Skytrax Airline of the Year 2013

[Guest fountainhall]

Of all the airline polls, the one run every year by Skytrax is generally regarded as by far the most comprehensive and far-reaching. Its accolade “Airline of the Year” is highly coveted.

The 2013 results have recently been announced. Airline of the Year is Emirates. Qatar which has won for the last two years running is in second place. The full top 20 list is -
1. Emirates

2. Qatar Airways

3. Singapore Airlines

4. ANA All Nippon Airways

5. Asiana Airlines

6. Cathay Pacific Airways

7. Etihad Airways

8. Garuda Indonesia

9. Turkish Airlines

10. Qantas Airways

11. Lufthansa

12. EVA Air

13. Virgin Australia

14. Malaysia Airlines

15. Thai Airways

16. Swiss Int’l Air Lines

17. Korean Air

18. Air New Zealand

19. Hainan Airlines

20. Air Canada

Other Awards

Best First Class

1. Etihad

2. Singapore

3. Emirates

Best FIrst Class Seat

1. Etihad

2. Singapore

3. Emirates

Best FIrst Clas Catering

1. Etihad

2. Lufthansa

3. ANA All Nippon

 

Best Business Class
1. Qatar (having flown their 777, I thought the business class almost as good as any first class)
2. Oman
3. Singapore
Best Business Class Seat
1. Japan Airlines
2. Oman
3. Qatar
Best Business Class Catering
1. Turkish
2. Qatar
3. Swiss

Best Premium Economy
1. Air New Zealand
2. Qantas
3. Turkish
Best Premium Economy Seat
1. Air New Zealand
2. Turkish
3. Qantas
Best Premium Economy Catering
1. Air New Zealand
2. Qantas
3. Turkish

 

Best Economy

1. Garuda

2. Asiana

3. Singapore

Best Economy Seat
1. Garuda
2. Asiana
3. Korean

Best Economy Catering

1. Asiana

2. Turkish

3. Singapore

 

Interesting, but perhaps not surprising, that the Gulf Airlines have crept further up the lists (including Oman Air for the first time), whereas the Asian ones are now slipping. Also Qantas has moved up several notches and Garuda never even featured till this year.

US airlines continue to lag way behind. In the best overall category, Delta comes in at 45, United at 57 and American at 81. With US Airways at 97, the AA/US Airways merger does not hold out much promise of improvement.

Lastly, Best Alliance goes to OneWorld with Star in 2nd and Skyteam in 3rd.

http://www.worldairlineawards.com/Awards_2013/Airline2013.htm
http://www.frequentflier.com/blog/no-u-s-carriers-among-worlds-best-airlines/

[Guest]

No Ryan Air?

[firecat69]

I always look at these with a lot of suspicion.

 

For instance One World better then Star Alliance.  Not a chance for the USA market which I am sure is the biggest market world wide.

 

Since in the USA the vast majority of members in One World would have AA as their membership airline.  AA fails in all categories compared to UA.  Also the UA search engine for award seats is a joy to work with and finds seats on all member airlines.

 

Compare that with working with DL whose search engine is a well known joke. Not personally familiar with AA but doubt it compares with UA.

 

The ratings are heavily favored towards Arab airlines which may be great but they don't fly from the USA to where I want to go.

 

I can choose ANA, Singapore etc from the Star Alliance and use UA and them to go anywhere in the world from the USA.

 

If I was in London and flying to the Middle East or even Asia , I might think One World was a good alliance.  Not much use to me in Denver, Dallas, LAX , SEA  etc etc etc.

 

It also depends on what is important to you on a flight.  Some people in BC find the wine and spirits selection very important which is why ANA and Singapore do so well and of course the constant smiling of the FA's.  Yet in the last few months I have flown BC on ANA and UA and I find UA to be superior for what is important to me,  The entertainment selection is far superior on UA.  I find the food at least equal and I don't care about the wine selection.  No comparison in smiling FA, ANA wins easily but the service on UA was quite good if not up to the smiles of an Asian carrier.

 

And then for someone who pays for his own tickets many of those highly rated airlines also have higher prices.  In the end , I want to get from point to point and price becomes the most important factor if I am purchasing.

 

If I am using miles then the availability of low awards world wide is the most important and here for my travel UA wins easily and those Arab airlines are not even in the race.

