What little-known airline pleasantly surprised you?

[Townsend]

Atlantic Airlines who are the national carrier of the Faroe Islands from FAE to EDI. The engines looked a little dodgy but the pilots were amazing flying in winds that almost blew us over as we walked out to the plane.

 

[trooper]

Great Lakes (ZK) from DEN-CEZ. Beech 1900. Enjoyed the lack of a coughpit door which gave a very interesting view on approach!! (This was some years ago) Not little known really...but less used by Aussies? Norwegian (D8?) from ARN-LGW. Very comfortable (and clean) for a LCC..and the portrait of a Norwegian WW2 resistance hero on the tail was a nice touch.

 

[StevoQFtraveller]

We flew Mango Air from JNB to DUR.
A 737, there was ample leg room in Y, the staff were friendly and I'm pretty sure we were given a snack. The flight was also inexpensive. Unfortunately the airline is currently grounded I believe, financial collapse.

Had an equally good experience with Mango pre-covid

 

[docjames]

Click Mexicana (circa 2009) - F100, 34” economy pitch, safely got us into HAV post cyclone. Decent snack, happy cabin crew.


Shame they went under. Probably needed to be more ruthless (cheap)…..


I also found SAA on JNB-CPT and vv (in J) to be surprisingly good. Great CSM (or equivalent).

 

[StevoQFtraveller]

Flew Y (well, I was young and a back-packer at the time!) With Ward Air from Gatwick to Toronto in the early 80s. It was certainly a stand-out among Y classes....food served on china and wine in a "glass". I was over the moon at the time!

 

[k_sheep]

Hmm Berjaya air flying to Tioman island from SIN or Sepang .... but that's more about the destination than the journey! You get fine dining (a juice cup, a wrapped lolly, and a sandwich wrapped in cling wrap fresh from someones' grandma!) and a stunning view.

 

[clifford]

Hmm Berjaya air flying to Tioman island from SIN or Sepang .... but that's more about the destination than the journey! You get fine dining (a juice cup, a wrapped lolly, and a sandwich wrapped in cling wrap fresh from someones' grandma!) and a stunning view.

Well, I did have a ticket to fly Blue Air within Romania (OTP-CLJ) in 2020, but unfortunately something got in the way and I now have a voucher!

 

[oobi doobi]

Flew Korean air from Busan to Jeju island and return to Seoul. From memory it was the bad old days before they improved their safety. People on their phones as we taxied for takeoff etc.

cheers

 

[jase05]

Vietnam Airlines. Much more leg room space, plane looked brand new, and wonderful food.

Only flown a few long haul legs with them and they were fantastic. I use them exclusively for domestic Vietnamese flights and always been good.
Yeaterday had a flight with them HPH-DAD in J on the A321 and very happy again. SkyPriority fully adhered to, comfy J seats and great staff with excellent food. Flight was just on a hour and impressed with the flavours of the dish. On arrival at DAD we disembarked on the apron a fair way from terminal, staff pulled curtains across to stop Y passengers and allowed all J pax off first to our own bus that had leather comfy seats whilst Y pax had to wait for the regular stand up bus. Priority luggage came out about 1 minute after we arrived at the carousel and J pax has their luggage and were outside the terminal before the Y pax had even arrived in the terminal. Super impressed by the setup




J pax bus to terminal

 

[NamarrgonFlyer]

Aegean Airlines, for me... flew them when their economy was deeply in the toilet (2011) and was a very nice flight in Y with very nice Greek food and new aircraft.

 

[Mattg]

Aegean Airlines, for me... flew them when their economy was deeply in the toilet (2011) and was a very nice flight in Y with very nice Greek food and new aircraft.

Oh, I do like the food on Aegean... even in Y!

I've flown them a few times around Europe and had generally good experiences.

 

[laffer]

I enjoyed Air Tahiti Nui. Took them from Syd to NYC via Tahiti. A nice stop over half way across the pacific to stretch the legs a little bit. This flight was a while ago. From memory it was on an A340.

 

[The Beast]

Buddha Air (internal flight in Nepal). Passing out cotton wool for use as ear plugs as we boarded was not an encouraging start, Other than that, uneventful and some very pretty scenery.

 

[AIRwin]

Buddha Air (internal flight in Nepal). Passing out cotton wool for use as ear plugs as we boarded was not an encouraging start, Other than that, uneventful and some very pretty scenery.

What aircraft?

 

[dairyfloss]

I've got two - Aegean Airlines in the Mediterranean, which was called out above as well... great food and service in Y on a few flights that I did as a part of a status match with them many years ago.

The other was IndiGo in India, for some short hops between BLR & HYD that I'd done in the couple of years prior to COVID. A budget carrier in India, and even so, it was a clean, comfortable and efficient from check-in to arrival. Glad to see they were the choice for QF on their newer codeshares inside India, though I'm still more likely to connect through Asia (SIN/KUL) than fly direct to BLR/HYD.

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[karen blancfield]

Had a good experience flying from Northern England to Rome last month with Jet2. We paid for a meal and a suitcase, were allocated seat 4 aisle and aisle. The only surprise was that passenger in Row 1 was allowed to enter coughpit for a look before we took off, a bit disconcerting these days.

 

[Cossie]

Lao Skyways a few years ago, Phonsavan to Luang Prabang.

Cessna Caravan. Flew quite low through valleys, good views.

 

[karen blancfield]

Any recent experience with Phillipine Airlines?

 

[Forg]

Any recent experience with Phillipine Airlines?

Is this because they’re currently really cheap?

I saw the same, looked online for a few reviews & they were pretty good. Believe the current discounts are because they’re in the process of going broke & buying a ticket is … risky.

 

[karen blancfield]

Is this because they’re currently really cheap?

I saw the same, looked online for a few reviews & they were pretty good. Believe the current discounts are because they’re in the process of going broke & buying a ticket is … risky.

We were all set for TA to book flights to Japan in Dec, then saw awful TripAdvisor reviews. I wouldn’t say really cheap…. compared to all our previous trips to Japan but yes compared to QF.

Investigating Air Calin through Noumea now but I’m keen to hear from anyone who has used them. Thanks!