Grumpy Git
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Sorry incorrect use of the expression, I meant a very early start, (I think it was a 6 a.m. take-off time), so I had no sleep the night before!
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Best and worst flights
- Thread starter telstarbox
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Sorry incorrect use of the expression, I meant a very early start, (I think it was a 6 a.m. take-off time), so I had no sleep the night before!
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weepingwillowb
Member
No one particular best flight, but my best flying experiences have included seeing a circular rainbow while over the Atlantic, crossing over the Rockies, and the Mississippi River golden in the light of a late afternoon sun.
Worst flight was from Memphis, Tennessee, to El Dorado, Arkansas. There was supposed to be a scheduled stop at Hot Springs, near Little Rock, but the pilot decided to miss it out because of bad weather. Instead the plane flew through a thunderstorm to El Dorado and that 10-15 minutes was the nearest I've ever come to being air-sick.
It was the smallest plane I've taken a commercial flight on, room for nine passengers.
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Worst flight was from Memphis, Tennessee, to El Dorado, Arkansas. There was supposed to be a scheduled stop at Hot Springs, near Little Rock, but the pilot decided to miss it out because of bad weather. Instead the plane flew through a thunderstorm to El Dorado and that 10-15 minutes was the nearest I've ever come to being air-sick.
It was the smallest plane I've taken a commercial flight on, room for nine passengers.
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I would say best flight(s) were flying first class from Zurich to Hong Kong and back with SWISS in 2019 (because SWISS had insanely good deals with companion fares).
I'm not sure about 'worst flight' but KLM messed me about in 2017 and delayed my flight until the next day (after being denied boarding at EDI) due to high winds at Amsterdam. They did give us warning about the weather the day before but I don't feel that they handled the situation that well. It was a pleasant enough business class flight from AMS to Osaka the next day but the whole experience still left a bad smell in the mouth and I lost a day in Hiroshima.
I also wasn't that impressed with Air France premium economy from Osaka to Paris (and the cabin crew service), compared to previous premium economy experiences with Cathay Pacific and even BA. It barely seemed any better than actual economy.
In general I have usually had good flights and have a pretty favourable view of Lufthansa Group even though cost-cutting has occurred especially post covid and I haven't flown anywhere since 2019.
Business Class in June 2016 from Manchester-HKG-Osaka with Cathay was also really good.
I also found economy, premium economy and business class on Japan Airlines between Hong Kong/Shanghai and Tokyo Haneda/Narita all excellent.
I'm not sure about 'worst flight' but KLM messed me about in 2017 and delayed my flight until the next day (after being denied boarding at EDI) due to high winds at Amsterdam. They did give us warning about the weather the day before but I don't feel that they handled the situation that well. It was a pleasant enough business class flight from AMS to Osaka the next day but the whole experience still left a bad smell in the mouth and I lost a day in Hiroshima.
I also wasn't that impressed with Air France premium economy from Osaka to Paris (and the cabin crew service), compared to previous premium economy experiences with Cathay Pacific and even BA. It barely seemed any better than actual economy.
In general I have usually had good flights and have a pretty favourable view of Lufthansa Group even though cost-cutting has occurred especially post covid and I haven't flown anywhere since 2019.
Business Class in June 2016 from Manchester-HKG-Osaka with Cathay was also really good.
I also found economy, premium economy and business class on Japan Airlines between Hong Kong/Shanghai and Tokyo Haneda/Narita all excellent.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Worst flights...anyone who took one to South Africa the last few days and so has 2 weeks locked in a Travelodge to look forward to.
That has just reminded me to look up the worst plane I have ever flown on... it was an ancient 747 run by European Aviation. On take-off every single screw and panel was rattling, most of the overhead lockers came open. Landed safely though, obviously... On checking on the internet, it turns out that the plane involved is the one in the background of the Top Gear race track. Which I will make a point of saying as and when it appears on repeats on DaveAlthough the flight wasn't too bad, the worst plane Ihave ever travelled on was a Balkan Bulgarian plane which rattled/vibrated and had condensation on the windows! I felt it was an Areoflot reject
Airline Man
Member
- Joined
- 15 Jun 2015
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- 109
Best flight: Generally anything on the much missed British Caledonian, more specifically despite having flown on Concorde and in First Class, for the experience the Barra to Glasgow service for the scenery and flying over the tops of mountains. An honourable mention has to be a Rotterdam to Southend service on an Air U.K. Bandeirante where I was the only passenger.
