Singapore Airlines, one of the main companies of the Southeast Asia that wins passenger choice awards very often, gained top marks for its service in both classes.

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific together with Dubai’s Emirates airline got the second rank in the premium-class category. Also Emirates occupied the second rank for its economy class service.

The third rank in premium class service was given to Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand.

Despite the fact that Continental, the U.S. airline, got a 15 score being behind the others, Tim Zagat, CEO of Zagat Survey, considered the result of the company as an achievement.

“The newer airlines continue to do well in the survey. Being less expensive to operate, they can therefore afford to provide better service,” said Zagat in his statement. He also added that such airline companies as Singapore, Emirates and Cathay Pacific prospered not due to governmental support. The question arose how Continental did so well as the company did not have any specific advantages.

Also Continental became the best value company in international routes.

As a result Continental Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airways got the leading position in two categories. Southwest Airlines won in four categories while Virgin America was top-rated in three.

The Zagat survey was the third annual airline survey that exposed diminution in the number of flights because of the global economy recession.

The survey showed that only 7 percent of respondents flew more as well as others flew less this year.

The number of business flights diminished to 61 percent this year in comparison with 2007 when it was 64 percent. But as for leisure flights, their number increased by 4 percent this year.

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Here we present some of the most luxurious airlines in the world and what they have to offer the discerning well-heeled traveler.

1. Virgin Atlantic

Image: Fatmonkey

Always wanting to be seen as the hip and happening airline, Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class Suite offers a colourful cabin where passengers can meet each other in a relaxed atmosphere. With free massages on offer, no set meal times and an attractive bar area, Virgin is a popular choice with those who like all the trimmings but not necessarily all the stuffiness of a luxury airline.

Other perks on offer: Complimentary chauffeur driven car service to and from the airport, drive thru check-in at Heathrow, Gatwick and Johannesburg, and fully reclinable flat-bed seats.

2. Emirates

Image: PYONKO

Emirates have been a consistent contender in the luxury market over the last few years, with an attentive service and excellent reputation. They offer private cabins in first class, where the seat converts into a 2m long flat bed, and in-flight amenities include a 23 inch LCD flat screen and personal mini bar. Business class seats are very roomy, with deep reclining sleeper seats, and frequent flyers are able to customize their entertainment systems with their personal choices for use on future flights.

Other perks on offer: Laptop charging, SMS, phone and email are all available from your seat. First class passengers enjoy a seven-course meal prepared by top chefs and accompanied with a wide selection of fine wines.

3. Thai Airways

Image: Richard Moross

If you’re planning on flying to or through Bangkok any time soon be sure to leave a few hours in your travels to visit Thai Airways’ first class lounge at Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi Airport, which this year was awarded the World’s Best First Class Lounge by Skytrax. Offering a luxury spa, massage rooms, a fine dining area, deluxe seating areas and state-of-the-art visual entertainment rooms, a visit to the lounge is worth booking a luxury seat alone. On board, Thai’s first class and business class sections offer wide seats that convert to flat beds, an excellent in-flight entertainment system and an exquisite menu selection that is fast making Thai Airways known as ‘Restaurant in the Sky’.

Other perks on offer: First class passengers are able to pre-book their six-course meal prior to the flight. Complimentary Dom Perignon Champagne is available, as is a limo service.

4. British Airways

Image: Howard

One of the granddaddies of luxury flying, British Airways has been around since just after World War I in one guise or another but their luxury offerings are far from old hat. Their cabins hold an understated luxury that’s synonymous with the British way of life and varies from plane to plane. On the Boeing 747 and 777 aircrafts there are ‘demi-cabins’ boasting seats that extend to an impressive feet and six inches in length. Passengers can enjoy dining at a time that suits them, and if you’re flying from London you can order a ‘Catch of the Day’ freshly caught that morning in Loch Fyne, Scotland.

Other perks on offer: Dine on the ground in one of BA’s elegant land lounges prior to boarding a night flight to maximise your sleep time in the air.

5. Singapore Airlines

Image: Richard Moross

There was much fanfare a few years ago when Singapore Airlines revealed their new first class suites on the A380. Replete with recliner seat and separate bed area, the cabins are, without doubt, the ultimate luxury in air travel. Although, their first class and business class seating areas are none too shabby, either. First class beds are made up with your own down-filled mattress, duvet, and pillow by air cabin staff, and in business class 30 inch-wide seats, which convert to a flat-bed, are in a 1-2-1 configuration so offer ample space ensuring you’ve got your own slice of luxury.

Other perks on offer: Snacks and drinks are available at a passenger area throughout the flight. Medium-haul business class seats offer all-in-one business panels. All seats have widescreen TV with extensive in-flight entertainment system.

