Time for a rant.

So, I have recently returned from the Land of Smiles to the Land of Frowns. I was fortunate enough to fly Qantas Airlines (Squash Us Airlines from now on). Not only was the ticket expensive but the service, staff and checking desk very mediocre. Staff were not friendly at all, everything seemed a big deal for the staff and at times they seemed quite rude to passengers. I was lucky enough to get the middle section, not aisle seat (3-4-3 seating arrangement) the seat would have been fine if I was 5 years old and 4 ' in height.

On a positive note I did get an "urban survival kit" which comprised of a toothbrush and toothpaste, socks and eye shades, all essential components for survival anywhere, I'll never leave home without it.

Set sarcasm mode = off

Squash Us Airlines you officially suck. I'll try to never fly with you again.

I guess I'm spoilt by Thai Airways (maybe spoilt is a bad choice of word, shouldn't ALL airlines try to offer the best service anyway?), unfortunately I could not fly Thai Airways as they were fully booked. Thai Airways have friendly staff and the food is also much better. It's bad enough to be in a confined space for around 12 hours, but if the staff can be friendly and accomodating it just adds to the overall experience of the holiday.

Thanks for reading

urban survival kit... might be quite handy, no?

I think Quantas is a bad choice. They are always expensive but the service is also usually bad or non exsistent. As for Thai airways? Well it depends on where you fly from. I was not overly impresssed with the London - Bkk flight [it was fine] but on other flights they were excellent. Also I think it depends if you get Thai staff? If you do then usually you are sure of good service and a nice tavel experience. I would fly Thai Air again happily however the best Airline is still Singapore so a flight to BKk with them is very good. Also emirates are good though not direct. From Lond there are many good options and Quantas would pretty much be on the bottom of my list.

When you spend over 700 pounds on a flight to Bkk from London the least you should get is decent service and affable staff. You ownt gety that with Qantas

I guess that's why my flights with Thai Airways have always been good, I had Thai staff and even flew Thai Airways to New Zealand return to BKK and that was a great flight. For the record, I paid 860 UK pounds for the recent trip with Qantas :-)

u were ROBBED!

I mean there is even a cheap airline from London gatwick I think which is 375 pounds [all in]

Cant beleive someone from England paying so much [London being such a gateway to the world with so many options] like thats like 1540 in US Dollars WOW! It must have been all to do with the flight availability= hard to get flights?

Yep, I could not get flights on the dates I wanted (basically for Songkran) so I thought I might as well get the cheapest direct flight at that time, which was Qantas. There were a few other options to fly via Qatar but the stopover times were crazy. I searched for days for cheap flights, many websites advertsing what you mentioned above but when it came to select dates there was no availablility. I've learnt the hard way ;-)

Well, I flew with Qantas last time I went to BKK for only ? 511 (with airport tax and travel insurance it was ? 630 approximatly), the flight from Brussels to London included. Of course it was a ticket I bought very early (book and pay). Of course the attendants r not so young and pretty as in most Asian lines, but I found them very professionel and never rude. The stewardesses from most Asian airlines r younger than 25 yrs and r probably fired when they get older (look at the other side of the medaillon).

I only use a flight to fly from point A to point B. If u take economy class u can't expect to be served as a king.

"I only use a flight to fly from point A to point B. If u take economy class u can't expect to be served as a king.

"

Cant agree with the inference here. Long haul flights are no budget airlines and as such a very different product. Nobody expects to be treated like a king regardless of what class of ticket. Economy should entitle ppl to good service and some comfort.

