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I found a forum online which compared mainly between Singapore Airlines and Air Canada. Not surprising Americans/Canadians hate to sit on their own country's carriers. http://blog.r4nt.com/2006/11/23/sing...ns-air-canada/
An example:
"Ronald J:
July 17th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Okay, this is just pathetic. We all are Canadians here and I’m going to have to tell you die hard-fanatics here. Get real! If our companies are producing an inferior product, put it out in the open and address it and hopefully someday it’ll change.
ACPilotWannaBe: Keep Canadian money in Canada? Not a chance. If a foreign company is going to offer me a much better product, I’m taking it. With the hope that the loss of revenue will hopefully make them rethink the way they do business.
So get real guys. Air Canada has NOTHING on Singapore.
I flew on Singapore for Business on their 777 planes within Southeast Asia (comparable to a North American domestic flight in terms of distance) and on the A380 on a Transaltantic flight.
Even for a short 2 hour flight, the standards of SQ are high, they are friendly and they make you comfortable. Their level of professionalism is something you rarely find on any other airline, except perhaps Emirates or Qatar.
But Air Canada is miles away. Possibly better than American, Delta, United, Southwest or Jetblue but it still has nothing on Singapore.
It really boils down to training and how much resources the airline puts into the service aspect of their flight. But it is really up to the airline. Singapoer Air is the 2nd most profitable carrier in the world (behind Southwest which has a low cost advantage) and it can still offer the best service standards. What does this tell you?
Air Canada has gotten slightly better for me in recent years but they still have miles to go. Singapore Airlines is perhaps the finest airline in the world- its not benchmark for Air Canada. Try a more achievable benchmark."
Another one:
"cliffy:
December 24th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
I spent half my life in Singapore the other half in Toronto. Hence AC and SIA are the 2 airlines I fly most frequently on.
When I was in my teens, my observation of flying SIA is that the stewardess seem bias against locals (Asian passengers) while seemingly ready to bend over backwards for western passengers. On a SIA flight in ‘92 to Toronto, a SIA Stewardess was on her knees rubbing the foot of a Western female passenger who complained of an aching foot. I just cannot imagine the stewardess doing the same for me.
For many years I avoided SIA and had pleasant experience on airlines such as BA.
Fast forward to 2004, I accidentally suffered a severe cut across my thumb hours before I was meant to fly from Toronto back to Singapore. It probably required stitching but I did not want to go to the ER and risk missing my flight, so I did my best to stop the bleeding and applied a band-aid.
Only after checking in at Pearson, clearing customs and US immigration with an hour to spare did I start worrying about what the cabin pressure might do to the bleeding. Plus my band-aid has fallen off. Will my thumb be squirting blood on take-off? Approached an AC staff for first aid help and was told that is only available outside the check-in area. I.e. If I want help I will have to go out and go thru the custom and immigration all over again. This means I will likely miss my flight. I thought let’s try to bear with it until I touch down at SFO and get help there.
Touched down at SFO 5hrs later, approached customer service and asked for first aid, he pulled out a 2 feet thick airport manual and directed me to the Int’l Terminal. Got there and headed straight to the First Aid sign and to my horror there’s a 50 men lineup. I headed to the front of the lineup just to ask if this is the right line, seem odd that there be so many passengers seeking first aid. The airport staff looked at me like I was mad and asked “What First Aid? what are you talking about?” at the point the man at the front of the line spoke up for me and pointed to the large sign on the wall and said he’s not here for first aid but that what the sign says. I was then informed by the airport staff we don’t offer first aid anymore. If there’s ever a need, we will call an Ambulance to take you to the ER. Needless to say that will mean missing my connection to Singapore.
So 2 airports failed me and I flown a good 6 hrs. I’m sure I survive the flight back to Singapore. By now I’m keeping the pressure on my severely cut thumb by wrapping it with multiple paper napkins from the food court.
Boarded my SIA back, gave up on getting any first aid, if I can’t get it on land at 2 International Airports, what are the odds of getting it in the air. So I bothered no one and was contented on getting stitched only after I land in Singapore. Within an hour into the flight the SIA Stewardess spotted my thumb wrapped in paper napkins and asked to see the wound. I showed her and before I know it she left and returned with a fir4st aid kit. I was expecting her to just grab me a new band aid. Instead she took out alcohol wipes, saline and was washing my wound! before applying a band aid on it. Now who on this forum believe you can expect similar service on AC or any other N. American airline for that matter. Remember, I didn’t ask for her assistance, she was observant and took the initiative.
I stand by what I thought of SIa back in the early 90s. I believe they together with the country of Singapore has matured and nolonger treat passengers differently based on their background.
On Air Canada, in all fairness, they came along way from 1999-2001, when they were public enemy #1. Aeroplan is about the best program around. The upgrade certificates are real incentive to be loyal. The only downside is perhaps it is their only strength and therefore perhaps their achilles heel in that they rely entirely on aeroplan points (as mentioned by previpous contributors) its becomes the only reason to fly AC. This I believe may prevent AC from becoming competitive in other areas. i.e food and onboard entertainment."
Are there any examples (exceptional service in US/Canada airlines) that can prove them (the forum visitors who commented those above and in the website) otherwise? If you were to plan to migrate to USA/Canada (which I am, that's why I started this thread), how would you survive on American/Canadian domestic flights without the comforts of SIA that you are used to?