6. Qantas

Image: David Lytle

Nicknamed ‘The Flying Kangaroo’, Australia’s main airline is also the world’s second oldest, founded in 1920. Since then, their services have just got better and better, offering first, business and premium economy seats. Fully flat beds in first class are available on the Boeing 747–400 and Airbus A380 only, so if you’re going to book them you’d better be quick. Each pod has a 17 inch wide screen HD TV with a whopping 1,000 programs to choose from, so there’s no chance of being bored during the flight, either. And in business class on demand controls allow you to watch what you want, when you want. First class passengers are also treated to a unique dining experience, where all meals are freshly prepared on board and canapés are served before an appetising eight-course tasting menu. How indulgent!

Other perks on offer: As Qantas is part of the oneworld ® alliance, passengers are invited into any other participating oneworld ® airline lounge worldwide where a Qantas lounge is not available.

7. Cathay Pacific

Image: Richard Moross

Operating out of Hong Kong Airport, one of the busiest hubs in South East Asia, Cathy has been servicing the luxury flier for many years. It’s not only their attentiveness to passengers that makes people fly with them time and time again, but the level of comfort offered on board, on both their first and business class cabins. With just six to nine seats in first class you’re sure to be pampered throughout the trip. Each seat has a massage function, personal closet and ottoman. The business class seats are laid out in a herringbone configuration, which offers the ultimate in privacy, but a lonely flight if you’re traveling with a friend or partner.

Other perks on offer: Get your very own sleep suit or pyjamas in first class, and Agnes b, Murad and Dermalogica products in business for the ultimate in in-flight pampering.

Linda is a writer and editor, for Credit Card Compare where she writes about the best frequent flyer credit cards, balance transfer cards and other personal finance issues.

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He also asked the creative customer to come to their catering house to help them select their onboard catering menus. Here is the letter that cause quite a stir on the interwebs; it’s a few years old but is certainly worth a read.

Dear Mr Branson

REF: Mumbai to Heathrow 7th December 2008

I love the Virgin brand, I really do which is why I continue to use it despite a series of unfortunate incidents over the last few years. This latest incident takes the biscuit.

Ironically, by the end of the flight I would have gladly paid over a thousand rupees for a single biscuit following the culinary journey of hell I was subjected to at the hands of your corporation.

Look at this Richard. Just look at it:

I imagine the same questions are racing through your brilliant mind as were racing through mine on that fateful day. What is this? Why have I been given it? What have I done to deserve this? And, which one is the starter, which one is the desert?

You don’t get to a position like yours Richard with anything less than a generous sprinkling of observational power so I KNOW you will have spotted the tomato next to the two yellow shafts of sponge on the left. Yes, it’s next to the sponge shaft without the green paste. That’s got to be the clue hasn’t it. No sane person would serve a desert with a tomato would they. Well answer me this Richard, what sort of animal would serve a desert with peas in:

I know it looks like a baaji but it’s in custard Richard, custard. It must be the pudding. Well you’ll be fascinated to hear that it wasn’t custard. It was a sour gel with a clear oil on top. It’s only redeeming feature was that it managed to be so alien to my palette that it took away the taste of the curry emanating from our miscellaneous central cuboid of beige matter. Perhaps the meal on the left might be the desert after all.

Anyway, this is all irrelevant at the moment. I was raised strictly but neatly by my parents and if they knew I had started desert before the main course, a sponge shaft would be the least of my worries. So lets peel back the tin-foil on the main dish and see what’s on offer.

I’ll try and explain how this felt. Imagine being a twelve year old boy Richard. Now imagine it’s Christmas morning and you’re sat their with your final present to open. It’s a big one, and you know what it is. It’s that Goodmans stereo you picked out the catalogue and wrote to Santa about.

Only you open the present and it’s not in there. It’s your hamster Richard. It’s your hamster in the box and it’s not breathing. That’s how I felt when I peeled back the foil and saw this:

Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking it’s more of that Baaji custard. I admit I thought the same too, but no. It’s mustard Richard. MUSTARD. More mustard than any man could consume in a month. On the left we have a piece of broccoli and some peppers in a brown glue-like oil and on the right the chef had prepared some mashed potato. The potato masher had obviously broken and so it was decided the next best thing would be to pass the potatoes through the digestive tract of a bird.

Once it was regurgitated it was clearly then blended and mixed with a bit of mustard. Everybody likes a bit of mustard Richard.