This has little to do with age, although naturally it would tend to make more sense that a younger person would have more energy and enthisiasm for their job in this type of industry. I think the key thing is that ppl like staff to be affable, approachable and generaly good natured. Not a huge request or expectation. Ppl dont like to feel that the staff feel put upon if you make any sort of approach or request and that staff see u as an inconvenice as opposed to someone who is a customoer who treated well will come back, not merely for the seat but for the confort and pleasantness of the experience. Other things come into play but in terms of value for money regardless of your rare find of a cheap quantas flight it is the case that they are very much on the very expensive side as compared with their rivals. And unlike say Singapore Airlines they have nowhere near the service to match! In short I would recomend anyone NOT TO FLY Quantas if at all possible. There are all sorts of offers that appear from time to time and it is all about timing. If your lucky you can get some good deals and even allowing for the stopover in Dubai some of the emerates can be very good with the stopover times so that it can often be a difference of only 3 hours as to exactly what time you arrive between a "direct" or indiect flight.

511 in euro to bkk is a very rare thing with Quantas

Went with Etihad for £400 return was ok apart from 12 hour wait in Abu Dhabi both journeys. They put us in a really nice hotel for the return but on the way out they overbooked the hotels and we had to spend the 12 hours in the business class lounge.

They did give us free beer, soft drinks, food and internet though.

I wasn't able to make it out to Thailand for Songkran this year but when I flew out last year from San Francisco to BKK on China Airlines the service was excellent and the ticket only cost me $730 roundtrip after all the taxex/fees were included. I had heard bad things about China Airlines but I wasn't willing to waste a LOT of money on a plane ticket when the point of the trip was to enjoy Thailand anyway. I was pleasantly surprised at the level of quality and kindess in service that I received for the price, especially with a 1 hour lay over in Taiwan for a grand total of nearly 20 hours on two seperate planes I told myself I am definitely taking them again the next time I fly to Thailand.

Qantas airlines suck. But I am stuck with them for now. I have too many frequent flyer points with them. Too bad Singapore airlines is not part of the Oneworld club.

agree with cosmo. qantas is bearable if you have to fly to sydney. if you have to fly to brisbane, qantas is a real pain in the neck. they only fly direct to brisbane on certain days. if you can't fly that day, its a flight to sydney, a 1 hour (at least) transfer to domestic on a bus. i'd much rather fly to melbourne than sydney, you don't have to leave the airport to transfer to domestic.

for me, royal jordanian will join the one world alliance next year so i can use them (and my frequent flyer points) to fly to bangkok and qantas to home.

for me, the best way comfort wise and service wise is qatar airlines to bangkok and singapore airlines to brisbane

i have used thai airways lots of times, but the don't have personal tv screens yet. i can't beleive that they are dragging their feet over fitting these things. qantas installed these things years ago and they were one of the last airlines to do it, except of course royal jordanian, but RJ is a hell of a lot cheaper then airlines with screens fitted. thai is still bloody expensive.

i hate qantas. when i was in east timor i had booked flights to sydney on ansett air. qantas had the government go over their maintenance records. after a few errors were found ansett was shut down. qantas promptly raised all their air fares since the competition was no longer around. bastards.

johnno is right about qatar air. i have flown them from kuwait to bkk. they beat the hell out of emirates, kuwait air and royal jordanian.

I hate Thai Airways!!!! Have never really been treated 'nicely' by the staff. Ask them a question and they stuck their noses at you and just walked away. WTF!

They have always been known to treat farangs better than their own people unless you fly business or first.

I have flown with Etihad, Royal Jordanian and Qatar Airways (have stop-overs though) to Bangkok.. never had a problem. Service was good but not perfect (Qatar airways have a really good cabin staff though).. if you are patient at transit.. you'll be fine :-)

Qantas sucks ?! I have been told they are good I have trained for them ( cargio ) and I know someone who works with them I will tell my friend! So try EK next time na ka

Good comments from all. VVodka that's not the first time I've heard that Thai Air are bad to Thai customers, must be some truth in that.

I think it's fairly obvious that Airlines should realise that there's plenty of competition between choosing an airline and that they should strive for the best possible service.

Qatar was a choice for me as well but I didn't like the idea of sitting in an airport for a few hours for transit. Beach or Airport hmmmm ;-)