An example:
"Ronald J:
July 17th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Okay, this is just pathetic. We all are Canadians here and I’m going to have to tell you die hard-fanatics here. Get real! If our companies are producing an inferior product, put it out in the open and address it and hopefully someday it’ll change.
ACPilotWannaBe: Keep Canadian money in Canada? Not a chance. If a foreign company is going to offer me a much better product, I’m taking it. With the hope that the loss of revenue will hopefully make them rethink the way they do business.
So get real guys. Air Canada has NOTHING on Singapore.
I flew on Singapore for Business on their 777 planes within Southeast Asia (comparable to a North American domestic flight in terms of distance) and on the A380 on a Transaltantic flight.
Even for a short 2 hour flight, the standards of SQ are high, they are friendly and they make you comfortable. Their level of professionalism is something you rarely find on any other airline, except perhaps Emirates or Qatar.
But Air Canada is miles away. Possibly better than American, Delta, United, Southwest or Jetblue but it still has nothing on Singapore.
It really boils down to training and how much resources the airline puts into the service aspect of their flight. But it is really up to the airline. Singapoer Air is the 2nd most profitable carrier in the world (behind Southwest which has a low cost advantage) and it can still offer the best service standards. What does this tell you?
Air Canada has gotten slightly better for me in recent years but they still have miles to go. Singapore Airlines is perhaps the finest airline in the world- its not benchmark for Air Canada. Try a more achievable benchmark."
Another one:
"cliffy:
December 24th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
I spent half my life in Singapore the other half in Toronto. Hence AC and SIA are the 2 airlines I fly most frequently on.
When I was in my teens, my observation of flying SIA is that the stewardess seem bias against locals (Asian passengers) while seemingly ready to bend over backwards for western passengers. On a SIA flight in ‘92 to Toronto, a SIA Stewardess was on her knees rubbing the foot of a Western female passenger who complained of an aching foot. I just cannot imagine the stewardess doing the same for me.
For many years I avoided SIA and had pleasant experience on airlines such as BA.
Fast forward to 2004, I accidentally suffered a severe cut across my thumb hours before I was meant to fly from Toronto back to Singapore. It probably required stitching but I did not want to go to the ER and risk missing my flight, so I did my best to stop the bleeding and applied a band-aid.
Only after checking in at Pearson, clearing customs and US immigration with an hour to spare did I start worrying about what the cabin pressure might do to the bleeding. Plus my band-aid has fallen off. Will my thumb be squirting blood on take-off? Approached an AC staff for first aid help and was told that is only available outside the check-in area. I.e. If I want help I will have to go out and go thru the custom and immigration all over again. This means I will likely miss my flight. I thought let’s try to bear with it until I touch down at SFO and get help there.
Touched down at SFO 5hrs later, approached customer service and asked for first aid, he pulled out a 2 feet thick airport manual and directed me to the Int’l Terminal. Got there and headed straight to the First Aid sign and to my horror there’s a 50 men lineup. I headed to the front of the lineup just to ask if this is the right line, seem odd that there be so many passengers seeking first aid. The airport staff looked at me like I was mad and asked “What First Aid? what are you talking about?” at the point the man at the front of the line spoke up for me and pointed to the large sign on the wall and said he’s not here for first aid but that what the sign says. I was then informed by the airport staff we don’t offer first aid anymore. If there’s ever a need, we will call an Ambulance to take you to the ER. Needless to say that will mean missing my connection to Singapore.
So 2 airports failed me and I flown a good 6 hrs. I’m sure I survive the flight back to Singapore. By now I’m keeping the pressure on my severely cut thumb by wrapping it with multiple paper napkins from the food court.
Boarded my SIA back, gave up on getting any first aid, if I can’t get it on land at 2 International Airports, what are the odds of getting it in the air. So I bothered no one and was contented on getting stitched only after I land in Singapore. Within an hour into the flight the SIA Stewardess spotted my thumb wrapped in paper napkins and asked to see the wound. I showed her and before I know it she left and returned with a fir4st aid kit. I was expecting her to just grab me a new band aid. Instead she took out alcohol wipes, saline and was washing my wound! before applying a band aid on it. Now who on this forum believe you can expect similar service on AC or any other N. American airline for that matter. Remember, I didn’t ask for her assistance, she was observant and took the initiative.
I stand by what I thought of SIa back in the early 90s. I believe they together with the country of Singapore has matured and nolonger treat passengers differently based on their background.
On Air Canada, in all fairness, they came along way from 1999-2001, when they were public enemy #1. Aeroplan is about the best program around. The upgrade certificates are real incentive to be loyal. The only downside is perhaps it is their only strength and therefore perhaps their achilles heel in that they rely entirely on aeroplan points (as mentioned by previpous contributors) its becomes the only reason to fly AC. This I believe may prevent AC from becoming competitive in other areas. i.e food and onboard entertainment."
Are there any examples (exceptional service in US/Canada airlines) that can prove them (the forum visitors who commented those above and in the website) otherwise? If you were to plan to migrate to USA/Canada (which I am, that's why I started this thread), how would you survive on American/Canadian domestic flights without the comforts of SIA that you are used to?
(apart from I don't have an SQ J trip to trade
)
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