TripAdvisor: World's Top 10 Airlines

Emirates voted the best airline in the world

With all the much deserved fuss that is bedeviling United Airlines for the appalling treatment of passengers following this week's overbooking incident, I had planned to add a major post about that controversy to this blog. However, I have decided instead to add this much more positive post, which is essentially a media release from TripAdvisor, in which they announce the Top Ten best airlines as chosen by their reviewers. It is surely no surprise that United Airlines does not appear in the Top Ten.

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TripAdvisor, the world's largest travel site recently announced the 2017 Travelers' Choice Awards for Airlines, Based on Flyer Reviews

Emirates is the #1 Airline in the World; Delta and JetBlue Top North American Lists

1 Emirates: "Excellent Experience" Dale B > "My experience was excellent. Food was great, inflight entertainment was top notch, very modern and up to date system."

TripAdvisor, the travel planning and booking site, today announced the winners of its first annual travelers' Choice awards for airlines, recognizing travelers' favorite carriers around the globe. Emirates was named the top airline in the world, followed by Singapore Airlines and Azul.

The awards honor 50 airlines overall, including top lists for the World, Europe, North America, the Middle East and Africa; as well as 16 regional winners. The awards also highlight top airlines by level of service, covering First Class, Business Class, Premium Economy and Economy. Award winners were determined using an algorithm that took into account the quantity and quality of airline reviews and ratings submitted by travelers worldwide, over a 12-month period. The hallmarks of Travelers' Choice award winners are outstanding service, quality and value.

"We are proud to announce the inaugural Travelers' Choice awards for airlines, to help travelers make the most well-informed air travel decisions, based on the experiences of the global TripAdvisor community," said Bryan Saltzburg, senior vice president and general manager for TripAdvisor Flights. 

"The airline industry is investing billions of dollars in new aircraft and service enhancements to differentiate the flying experience and these awards recognize the carriers offering the very best experiences and value to the traveling public."

"We are honored to be named the Best Airline in the World in the TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards for Airlines 2017," said Sir Tim Clark, President, Emirates Airlines. "The fact that the awards are a result of unbiased reviews and feedback speaks to our commitment to deliver a superior travel experience for our customers. We want travelers to continue making Emirates their first choice whenever they think to travel. That is why we continue to invest in products and services across all classes, and why our service teams work hard and put their hearts into providing the very best experience for our customers both onboard and on the ground every day."

"Our mission of inspiring humanity sets us apart from every other airline," said Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue executive vice president of customer experience. "This recognition by TripAdvisor and our customers demonstrates once again, that we are on the right path.  Thanks to our 20,000 crewmembers who live and breathe our unique values every day. It's our culture that inspires us to provide exceptional service, while we continue to build upon the product our customers love."

Singapore Airlines came in at the number two spot

Among the top 10 global list, Asia holds the highest number of individual winners, with total of five (Singapore Airlines, Korean Air, Japan Airlines, Thai Smile and Garuda Indonesia); followed by the United States, with two airlines in the top rankings: JetBlue and Alaska Airlines, in fourth and ninth places, respectively.

Top 10 Airlines in the World:

1.      Emirates, United Arab Emirates
2.      Singapore Airlines, Singapore
3.      Azul, Brazil
4.      JetBlue, United States
5.      Air New Zealand, New Zealand
6.      Korean Air, South Korea
7.      Japan Airlines, Japan
8.      Thai Smile, Thailand
9.      Alaska Airlines, United States
10.  Garuda Indonesia, Indonesia

2 Singapore Airlines: "My preferred airlines. Great food, really helpful flight crew. The best." Anne B > "I love travelling with Singapore airline. It is a real pleasure. The flight crew are always caring and courteous. The in flight food excellent. Good leg room. Definitely my preferred airline."

Class of Service Global Winners:

Best First Class: Emirates, United Arab Emirates
Best Business Class: Aeroflot, Russia
Best Premium Economy Class in the World: Air New Zealand, New Zealand
Best Economy Class in the World: Emirates, United Arab Emirates

Jet Blue was named the best of the American airlines

North America Awards:

Top Major Airline in North America:
Delta Air Lines, United States

Top Mid-Size & Low Cost Airlines in North America:

1.      JetBlue, United States
2.      Alaska Airlines, United States
3.      Southwest, United States
4.      Virgin America, United States
5.      Westjet, Canada

4 JetBlue: "Awesome!" Cheryl T. B > "The crew was just awesome. From their greeting to their smiles. The flight was smooth and the seats were amazingly comfortable."

