My son will be going to Singapore in the next couple of weeks. I will likely buy tickets today. I have only ever dealt with American (not the brand, just the “category”) airlines. But I see many, including British, All Nippon, and Qatar are available to Singapore. Any I should be willing to pay extra for, or more importantly avoid? I am going for cheap, ideally with one stop each way. Willing to pay a slight premium for one stop, but he may be stuck with two. Thanks.
I have no experience with Singapore. I like it when the big/known airlines such as United or American or Delta are in the ‘alliance’ or what ever they call it with other airlines. For instance, they may be in the alliance with Lufthansa, or British Air, etc. I do also like Iceland Air who sometimes has better prices.
Anyrhing in the major alliances with United, American or Delta should be fine. I won’t fly LOT (Polish) or Aeroflot.
British Airways, Lufthansa, Swissair, KLM, Alitalia … Western European “brands” are all fine. The discount brands such as Ryanair, Germanwings and Vueling nickel and dime you to death and offer no amenities. But they typically aren’t long haul flights.
How about ANA?
Darn, it went up $300 in the last hour. Ouch
But how are Ana and or Qatar, anyone know? Thanks
Well, if you were travelling premium, I would choose Qatar (or Singapore or Emirates, but you did not list as an option).
Travelling in economy class, any of the airlines you mentioned is fine.
I like ANA. I also like cathay.
I’ve flown delta often to SIN. The flight arrives around midnight.
I’ve only flown Qatar in business class, and the seat comfort & service is uneven. But the pajamas are a hoot.
Cost of ticket could be significantly less on “unpopular” travel days, i.e. tue & wed.
ANA and Qatar are both perfectly fine.
Have any of you ever flown Emirates? I want to do so one day!
I like to either fly one of the USA airlines,or the airline of the country I am flying to. Agree with it should’ve a major airline.
I’ve flown Air France to France, SAS to Denmark, and Lufthansa to Italy (via Frankfort ).
I don’t get out much, so I don’t know if Singapore has its own airline.
Also agree with someone up thread who said any of the Western European lines would be fine.
Sometimes, the airline is fine… it is the locals who fly coach could present some issues. We flew Turkish Air from Istanbul to a very large city in Central Asia, and the food and service were great. However, during landing, people refused to raise their seat backs, started jumping out of their seats to grab stuff out of overhead bins… we watched it in horror. The flight attendants did nothing to stop this behavior - it looked like they were familiar with it and just gave up.
By the way, my daughter has learned that a search site such as kayak doesn’t have all of the available airlines to certain places. For example, she is living in Denmark and discovered that Norwegian Air may have good deals, but they do not pop up on kayak.
So perhaps do some research? Maybe tripadvisor would be helpful.
My kid flew Qatar and said it was fine.
I would stay away from the one in the news lately. I used to like British Airways but the service has become terrible. I think Virgin Airways is better. I would avoid Air France after reading an accident that was cause by inexperience flying, the pilot accelerate instead of deccelerate.
Singapore Airlines is probably the most renowned global airline for service. My ultimate travel ambition: Singapore Airlines First Class suite. Not only a layflat bed, but an entire private suite w double bed, lol…
http://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/flying-with-us/suites/
Post #14, agree and the airline hostesses are beautiful to boot, well at least on the commercial. It’s probably one airline I would use for travel to Asia.
I’d carefully check the baggage allowances so you don’t get dinged. KLM has no free baggage allowance on some tickets, and a weight/extra small limit on carry-on. Others are equally bad. Also, try to pick a carrier associated with your FF account. Service levels are usually best on the big long-haul carriers from the ME or Asia, then Europe and NA. Avoid Indian, African, E Europe, Russian and most Chinese carriers (except Cathay Pacific). You can check seatguru.com for the layout of the plane/airline you will be traveling on to avoid seats with annoyances (limited recline, obstructions under seat in front of you, etc)
PizzaGirl - why avoid Aeroflot? I ask only because when I was looking for flights from Tokyo to London, it was consistently the cheapest. I did consider it but the times were not great and my daughter was concerned about being stuck in the airport in Russia in the case of a delay and not being able to leave – according to her, even leaving the airport on a layover requires a difficult-to-obtain tourist visa.
I did end up choosing Turkish Airlines – it was slightly more expensive but the times worked better. And in case of a delay, she can wander around Istanbul. I’ll have to remember to ask her if people behave similarly to Bunsen’s experience.
My kid has flown Turkish Air, Qatar, Cathay, and a few others with no issues.
On her last year trip to Singapore, Singapore Airlines was just a tad more expensive than Qatar, which she chose. We tried to get her to pony up for SA, but she wouldn’t. It was all about saving the extra $200.
MathildaMae, the flight to Istambul was fine. It was the flight from Istambul to that other city (in a different country) that made our hair stand on end, lol. I would fly Turkish Air again just fine.