So if you find things better or worse, recently opened, or long since closed, please tell me. While I fly a lot, there can be some weeks when I'm not at LHR, SIN, BKK, SYD, FRA or LAX. As soon as I get updated information and can verify it, I will update the site, and make sure that flyers in future get the most up to date reviews. I genuinely value all the feedback I get, but please note that due to my insistence on independently checking all updates which are sent to me, it can sometimes take a few weeks to get new information on the site. Normally I can do this by checking direct with the airlines concerned. Sometimes alas, particularly when an airline installs new seats or a new lounge, a site visit is required - which I end up travelling to, and paying for.
Some web search engines will of course come up with these names linked to my site when searching webpages. If you have a problem with that, please contact the search engine directly. I also own other domain names pointing to this site, making legitimate non-commercial fair use of the Domain Name, operated solely in tribute to or in criticism of these businesses. This includes airlines which are on my "todo" list, which I have flown on, and am in the process of reviewing, but which are not yet live on the site. There is no intention to be unfairly detrimental to the rights of these airlines, or to transfer trade away from them.
I think it's worth replying to some of the common Emails I get here though...
"Where do you live?" On a plane.
"You love Singapore while being rude about Qantas. Are you from Singapore?" I am not from Singapore. Please see above.
"You are clearly biased toward your national carrier. Your review of Qantas contrasts so greatly from the other reviews that I have to wonder whether you are a Qantas employee" I am not Australian. I am not employed by Qantas. Please see above.
"Your review of bmi makes it sound like Ryanair. I flew with them last year and they were great. You are clearly biased! Are you from Ireland?" I am not from Ireland. Please see above. And please do fly on bmi again - to see why regular fliers now do anything but fly with them.
It is certainly untrue that British Airways is a great airline, certainly compared to highly managed Asian airlines like Thai or Malaysian. It has been proven that in terms of cabin service, and in inflight entertainment where all passengers get the best. That can't be said the same about British Airways whom have hardly even installed personal TV. Their planes aren't exactly "NEW" and should deserve "grubby" and "old" too if your review were to be un-biased. Please look up my reviews on Skytrax, where they have un-biased reviews and reviews..."
All my reviews are unbiased, and I guess this proves it. Most passengers have a favourite airline which they fly on most of the time (which is exactly why I don't, so retain the objectiveness of my reviews), and many of the Emails ask me to look more favourably on airline A, while being negative about airline B (indicating that it is terrible, and that I should have pointed this out). When I ask the Emailer (if there is there such a word?) for more specific details, it turns out that airline A is their home airline, and airline B is some foreign rival they flew on a few years back. Alas Skytrax fails pretty much consistently on this score, normally because it's written about just one flight (so you don't get an overview of the airline) and the reviewers normally want to rant about checkin staff or cabin crew. As a result the reviews are pretty pointless when it comes to someone reading a review and wanting to actually book a ticket. For the record BA have Seatback TVs throughout their long-haul fleet, and are rapidly installing AVOD. If only the same could be said of Malaysian or Thai. Then refer to above.
"I've got the same information on my site/webpage/blog/forum - did you nick it from me?" It is inevitable that with a review of something that many people travel on, there is a lot of common information. For example, the number of planes in a fleet, good seat information, Frequent Flyer perks and the like are all common - so I'll have the same info as you. Be assured, it's all come from endless hours of sitting in a tin tube, as are the pictures. And while I'm on the subject - please don't nick the pictures for your site. It is getting to be a habit seeing my pics appear elsewhere - the last time was on an airline booking agency at USM airport.
"You have clearly travelled a lot on Airline YYY, but there are only a few meals, why?" If the meal is identical to one I have already photographed, I really can't be bothered to take another photo. And sometimes I'm so stuffed after a dozen flights in a row, I have to reject the food. At other times, the cabin crew have asked me to stop taking photos, and I naturally go along with their request.
"Who reads Airreview?" From the latest stats from statcounter.com the vast majority (36%) of visitors are from the UK, while 17% are Australian, 13% are in continental Europe, a relatively tiny 7% are from the US, 3% are from New Zealand, 2% from Singapore, and so on.
"Why did you recently change your URL?" I wish I hadn't - it's thoughly messed up the links from search engines, etc. Alas my only server - at TV Centre in White City (London) ceased operating following the demise of www.beeb.net and I've now taken up space in Sydney, at the home of www.110mb.com. It's free... but slow.
