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[pieterSAN]

Any experience with Qatar Airways, flying to the Persian Gulf? Any suggestions? Thanks.

[Cover Point]

Any experience with Qatar Airways, flying to the Persian Gulf? Any suggestions? Thanks.

I would avoid going to the gulf. I hear there is a small fight going on in the area.

[sgusa]

CP, you might want to ask him where he wants to land, though

He mentions something about flying TO the Persian Gulf. Kinda hard to avoid the gulf if that is where one intends to land !

[Cover Point]

CP, you might want to ask him where he wants to land, though

He mentions something about flying TO the Persian Gulf. Kinda hard to avoid the gulf if that is where one intends to land !

So correction. You can ATTEMPT to go to the gulf. Where u land will be determined by outside forces.

[sgusa]

CP, you might want to ask him where he wants to land, though

He mentions something about flying TO the Persian Gulf. Kinda hard to avoid the gulf if that is where one intends to land !

So correction. You can ATTEMPT to go to the gulf. Where u land will be determined by outside forces.

unnecessary correction I used "Want", "intend". Said nothing about actually landing

[pieterSAN]

Thanks guys....I knew I could count on you. 

[feverpitch]

Thanks guys....I knew I could count on you. 

actually, i find there to be a big gulf in the service between the various gulf airlines and the brit/american airlines. on cattle class, emirates is waay ahead... followed by royal jordan, and although i havent travelled either kuwait or qatar, ive heard that they are not as bad as british. depending on routes, singapore is the best though.

[Aloo Kashmiri Ul Haq]

Thanks guys....I knew I could count on you. 

actually, i find there to be a big gulf in the service between the various gulf airlines and the brit/american airlines. on cattle class, emirates is waay ahead... followed by royal jordan, and although i havent travelled either kuwait or qatar, ive heard that they are not as bad as british. depending on routes, singapore is the best though.

Have heard not so good stuff about Kuwait, they have severe technical snags at times including the non availability of seats inspite of you having a ticket

[feverpitch]

Thanks guys....I knew I could count on you. 

actually, i find there to be a big gulf in the service between the various gulf airlines and the brit/american airlines. on cattle class, emirates is waay ahead... followed by royal jordan, and although i havent travelled either kuwait or qatar, ive heard that they are not as bad as british. depending on routes, singapore is the best though.

Have heard not so good stuff about Kuwait, they have severe technical snags at times including the non availability of seats inspite of you having a ticket

well... can't comment on that. but certainly, my worst experience has been with american and british... always
merkins have the most ramshakle and dirty planes... and brits have the least legspace, poor service on the asian leg [heathrow to india] and are always snooty on the atlantic leg. i've also lost luggage everytime on british.

[poondu]

Thanks guys....I knew I could count on you. 

actually, i find there to be a big gulf in the service between the various gulf airlines and the brit/american airlines. on cattle class, emirates is waay ahead... followed by royal jordan, and although i havent travelled either kuwait or qatar, ive heard that they are not as bad as british. depending on routes, singapore is the best though.

Have heard not so good stuff about Kuwait, they have severe technical snags at times including the non availability of seats inspite of you having a ticket

well... can't comment on that. but certainly, my worst experience has been with american and british... and brits have the least legspace, poor service on the asian leg [heathrow to india] and are always snooty on the atlantic leg. i've also lost luggage everytime on british.

I had the same experience , BA sucks. I have travelled in Kuwait also, much better than BA.

[sgusa]

Thanks guys....I knew I could count on you. 

actually, i find there to be a big gulf in the service between the various gulf airlines and the brit/american airlines. on cattle class, emirates is waay ahead... followed by royal jordan, and although i havent travelled either kuwait or qatar, ive heard that they are not as bad as british. depending on routes, singapore is the best though.

Have heard not so good stuff about Kuwait, they have severe technical snags at times including the non availability of seats inspite of you having a ticket

well... can't comment on that. but certainly, my worst experience has been with american and british... and brits have the least legspace, poor service on the asian leg [heathrow to india] and are always snooty on the atlantic leg. i've also lost luggage everytime on british.

I had the same experience , BA sucks. I have travelled in Kuwait also, much better than BA.

Wierd. I have had the second best service on BA. Korean Air has been my fav!

[RicePlateReddy]

Wierd. I have had the second best service on BA. Korean Air has been my fav!

I second that. Korean Air treats you great, if you can handle the communication gap. 10+ years ago, their planes were supposedly unreliable and had all sorts of tech problems. But I don't read of any such reports of late. Plus their prices are always competitive.

