Inside Traveller Trip Reports
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We welcome your comments and reviews of flights you have taken. Each month we have a review of readers’ comments (see below) and build these up so that we get a consensus. Clearly, the fact that one person did not enjoy the food on a particular airline is unfortunate but could be just bad luck – if several people say the same thing then we have an obvious trend and one which we want to warn readers about. If you would like to contribute your own trip report, please send us details using our online form or email us at info@wentworth-publishing.co.uk. Your personal details will be kept completely confidential and will not be passed to any third parties.
Trip Report - July 2010
A lady was reasonably happy with her Virgin flight in Premium Economy to Las Vegas but was “astonished” to find that the airline was still using an “antiquated” in-flight entertainment system. Not all of Virgin’s Gatwick fleet, which handles the leisure routes, has been modernised and we have commented before that these seem the poor relations of the main Heathrow fleet. This is rather ironic because Virgin’s leisure routes are supposed to be highly profitable, whereas the so-called prestige routes from Heathrow are much more prone to loss. She added that she had hoped fares to Las Vegas would decrease with the arrival of British Airways on the route, but this has not happened. Since she was able to get a “fantastic” deal for one of the new five-star hotels in Las Vegas, it was a shame the airfare was relatively expensive.
Jack Rosenbloom covered this question a few months ago and this issue will not go away. Las Vegas has far more hotel rooms than flights; some estimate that it would need an increase of 20% in the number of flights to fill all the hotels. This is unlikely to happen, because airlines do not just need leisure travellers but higher-spenders as well to keep the revenue balanced. Flights from around the US to Las Vegas are relatively expensive and the two flights from the UK are nearly always full. British Airways has said that the new Las Vegas route was one of its most successful ever launches. Of course, the upside to this is that, when you actually get there, Las Vegas has some genuine hotel bargains. This is particularly the case at the top of the market, where there has been intense competition to build ever-better new five-star palaces.
A reader commented that TAM’s flights from London to Brazil are of an adequate standard, and are better than anyone who flew with Varig might have expected, but it is still some way from being a world-class airline. Another reader remains perplexed about why Lufthansa feels it can get away with its uncomfortable Business Class angled-flat sleeper seats. “You really have to struggle not to keep sliding down” and cabin service can be “very slow”.
Some fairly negative views on Malév came our way: “I was going to say that Malév must try harder with their short haul Business Class but that would be wrong since they really do not try at all. Check-in and Lounge staff can be grumpy though cabin crew make an effort but the catering is really very poor indeed. The aircraft they use to London has a charter-style configuration with tight, narrow seating and no difference in Business Class, other than a middle seat kept free. I know the airline is struggling and anxious to get more Business passengers but they really need to do something better.”
A regular traveller with Qatar Airways feels that it is not only catering quality that is going downhill fast – though he was very surprised to see that the airline appeared to be offering the same food in Business as in Economy on a flight from Manila to Doha. On this trip, his big problem was that the airline seemed incapable of pre-assigning bulkhead seats, which are so important when travelling with a five-month-old baby. He thought these had been pre-assigned when he booked but he was told that the seats can only be allocated at check-in. Conflicting information and a lack of competent staff made the problem worse. “In 45 years of flying, this was the worst flight I have had other than one with Cameroon Air.” He was also deeply unimpressed with the chaos of Manila Airport. We keep reading reports about the many improvements made there, which suggests it used to be even worse.
Qatar Airways gets a very positive press in the UK, largely because of the glitz of its First Class seating. However, it remains very much a Third World carrier – albeit one with First World financial resources. Its Internet site is not as sophisticated as many and, underneath the shiny surface, the organisation is fairly rudimentary. Like all the Gulf carriers, standards tend to be better on flights to and from London (and other routes where it competes with top-class airlines), but on services to developing countries (where they carry many immigrant workers), the overall quality can be much lower.
We had a couple of notes from readers who flew with British Airways during the recent cabin crew strikes. Hopefully, these are now in the past, so the remarks will be of little use but it is worth pointing out the different reactions. One reader was very negative and found the service poor and the attitude of the cabin crew (whether non-strikers or stand-ins) to be bad. Another said the service was “as excellent as always” and that there was almost a party atmosphere on board and the passengers applauded the crew at the end of the flight. Finally, a regular BA passenger admitted that the service was not as smooth as normal but commended the crew for their “genuine enthusiasm”. All we can say is that, once the strike is finally settled, we hope that BA will make an effort to ensure that enough of the older crew remain with the airline. We firmly believe that airlines should provide a proper career and salary structure to enable staff to join as a full-time, permanent job. Full-service airlines should not pay salaries that make it difficult to remain past your late twenties.
