Cathay.

 

We are returning from New York next November after a cruise and we have the same problem with working out which airline to use and which way we want to return home. The direct flight with Qantas from New York is the quickest but not necessarily the cheapest as we are only buying a one way ticket. If anyone can help, I would appreciate your thoughts.

 

Jennie

[vozzie]

Jennie, are you feeling adventurous ?

 

I love playing around with flight bookings for my friends and relatives. I enjoy finding cheaper and more imaginative ways to get around the world.

 

I noticed it's about US$1850 for a one way QANTAS Economy NY - MEL flight late next year.

 

Assuming you want to fly economy ...you can do better by playing around on the internet ... for example, I found the following:

 

NY - KL AU$1340 Econ

KL-MEL AU$600 Prem Econ

 

With the Aussie dollar the way it is... that's a big saving. If the dollar returns to its previous highs... then there's not much difference.

[Aussie Gal]

Hi Vozzie,

 

Thanks for that. I hadn't thought of flying with Malaysian airlines. I will look into that as it is certainly a saving. We have plenty of time up our sleeves as we are retired so we can afford to have a stopover in K.L. if need be.

 

Jennie

[vozzie]

Here's a few websites that you can book flights (in Aussie dollars) that depart from locations outside Australia:

 

 

www.jetabroad.com.au

 

www.zuji.com.au

 

www.expedia.com.au

[dropanchor]

Here's a few websites that you can book flights (in Aussie dollars) that depart from locations outside Australia:

www.jetabroad.com.au

www.zuji.com.au

www.expedia.com.au

I have booked on numerous occassions with Jetabroad and can totally recommend them although at times they are not the cheapest so again it is worth checking around but they have been great in the booking I have done both between the USA and Europe

Bruce

[dubaihammer]

Actually, I think that Singapore Airlines now has six. Qantas doesn't have any in service yet, although the first has been delivered; services begin later this month IIRC.

 

This is all pretty fluid, anyway, as the lines are now rolling. Singapore Airlines has 3 more due for delivery in the first half of next year, one more in the second half, and three more in 2010. Qantas is due to take two more in 2008, and one in each quarter between Q1 2009 and Q3 2010. And all dates are subject to slippage as some equipment manufacturers are finding themselves unable to deliver in time to the fitout centre.

 

Singapore Airlines is only using the A380 on Singapore-Sydney, Singapore-London and Singapore-Tokyo at present. There was a brief period of A380 service on Singapore-Beijing for the Olympics. But I don't know that any further deployment plans have yet been announced.

 

If you want to fly the 380, how about Emirates from New York via Dubai?

[moojar]

We are returning from New York next November after a cruise and we have the same problem with working out which airline to use and which way we want to return home. The direct flight with Qantas from New York is the quickest but not necessarily the cheapest as we are only buying a one way ticket. If anyone can help, I would appreciate your thoughts.

 

Hi Jennie,

 

We have put our US plans on hold for the obvious reason. But I was planning to fly Jetstar (ugh) to Hawaii then US domestic from there. One-way "surcharges" should not be an issue for you then. We have American friends resident in Australia, and this is how they do it when they have a trip home.

 

The other attractive options were Air Pacific and Air Tahiti Nui. The latter was more expensive, but would allow a wonderful stopover. :)

[Aussie Gal]

Neil,

 

Thanks for that great information. We love Honolulu so that would be a great option for a short stopover before flying home with Jetstar!! We may even use Qantas from there. We did last year and it was a very comfortable trip.

 

Using Air Tahiti Nui is a great way to see Tahiti but as we have been there twice (2004 and 2007) I am not so keen to spend a couple of nights there as the hotels and food are so expensive especially for a stopover.

 

Jennie