The 2015 Airline Awards

I laugh because I know some of you know, that we are gone on our 2015 “Winter Escape”. And here you come on to the blog to see a post from Buenos Aires today, just prior to this posting. Well let me just say that I finish what I start. It might take me a while but I eventually get it done.

In my defense, it has been a busy year and that last bit from our 2014 trip was a ton of work. We covered a lot of ground that day and I wanted an accurate record of it but I just kept putting it off.

So what about the 2015 trip? Well let’s just say we are back in the southern Hemisphere. However, we are nowhere near South America this time. This year we are just about as far away from Calgary as you can get. We are in the southern Indian Ocean on an island nation which is situated to the east of Madagascar, and I will get into the description of that island and provide a theme for you in my next posting.  Suffice it to say, I thought that because we made this epic journey getting here I should describe the journey itself because it was a real marathon. We flew 21 hours to get here on three airlines with a 2-hour layover in Europe and a 3-hour layover in the Middle East. It was 26 hours of travelling but because we flew east we lost a day and a half as we flew into the earth’s rotation. The coolest thing about it though is that we can legitimately compare three good long-haul airlines. So without further adieu, I give you ……

GYM’S 2015 AIRLINE AWARDS

We flew business class all the way, used each airline’s business class lounge and can make a number of different comparisons for you.

The first leg of the journey started in Calgary and took us across Canada’s Great Canadian Shield, crossed over the Hudson’s Bay and then over Labrador on a line that would have us fly above the North Atlantic Ocean, just south of Greenland and Iceland. Then we flew over Scotland and the English Channel, eventually entering German airspace and landed in Frankfurt, one of Europe’s busiest airports. Air Canada was chosen to handle this first segment and it was completed in a  767.

After a short layover in Frankfurt, we boarded a Lufthansa 747-400. This leg took us over eastern Europe, the corner of Asia and then dropped us down through the Middle East and into Dubai. Notable was the fact that we flew across the Black sea just to the south of Ukraine and then ran down between Iraq and Iran, without getting shot down. I was happy to sea the lights of Dubai as we left Iranian airspace and crossed the Persian Gulf.

The final leg of the trip went almost due south over the U.A.E., skirted the corner of Saudi Arabia and then went over Oman leaving that country’s airspace at Salalah.  From there it was all over water as we traveled down the eastern side of Africa in a nice new Emirates Boeing 777 to our final island destination.

There are lots of things to compare and I have tried to narrow it down to the important stuff, the things that matter to everyone. First on the list is the most important comparison, as follows:

THE SLEEPER AWARD

This gold medal goes to Air Canada for its “lie flat sleeper pods”. These units just have more room and you really can lie flat.  In addition the AC units allow you to flip over and roll around a little bit, as long as you loosen the seatbelt somewhat.  The pods also offer you more privacy so you can pick your nose and scratch things and no one will notice. Emirates units are nice but you don’t lie flat and movement is more restricted. Lufthansa seats afford no privacy and are really just recliners.

BEST AIRPORT LOUNGE

This wasn’t even close. The Maple Leaf lounge in Calgary simply sucks in comparison to the other two lounges but it’s better than anything an American airline offers. The clear winner though is Emirates, by a country mile. Incredible is a good word to describe the service, the style and comfort and the food and liquor offered by Emirates. Lufthansa gets a silver medal here and a special mention for serving Frankfurters with frankfurters for lunch in Frankfurt. It was also neat to see all the Germans drinking Beck’s draft just like they were supposed to be doing.

searching for the Emirates lounge in Dubai

Finally, at the Emirates lounge and unfortunately
there is only 5 chefs on at 2 am

IN-FLIGHT SERVICE AWARD

This wasn’t close either. Air Canada wins this award hands down. The senior crew on Air Canada, and I mean “senior” in more ways than one, really knew what they were doing. Everyone on the flight got what they ordered and although the food could be better quality, it was served efficiently and there were no screw-ups. Lufthansa had some nice offerings but somehow. they got out of sync. Perhaps they got confused when I said something that sounded like a German phrase and later, when queried in that language, I answered with a blank stare. Next time this happens I will just say, Danka. Emirates attendants looked good but the service was poorly coordinated and  simply the worst of the three. I was actually shocked by the service on Emirates.

AIRPORT SERVICE

Emirates gets the gold here. The Emirates tickets were not linked to the other two tickets and we were worried about our luggage. Emirates ground crew simply asked us for our Lufthansa luggage tags and promised us that they would get our luggage on their plane, which they did. They then guided us through this enormous airport to their lounge where we waited for our flight to be called. The Lufthansa staff was very nice but something the Air Canada staff did caused the normally efficient Germans to be embarrassed because the AC tickets we’d been issued for the Lufthansa flight were not recognized by the German hardware which delayed us from boarding first. In addition, the Air Canada departure gate staff in Calgary were held up by the airplane cleaners who could not get their act together to let us get away on time. Luckily we had a tail wind and made up the time.

CABIN AND COMFORT

Emirates had the most beautiful, modern interiors and the most gadgets I have ever seen on a plane including an excellent touchscreen entertainment center connected to a laptop at each seat. Emirates also had the best swag bag I have ever seen offered by any airline that I have traveled on. The Emirates swag bag includes a BVLGARI gift set, a real tooth brush and a month’s suppy of colgate toothpaste, a better razor than I use and a decent brush comb that is useful. I will be re-gifting the expensive men’s cologne next Christmas. The other two airlines were sort of tied in this category but let’s give the edge to Lufthansa who seemed to have a better selection of movies.

FLIGHT ATTENDENTS

Google pictures of Emirates flight attendants and you will see why they win gold here. They actually look like the pictures you will pull up on the net. They are young and their rich looking uniforms are perfectly tailored. Lufthansa gets the silver in their smart suits. Air Canada attendants need a makeover. Their uniforms are old school and the average age is 25 to 30 years older than the Emirates staff. AC attendants need a makeover but let’s hope they don’t ever lose their knack for excellent service.

So for those of you that are keeping track, Emirates won this competition with the most gold medals and the most overall points. However, there were some surprises and again let me just say that both Air Canada and Lufthansa beat any American airline in every category, hands down – especially United Airlines.

Tomorrow I will let you know where we are, so stay tuned.