[Guest fountainhall]

I also look at polls with a degree of suspicion, but Skytrax has a 14 year pedigree and is regarded throughout the airline industry as being by far the best and most comprehensive. You can see more of the methodology here -

 

http://www.worldairlineawards.com/main/mthds.htm

 

In fact, the results are based on polls of more than 18 million passengers from over 100 nations conducted over the space of 11 months. Inevitably, the US was just one of those countries and I expect most US passengers views are skewed towards trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic carriers - if only because these are the ones they fly most often. That tends to rule out the Gulf carriers - although most are now opening up East Coast gateways. As you seem to be based on the West Coast of North America, you naturally look at it from that perspective and from your flying patterns.

 

Also, statistics show there are more Star Alliance members in the US, so OneWorld being voted Best Alliance will naturally seem odd. The Arab airlines are now entering the race, though, with Qatar about to join OneWorld. Etihad has a partnership with American, but recent news indicates it is veering towards joining Star. Emirates does not see any value in joining an Alliance, so extensive is its planned future network.

 

The US may be the largest market worldwide - but I suspect not the most international flights (although I have no statistics and can't find this on the web). Plus relatively few aircraft operated by US carriers have the level of business class/premium economy comfort offered by the Gulf airlines and that should certainly affect the number voting for them. I am pretty certain Europe has a great deal more international flights.

[firecat69]

All good points but the thing I see from personal experience is ANA is #4 and UA is no where to be found.  I consider UA international BC at least even with ANA and maybe even a bit ahead depending on what is important to you.

 

That being the case , I continue to be suspect of these rankings.  Also for the most part if you do a kayak search for BC from USA to Asia the Gulf carriers are considerably more expensive then our USA carriers unless you spend hundreds of hours on Flyertalk etc. and get a special fare.  At some point for me at least paying an extra $1000 or more to get a better bottle of wine or a more sophisticated appetizer just does not make sense..

 

One of the problems with these rankings is that the majority who submit their likes and dislikes are probably not paying for their own tickets and can pay a higher price for minimal increased value.

[Guest fountainhall]

We agree on most points, However, I do not believe that a poll of 18 million + passengers in 100 + countries will see the majority on tickets paid for by someone else! If you look at the Skytrax comments site, it's very clear that - at least there - comments are from a very wide range of passengers in all classes, the vast majority paying for their tickets (apart from a few who admit they were upgraded on check-in).

 

And yes, flying USA to BKK and Asia in general, the Gulf carriers will almost always charge more - if only because the flight distance is mostly greater. From my experience, almost all airlines flying across the Atlantic like BA, Lufthansa, Air France etc. also charge more from the USA to BKK than those flying across the Pacific. But if you are flying ex-Europe or Australia to BKK, the chances are the Gulf carriers will have a fare that is lower than many of the other carriers most of the time.

 

Certainly if you want to fly to several cities in Europe from BKK in the next few weeks, a quick look at the Qatar and Etihad sites show BC round-trip fares to London at less than Bt.100,000 - virtually unmatched by most of the others. Turkish comes in at Bt. 102,000. And that's before checking the agencies.

[firecat69]

I don't consider those fares anything special.   That is more then I pay BKK to SEA  which is about 60% more mileage.  They may be good compared to other airlines in the market but that market is well over priced. IMHO

[Guest fountainhall]

In respect of fares, it surely also depends on what time of year you fly. I perhaps should not have picked London as an example. As mentioned in another thread, the taxes etc, at Heathrow are amongst the highest anywhere. For example, Etihad's BC fare to London includes Bt. 22,430 in taxes etc. TG's are higher are Bt. 25,810, but then the TG price is considerably higher. I am pretty certain taxes ex the US are lower.

 

I rarely have to book flights originating in the US and so the examples which follow may not be the lowest, But since all the prices I have been quoting are from official websites, I've followed suit with SEA to BKK. United's BC price next month is US$4,914; Delta's $4,983. Expedia is even higher. ebookers comes up with Hainan Airlines as the cheapest at $3,935. Opodo also has Hainan as the cheapest at about the same price. On that basis - and without checking agencies which are almost certain to have lower fares - the prices to London seem pretty fair in relation to relative distances.

