The 2010 World Airline Awards

[thekfc]

I heard Delta--NorthWest is issuing two squares of one ply toilet paper to those who have to go to the toilet closet. Anything more than two squares and there's an extra charge.....

 

[thekfc]

It was almost two years ago that we flew Cathay. My wife flew before me and it was over a week before they found her luggage in Hong Kong and as I recall, they tried to offer her like $31 to compensate for going eight days w/o most of her 'stuff' and having to go out and buy new things.

This is around what most airline "try" to offer people who have lost their luggage - this is a little break down (for US Domestic):

Airline            Reimbursement
American         When you report your bag missing, up to $25. (One-time only.)
Continental      After 24 hours, up to $50. Get $25 per day thereafter, for up to five days.
Delta              After 24 hours, up to $25 per day for up to five days.
United             After 24 hours, up to $50 in necessary expenses. (One-time only.)
U.S. Airways    After 24 hours, up to $25 per day for up to five days.

It is good to know your rights when your luggage is "lost". When you file a claim after your luggage have been declared lost - few people do not realize that they can also claim the cost of the luggage..

Plus, it is also good to have travel insurance.

I don't remember caviar or prawns--was that economy class?

That was Business Class.

 

[Capstone]

Seats Selection: some airlines charge you to do that.

The one quirky thing about the Chinese airlines is that they don't allow you to select your seats in advance - you have to wait until you checkin at the airport before getting a seat assignment. I find this really odd because when you go to the cinema in China to see a movie, most people purchase their tickets in advance via their cell phones and also select which seats that they will sit in at that time - all seats are reserved at the theaters in China.

On another note, you always get a free meal on any of the Chinese carriers no matter how short the flight is. The flight from Hong Kong to Xiamen is only about 45-50 minutes but every time that I have flown that route there has always been a full meal service served.

[thekfc]

It is also good to book with the "right" credit card.
My Citi Card gives me up to $3,000 in additional lost luggage coverage for checked bags.
 

[thekfc]

The one quirky thing about the Chinese airlines is that they don't allow you to select your seats in advance - you have to wait until you checkin at the airport before getting a seat assignment.

Well not all of them, I selected my seat on Cathay right after I booked my flight. 

[Capstone]

Well not all of them, I selected my seat on Cathay right after I booked my flight. 

Cathay is a bit different though - not really a Chinese carrier but rather a Hong Kong one (big difference). Cathay is also very unique in that all of its flights are international flights. Cathay's subsidiary Dragonair which flies most of its domestic routes within China does not offer advanced seat selection just like all of the mainland carriers.

[Capstone]

It was almost two years ago that we flew Cathay. My wife flew before me and it was over a week before they found her luggage in Hong Kong and as I recall, they tried to offer her like $31 to compensate for going eight days w/o most of her 'stuff' and having to go out and buy new things.

There lost luggage support was like a sci fi nightmare that probably wasted  8 hours of my time. I told them to flip off with their offer and they said they'd send us a $100 credit towards future airfare, which never came.

I don't remember caviar or prawns--was that economy class? The food was decent--better than US carriers, but that's not saying much. I can not ever recommend Cathay again.

 If was one person who was inept or one person who was rude to my wife, I might feel different, but it was several people consistently and an inept system stateside  and in the  RP in terms of infrastructure-----more precisely, a lack thereof...

That's too bad that you and your wife had such a bad experience with Cathay because I have had nothing but enjoyable flight experiences with them. But I totally understand how one bad flight experience can sour your opinion about an airline.

In my case I had flown with JAL 3 or 4 times and always had good experiences and a favorable opinion of them - that is until the last flight that I took with them back in the mid 90s. I flew from Narita to LAX on a flight from Hell with them. To start out with the flight, on an old piece of crap 747, was delayed a day because of mechanical problems. Now that would have not been such a bad thing if not for all the subsequent events that followed. First of all JAL put me up in a really ratty hotel - it was so bad (I always say that it was the dirtiest hotel in Japan) that I checked out and went and got a room at another hotel on my own dime.

The next day our flight finally got airborne after another delay of several hours. The food that was served throughout the flight was absolutely horrible - items which should have been hot were cold and it all tasted like something from the trash bin. About midway through the flight both toilets in the midsection of the aircraft became clogged and overflowing - the resulting foul smelling aroma permeated throughout the plane for the rest of the flight.

Once we finally reached LAX I discovered that my garment bag containing 5 suits was nowhere to be found - and to this day I am still waiting on it.

I have not flown with JAL since then and never plan to in the future either. But that was the one & only truly bad experience that I have ever had with an Asian airline.

[thekfc]

I am been reading the strike that is going on at Spirit Airlines.
For those who are unaware - The pilots are on strike so all flights have been grounded & passengers are stranded.

Flights for Monday and Tuesday have been canceled but you can't cancel Wednesday without change fees. 

Passengers who are trying to get to their destinations will have to pay a whole lot more.

There is/was no backup plan to fly the passengers on another airline. Pax should have seen it coming & most of them didn't have a back-up plan.

The President does have the authority to order the pilots back to work (The Railway Labor Act), now let see what will happen after the 30 day "cooling off period" ends.

[michaelb]

Would you really want to ride in an airplane that the crew had been ordered to operate under threat of arrest? 

[robert angel]

Re:

>>That's too bad that you and your wife had such a bad experience with Cathay because I have had nothing but enjoyable flight experiences with them. But I totally understand how one bad flight experience can sour your opinion about an airline.<<

Yes. To us, it was like getting food poisoning in a restaurant. You never go back. And in this case, it wasn't one person or one event--it was an ongoing series, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Manila. Larry, Moe and Curly could've done better.


Odd that you've had nothing but good trips on Cathay, Capstone and I've always heard good things about JAL. Perhaps they are 'spotty'.

[Jeff S]

I've never had a bad flight on Cathay or JAL and have flown both extensively.