By now I was actually starting to feel a little hypoglycaemic. I needed a sugar hit. Luckily there was a small cookie provided. It had caught my eye earlier due to it’s baffling presentation:

It appears to be in an evidence bag from the scene of a crime. A CRIME AGAINST BLOODY COOKING. Either that or some sort of back-street underground cookie, purchased off a gun-toting maniac high on his own supply of yeast. You certainly wouldn’t want to be caught carrying one of these through customs. Imagine biting into a piece of brass Richard. That would be softer on the teeth than the specimen above.

I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was relax but obviously I had to sit with that mess in front of me for half an hour. I swear the sponge shafts moved at one point.

Once cleared, I decided to relax with a bit of your world-famous onboard entertainment. I switched it on:

I apologise for the quality of the photo, it’s just it was incredibly hard to capture Boris Johnson’s face through the flickering white lines running up and down the screen. Perhaps it would be better on another channel:

Is that Ray Liotta? A question I found myself asking over and over again throughout the gruelling half-hour I attempted to watch the film like this. After that I switched off. I’d had enough. I was the hungriest I’d been in my adult life and I had a splitting headache from squinting at a crackling screen.

My only option was to simply stare at the seat in front and wait for either food, or sleep. Neither came for an incredibly long time. But when it did it surpassed my wildest expectations:

Yes! It’s another crime-scene cookie. Only this time you dunk it in the white stuff.

Richard…. What is that white stuff? It looked like it was going to be yoghurt. It finally dawned on me what it was after staring at it. It was a mixture between the Baaji custard and the Mustard sauce. It reminded me of my first week at university. I had overheard that you could make a drink by mixing vodka and refreshers. I lied to my new friends and told them I’d done it loads of times. When I attempted to make the drink in a big bowl it formed a cheese Richard, a cheese. That cheese looked a lot like your baaji-mustard.

So that was that Richard. I didn’t eat a bloody thing. My only question is: How can you live like this? I can’t imagine what dinner round your house is like, it must be like something out of a nature documentary.

As I said at the start I love your brand, I really do. It’s just a shame such a simple thing could bring it crashing to it’s knees and begging for sustenance.

Yours Sincererly…
(source)

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More and more people everywhere use iPhones and those who for some reason are scared of flying are not few either. A spokesman from Mental Workout, a company developing software to help people solve issues and increase mental performance, said an estimated one in every three adults were scared of flying.

The iPhone application was developed by the airline together with Mental Workout and has shown, based on the customer’s feedback, that the program has a success rate of over 98 percent.

This is Virgin Atlantic innovation at its best. Our first iPhone app will bring the benefits of our successful Flying Without Fear course to millions of people around the world who are now using mobile technology to make their lives better. The app will put many travelers at ease and enable them to prepare for their first Virgin Atlantic flight, stated Richard Branson, President of Virgin Atlantic.

The course starts with a personal introduction by Sir Richard Branson, followed by a video-based in-flight explanation and customized program to prepare you for future flights. Together with a fear attack button in case of emergencies you get 2,000 bonus points when joining Flying Club.

Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Without Fear team recently helped American actress Whoopi Goldberg overcome her fear of flying. The actress had not flown for a decade but a business commitment in London meant she had to step on a plane once again. After going through the course, Whoopi Goldberg said:

I was a sceptic. I hadn’t flown in 13 years but after doing their program, I understood that while my fear was real, there were many things I didn’t know or had misinformation about, which they were able to clear up. So what happened? The program works. I now fly. It’s that simple.

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There is no access to the Statement of Objections that is why Virgin Atlantic can not comment in detail on this very issue. But it hopes that the Commission will understand that actions of the alliance will have a devastating effect. The alliance will influence greatly on the competition and consumer interests of six routes from Heathrow to the U.S. It means that it will receive doubtless control on time-sensitive premium passengers.

Steve Ridgway, Chief Executive of Virgin Atlantic, said that they agreed with the European Commission concerning anti-competitive issues with British Airways and American Airlines’ offers. He also added the alliance is considered to be the option for two carriers that will help them to increase their power by setting prices and agreeing schedules at Heathrow.

Virgin Atlantic believes that if the alliance exists, it will use its position to destroy competitive tendencies and increase prices. It is also considered that British Airways and American Airlines a will become the only company that take the most profitable routes between Heathrow and the U.S.

According to Steve Ridgway, Virgin Atlantic will continue to expound the essence of their claims to the European Commission and prove that the alliance will cause an irreparable harm to healthy competition in the aviation market. He added that the alliance of British Airways and American Airlines is like “bad news for completion and for consumers”. That is why Virgin Atlantic appealed to the US Department of Transportation’s to consider the issue carefully, because it is necessary to protect the competition and interests of consumers.

Source: BBC

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