"What access do the airlines give you so you can take interior photos of the planes?" None at all - I just make sure I'm first in the queue to get on the bird, and walk around the cabin taking photos. Understandably, on some airline this provokes a bit of a reaction from the cabin crew, and I end up having to take photos when I'm in the seat.
"Why do only some premium lounge reviews refer to other airline's lounges?" This one has always been a thorny problem - if a business/first lounge is used by another airline do I review the lounge in both the airline's reviews, just in the airline it is "owned" by... or what? And how about seconded lounges with an airline that I have yet to review? And how about corporate lounges? The only sane answer I've come up with is that if I review the airline, theire "home" lounges are always in that section. If it is used by two airlines, the base review will be in the "home" airlines page, with a link and separate pictures in the alternate airlines page. If it is a coporate lounge it will be (with separate pictures) in all contracted airlines pages. If it is owned by one airline which is not reviewed, but used by one or more other reviewed airlines, a full review will be on both their pages until such time as I get around to reviewing that sub-airline, at which point the review may more. Other policies I make up on the spot. Your mileage may vary. This policy is not applicable to Bangkok Airways.
"Why start Airreview?" I write travel guides, and after a while I found I got very bored with the original airline I was very loyal to, and for a laugh tried some others. Surprised (horrified would be a better word...) about how wildly one airline can differ from another, I started making a few notes on which airlines had what services. At the time the internet was in it's infancy, and most airlines' websites just had the usual bollox about "a great cabin ambience in all 3 cabins. Food & wine to suit are available, and there is a film (two in business)". I thought it would be fun to put on a few pages on the internet - 4 to be exact - to share what I'd leant with other passengers. And it grew to become the all consuming monster that it is, where I'll end up flying not on a mileage run, but on a lounge & meal photo run. It now takes up so much of my time, there are occasions I wish I'd never started it.
Just returned from the USA via Chicago... and at no time did I see immigration. I am one of these who show up on US records as never having decamped! Dare I ever go back? Where does one go to have your passport stamped? This is a common question - and one I do not have an answer too. It seems a common problem with US airports, and one that US carriers are determined to ignore. Details are in the page on United, and concern those UK citizens on a US domestic flight which directly connects to an International flight - at no point do you leave the US, unless you make the effort to find Immigration. Having a missing "Green Slip" isn't too much hassle - the US authorities rarely bother to collate these - however you must have a US exit stamp. It is worth doing this - when you return to the US, if you get a dumb immigration agent (to see what happens when you hand a really stupid man a gun & tell him he is responsible for US security, enter the US), you can get hauled into secondary and asked to explain where you were. One work around is to take your old boarding from the international flight on which you left, with you on your next flight back into the US. Alas there seems no other solution until US immigration procedures come into line with those in the rest of the world.
"Who funds Airreview?" Yours truly. All the flights come out of my own pocket. However I am determined not to plaster the site with advertising - that would to a certain extent mean selling out, becoming more commercial, and sacreficing the unbiased nature of the site.
"I will say that you seem to have had very bad experiences on many of your flights" No, I just call it how it is. I know many people in the travel industry are not used to straightforward reviews - however if something is bad, I'll say so, not dress it up in the flowery sales talk the airlines would rather I use.
"You are highly critical of the choice of wine on XXXair. We offer a wide range of wine to suit all tastes." (This from the press office of one of the airlines reviewed). That'll be a choice of white or red then? I'm sorry, but if you Email me PR rubbish, I'll call it as it is. Please see above.
"What are your Visitor Usage Statistics?" Airreview.com is one of the most highly visited sites for pure airline content on the internet. Approximately 55% of my visitors are from the UK, 25% from the EU, 15% from Australasia, and 5% from Canada, Mexico or the US.
"Why do you use basic HTML, instead of Flash presentations and other ways to make your site prettier?" Simply because many of my readers will be viewing this site from a slow or dial up connection, on computers which have primitive browsers. Sure, I could make the site wizzy with lots of animations - but this would make the site pretty much unreadable from an internet cafe in Bangkok, or from the internet pillars at Sydney airport. I have deliberately kept all the information on each airline on one page, rather than splitting it up into sub-pages with links - so that readers can view all the information in one go, and compare the airlines. Alas as all the pages I have are vast - if you print out the Singapore guide on A4 it goes on for 47 pages - and if I then put it all with wizzy animation, it will take hours to load. As it is, each page should load on dialup in less than one minute. True, this makes the site look rather amateur, but then it is (it is after all, just something I do as a hobby). And in any event, for me, content is king, not the look of the site.