For the complete list of winners from the 2017 Travelers' Choice awards for airlines, visit  www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-Airlines. Travelers can also follow the conversation on Twitter at #TravelersChoice.

TripAdvisor is the world's largest travel site**. Travelers can read millions of reviews and opinions and book their next trip at: www.tripadvisor.com.

Methodology: Winners were based on airline reviews submitted on TripAdvisor Flights from February 2016 to February 2017.

A Tale Of Two Sydney's

Screen grab from The Guardian

Ouch! Look at that headline from The Guardian online this past Saturday, April 1st. For a moment or two I thought it might be an April Fool’s Day joke, but no, a young Dutch man, Milan Schipper, thought he had grabbed the bargain of lifetime when he scored a cheap flight from Amsterdam to Sydney, Australia.

Schipper’s plan was to backpack through Australia, taking in its lush coastal landscapes and white sand beaches before heading to college after the Northern summer. Since he knew it was late summer in Australia, he came dressed for the occasion—in a T-shirt, sweatpants and a thin jacket.

Instead, the Dutch teenager found himself 10,000 miles away from Sydney, Australia – staring out at a snow-covered, frozen landscape – as he realised that he had accidentally booked a flight to Sydney, Nova Scotia, a municipality of 32,000 people on Canada’s east coast.

“I thought I was going to Australia, but that turned out a little different,” the 18-year-old told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Thursday.

During a stopover in Toronto, Schipper began to have doubts about his destination after he noticed that the plane lined up on the tarmac was a lot smaller than he thought it should be.

His suspicions were confirmed after he boarded and checked the flight map on his seat screen. “I saw the flight plan was going to go right, not left. It was about the time that I realized there was another Sydney,” he said. “I felt terrible. I think I swore in my head for like 10 minutes. But there was nothing I could do about it because I was already up in the air.”

Sydney, Australia.                             Sydney, Nova Scotia
(Images: Jason Reed, Steve Wadden/Reuters)

On landing in Sydney, Nova Scotia, he discovered the locals were bracing for a snowstorm expected to bring strong winds and 10 to 15 cm (four to six inches) of snow. After Schipper spoke to airline representatives and explained what had happened, he ruled out heading straight to Australia—which would have cost him another €1,500 ($1,600), and another 30 hours of air travel—and decided to fly back to Amsterdam instead.

Incredibly (or so it seems to me), an American woman on the same flight as Milan Schipper made the same mistake! And this incident is not the first time travellers have confused the two Sydney’s. In 2002 two British teenagers ended up in Sydney, Nova Scotia, while trying to visit Australia, as did an Argentine tourist in 2008, another Dutch man and his grandson in 2009, and an Italian couple in 2010.

Clearly, it helps to have more than a passing knowledge of world geography. It also helps to pay a lot more attention to the booking process.

Airlines Banned for Poor Safety Standards

~ Sadly, there have been a spate of airline accidents recently, which has prompted me to look into airline safety standards and the organisations that police them.

European Union

While the European Union and its Member States work with safety authorities in other countries to raise safety standards across the world, there are still some airlines operating in conditions below essential safety levels. To improve safety in Europe further, the European Commission – in consultation with Member States’ aviation safety authorities – has decided to ban airlines found to be unsafe from operating in European airspace.

These are listed in a 16 page PDF document which includes all airlines banned from operating in Europe, and airlines which are restricted to operating in Europe under specific conditions.

It is important to note that the civil aviation authorities of Member States of the European Community are only able to inspect aircraft of airlines that operate flights to and from EU airports. As they point out on their website, it is not possible to check all aircraft that land at each European Community airport. The fact that an airline is still able to fly in and out of countries that make up the EU, does not automatically mean that it meets the applicable safety standards.

Here is the current list of countries with air carriers that are subject to a ban or other restrictions within the European Community: Republic of Kazakhstan, North Korea, the Sudan, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Thailand, Cambodia, Rwanda, Angola, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Kyrgyz Republic, Gabon, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Bangladesh, and Comoros.