Worst flight: A night Gatwick to Mombasa on a Monarch A-300. The combination of a night flight, charter seat pitch and crying babies all night isn’t much fun.
In the 80’s I flew on Nigeria Airways between Lagos and Kano on a brand new A310. A woman got out of her seat and started cooking a meal in a pot on a primus stove in the aisle. Also on an internal TWA flight on an otherwise boring flight the cabin crew started giving out free drinks and did a quiz with passengers. Only when we landed did the captain let on we had an engine failure and the inflight entertainment was a ruse so none of the passengers noticed.
Worst flight: A night Gatwick to Mombasa on a Monarch A-300. The combination of a night flight, charter seat pitch and crying babies all night isn’t much fun.
In the 80’s I flew on Nigeria Airways between Lagos and Kano on a brand new A310. A woman got out of her seat and started cooking a meal in a pot on a primus stove in the aisle. Also on an internal TWA flight on an otherwise boring flight the cabin crew started giving out free drinks and did a quiz with passengers. Only when we landed did the captain let on we had an engine failure and the inflight entertainment was a ruse so none of the passengers noticed.
Best flight: turning up disgracefully late at JFK, being put on a golf buggy thinking I was being taken somewhere to be punished but then realising I'd been put on Concorde for some incomprehensible reason.
Worst flight: the self-same flight. This was early 90's and I turned up at Heathrow 3-ish hours earlier than I was expected. No mobiles, my 'lift' had already left home so I couldn't cancel it. I met my colleagues who'd been on the flight I should have been on at Heathrow and still had to wait and hour after that for my 'lift' to arrive. To be fair, their faces at how I'd got there before them, made up for the downsides.
Best flights generally: Anything BA City Flyer in the 90's where it seemed normal to be taken to a mini-lounge by the gate and be ushered onto the plane literally as it was ready to push back.
Worst flight: the self-same flight. This was early 90's and I turned up at Heathrow 3-ish hours earlier than I was expected. No mobiles, my 'lift' had already left home so I couldn't cancel it. I met my colleagues who'd been on the flight I should have been on at Heathrow and still had to wait and hour after that for my 'lift' to arrive. To be fair, their faces at how I'd got there before them, made up for the downsides.
Best flights generally: Anything BA City Flyer in the 90's where it seemed normal to be taken to a mini-lounge by the gate and be ushered onto the plane literally as it was ready to push back.
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Hard to tell if that word is a spell-corrector at work or bait. In aerodynamic terms, supersonic flight is definitely not incompressible.
nlogax
Established Member
Best flight; being unexpectedly upped to from WT+ to CW on a pre-Christmas BA flight to LAX. Festive bliss, complete with off-menu Christmas dinner w/all the trimmings. Laying back with a large pre-dinner whisky watching The French Connection while in a happy daze.
Worst flight; being unexpectedly allergic to something in the stuffing in aforementioned Christmas dinner and spending the second half of that eleven hour flight in a CW bathroom.
Worst flight; being unexpectedly allergic to something in the stuffing in aforementioned Christmas dinner and spending the second half of that eleven hour flight in a CW bathroom.
WT+ and CW are what exactly?
75A
Established Member
Best: October 2000, Qantas from Brisbane to Sydney in a Jumbo.
It was our honeymoon and the cabin crew outnumbered the passengers and treated us like royalty.
Worst: 2016, Charter from Nice to Stansted in a 737.
Returning from the Monaco Grand Prix, thunder, lightning and a cabin full of screaming people.
It was our honeymoon and the cabin crew outnumbered the passengers and treated us like royalty.
Worst: 2016, Charter from Nice to Stansted in a 737.
Returning from the Monaco Grand Prix, thunder, lightning and a cabin full of screaming people.