Some 5 years ago, soon after 9/11 I had gone to SFO to drop off someone on a Korean flight. And there was this elderly Gujju man with a terribly expired Indian passport fighting with them to be put on the flight, even with such an old passport. He was loudly shouting in Hindi that he will deal with the situation in India and Korean Air should not interfere with him. They did not know what to do, he was getting louder and louder and I was watching the drama totally amused. All of a sudden the cust service manager walks up to me, asks me what I think. I say, yeah, he probably can sort himself out in India if you allow him to change flights in Seoul. He makes a few calls, and then allows this man through! All this not even a year post 9/11. My respect for Korean Air was infinite after the incident -- not because they asked me, but because they bent what was a clear law in favor of a clueless desi passenger. If this were British Air, that Gujju man would have been in lock-up.

[sgusa]

Wierd. I have had the second best service on BA. Korean Air has been my fav!

I second that. Korean Air treats you great, if you can handle the communication gap. 10+ years ago, their planes were supposedly unreliable and had all sorts of tech problems. But I don't read of any such reports of late. Plus their prices are always competitive.

Some 5 years ago, soon after 9/11 I had gone to SFO to drop off someone on a Korean flight. And there was this elderly Gujju man with a terribly expired Indian passport fighting with them to be put on the flight, even with such an old passport. He was loudly shouting in Hindi that he will deal with the situation in India and Korean Air should not interfere with him. They did not know what to do, he was getting louder and louder and I was watching the drama totally amused. All of a sudden the cust service manager walks up to me, asks me what I think. I say, yeah, he probably can sort himself out in India if you allow him to change flights in Seoul. He makes a few calls, and then allows this man through! All this not even a year post 9/11. My respect for Korean Air was infinite after the incident -- not because they asked me, but because they bent what was a clear law in favor of a clueless desi passenger. If this were British Air, that Gujju man would have been in lock-up.

I flew Korean Air recently. They have new planes ( fantastic entertainment systems, BTW). They had GREAT veg food (yes, on a korean Airlines) , on the Seoul-Bombay sector they had GREAT Desi food. I can only imagine how the non-vegetarians would relish their options. Service is fantastic, the flight attendents are hot, very courteous and come by frequently to provide refreshments and take special orders with a smile. Throw in the very attractive prices and you have a winner.

[vincent]

Compared to US Airlines and Air India any Airline would be good. I have flown Kuwait Airways couple of times. They are good,if you do not mind not having booze while flying. But Qatar Airways wants to be couple of notches better equalling Etihad Airways and Emirates. They have modern fleet and have modernized their airport for the recent Asian Games. The shorter leg from Qatar to India may not be that good (apart from food) since it caters to mostly the immigrant workers from India and hence most middle-east Airlines "take it easy" on this route. But I have not flown them yet, so you may be in for a good surprise even on that leg.

[feverpitch]

Emirates is good on the Asian leg too. And they serve all varieties of liquor in copious quantities. they also have the best legspace, food, service, entertainment and airport transfer amongst all the mid east airlines. Their fleet is perhaps the most modern of all the fleets.

PS: Vince, I disagree on your clubbing the Maharaja with Delta/American. Esp if you consider all factors, incl the amount of luggage they allow you.

[fineleg]

How is the comparison between Singapore Airlines, Malaysian Airlines and Korean Air?
Any reviews?

[feverpitch]

How is the comparison between Singapore Airlines, Malaysian Airlines and Korean Air?
Any reviews?

I'm waiting for you to post your googled results for us all.

[sgusa]

How is the comparison between Singapore Airlines, Malaysian Airlines and Korean Air?
Any reviews?

My take

Price: Korean Air wins this one
# of jumps: Korean air. West Coast -> Seoul -> Bombay, as opposed to {1-2 jumps in WC}-{Tokyo/HK/BK}--{Sing/KL}--India for rest
Service: Sing by a hair width, I suppose
Facilities: Sing, very closely followed by KA
Total comfort: Pretty much equal

[pipsqueak]

my worst flying experience to date has been on singapore airlines. i found their ground staff at LA extraordinarily unfriendly, they lost my baggage and eventually sent me some paltry sum of money that was less than the cost of the bag, forget the contents. my connecting domestic flight had arrived late and so i had to rush to the international terminal - i was refused entry into the plane even though the departure was 30 minutes away and the next flight out was 24 hours later. i was making a quick 7 day trip to india for some urgent reasons - they made me lose a day and were totally nonchalant about it. i had chosen s'pore, paying a lot more just to avoid any whatsoever hassle but ended up having the worst experience.

i have travelled with them since then with no such nightmares but i cannot get over this experience.

i rank thai/malaysian and cathay pacific way above s'pore airlines. qantas was a pleasant experience too but the immigration/customs procedure in australia is A..W..F..U..L!

i flew korean once and it was okay.