Please Note: Not every airline in the countries listed above faces bans or restrictions. Download a PDF file here to see which airlines in the above countries are facing bans and restrictions in the European Community.

United States of America

The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) established the International Aviation Safety Assessments (IASA) Program in 1992. Unlike the European Union, the FAA's assessment program focuses on a country's ability, not the individual air carrier, to adhere to international standards and recommended practices for aircraft operations and maintenance. These standards have been established by the United Nation's technical agency for aviation, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

By looking at a countries ability to comply rather than an individual airlines ability to comply with international safety stands, the FAA is essentially saying that travellers should be careful with every national airline flying out of say, Bangladesh and Belize – not just some of them.

The full list of countries on the FAA list are: Cote D’ Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Croatia, Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), Gambia, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Israel, Kiribati, Nauru, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Philippines, Serbia and Montenegro, Swaziland, Ukraine, Uruguay, Zimbabwe, and as already noted, Bangladesh and Belize.

Click here to download an International Aviation Safety Assessments (IASA) spreadsheet of countries whose airlines do, or do not meet IASA standards (spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel format).

It is important to note that these lists are updated on a regular basis. Countries or airlines that are currently listed may be removed from these bans, and new ones added. It is important to use these lists as a guide only, and decide for yourself whether to risk flying with one of the carriers facing bans or restrictions.

Image courtesy of European Transport Commission

Disabled Travellers and Flying

This is the second in an ongoing series of articles by Candy Harrington, examining travel issues as they relate to people with disabilities, particularly in the United States. If you haven’t done so, you may also like to read, Debunking Myths About Accessible Travel.

According to a 2005 study by the Open Doors Organization of Chicago, 84% of disabled travellers said they encountered obstacles when flying; while 82% reported access problems at airports.

Candy Harrington, author of Barrier-Free Travel; A Nuts and Bolts Guide for Wheelers and Slow Walkers, agrees that disabled travellers run into a lot of problems in the air. “I get a fair amount of reader feedback,” says Harrington, “and most of the complaints focus on air travel. Access problems range from deplaning delays and subsequent missed connections, to access obstacles in foreign airports and even cases of denied boarding for disabled passengers.”

For over 20 years, the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) has been he law of the land as far as accessible air travel is concerned; and thanks to periodic updates it has evolved to serve the needs of disabled travellers. The most recent revisions (effective May 13, 2009) serve to strengthen the law even more and offer greater protection to disabled travellers. Harrington points out some of these important changes, which will drastically improve the quality of the air travel experience for disabled travellers.

• The updated law legally extends coverage of the ACAA to all commercial flights to and from the US, including those operated by foreign air carriers. This means that foreign air carriers can no longer deny boarding to disabled passengers on flights to or from the US.
• Foreign airlines operating flights to or from the US must also ensure that disabled passengers can move through the terminal facilities at foreign airports.
• The law was edited to require the “prompt” deplaning of disabled passengers. The Department of Transportation (DOT) further defined prompt as “no later than as soon as the other passengers have deplaned.” This means that disabled passengers will no longer be left on planes well after the flight crew has departed.
• Employees or contractors providing airport wheelchair assistance are now required to make a brief restroom stop (upon request) if the restroom is located along the path of travel to the gate.
• The law also requires airlines to allow the on-board use of all FAA-approved portable oxygen concentrators, ventilators, respirators and CPAP machines. The DOT placed the burden of testing these devices on the manufacturers, not the airlines.
• The updated law specifies the dimensions of the on-board wheelchair storage space as being 13 inches by 36 inches by 42 inches. This eliminates ambiguity and will help passengers determine if their assistive device will fit in the limited priority storage area.
• If a service animal is unable to fit comfortably at the assigned seat location, the airline must now offer the passenger the opportunity to move to any open seat in the same class, that can safely accommodate the animal.
• Airline personnel are now required to assist disabled passengers at inaccessible ticket kiosks.
• Finally, although the new law stopped short of requiring airline websites to be accessible, it requires airlines to offer disabled passengers web-only fares that appear on inaccessible websites, by phone or another accessible reservation method.

Barrier-Free Travel; A Nuts and Bolts Guide for Wheelers and Slow Walkers, is available from your favourite bookstore or at www.BarrierFreeTravel.net, where Candy also blogs regularly about accessible travel issues.

