Exclusive HfP competition: Win two flights to New York – on the airline YOU love the most

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• a9504477 says:

  14 Feb14 February 08:32

  The problem of course is that for many readers of the site airline status and miles will largely inform a decision on which airline to fly, especially when booking economy. Without these (especially without status – who would like to wait for their flight at the gate?), there is probably little to differentiate the airlines.

  • Rob says:

    14 Feb14 February 08:35

    …. which is the point of this. Pick one, say why.

  • Alex Sm says:

    14 Feb14 February 11:43

    Many people have random and irrational pet peeves and preferences, I can name some of mine and I am sure others have similar
    – I love the way how BA serves tomato juice and how they play Lakme music at boarding
    – I love proper rye bread and Russian gingerbread offered by Aeroflot
    – I love SWISS chocolates and ice cream served on some flights
    – I love SAS cube lunch boxes and Norwegian gin they serve in SAS Plus
    – I love Emirates IFE and ‘star’ sky ceiling
    – I love JAL’s consomme, yuzu drink and Y1000 upgrades
    – I love Virgin funky mood lighting
    – I love Norwegian’s free wifi
    etc
    Sometimes when prices are very similar, you start thinking about these small but but important details of service which you like

    • Anna says:

      14 Feb14 February 14:51

      Ironic that Lakme is by a French composer though!

      • Leo says:

        14 Feb14 February 16:14

        We’d be hard pressed for British classical music. Vaughn Williams anyone?

• a9504477 says:

  14 Feb14 February 08:36

  As for the reason behind the decision, wouldn’t it make sense to include one that is the ‘opposite’ of ‘previous experience’? Ie. trying out a new airline?

  • Liam says:

    14 Feb14 February 09:57

    Yeah. I’ve flown this route in economy on all those airlines with the exception of American and Delta, so I opted for Delta in this competition as I’d be interested in trying it. (I’ve flown both American and Delta on domestic US flights and, while I know it’s very different, both have been fine in my experience.)

    • Alex Sm says:

      14 Feb14 February 11:46

      My thinking was similar but the opposite – I have tried Delta on both domestic and TATL and don’t want to repeat the experience, so voted for AA. Previously voted for VS

  • Nigel W says:

    14 Feb14 February 09:57

    Agree with this, the reason i chose my airline was to see what it is like.

  • Alex Sm says:

    14 Feb14 February 11:45

    +1, this is often an important factor if prices are competitive. Moreover, my partner and I are often prepared to pay a small premium to try out a new airline

• SimonW says:

  14 Feb14 February 08:46

  Lets face it, you can offer 2 economy tickets as a prize, to control the “experiment”, but I’d wager more likely than not that the winner will get a lucky upgrade by pure coincidence!

  • Callum says:

    14 Feb14 February 09:24

    Why? If you choose any airline other than the sponsor, they’re not going to know.

    Not that I think upgrading one person really does anything for the brand anyway.

    • SimonW says:

      14 Feb14 February 09:56

      I think they’d have a fair idea when Roger from XXX Airline’s marketing department calls up for a couple of tickets to NY, paid for with the company card, and invoiced to that airline. Oh, and he asks for (and gets) a ticket issued using restrictive travel trade policies. Come on Callum. You are better than that !

      • Callum says:

        14 Feb14 February 12:03

        I am better than that, perhaps you aren’t though.

        1. Why would they introduce themselves as Roger from the marketing department? Do you introduce yourself as Simon the (insert job) when you talk to people on the phone?

        2. Why would you think whoever they speak to would read HFP and therefore even be able to guess that’s what it’s for?

        3. Why would that person care enough to pass on that information? Why would whoever they pass it on to care whether a single person preferred a different airline? It’s not like sneakily giving them an upgrade really achieves anything – they aren’t writing a review for publication.

        4. Do they even need to call to buy the ticket? I would have thought they would have some kind of computer system for it. If they do need to call, see points 1-3.

      • SimonW says:

        14 Feb14 February 12:29

        Calm down dear. Calm down.

      • RussellH says:

        14 Feb14 February 14:33

        Callum said on 14 February 2019 at 12:03:

        > Why would they introduce themselves as Roger from the marketing department?

        Standard travel industry etiquette in the past when talking to any business partner over the phone, including buying travel arrangements. At least when buying rail travel.( I did not hold an ATOL, so did not buy air travel.)
        These days, though, I would expect these bookings to be done online.

        > Do you introduce yourself as Simon the (insert job) when you talk
        > to people on the phone?

        As I am retired I just introduce myself by name, no job.
        But, when I am volunteering at a major charity on a Wednesday and I am phoning someone on a client’s behalf, I always start “Good morning, my name is Russell. I am phoning from [name of charity and office location] on behalf of my client who….

        Only polite, I feel. And it it one of the obvious clues when cold callers ring, that they never introduce themselves without my asking.

      • Callum says:

        14 Feb14 February 18:48

        Simon – I’m perfectly calm – I wouldn’t keep correcting erroneous posts on here if they made me angry/annoyed. I’d be in a mental asylum otherwise! Perhaps the post came across more aggressive than I meant it?

