I'll tell you which airline I like.

I don't remember which airline I used when I traveled fo Europe for the first time. However, after that, I used Virgin Atlantic four times, British Airways three times, ANA and Aeroflot twice, and Cathay Pacific and Air France once.
The airline, which I used when I didn't travel on a scheduled package tour for the first time was Aeroflot. At that time, my first priority was low cost, so my friend and I chose one of the cheapest flights and hotel package tours provided by a small travel agency. We found the tour in a travel magazine. I think it was good as far as the price was concerned, but we had to transit and stay in Moscow for one night. Moreover, our supper included a rein deer meat dish. I don't know if the circumstance have changed or not, but in those days, there were two types of flights ; On one you needed to stay in Moscow for a night, while on the other you didn't. I traveled with my co-worker, so I didn't have a problem, but a woman travelling alone had to stay with a stranger in the same room. Unbelievable! I would hate that!
I took a Cathay Pacific flight once. I was very busy, but I was eager to go to London. It was only a three night trip, so I didn't want to spend a lot of money. Therefore, I chose Cathay because it was cheap and it left Japan in the evening, in other words, I could work in the morning. I took a half day off. After having lunch, I went to Visit Britain^TM to get some free brochures and a map. Then, I finally went to Narita. The plane arrived around four o'clock in the morning, so I could use time efficiently after sleeping in the plane. I recommend this for busy people. However, the return flight has a problem. The time you get home is a little late at night because the plane arrives at Hon Kong first. It may be a little hard to start working in the early morning of the following day.
The other airline which I've used once was Air France. They have a flight to London via France at night, so we worked until five o'clock and then went to Narita to catch the flight. If you use Air France, you'll arrive in London in the morning. I recommend Air France to busy people along with Cathay Pacific, but unfortunately, it was more expensive.
That time, my friend and I planed to fly to Dublin soon after we arrived at Heathrow Airport. However, the plane from Paris arrived late, so we were late checking in. As a result, our luggage flew to Dublin without us although we were still in Heathrow! Immediately after we arrived in Heathrow, we asked them to let us get off the plane, or to inform the check in counter that the plane was late because we had to change planes to Dublin. However, the crew only said, “Maybe, it will be OK.” and didn't do anything. I think they were unkind, so finally, my impression was bad.
Apart from the preceeding accounts, the others were direct flights. When I was younger, I stipulated low cost on the top of my list, when I chose which airline I should use. However, now, both low cost and economy of time is my top priority. I can't take a long vacation, so a direct flight is essential.
I'll now continue to write about which airlines I like. Avoiding a problem, I didn't mention their name, but instead, I'll call them A, B, J and V.(However, you know which airline each one stands for. Ha ha ha!)
Unfortunately, I haven't used J. Recently, I heard bad news related to J, but before that, J had been the most popular among travelers flying to England. Therefore, J had been the most expensive, so I haven't used it. Now, I'll compare the other three airlines.
When I flew to England by V for the first time, I was really excited. In those days, personal TVs in economy class were rare, but V has personal TVs in all of their planes. During the flight, I could see movies. Also,their amenity goods were nice. Probably, each item wasn't expensive, but the goods included even head phones which I used in the plane. In the vanity pouch, there was a teeth brush, a notebook , ball point pen and so on. It appealed me. Moreover, they sold a great variety of items on the plane. In the catalogue, there were a lot of goods which I wanted to buy and I could pick them up after I arrived in Narita. In other words, I could buy them out of the 20 kg range. For travelers like me whose luggage was usually heavy, their service was really appreciated. Furthermore, their food was quite nice. Therefore, until recently, V was my favourite.
However, when I used V, last year and the year before, the conditions had changed. The number of goods which they sold on the plane had decreased. Their amenity goods also decreased probably because they have cut costs. Nowadays, every plane has personal TV and I don't want to watch some movies on the plane anymore. Thus, the age of "V as my favourite" has gone. I felt a gap between my first impression and my recent one.