[fineleg]

How is the comparison between Singapore Airlines, Malaysian Airlines and Korean Air?
Any reviews?

My take

Price: Korean Air wins this one
# of jumps: Korean air. West Coast -> Seoul -> Bombay, as opposed to {1-2 jumps in WC}-{Tokyo/HK/BK}--{Sing/KL}--India for rest
Service: Sing by a hair width, I suppose
Facilities: Sing, very closely followed by KA
Total comfort: Pretty much equal

Used to be Singapore food rated highly...but u have indicated that KA food is good (surprising news that)

Also SA baggage handling used to be rated high.


Is Malaysian quite poor these days?

[fineleg]

my worst flying experience to date has been on singapore airlines. i found their ground staff at LA extraordinarily unfriendly, they lost my baggage and eventually sent me some paltry sum of money that was less than the cost of the bag, forget the contents. my connecting domestic flight had arrived late and so i had to rush to the international terminal - i was refused entry into the plane even though the departure was 30 minutes away and the next flight out was 24 hours later. i was making a quick 7 day trip to india for some urgent reasons - they made me lose a day and were totally nonchalant about it. i had chosen s'pore, paying a lot more just to avoid any whatsoever hassle but ended up having the worst experience.

i have travelled with them since then with no such nightmares but i cannot get over this experience.

i rank thai/malaysian and cathay pacific way above s'pore airlines. qantas was a pleasant experience too but the immigration/customs procedure in australia is A..W..F..U..L!

i flew korean once and it was okay.

Sad to hear about your Singapore experience...Usually I think they are efficient. It seems like you have had better experience next time onwards with SA too.

I forgot about Cathay!!! Cathay used to be rated well too...MT - any specifics on Cathay? Food, Service?

[pipsqueak]

my worst flying experience to date has been on singapore airlines. i found their ground staff at LA extraordinarily unfriendly, they lost my baggage and eventually sent me some paltry sum of money that was less than the cost of the bag, forget the contents. my connecting domestic flight had arrived late and so i had to rush to the international terminal - i was refused entry into the plane even though the departure was 30 minutes away and the next flight out was 24 hours later. i was making a quick 7 day trip to india for some urgent reasons - they made me lose a day and were totally nonchalant about it. i had chosen s'pore, paying a lot more just to avoid any whatsoever hassle but ended up having the worst experience.

i have travelled with them since then with no such nightmares but i cannot get over this experience.

i rank thai/malaysian and cathay pacific way above s'pore airlines. qantas was a pleasant experience too but the immigration/customs procedure in australia is A..W..F..U..L!

i flew korean once and it was okay.

Sad to hear about your Singapore experience...Usually I think they are efficient. It seems like you have had better experience next time onwards with SA too.

I forgot about Cathay!!! Cathay used to be rated well too...MT - any specifics on Cathay? Food, Service?

i don't care about airlines food - always some greasy muck. it is not like they serve me hot venn pongal w masala vadai and filter kaapi.

i don't drink alcohol and so cannot really say much about the quality of that.

ground service, efficiency, accommodating requests - quite commendable (again, my experience). usually more pricey which is a bit annoying. during my last trip to US/canada, baggage didn't make it across to the connecting flights (again, coz of delays) but it was promptly sent by the next flight and delivered to me.

i guess baggage handling is more to do with the airport and not airlines but stilll.....

[fineleg]

Greasy muck!!! LOL! Should have seen that one coming.

Danke for the post.

[vincent]

my worst flying experience to date has been on singapore airlines. i found their ground staff at LA extraordinarily unfriendly, they lost my baggage and eventually sent me some paltry sum of money that was less than the cost of the bag, forget the contents. my connecting domestic flight had arrived late and so i had to rush to the international terminal - i was refused entry into the plane even though the departure was 30 minutes away and the next flight out was 24 hours later. i was making a quick 7 day trip to india for some urgent reasons - they made me lose a day and were totally nonchalant about it. i had chosen s'pore, paying a lot more just to avoid any whatsoever hassle but ended up having the worst experience.

i have travelled with them since then with no such nightmares but i cannot get over this experience.

i rank thai/malaysian and cathay pacific way above s'pore airlines. qantas was a pleasant experience too but the immigration/customs procedure in australia is A..W..F..U..L!

i flew korean once and it was okay.

