Your Air travel Experiences

[Ottoman]

I've had the opportunity of travelling far and wide, Alhamdulillah. So in the process of doing so I have experienced air travel of some of the leading airlines in the world. This thread, here, could serve as a guidebook for people who are planning to travel in the future. So don't hesitate in sharing the goods, bads and the uglies of your travel experience.

Emirates: I've had the opportunity of travelling on Emirates a few times. From KHI/ISB to Dubai, Turkey and back. I left with mixed feelings. Their aeroplanes on the Pak-Dubai route are awful! Dirty seats and washrooms, out-of-order entertainment screens, rude staff, okay-ish food and a plane that seemed like it would break in half at any moment. Frightening!
Dubai and onwards (to civilized nations that is) is a different experience altogether. I was left perplexed wondering whether this was the same airline service or not. Five star service!
6/10

Saudia: Probably the best airline amongst the ones I've frequented. Top notch clean aeroplanes, decent staff and great food. Incidentally, it was Saudia which provided me with my first on-board entertainment system. 'Twas a Boeing-777 enroute to America in '98. Played tic-tac-toe and watched cartoons all the way.
I remember one sour incident when the staff refused us 'shai' because we were toddlers. I still own their perfumed tissues from those days.
9/10

Malaysia Airlines: Mixed feelings about this. Unclean plane with bubble gum on the seat that stuck to my clothes badly during a seven-hour flight to Malaysia. Return trip was fair and passed without incident. Food was decent and the staff very courteous.
7/10

Turkish Airline: Bad aeroplanes. One of the most uncomfortable journeys of my life. My ears hurt for days. But that was '96 and I heard they have improved vastly as the country's economy improved. So I'll reserve judgment till I have a chance to fly once again.

Delta Air Lines: Travelled domestically within the USA a few times. Everything was fine so it's a definite recommendation. A shame they don't provide lunch but that's not worrying considering most of it won't be halal either way.
9/10

Pakistan International Airlines: It's a miracle those planes can fly. I'm glad the European Union banned them from entering their airspace. Less said about our "national flag carrier" the better. Food used to be the only saving grace but even that has gone to the dogs now.
2/10

Airblue: Very clean aeroplanes. Good staff, good food and a comfortable journey. I've travelled to and fro from KHI to ISB a few times and they never gave me a chance to complain. I'm glad we have at least one decent airline operating within the country.
8/10


Next up is Etihad and Qatar Airways. I've been hearing a lot of good things about both, the latter specially. British Airways also received favourable reviews but I was too young back then to recall memories of that particular travel.

I'm sure a fair number of PG'ers have travelled abroad (and within the country). Let us know how you perceived air travel

 

[Blastwave]

Add CATHY PACIFIC

9/10

Excellent service. Excellent seats, environment and general behavior of crew.

Food is confusing. When going from Pakistan to anywhere, they serve horrible chicken dishes.

When coming from abroad TO Pakistan they serve awesome food stuff.

 

[Ottoman]

One of my uncles worked for Cathay Pacific in their Karachi office. He used to plaster our doors with airline stickers every time he visited us at home. Strange man

My father has travelled quite extensively on Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa and EgyptAir. He reckons European airlines are the best.

 

[murtaza12]

[MENTION=6068]Ottoman[/MENTION] when was the last time you flew a KHI-DXB route?
6/10 seems a bit low, doesn't it?

 

[murtaza12]

Add CATHY PACIFIC

9/10

Excellent service. Excellent seats, environment and general behavior of crew.

Food is confusing. When going from Pakistan to anywhere, they serve horrible chicken dishes.

When coming from abroad TO Pakistan they serve awesome food stuff.

Didn't Cathay Pacific stop flying to KHI after the airport attack?

 

[Ottoman]

@Ottoman when was the last time you flew a KHI-DXB route?
6/10 seems a bit low, doesn't it?

'07 I think. Emirates disappointed me deeply. Have matters improved though?

 

[Blastwave]

One of my uncles worked for Cathay Pacific in their Karachi office. He used to plaster our doors with airline stickers every time he visited us at home. Strange man

My father has travelled quite extensively on Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa and EgyptAir. He reckons European airlines are the best.

CATHY is from Hong Kong :crazy:

 

[murtaza12]

'07 I think. Emirates disappointed me deeply. Have matters improved though?

'07 is a long time ago.
A year or two ago they didn't have a proper schedule for which planes to send to KHI. They would throw anything that was available.
They've gotten better now, its a 77W for 3 flights a day and a 772 for the remaining two. The entertainment system in the new plane is terrific. They recently added Captain America the Winter Soldier. Just watched it on the plane a month ago.

 

[shahoo]

emirates is a big gun..so it means thats oonchi dukaan peekha pakwaan?

 

[smaaz]

I have traveled quite alot with Thai air and have to say in service department they are awesome but the plane they use for Pakistan was noisy rest of the flights are amazing. Ill rate 8/10

PIA Ill only say mamta ka ehsaas PIA .. that should be their next tagline, it was a 777 and it made such strange noises that I never heard before in a plane. Though I loved the interior of 777 its fantastic plane.