When my cousin and I traveled to Scotland, we used B. It was the peak time, so when we tried to book our flight, it was already full, so we were on the waiting list. The tourist company, which we asked to book the flight, said that they could push B to obtain our seats, furthermore, B has two services a day, so it was easiest to obtain the seats when we were on the waiting list. Therefore, we chose B. I used B for the first time in many years. That time, my impression of B was really good. When I had used them before, the airline food was terrible, but it had changed so much for the better. The attitude of the crew was good. I thought that I could use B again. The next year, the chance came. They launched an advertising campaign to raise awareness of premier economy, so we could use it freely one way. It was comfortable!! So, now my favourite airline is B.
At this point, somebody may think why I didn't mention A, which I had used twice. Ha ha ha! Recently, J, which was the most popular choice before, has had many problems, so I heard that nowadays, A has became the most popular. However, I don’t like A at all.
It began on my first flight with A. In those days, there were still smoking seats in the plane. On the flight to London, my seat was a non-smoking seat, but it was the last non-smoking row before the smoking seats, so the area aound my seat was full of smoke. Of course, it wasn't comfortable at all. After I arrived at London, I visited my friend in her apartment. She was staying in London and worked for a tour company under the control of A. She began to talk about an outrageous middle-aged woman who had arrived a few days ago.
“After she arrived, she yelled that her shoes fell in a hole on the plane”
My friend continued, “However, if her shoes truly fell somewhere, she must have opened something which should not have been opened. Therefore, it was her fault. We wanted to check whether what she said was true or not, but the plane had already flown back to Narita. However, the woman continued to come on strong and said that she lost the shoes which she had planed to wear during the trip and asked what she should do. Finally, we said that we would pay for a new pair of shoes. Then, can you guess what happened next? She bought an expensive brand shoes and asked for thirty thousand yen. Terrible!”
Anyway, she received thirty thousand yen with her overwhelming power. Moreover, when they searched the plane, they found her shoes as she had said, so they gave them back. In other words, she got two pairs of shoes. I can't believe it!
On the other hand, about two weeks later, I had more than one problem with A when I flew back to Japan.
As I wrote on my HP some times, my luggage is always too heavy. The things which I bought during my trip filled up my luggage. It usually weighs 30 kg. Therefore, I replaced about 10 kg of items in my hand luggage so that I pretend to have only 20 kg of luggage. Unfortunately, I had a cold that time, so I felt terrible. I didn't feel like doing that. I thought that it was probably OK. I checked in without my usual technique. However, my luggage was too heavy as usual! Ha ha ha! The airline employee asked, “Which is your hand luggage?”, so I showed her it. She said, “Too big! You should leave it here. Then, you should pay 150 pounds extra.” I was really upset because the hand luggage was a Louis Vuitton bag. “I can't do that.” I begged her while I felt really bad. A is Japanese company, but the employee was not Japanese but white, so she repeated the same things in English. When she saw I was stunned, she probably thought that I couldn't understand the situation. Therefore, she asked the man employee to explain it to me, but he was busy with other customers and didn’t pay attention to me. Finally, she gave up his assistance and said again, “Too heavy. You should pay 150 pounds and leave the bag here.”
After a few hours, when I boarded the plane, I heard the announcement, “People with children can board first.” Excuse me!! I felt bad and paid extra money, moreover, do I have to get on the plane after them? I'm very tired!!
Furthermore, “It never rains but it pours”. On my return trip, I was relieved because I could get a non-smoking seat, but a woman disturbed my rest. She came to the seat before me. She carried a small suitcase and soon put it in the overhead bin. Probably, she was an experienced traveler, so hardly before I thought that her suitcase seemed to be bigger than my bag, she reclined her seat. Maybe, she was going to sleep during the flight. Because of her, my space became too small. However, of course, people have the right to recline their seat, so I couldn't complain about it. “I feel bad!”
Thus, I had to pay an extra thirty thousand yen and my leg room became even smaller. The flight was terrible!
Asking me for the extra fee was probably right. However, considering the middle-aged woman, I felt that I had bought her the new shoes! Moreover, the flight wasn't comfortable at all! I know it wasn't A's fault, but I must have bad chemistry with A.
After that, as far as I can, I haven't chosen A when I fly to England.

（2005.7.10）

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