Sad to hear about your Singapore experience...Usually I think they are efficient. It seems like you have had better experience next time onwards with SA too.

I forgot about Cathay!!! Cathay used to be rated well too...MT - any specifics on Cathay? Food, Service?

i don't care about airlines food - always some greasy muck. it is not like they serve me hot venn pongal w masala vadai and filter kaapi. i don't drink alcohol and so cannot really say much about the quality of that.

ground service, efficiency, accommodating requests - quite commendable (again, my experience). usually more pricey which is a bit annoying. during my last trip to US/canada, baggage didn't make it across to the connecting flights (again, coz of delays) but it was promptly sent by the next flight and delivered to me.

i guess baggage handling is more to do with the airport and not airlines but stilll.....

Well, you do get that kind of food on domestic airlines like Kingfisher.

[sgusa]

my worst flying experience to date has been on singapore airlines. i found their ground staff at LA extraordinarily unfriendly, they lost my baggage and eventually sent me some paltry sum of money that was less than the cost of the bag, forget the contents. my connecting domestic flight had arrived late and so i had to rush to the international terminal - i was refused entry into the plane even though the departure was 30 minutes away and the next flight out was 24 hours later. i was making a quick 7 day trip to india for some urgent reasons - they made me lose a day and were totally nonchalant about it. i had chosen s'pore, paying a lot more just to avoid any whatsoever hassle but ended up having the worst experience.

i have travelled with them since then with no such nightmares but i cannot get over this experience.

i rank thai/malaysian and cathay pacific way above s'pore airlines. qantas was a pleasant experience too but the immigration/customs procedure in australia is A..W..F..U..L!

i flew korean once and it was okay.

Sad to hear about your Singapore experience...Usually I think they are efficient. It seems like you have had better experience next time onwards with SA too.

I forgot about Cathay!!! Cathay used to be rated well too...MT - any specifics on Cathay? Food, Service?

i don't care about airlines food - always some greasy muck. it is not like they serve me hot venn pongal w masala vadai and filter kaapi. i don't drink alcohol and so cannot really say much about the quality of that.

ground service, efficiency, accommodating requests - quite commendable (again, my experience). usually more pricey which is a bit annoying. during my last trip to US/canada, baggage didn't make it across to the connecting flights (again, coz of delays) but it was promptly sent by the next flight and delivered to me.

i guess baggage handling is more to do with the airport and not airlines but stilll.....

Well, you do get that kind of food on domestic airlines like Kingfisher.

I got nice idlies on Korean Air

[pipsqueak]

my worst flying experience to date has been on singapore airlines. i found their ground staff at LA extraordinarily unfriendly, they lost my baggage and eventually sent me some paltry sum of money that was less than the cost of the bag, forget the contents. my connecting domestic flight had arrived late and so i had to rush to the international terminal - i was refused entry into the plane even though the departure was 30 minutes away and the next flight out was 24 hours later. i was making a quick 7 day trip to india for some urgent reasons - they made me lose a day and were totally nonchalant about it. i had chosen s'pore, paying a lot more just to avoid any whatsoever hassle but ended up having the worst experience.

i have travelled with them since then with no such nightmares but i cannot get over this experience.

i rank thai/malaysian and cathay pacific way above s'pore airlines. qantas was a pleasant experience too but the immigration/customs procedure in australia is A..W..F..U..L!

i flew korean once and it was okay.

Sad to hear about your Singapore experience...Usually I think they are efficient. It seems like you have had better experience next time onwards with SA too.

I forgot about Cathay!!! Cathay used to be rated well too...MT - any specifics on Cathay? Food, Service?

i don't care about airlines food - always some greasy muck. it is not like they serve me hot venn pongal w masala vadai and filter kaapi. i don't drink alcohol and so cannot really say much about the quality of that.

ground service, efficiency, accommodating requests - quite commendable (again, my experience). usually more pricey which is a bit annoying. during my last trip to US/canada, baggage didn't make it across to the connecting flights (again, coz of delays) but it was promptly sent by the next flight and delivered to me.

i guess baggage handling is more to do with the airport and not airlines but stilll.....

Well, you do get that kind of food on domestic airlines like Kingfisher.

well, when i travel domestic within india, i usually eat home or at some restaurant. i don't really care much about food on a 2-3 hour flight and invariably, the indian food served is above my spice tolerance limits.

cathay also served idlis - bite-sized ones w corn embedded!!! bizarre.