Image courtesy of Disability Information Website...

The Week That Was #2

~ Welcome to my weekly collection of The Odd, The Useful, and The Downright Bizarre.

The Odd: Going to The Dogs! Four Reasons Pets Shouldn’t Fly

Christopher Elliott, in a recent post on Tripso.Com reports the following story: At just two pounds, Natalie Maldonado’s teacup Chihuahua weighs less than her purse. But on a recent AirTran flight from Tampa to Atlanta, as she tucked the dog under her seat, a crewmember stopped Maldonado because the pet had been improperly tagged, she says.

“I was surrounded by four agents, a gate agent, the flight attendants and another crewmember,” she remembers. “They demanded that I pay a $70 pet carry-on fee.” Read the full article here…

The Useful: Safety Tips for Female Travellers

Evelyn Hannon, editor of Journeywoman.com is an expert on women and travel. She is the consultant to Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada and the author of 'Her Own Way, A Woman's Guide to Safe and Successful Travel,' a 32-page booklet available at all Canadian Passport offices. For her creative work on behalf of female travellers, TIME magazine chose this expert, 'one of this century's 100 most innovative thinkers.' Here are Evelyn's top safety tips for female travellers learned from personal experience over the last 25 years. Read more here…

The Downright Bizarre: “Standing Room Only” on Chinese Airline?

Pinch me! Is it April Fool’s Day already? Here’s my nomination for Dumb Idea of The Month: Rick Seaney reports that four year old Spring Airlines, based in Shanghai, is looking at the idea of “standing room only” for some of its passengers. Strap-hangers of the world unite - you have nothing to lose but your seats! Read more here…

Got a few strange stories of your own? Feel free to share them via the Comments box below.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Image courtesy of ABC News…

Dealing With Jetlag

8 Tips On Dealing With Jet Lag
by Trevor Johnson

Jet lag is an awkward side effect of jet travel when you cross too many time zones for your body's liking. Face it, most of us have enough problems when we shift just an hour to daylight savings. Follow these tips on avoiding jet lag to help reduce the effects.

Not all these tips are relevant for every trip, especially if you're travelling on business at short notice, but at least some of them should be useful for you.

1. Adjust your sleep time
Start helping your body clock to adjust to the new time zone by changing the times that you go to sleep at night and awaken in the morning. You'll start to become accustomed to the new times. Make the adjustment about an hour each night.

2. Set your watch
As soon as you board your flight, set your watch to the new time. We look at our watches an amazingly high amount of times, so adjusting the time as soon as possible will help your mind realize that it's changing clocks.

3. Drink water. Lots of it
Sure, you can ask the stewardess for water but they have hundreds of other passengers to look after as well. Buy a bottle of water once you've passed through airport control and drink plenty of water during your flight.

4. Say no to coffee and alcohol
They both act as dehydrators. So they'll help to dry up your body even more than the flight already does. Soft drinks or water are to be preferred.

5. Get some rest on the flight
Depending on how enthusiastic the cabin staff are, this may be easier said than done. And if that child behind you rocks your seat once more, then that's another story. If you get the option, a window seat or one in the center of a block of seats will minimize the number of people who need to ask you to move out of their way. Noise cancelling headphones aren't standard issue on many flights, so if you are a regular traveler then treat yourself to a set. They really do cut down the disturbance of engine noise.

6. Go walkabout occasionally
OK, this is at odds with getting rest. But sitting down for hours on end isn't a good idea either. Walk up and down the aisles a few times. Not so much that you're pacing them but certainly go for this exercise a few times on a long flight. Just be certain not to time your expedition for meal or drinks or duty free services.

7. Adjust to your new time zone on the plane
If it's daytime at your destination, stay awake. If it's night where you are going, get some sleep. You can catch up on the in flight entertainment when you've got a bigger screen and better sound. Start adjusting as soon as you can.

8. Keep adjusting at your destination
Even if you've been on a plane for hours and hours. The sooner you start adjusting, the better. So if you arrive in the dead of night, get to sleep. A dose of melatonin may help here - it's a natural sleeping aid that's already produced by your body.

Trevor Johnson writes regularly about airline travel on his website...
Thanks to Trevor Johnson and Article City for the free use of this article.

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