Traveling Overseas long flights (1 Viewer)

[Atticus.]

i once flew gulf air from melbourne to london and it was the most pain haul ever... the entertainment system was broken and i got sat next to an unfortunate smelling rabbi with a penchant for offing his life story
but i didnt speak yiddish
and he tried to convince me of the virtues of judaism
after we changed at bahrain i maid my sister sit next to him haha

 

[iamsickofyear12]

I flew about six months ago and it was fantastic.

Then again the SYD-LA-NY flights are always good.

What exactly was wrong with your flight?

Only the entertainment system. All different sorts of problems. On one flight they only got 1 movie, on another there were only a couple, on another the menu was broken so basically if you missed the start of a movie you had to wait 3 hours for it to start again. On one flight some people had working entertainment systems and others got nothing at all.

On a 13 hour flight I consider a broken entertainment system worse than the most horrible service they could possibly provide or even being delayed.

 

[jemsta]

call me old fashioned...but you could take a book

buy a magazine
and take your ipod for sure.

buying a few magazines would always be a good idea.....prob take you 40-1hr to finish reading a mag, so there goes a few hours

 

[Jachie]

If you are going with Qantas their entertainment system is completely unreliable. Out of the 5 flights myself and people I know have been on in the last month the entertainment system has only worked properly twice. And the problem is if the personal entertainment breaks down they can't show a single movie for the whole plane like the used to, so you are stuck with nothing to do for the entire flight.

Ahhhh. When I flew from Paris to Sydney via Hong Kong a couple of months ago on Cathay Pacific, the entertainment system cut off no less than seven times. We were trying to watch "The Devil Wears Prada" and the whole thing would shut down every time at the exact same spot (about 40 minutes in). Everytime it cut off, we'd have to wait 30 minutes for it to recover before trying to watch the movie again (from the beginning). Laaaaaame.

To the OP, good luck not sleeping on a 20+ hour flight.

 

[sunjet]

AA is possibly the worst. If you're travelling within Europe, Air France seems to be good. Malaysian and Singapore Airlines are quite good, like 1000 channels, time goes quickly. 9 hours really isn't long, the next 14 are a bitch though. Qantas entertainment = weak. I usually just listen to music for half the flight anyway and doze on and off.

 

[sunjet]

You're a filthy slut.

 

[BlackDragon]

I'd recommend Singapore Airlnes too. Other good airlines I've been on are Emirates and Cathay Pacific.

singapore airlines is soo good!

you can play games, listen to heaps of albums, and watch heaps and heaps new release movies all in the screen infront of you! its awesome. though, after 19 hours of games and movies you just feel like a sleep.

 

[ccc123]

singapore airlines is soo good!

you can play games, listen to heaps of albums, and watch heaps and heaps new release movies all in the screen infront of you! its awesome. though, after 19 hours of games and movies you just feel like a sleep.

I agree. SA have the best entertainment system.

 

[James747]

Taking laptops on the plane is perfectly fine, though (as already pointed out) they can only be switched on during cruise. Depending on the airline and class you fly, there may be inseat powerpoint and even internet connection facility.

Most airlines have installed PTV's (personal television) across their fleet. However, it tends to follow the trend that the more entertainment options they give you, the smaller the legroom becomes. (e.g. Thai don't have PTV's, but have excellent legroom whilst other airlines like Qantas or Cathay have PTV's but cut on the legroom).

As to which airline has the best entertainment, I reckon Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Singapore and Malaysia have some of the best product for economy class out there. Qantas' one if Ok but has been rumuored to always crash.

Personally, I prefer Cathay Pacific over all other airlines because they have excellent service, PTV's and a pretty good entertainment system.

Hope this helped.

Cheers

 

[*Minka*]

I fly to Europe at least 3 times a year, usually more and like others, highly recommend Singapore Airlines (I fly with them wherever possible) and havd had no problems when flying Emirates either. But SA is without question one of the better airlines out there - excellent service and good enteratainment.

I am pretty used to flying - last year I went to Europe and back 7 times so I am generally able to sleep on flights, but generally take my ipod, a couple of books and sometimes my laptop.

 

[James747]

There's also Oasis Hong Kong Airlines now, which is a low cost airline which operates to London, with new routes being pregressively added. From reading reviews, they have really good service and product, and their fares are really competitive! ~HKD$1000 (roughly AUD$200) excl. tax one way to london!!

 

[Duuude]

Whenever you're travelling to europe, I reccommend travelling with Austrian airlines. I flew to germany with them and it was great, even though I was on a plane for 21 hours.

 

[jemsta]

There's also Oasis Hong Kong Airlines now, which is a low cost airline which operates to London, with new routes being pregressively added. From reading reviews, they have really good service and product, and their fares are really competitive! ~HKD$1000 (roughly AUD$200) excl. tax one way to london!!

yeah i heard about that, but it didnt have the smoothest of all starts
i remember that they were not allowed in the russian airspace, which caused to postpone their flight the next day
but yes $200 isnt a bad deal for a HK-London flight

 

[Peartie]

To Europe Ive flown British Airways, Lufthansa and Singapore and Id say that, by far, Singapore is the best airline i flew on.

 

[jemsta]

man next time i fly to hong kong, im gonna take singapore airlines, judging from everyones positive comments on singapore airlines

 

[velox]

SIA is the best, however their frequent flyer program krisflyer is kinda tough compared to other companies' programs.

 

[christ_ine]

I flew to Paris (via Singapore) with Singapore Airlines. It was a total of 21 hours or so. I'd have to say they're the best airline I've flown with.

Entertainment? Books, magazines and your iPod to block out annoying people sitting next to you.

 

[Skeeta]

As with everyone else, singapore airlines is super.

My parents flew with Emirates, they said they were fantastic, except ALL of the toilets stopped working, two hours into an eight hour flight.

When I travelled around America, we went with SA, a leg was with Hawaiian Airlines, and another with Air Mexicana. Mexicana was sort of.. terrible, Hawaiian was good clean etc, except you didnt have a TV to yourself or anything.

 

[James747]

Whenever you're travelling to europe, I reccommend travelling with Austrian airlines. I flew to germany with them and it was great, even though I was on a plane for 21 hours.

That cannot be 21 hours straight.....

 

[James747]

I wonder where Malaysian Airlines is.... how come no one mentions them? They are very much comparable to Singapore Airlines except they dont have PTV's on some of their short haul or regional flights. But otherwise, their long haul product is outstanding.