[firecat69]

That would be true except I buy fares with travel originating in BKK  which brings the fares year round down to $3200 -$3300 and change which is similar to your 100,000 baht fare for 65% of the distance. Not sure if the same thing happens on Europe fares, because I have never had a reason to look. Actually ANA and UA come in at $3252 on most dates and DL as low as $3207.

 

For whatever reason the fares are much cheaper when originating in Thailand.  So years ago I threw away a return ticket SEA-BKK   and now all my roundtrips originate in BKK  and I paid for that discarded return many times over.

[firecat69]

Surprisingly it is the opposite for Europe .  The fares are cheaper originating at Heathrow vs BKK.  Go figure???

[Guest fountainhall]

You raise a very good point. Like you, for decades I have been purchasing tickets ex-Asia for nearly all my trips. For much of that time, even using Cathay Pacific to fly to London and changing in HKG was cheaper from BKK than departing ex-HKG - despite the distance being 17% greater. For a few years in the 1990s, almost all round-the-world tickets in every class were considerably cheaper out of Kuala Lumpur than anywhere else in Asia, Europe or North America. Then the Alliances arrived in force and killed that little ploy!

 

Sometime around 3 or 4 years ago I think, many Asia/Europe tickets started to become cheaper ex-Europe for those who book a few months in advance. I brought clients to HKG 3 years ago on BA business class at a price I could not get going the other way! As you say: Go figure!!

[NIrishGuy]

Is the survey staggered in anyway ? I mean say just for example ( and I KNOW it's not the case and I'm making these figures up to explain my point) but say British airways just happened to have a stunning new plane, with the best seats and service in every cabin and out of the UK population say a million people flew with them and 10% of them responded to the survey this giving 100,000 votes - BUT take some other airline them flying from the US or Asia and perhaps multiply the passenger ( and thus voting number) by 10 and there you get 10 times more votes for their particular airline - but that wouldn't mean that BA DIDN'T necessarily have the best seats etc then surely - unless I'm missing something ?

 

And again the BA thing was just an example, I'm fully aware they are crap ! ;/(

[Rogie]

I am pleased to see Emirates 'up there' but a bit surprised as they only feature twice in the cabin class rankings (#3 in first class and first class seat). I prefer them to Etihad, but say that from an economy perspective not having flown in a 'higher' class. In economy one has to be thankful for small mercies, so it's often the small things that matter, for instance the stewardesses come round with the hot towels soon after boarding.

 

It seems to be common practice now to allow you to choose your seat at the same time as you check-in online. For economy at any rate this cannot be done until 24 hours before takeoff. If the seating is the usual 3-4-3 or 2-4-2 a strategy I often use is to book an aisle seat in the centre and more often than not there won't be anyone next to me so I get more space.

 

Declining to recline?

 

Here is a snippet of an interesting article from the BBC website.

 

Not so very long ago, air travel seemed impossibly glamorous. Today, it's more associated with long queues, a scramble for seats and a chronic lack of legroom. But flight still has moments of magic, for those who look for them.

 

Nearly 10 years ago, I made a rash vow in a report for From Our Own Correspondent on BBC radio.

 

I had been on a reporting project that had taken me twice round the world. I had queued at dozens of airports, taken lots of planes.

 

But the worst thing about air travel (I then determined) was what happens in row 21, when the seat belt signs are switched off and passengers are free to move around.

 

Immediately, zonk! Back comes the seat as the person in front assumes relax mode as a default position.

 

The mean battery hen space already allotted to an economy class passenger is clipped even further. You are suddenly presented with eight or 12 hours of prison.

 

 

He goes on to discuss an aspect (flying economy as I always do) I hadn't thought of:

 

One curious privilege remains to be enjoyed pretty exclusively by the economy class passenger, which BBC reporters are eternally obliged to be.

 

It is a seat with a view, and I call it curious because for the most part it is denied to travellers in more exalted and expensive classes.

 

The configuration of first class and those dormitory-like business class cabins thrust the flyer away from the windows so their flight is viewless.

 

If you want to look out on the magnificence of the Himalayas you have to kneel upright and hang your head over the back of the business class seat.

 

First class flights achieve an illusion of exclusivity by pushing the seats towards the centre of the cabin so it is almost impossible to lean towards the window and look out.

