My Best and Worst Airline Experiences

I have travelled with several airlines for sometimes and at times had to change planes three to four times before reaching my destination. Some of the in-plane services I got made me scratch my head but the best experience I had was with Emirates Airlines. I was in economy class but the services made me so satisfied that I was not even jealous of the first classers.

In Emirates airlines if you are in a long flight you are served breakfast, lunch and diner, so do most airlines. The food doesn't just appear with the flight-attendant telling you the name of dishes and asking you which one you would like to have, no. After we travellers get comfortably seated and the plane stable a flight attendant hands out a menu, listing out all the main food that will be served while flying so that you can read, familiarize yourself and decide in
advance what kind of dish you would like to have. If there is any food on the menu you need clarification, you can ask in advance. There are also some snacks served between the main dishes. Hot wet towels for cleaning our hands are handed out. Then the food is served.

I can't remember if they do it hourly or after every 2hours; the attendants come out to serve beverages. The toilets very clean, lotion and air freshener included. Their planes are in a very good condition. All the blankets are wrapped and sealed in plastic bags, headphones are also sealed and are available for everyone. I was so comfortable in the plane I loved it. I also took a short flight with them and the service was the same. Another Airline which gave me almost similar experience is British Airways and most other International Airlines excluding USA.

When we reached in the US I had an unbelievable awakening. I took a 3 hours domestic flight and we were not served with anything except coffee or tea with American Airlines. Even when I wanted to buy a snack, they only had a huge disgustingly sweet cookie, was so sweet that I could not even eat it.

You know coming from Kenya, I thought the experience I've had with our domestic flights is below international standards especially compared with American Airlines which is considered to be the best in the Americas but I was wrong. When I take a domestic flight in Kenya which lasts about 45 minutes, we are served with a drink and a sandwich. If you are taking an early morning flight and have to go directly to a meeting from the airport, which is the case for most business people, at least you don't have to worry about breakfast.

How comes in the US a 3 hours flight we were only served with 'hot water'? The toilets; you don't even want me to go there. The planes are the oldest models I have ever boarded, even our Kenyan ones are in much better shape. Head phones are for sale!! Blankets are not individually wrapped or sealed. They are just folded on the seats so I assume when the previous passengers left they just folded them and place them on the seats. If the previous passenger had a contagious disease, it is up to the current passenger to decide whether they would like to take a gamble. I always have my kikoi to cover myself because it is disgusting to use a blanket used  by someone you don't even know. The experience was the same when I took a flight from US to Belize. This is the worst flight experience I've ever had.

I could not help but ask myself how much does a sandwich cost that they cannot serve it in-flight?