TravelingForMiles.com may receive commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on TravelingForMiles.com are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. TravelingForMiles.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers.
Some links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission which helps contribute to the running of the site – I’m very grateful to anyone who uses these links but their use is entirely optional. The compensation does not impact how and where products appear on this site and does not impact reviews that are published.
I’m a fan of Business Traveller and I find their website an interesting read and a good source of information….but I’m not sure I have that much respect for the opinions of a section of their readership (cue a flurry of emails!) Travel awards are, as a rule, pretty pointless because they’re normally sponsored by someone with a vested interest so you can’t pay too much attention to the results….but Business Traveller’s awards are different. They’re above reproach and they should mean something.
Business Traveller’s 2016 Travel awards were announced on Monday (3 October) and, after having taken a look over them, I’m left wondering if there isn’t a better way to find out who the best airlines really are – some of the results were ridiculous. I realise that Business Traveller is UK-based but we’re supposed to be a global society nowadays so there’s no excuse for some of the results.
Here are some of my favorites:
Best Airline:
- Singapore Airlines
- Emirates
- British Airways
- Qatar Airways
- Cathay Pacific
British Airways in third place?! Above Cathay Pacific, Etihad, JAL & Air New Zealand? On what planet does that result have any relationship with reality?
Qatar Airways’ First Class Cabin….not as good a s British Airways apparently
If you genuinely believe that British Airways is the third best airline in the world then you’ve either not flown may airlines other than BA or you’ve overindulged in a lounge somewhere – it’s not even in the top 10.
Best First Class:
- Emirates
- Singapore Airlines
- British Airways
- Etihad Airways
So, according to Business Traveller readers, BA First Class (which I recently tried out on the 747 and the A380) is better than Cathay Pacific First Class, Qatar Airways First Class, Etihad First Class or JAL First Class. How is that possible? Have they even tried out any of those products?
BA First Class is an above average Business Class product, no more.
If this is the seat in the 3rd best First Class experience in the world then I’m the pope!
Best Business Class:
- Qatar Airways
- Singapore Airlines
- Cathay Pacific
- Emirates
- Virgin Atlantic
On a positive note at least British Airways doesn’t appear in that list…..but do passengers really believe that Virgin Atlantic has the 5th best Business Class offering in the world?
I’m happy to admit that I haven’t flown Virgin Upper Class yet (that’s coming in December) but I’ve read enough reviews, talked to enough people who have tried it out and seen enough pictures to know that it’s not as good as Etihad Business Class (which I happen to think is fantastic) or, Qantas Business Class or ANA Business Class or JAL Business Class, none of whom make the list..
JAL’s Business Class sky suites aren’t as good as Virgin Atlantic’s offering according to BT voters
I’m starting to think that the Business Traveller voters don’t actually know what most airlines offer.
As well as nonsensical choices there are contradictions in the voting too….
In the voting for “Best Airline” this is what the result was…..
…but when it came to voting for the Best Middle Eastern airline it looks as if the voters had a change of heart:
How can Emirates be a better airline than Qatar Airways (in the first poll) if Qatar Airways is the best Middle Eastern airline (in the second poll)?
Those are just the examples of some of the results from the airline section of the survey. If I delved into why Heathrow was voted the second best airport in the world or why voters seem to think that the Concorde lounge at Heathrow T5 is the best lounge in the world (yes, better than The Wing & The Pier in Hong Kong, better than the Qantas First Class lounge in Sydney etc…) then I’d be typing all week.
Nonsense doesn’t begin to describe what some of these results are.
Bottom Line
At the risk of opening myself up to a whole host of abuse I’m going to have to come out and say it: It would appear that a lot of people who voted in airline categories in this poll have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about.
The integrity of the poll is not in any doubt therefore the opinion of the voters has to be the issue and a voting public that ranks BA as the 3rd best airline in the world is either deluded or terribly uninformed….. or perhaps a majority were just drunk when they submitted their votes.
Featured image courtesy of mikeg44311 via Flickr