[Nima]

I never had any problems with Singapore airlines, I found them quite good.  Quantas is equally good, but the vegetarian food sucks.

Customs in Aus is the worst, there are so many restrictions in what one can bring, all food items needs to be declared, can't bring banana chips, any sweets made out of ghee/milk (customs have a chart of all the sweets, complete with names, recipes etc) all wood items needs to be declared etc etc.  They are too paranoid....

[pieterSAN]

Appreciate it guys....at this point Qatar Airways sounds good.

[fineleg]

well, when i travel domestic within india, i usually eat home or at some restaurant. i don't really care much about food on a 2-3 hour flight and invariably, the indian food served is above my spice tolerance limits.

cathay also served idlis - bite-sized ones w corn embedded!!! bizarre.

That is bizarre indeed! Next they will have brocolli embedded!

[sgusa]

well, when i travel domestic within india, i usually eat home or at some restaurant. i don't really care much about food on a 2-3 hour flight and invariably, the indian food served is above my spice tolerance limits.

cathay also served idlis - bite-sized ones w corn embedded!!! bizarre.

That is bizarre indeed! Next they will have brocolli embedded!

At which point I should be allowed to hurt the caterers however I please.

Vile weed! ( 3 brownie points for guessing the reference )

[dhruvdeepak]

well, when i travel domestic within india, i usually eat home or at some restaurant. i don't really care much about food on a 2-3 hour flight and invariably, the indian food served is above my spice tolerance limits.

cathay also served idlis - bite-sized ones w corn embedded!!! bizarre.

That is bizarre indeed! Next they will have brocolli embedded!

At which point I should be allowed to hurt the caterers however I please.

Vile weed! ( 3 brownie points for guessing the reference )

way too easy. newman, Seinfeld

[fineleg]

well, when i travel domestic within india, i usually eat home or at some restaurant. i don't really care much about food on a 2-3 hour flight and invariably, the indian food served is above my spice tolerance limits.

cathay also served idlis - bite-sized ones w corn embedded!!! bizarre.

That is bizarre indeed! Next they will have brocolli embedded!

At which point I should be allowed to hurt the caterers however I please.

Vile weed! ( 3 brownie points for guessing the reference )

way too easy. newman, Seinfeld

Good catch.

[sudzz]

Any experience with Qatar Airways, flying to the Persian Gulf? Any suggestions? Thanks.

I travelled Qatar from Doha to Chennai, service was good but slightly ameturish (maybe because of the sector) otherwise pretty good. My friends that have flown longer distances (read as West-London/New York) rave about the aircrafts, comforts and the general service levels...so maybe worth a dekko

[pieterSAN]

okay guys...change in plans. I am flying straight in to Bangalore instead of going to the Persian Gulf. Thai airways has 17hr leg to Bangkok...any experience with Thai Airways?

[justforkix]

okay guys...change in plans. I am flying straight in to Bangalore instead of going to the Persian Gulf. Thai airways has 17hr leg to Bangkok...any experience with Thai Airways?

Bangalore ?!? When ?!? We should try to meet up 

[Cover Point]

okay guys...change in plans. I am flying straight in to Bangalore instead of going to the Persian Gulf. Thai airways has 17hr leg to Bangkok...any experience with Thai Airways?

Bangalore ?!? When ?!? We should try to meet up 

I will be there April 11th 1992. Can we meet at the Kamath in the Majestic area?

[vincent]

okay guys...change in plans. I am flying straight in to Bangalore instead of going to the Persian Gulf. Thai airways has 17hr leg to Bangkok...any experience with Thai Airways?

I recently flew from Bangkok to Bombay with Thai. They are really good. But the leg from Bangkok to Bombay was short so we could not really enjoy it.

[pieterSAN]

okay guys...change in plans. I am flying straight in to Bangalore instead of going to the Persian Gulf. Thai airways has 17hr leg to Bangkok...any experience with Thai Airways?

Bangalore ?!? When ?!? We should try to meet up 

I'll be in Bangalore July 27 through August 8 (at the very least). It would be fun to get together and catch some of action from England. 

[pieterSAN]

all good to go. Bangkok here I come....17 hours on the plane with a horde of lithe Thai babes to get to know. Good times.

[sgusa]

all good to go. Bangkok here I come....17 hours on the plane with a horde of lithe Thai babes to get to know. Good times.

"I am leaving.... on a jet plane"