        Russel – Good point but I don’t think your competitors really count as business partners? It’s also not remotely akin to cold calling given you’re calling a sales like to purchase a product!

        I can’t recall ever being told the specific department people are calling from (unless it’s relevant) either. Different times?

• Paul says:

  14 Feb14 February 09:01

  I agree NY is just about manageable in economy, so I’ve enetered, but my reason for choosing is not in the list. I’m 6’6” so space is all I care about. Is that seat comfort? Not really, I find BAecon seat very uncomfortable, but am relying on the fact they have most flights, so I may be able to choose an unpopular departure and hope the plane is mostly empty and so allow me to ‘spread out’. That’s the issue I have with multiple choice questions, and surveys in general, are the answers telling me what I think they are?

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:

    14 Feb14 February 09:16

    Which is why you need lots of data points. 12,000 should do it.

  • JPK says:

    14 Feb14 February 09:28

    In economy we book exit row for myself (need bit more legroom too) with wife and kids in front or behind, as they don’t let the kids in that row

  • Nick_C says:

    14 Feb14 February 11:04

    If I had to choose solely on the basis of the competition, it would be on seat comfort, and on that basis I would choose Delta. They have a 2-4-2 config on their A330s, so a fair chance of getting a window or aisle and not being hemmed in on both sides. They also have slightly more space than the VS A340s and carry fewer passengers.

    But few people look at this sort of detail, and most are driven purely on price. I always used to fly AA when their 777s were 2-5-2 (the perfect config in my view) and they offered “more room throughout coach” with a 34″ seat pitch.

    But in reality, if I was flying back overnight, I would choose BA or VA. I’ve had too many red eyes spoiled by American passengers who don’t think about trying to get onto UK time, and talk loudly for much of the night. And oddly, most people will choose one of their own county’s airlines over a foreign one.

    Another real life reason to fly home on BA, VS, or Norwegian, is that you are covered by EU261.

    If the major airlines were truly competing with each other instead of being part of an oligopoly, then BA and VS would use their EU status and EU261 as a selling point.

    • marcw says:

      14 Feb14 February 11:41

      Usually plane type is who gets my money when flying economy LH. 330, 340 are my preferred types, 2 – 4 – 2 configuration (upper deck on A380 in BA or QR as well).

    • Alan says:

      14 Feb14 February 12:19

      Virgin use 2-4-2 to JFK too on their A330s.

• Qwerty Bertie says:

  14 Feb14 February 09:20

  I won’t enter the competition because I would be unable to use the prize for family/logisitical reasons, but am happy to give an opinion for the sponsors research. Under the circumstances described, I would do a quick bit of research and choose whichever one offers the best combination of legroom and seat width. If that resulted in a tie then I would base it on images of the seats & how comfy they look.

• Natalia S says:

  14 Feb14 February 09:23

  I prefer to fly from Gatwick – it saves me at least an hour and a half each way compared to Heathrow. Arrival airport also matters a lot sometimes. So it’s Norwegian for me. Maybe it would make sense to include this option (airport to fly from/to) next time.

  • Liamc says:

    14 Feb14 February 10:26

    How do you save an hour and a half each way when they are only 40 minutes apart. Makes no sense whatsoever. Surely the most it could add is 40 minutes…

    • Sussex Bantam says:

      14 Feb14 February 10:41

      40 minutes without traffic…

      • Genghis says:

        14 Feb14 February 10:53

        If travelling from home in SE London by car, I allow 1 hour to get to Gatwick but 3 hours to get to Heathrow (too many times sitting in traffic on the M25).

    • Natalia S says:

      15 Feb15 February 14:13

      All very well explained by Genghis – the longer the trip the more extra time to build in on the way to the airport. Also I can take a train to/from Gatwick (15mins), which I can’t for Heathrow, and the train is a lot quicker than a car.

  • marcw says:

    14 Feb14 February 12:29

    Are you aware that BA also flies from LGW to NYC?

    • Natalia S says:

      15 Feb15 February 14:32

      I actually didn’t know that, thank you. Then I’d make a choice between the two based purely on the departure time. If it happens to be very similar, I’d probably go with Norwegian anyway.

      I just wanted to say that logistics of getting to the airport is important. For non-Londoners even more so if they have a connecting flight within the UK or maybe a convenient train running into the right airport.

• ankomonkey says:

  14 Feb14 February 09:26

  Rob, are the sponsors looking at who entered this year and last year and whether their preference has changed? I voted the same both years.

  • Rob says:

    14 Feb14 February 10:12

    Not individually. Sponsor only gets the aggregated results (which I published last year on the site too, a few months later, with the permission of the sponsor).

• David S says:

  14 Feb14 February 09:40

  Weirdly being in Portugal this week and having Google translate open on my phone, the Google form comes out in Portuguese not English 😃

  • Mark says:

    14 Feb14 February 10:15

    I’m getting Swedish ads on HFP (though I’m not in Sweden) – must be way the way our corporate internet access is routed…..

    • Olly says:

      14 Feb14 February 11:36

      Are you using a VPN that had automatically chosen a Swedish server? That’s what happens to me sometimes.

  • Polly says:

    15 Feb15 February 03:02

    Mine Indonesian!

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