AlterEgo
Veteran Member
World Traveller Plus and Club World.
TravelDream
Member
- Joined
- 7 Aug 2016
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- 675
World Traveler Plus and Club World.
What the rest of the world calls premium economy and business class.
Cloud Strife
Established Member
- Joined
- 25 Feb 2014
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- 1,812
Best flight: just last week. I had an entire exit row to myself between Zurich and Malaga, complete with free wifi with 10-15mbps connections. Certainly nothing to complain about, and the flight itself was incredibly relaxing. The plane was mostly full of half-asleep elderly Swiss tourists, which made it even more relaxing.
Worst flight: a flight in terrible weather from Malaga to Glasgow. The plane had to go around twice, and the third landing was "land or divert to Manchester". The pilots managed to land, but by their own admission after the plane landed, they were at minimums with both visibility and wind. Horrible, horrible experience. Malaga in general, despite being a nice airport, has also one of the worst departures if the departure is up over the mountains rather than over the sea. The wind tends to whip right off the sea, so planes are thrown around while the plane appears to be barely above the mountains above Malaga.
Worst flight: a flight in terrible weather from Malaga to Glasgow. The plane had to go around twice, and the third landing was "land or divert to Manchester". The pilots managed to land, but by their own admission after the plane landed, they were at minimums with both visibility and wind. Horrible, horrible experience. Malaga in general, despite being a nice airport, has also one of the worst departures if the departure is up over the mountains rather than over the sea. The wind tends to whip right off the sea, so planes are thrown around while the plane appears to be barely above the mountains above Malaga.
Bungle158
Member
Worst Cairo Joburg with Egyptair. Plane A330, so old, it probably came from King Khufu's tomb. No ents, no reclining seats and mummified food.
Best BA LHR Joburg in a brand new A380. Great crew, very proud of their plane. I got a guided tour of the aircraft pax areas, galleys etc and as it was mostly empty, had a little sit down upstairs.
Best BA LHR Joburg in a brand new A380. Great crew, very proud of their plane. I got a guided tour of the aircraft pax areas, galleys etc and as it was mostly empty, had a little sit down upstairs.
Airline Man
Member
- Joined
- 15 Jun 2015
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- 109
In BA we call it W and J!
Bantamzen
Established Member
Best flight: Heathrow to LA with British Airways on the A380. Sitting upstairs in the rear section the flight was so incredibly smooth, so much so that the 10:30hr flight literally flew by. Three food services (this was 2015), attentive cabin crew, galley access for extra snacks and drinks, excellent IFE and just amazing to fly such an incredible craft. All helped at LAX with a pre-booked limo with the most powerful AC known to mankind (it was 99°F on landing) to whisk us to our hotel in Santa Monica. By far and away my favourite flight ever.
Worst flight: JFK to Manchester with American on one of their former 767s. The actual flight was OK, but the cabin crew were the most surly I've ever encountered. It felt like we passengers were just a nuisance to the cabin crew, food was almost literally thrown at us, complementary drinks served in thimbles, and we even managed to be allocated the most distant gate at T1 (55 IIRC) so a lovely long hike off the Red Eye to immigration. And to top it off our pre-booked taxi got stuck on the M60 and was an hour and a half late picking us up.
Worst flight: JFK to Manchester with American on one of their former 767s. The actual flight was OK, but the cabin crew were the most surly I've ever encountered. It felt like we passengers were just a nuisance to the cabin crew, food was almost literally thrown at us, complementary drinks served in thimbles, and we even managed to be allocated the most distant gate at T1 (55 IIRC) so a lovely long hike off the Red Eye to immigration. And to top it off our pre-booked taxi got stuck on the M60 and was an hour and a half late picking us up.
nlogax
Established Member
Just remembered another awful flight, second only my LAX one above. This time returning from a work thing in the Bay Area, so San Francisco > LHR. Fairly sure this was an AA 777 in economy sitting next to someone quite.. large. He made full use of a seatbelt extender. Meanwhile I was sat next to him squished into the side of the plane. No room to eat, no room to sleep, just shoehorned into the window. I felt like one of those Garfield toys folks used to stick inside of car windows.
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