 

[Khawaja]

I've travelled quite a few times as well and you're list of Airblue and PIA are right on the mark. God, I still remember my journey from LHR-ISB and back, most frightening flight of my life. It was like the plane will crash any moment now.

Etihad Airways: Brilliant Service, Great Planes and Decent Food. I'll rate it with an easy 8/10

I'll be travelling to UK in a while thinking of trying another airline, which do you recommend? I need the trip to be as short as possible and cheap too but services need to be great too.

 

[murtaza12]

I've travelled quite a few times as well and you're list of Airblue and PIA are right on the mark. God, I still remember my journey from LHR-ISB and back, most frightening flight of my life. It was like the plane will crash any moment now.

Etihad Airways: Brilliant Service, Great Planes and Decent Food. I'll rate it with an easy 8/10

I'll be travelling to UK in a while thinking of trying another airline, which do you recommend? I need the trip to be as short as possible and cheap too but services need to be great too.

Short flight, cheap and great service? Those words don't together.

Try Emirates.
Since LHE is the closest city to you (considering you're in FSD) take this for example:

EK625 (LHE-DXB) arrives at 11:10 in DXB.

EK003 (DXB-LHR) takes off at 2:15 PM from DXB. Lands at 7 PM in LHR.

Then you can take either EK002 or EK004 on the way back and for Lahore, take EK624 as its got fewer people, most passengers grab the EK622 flight.

 

[murtaza12]

TBH, I can't really compare since I've never been on any other airline besides Emirates.

I've usually had a good experience with them, except for a month ago when I faced a 3 hour delay because of a technical issues where one of the engines had a problem with the oil pressure.
Otherwise its great. I've always loved the food. The Entertainment System is one of the best in the world. Their seats are comfy and the ones in the J cabin fold out almost into a flat bed. And if you check-in online, it really does save a lot of time at the airport. Especially if you're traveling with less baggage.
Overall: 9/10

 

[FUEL2009]

Pakistan International Airlines:Food used to be the only saving grace but even that has gone to the dogs now.

Way back in 1993 i was coming from Oman, the thing they served us at 12pm was a just a big tough 'khara biscuit', a singaporian guy who was sitting next to me, who was on a transit flight to singapore used his plastic fork to penetrate it, his fork broke into two pieces but the thing did not get penetrated.

 

[Ali250]

I found Shaheen planes to be more comfortable than AirBlue personally. They're older 737s but the seats were more comfortable and I think they're the only airline which serve proper meals on domestic flights

 

[ahmed123004]

Anyone travelled with Thai Air recently ?

Sent from my S5 Using TapaTalk.

 

[staticPointer]

bhai PIA kahan gyi ??? PIA ka kia qasoor ??

 

[Ottoman]

One of my friends found, what looked like, poop on a seat whilst travelling on PIA. On closer inspection it turned out to be a kebab, the ones that are very spreadable. I'm sure he was exaggerating though. lol :soh:

Started avoiding aeroplane food as I grew up. There's nothing unhygienic but food tastes different at 41,000 feet. I find I feel much better having declined food once I'm back on the ground.

Anyone travelled with Thai Air recently ?

Sent from my S5 Using TapaTalk.

Do they provide in-flight private massage?

 

[venom]

Pakistan International Airlines: It's a miracle those planes can fly. I'm glad the European Union banned them from entering their airspace. Less said about our "national flag carrier" the better. Food used to be the only saving grace but even that has gone to the dogs now. 2/10

The exact score it deserves.... Being Dead scared of travelling by air there was a time that I would not travel on any airline except PIA... Now I use Business Train

The last time I travelled from LHE-KHI a couple of months ago I got a dose of PIA's WET LEASED aircrafts... More like fucking dinky aircrafts... There was so much turbulence the whole way and given the fact that I'm already pretty scared of flying, it was a nightmare...

 

[abcd]

Reminds me of an incident I had with PIA last year. Half an hour before my flight was about to take off from karachi it started raining and there was a huge traffic jam. Since people usually arrive at the ariport an hour or so before the scheduled time the passengers were able to arrive at the airport and we thought that the flight would take off on time. We boarded the plane and waited as one hour passed, then two hours passed but the flight didn't take off. Some passengers started losing their temper and asked the air hostess what was going on and I still remember the reply she gave : Sir, pilot ki gadee main pani bhar gaya hai. Koi transport nahi chal rahi, pilot Shahrah-e-Faisal say walk kar kay paidal aa raha hai!

This was ridiculous because the rain had just started half an hour before take off time. Even the passngers are supposed to be at the airport before that time but the PIA pilot must have thought that the flight takes off at 4:30pm so I will leave home at 4:15pm and arrive at the airport at 4:29pm. One passenger got so furious that he forced the steward to call the pilot on his mobile and actually talked to him to check if they were telling the truth. Apparently the poor guy really was walking all the way from Shahrah-e-Faisal to the airport!