 

And as for that fairly new revenue-earner called premium economy plus or some such, well the extra legroom would be welcome (and perhaps even worth paying for), but for the fact that most premium economy seats seem to be positioned over the wings, denying you a view in exchange for your premium ticket.
 

 

 

And maybe Fountainhall can corroborate this?

 

And more and more as I travel, a view is the only thing I want: the splendours of a daytime flight home from Beijing, over the snowy Gobi desert and Ulan Bator from 37,000 feet and then the Urals and the magnificence of a snowbound St Petersburg laid out like a map below are genuinely thrilling.

 

 

And here's another wonderful sight:

 

Or the temporary glory of the Aurora Borealis, glimpsed on an overnight flight to London from San Francisco, great green curtains of shimmering Northern Lights, encountered only because I defied the insistence of the stewardesses who like the window blinds kept down at night, and sneaked a view of the Arctic sky.

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23002635

[Guest fountainhall]

Is the survey staggered in anyway ?

 

I can only give you the info from Skytrax' own site (the link is quoted in an earlier post). Given the number of respondents, the range of countries and their own checking systems, I cannot believe it's possible to skew the results - at least not in any meaningful way.

 

The survey operated online between July 2012 and May 2013, during which time over 18 million customer surveys were completed, across a range of survey topics - for Airline of the Year, together with different regional and category Best Airline Awards, across 14 different Survey Form entry options. The Survey covers full-service and low-cost airlines.

 

More than 100 different nationalities participated in the customer satisfaction survey, which covered over 200 airlines, from the largest international airlines to smaller domestic carriers. The surveys measure standards across 41 key performance indicators of airline front-line product and service.

 

The survey is based on measuring customer satisfaction for the Passenger Experience, across both Airport and Onboard environments - including check-in to boarding, onboard seat comfort, cabin cleanliness, food, beverages, IFE, staff service and associated travel items.

 

Additional research includes supporting checks amongst a sample of Survey respondents. This research investigates respondent reasons for Best Airline nominations, and prime satisfaction drivers when using an airline. Data weighting is applied to provide nomination equity when evaluating airlines of different size. Data weighting uses passenger numbers for airlines featured in the Survey.

 

Survey responses are screened to identify and monitor ISP / user information and delete duplicate / multiple entries. A poll-breaker programme is used for pattern-checking all survey responses. This identifies nominations that follow similar rating patterns, or duplicate earlier entries. In the 2012-2013 Survey, 1.26 per cent of total responses were ruled ineligible after these checks. No financial payment is made to any survey interviewees, and the cost of the Survey is funded by Skytrax, with no third party sponsorship or financial support.

 

 

You can also go direct to Skytrax on-going passenger opinion site. For the major airlines, this has passenger evaluations, criticisms and plaudits virtually daily. Minor airlines generally receive comments every 3 - 4 days. It would certainly be odd if one of the top airlines was consistently receiving negative reviews which I am certain is not the case.

 

And more and more as I travel, a view is the only thing I want

 

 

Personally I don't like long-distance daytime flights. After a round or two of drinks, a couple of meals and watching a couple of movies, I get incredibly bored - and then realise there is still about 6 hours to go!! But I do agree. Some of the views can be amazing. Seeing the Himalaya, the Alps and the Andes in clear sunshine can be amazing. But you have to be able to look out of the windows. Increasingly, the cabin crew come round after take off and ask for the window shades to be dropped because it's easier for passengers to watch movies or sleep. Lift the shade for a bit and several pairs of eyes will stare at you daggers drawn!

 

But I do recall waking on a night flight from LHR to HKG that had taken the northern route and then turned right a bit south-west of Beijing. At some point I looked out. There in the mid-day sun were what I assumed to be northern part of the Tibetan plateau and the mountains beyond. Quite beautiful! But I still feel deprived because the only time I was able to fly Concorde, I could not see the curvature of the earth! 

 

As for choosing your seat, BA do not allow you to choose even a business class seat until 24 hours in advance - unless you are in the top tiers of their Executive Club. Want to ensure a window seat? Even after paying thousands of pounds for the ticket and surcharges, you have to cough up about an extra £80 x 2 for BKK/LHR/BKK.