I’ve recently updated this list as my previous ‘Number 1’ airline was Wow Air. A truly fantastic airline in my experience but sadly, it went bust and so I’ll never get to fly with them again. RIP.

 

Nevertheless, I’ve had some other incredible experiences in the air and as a result, definitely have some strong opinions on favourites:

Norwegian Air

If I’m looking to fly anywhere, I’ll always check whether Norwegian flies there – so far I’ve flown to Copenhagen, New York and Split with them (no they don’t just fly to Norway) and always had a great experience.

The flight to New York in particular, was brilliant. The plane was lovely (the smoothest ride ever with the fancy new lights to help with jetlag), the staff were nice and the entertainment was pretty good too (as in films and stuff, the hosts didn’t put on a musical production or anything, thank god).

Ok, yes they did lose my mum’s bag on the way back and it was an absolute mission to get it back/claim on insurance because you have to physically print and send forms to Norway in the post. Nevertheless, I’m not sure the bag being lost was their fault specifically, I think it was more down to the airport than anything.

That aside, the flights are affordable, the planes are nice and they have a lot of options of places I’d like to go – Texas anyone?

 

Air Canada

I’ve flown with Air Canada a few times now and never had a bad experience. Most recently, flying from Toronto to London, all of the staff couldn’t have been more helpful. In fact, I actually ended up sending an email to Air Canada afterwards about how great they all were – people love sending complaint emails so I thought it might be nice for them to get a positive review for once; from the moment I got into the terminal at the airport, Air Canada staff helped me weigh my bag, get my luggage label printed and point me in the right direction. I mean, I can imagine I did look quite flustered as it was early in the morning and confused about life but they didn’t have to help me so much.

The whole experience was a delight – I was fed so many times on the way there (with them considering my dietary requirements, which was great), had a million cups of tea and in general, they were really nice. Plus they have great onboard entertainment and the opportunity to check in for your flight/book a seat for free 24 hours in advance on the app, which meant that I got a seat in an aisle of 2 people in both directions. I picked one right at the back so I was near the toilet and could recline my seat without irritating anyone, too. Pretty good (well until you try to get off and it takes a million years because you have to wait for everyone else, but still).

Amazingly, I would say my mum has had an even better experience with them because she was bumped up to business class when we flew from Montreal to Calgary a few years ago. I sat in lowly economy with no food, squashed in between two people, while she was fed multiple times and waited on throughout the entire flight. I’ll point out, there wasn’t meant to be any food, so I wasn’t annoyed by this – I was just jealous (still am a bit) that she got bumped up and I didn’t.

Overall, I’ve always had a good experience and if you fly at the right time/look out for deals, you can get flights at a reasonable price.

 

Air Transat

My friend Hamilton and I flew with Air Transat from London to Toronto, on our way out to Canada a couple of years ago. It was the cheapest flight we could find and for an extra 50 pounds, we also got to add on a bag, had priority boarding and got extra food throughout the flight, that in all honesty I could barely eat because there was so much. Now, with BA its 60 pounds more for an additional bag alone, which is madness.

We also had 2×2 seats so it was just the two of us and we didn’t have to talk to any other people, which was perfect considering we were in the process of moving to another country and would have probably been very annoying to listen to.

All of the air hosts were really friendly and very taken aback when at one point they offered us a drink and we turned it down – we had just had one and physically couldn’t drink any more (it seems no one usually says no to free drinks). Also, the onboard entertainment had loads of options, keeping us entertained for the entire flight. Although we had the misfortune to choose to watch A Wrinkle in Time, which may well be the worst film I have ever seen. This of course, I do not blame on Air Transat though. I realise they did not make A Wrinkle In Time.

The only things I didn’t love about flying with them was the luggage restrictions – they even weigh your hand luggage. I’ve heard of restrictions before but I’ve never actually seen them enforced. Thankfully, mine just about weighed in. My big bags were 0.1 over (even though I weighed them on the scales around the corner), but they let that fly luckily.

Also, when my boyfriend flew with them the window was flapping ever so slightly which (funnily enough) made him a bit nervous. Saying that, I personally haven’t had a bad experience so what can I say? (Sorry Fred).

 

KLM

This is kind of a random one in comparison because I’ve only ever flown very short haul with them but you know what, my experience on board every flight has been a breeze; the hosts have been lovely and you got given little snack boxes with water and food in even on a short flight, something most cheap airlines wouldn’t even consider giving out to people on a longer haul.

The only issue I had with them was that they cancelled my flight the day before (it was a Monday morning flight, first thing so I could get back to work on time) and they tried to reschedule it for 3pm the next day. I only found out it was cancelled because they sent me a text message and then I had to have an incredibly painful conversation with them, convincing them to allow us to fly back into London Heathrow rather than City airport because the arrival time would only be 10 minutes later than the other flight and still within London. This took them a while to get their head around but they did change it for us in the end.

I mean, this flight then got delayed by 30 minutes on the runway due to fog but that wasn’t their fault.

In general, a nice and easy airline to fly with that I would pick over Ryanair any day.

 

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British Airways

I’ve been very up and down about BA since they stopped offering food/drink for free on flights – for me, that was something that made British Airways stand out above other airlines, making it worth the extra money to fly with them.

Saying that, their staff are always incredibly friendly, I can’t fault the planes and plus, the last flight I took with them was actually business class. So my most recent memory of them is of course, positive.

It’s the only business class flight I have ever taken and honestly, I could really get used to it. It makes such a difference to flying – airport lounges, free drinks, actual knives and forks when you eat.

We only did this because I had airmiles and Avios gave me a free upgrade, so I didn’t actually have to pay for this luxury; it’s in this way that I would highly recommend BA – air miles aren’t as big a thing in the UK as they are in other countries like America and Canada, so not everyone thinks to make use of them.

I like using the scheme because ok, you might not get that much bang for your buck, but no matter what it’s better than nothing. We only flew from London to Scotland and back with our air miles (because I didn’t have that many!) but it still saved us some money, and the experience of flying business class (especially with BA) is one I will never forget.

 

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Easyjet

As a budget airline that doesn’t always have the best reputation, Easyjet might not always be high up on everyone’s lists, however if I ever had to choose between Easyjet and Ryanair, I would pick Easyjet any day.

I actually quite like flying with Easyjet. It is actually genuinely, quite easy. Yes you have to pay for checked baggage and a few other extras but they actually allow you to take a normal sized cabin bag on for free, their app is good and they have a lot of options on places to fly.

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There are also a hell of a lot of airlines I’ve not flown with, that I would be interested in like Emirates and Virgin. If I like an airline, I do tend to stick with them if I can but at the same time, I’m not adverse to trying new ones because you never know, you might find a ‘Norwegian Air’.

 

Abi
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@travelteatv