"Why are you so obsessed with the wine available on the flight? Although I occasionally see a few passengers drink alcohol on board, it is hardly part of the flying experience..." Perhaps not if you fly with airlines based in the USA, but most other passengers like their G&Ts or the odd beer. A good selection on board can make a short dull flight quite fun, and that is why all scheduled European & Asian Airlines (except bmi) offer a free bar service longhaul.
"How many free flights do the airlines give you?" None at all. I pay for all my flights myself, and never alert the airline to the fact that I'm on board. If I'm lucky enough to get upgraded, it's because I use the methods described on the site. I will add however, that being in the top tier of the Frequent Flyer clubs of many of the airlines does pay dividends on this score.
"Can you fly in First on Singapore & BA and compare the two services, before I book my flights to Sydney?" I would be delighted to, when I win the lottery. See above - I book & pay for all my own flights. I accept no payment or free upgrades from the airlines, so unless I get real lucky, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until my numbers come up.
"I love your pictures. Can you send me them all please for a book/article/TV item I'm thinking of writing?" Thank you. Yes. And no. I can't send you them all - there are vast numbers of them. If you already have the proof of the article ready, please send it to me, and then we can negotiate terms.
"You say the SQ245 is a 777-200 with non-bed Raffles. I was on a 777ER beded with Wisemen3000. Why can't you be more accurate?"
! I'll leave the arcane definition of which aircraft type is on which rosta to the anorak brigade. I can only tell you what is on the scheduled service - but, as the airlines warn, aircraft types can change at short notice.
"You say the QF Dash 8 has no air conditioning. In fact the Dash 8 has a pressurised cabin"
Please read the page. I say no air-con that works on the ground. QF's early Dash 8s have no APU that powers AC. And when it comes to aircraft, please see above. I'm purely interested in the service on board.
"Why don't you start a forum on the site for people to add information, or discuss your content?"
Because again that would bias my editorial integrity. While I always do value feedback, I like to maintain an objective overview of the content. There are plenty of forums on the internet discussing everything from the very good airlinemeals site (alas, this site has recent collapsed due to the illness of the father of the editor), to the terrible and really rather hopeless Skytrak - a site which just turns into passengers ranting about the checkin staff: hardly objective! Then again there is a good forum about collecting frequent flyer miles, Flyertalk, but despite its size there is a small hardcore clique of posters, but it is very intimidating for anyone new genuinely asking for information generally gets a kicking from the clique, who will then rapidly go off topic and discuss the latest Tesco promotion. Having said that, if you fly a serious number of miles each year, I do thoughly recommend joining in the discussions on good techniques that can really ramp up your mileage earning. There is also airliners.net, but this is of little interest to the ordinary passenger or anyone other than the few people who like to really know what plane they are on, and the professional pilots rumour network. Again, good, but this deals with the minutie of which pilot wants to rant about their airlines latest shenanigans. Finally the good loungeguide.net does offer very good review of premium lounges - but thats it. Nothing more. And for those who want to know where to sit there is Seatguru.com however it is notoriously inaccurate, with major mistakes on most non-US airlines, and can be pretty much ignored. So it all comes back to there should be a one-stop-shop for those non-experienced passengers who want to know what their ticket is going to give them. And there's only one place for that - and alas I seem to won the job of putting it on the net. Quite frankly, I wish I'd never started, and I now tend to go on & get a life, and only update the site when I'm actually sitting on the plane, thanks to the wonderful Boeing Connexion inflight internet access.
"Why do you keep on Emailing me?"
I don't. Have you received an Email from an airreview.com address? It is NOT from airreview. My email address has been spoofed by junk emailers. There is much more on the spoofing problem here. Alternatively, you may be receiving bogus Emails. Again, there is much more on the bogus address problem here. Sorry - these Emails are nothing to do with me, so I can't help you.
"I hate Airreview. Will you just shut it down? You are telling people information they really ought to find out themselves."
a. It's your right to say that, and mine to disagree. b. No. c. That's the whole point of the site. Everything from the consumer magazine "Which?" to Haynes Manuals at launch got a kicking from people who already knew the information in them - but my point is that none of this information is out there in an easily digestible form other than on my site. So, I'll stick at it, thank you very much
"I love Airreview. I want to buy it."
See above on being non-commercial. I'm not doing this to make money. Please look up "altruism" in the dictionary, then learn something. This site is Not for Sale.
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