9 Airlines. 14 Flights. Which One Surprised Me The Most?

My last whirlwind trip around the world included a number of exceptional flights from top carriers around the world. But one stood out more than others. One surprised me so pleasantly that it merits a special post.

In case you missed them, here’s a consolidation of my “first impressions” of the flights I took:

• A Short, Sweet, Satisfying ANA A380 First Class Flight
• Thai Airways First Class: Better Than I Remembered
• First Impressions: Thai Airways A350 Business Class
• My Lucky Flight In China Southern First Class
• A Perfect Flight In Cathay Pacific First Class
• First Impressions: Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class
• First Impressions: SriLankan A321neo Business Class
• My Fifth Freedom Flight On Royal Jordanian
• First Impressions: Royal Jordanian 787-8 Business Class
• My (mis)Adventures Aboard Ryanair
• First Impressions: Air Italy A330 Business Class

As you can see, I tired some excellent carriers..as well as some regarded as not so excellent. One flight in particular, however, stood out among many excellent flights (and one not-so-pleasant Ryanair flight). It was my flight from Guangzhou to Beijing on China Southern.

My China Southern experience did not start out so smoothly. My flight encountered a long delay (weather) and the lounge was so packed I had great trouble finding a seat.

But once I finally boarded the flight, I was simply wowed by how caring and professional the service was. The entire flight crew was amazing, the multi-course meal was nothing short of spectacular for a two-hour flight, and the suite was superb.

Whenever I look back at flights, it is always service that leaves the biggest positive or negative impression. Here, I’ve had better food and better seats, but I’ve rarely experienced service this good.

I’ve weighed whether my praise is really objective or simply a subjective expression of surprise over the low expectations that were exceeded. I will not deny the low expectations at the outset, but I will absolutely disagree with any charge that my effusive praise is merely an expression of surprise rather than actual excellent service.

CONCLUSION

A full trip report will start early next month with far more details and pictures from the flights I recently took. But I must say, China Southern surprised me the most. What a lovely flight with lovely service…I could not have been more satisfied. So much so that I now will recommend China Southern to others.