Most Improved Airline(s)...

[AA 1818]

As we have all had experiences with airlines over the years, where and how do you think that you have seen the most improovement in any one airline?

What airline/airlines, in your opinion, have improoved greatly in service (offered to passengers) in the past 10, 5, or even the very past year?

What airline/airlines, in your opinion, have improoved greatly in safety in the past 10, 5, or even the very past year?

In your experience, where have you seen the biggest improovement in an airline between flights? (For example, recently I flew with UA - after a 3 year hiatus - and saw a drastic improovement in service...)

[HalcyonDays]

Quite honestly, I can't think of a single airline which has improved in the last 5 years (10 years may be a different proposition, I admit). The relative differences between airlines seem broadly the same to me, meaning that the best airlines are still the best, and the worst still the worst, more or less, and we all know who they are. However, the overall commercial airline experience for the passenger seems a uniquely miserable one these days, especially in Western Europe and North America. Sure, this is not all the fault of individual airlines, but, anyway, there we are.

[LH-B744]

Well, this is not an easy question to answer, at least not with a nickname like mine, which seems to be explicit and subjective...

But let me try to have something like an international view on especially the safety question, which imho is most important and it can be cleared even before you book a flight. And maybe I can mention 5 airlines that serve destinations on two continents (or more than two).

Qantas in my eyes is one of the oldest and safest airlines on this planet, so I would never have a problem with booking a QF flight.
If this can be a ranking (subjective, as I mentioned before), TAP Portugal would be my number 2, not only because they seem safe to me. But they also offer good connections from Europe to Africa, which not all (european) airlines do.
KLM is certainly number 3, they were part of the Los Rodeos disaster, but I think, all in all, they are safe. And they offer the TNCM destination.
So which route is left for another safe airline... maybe KSFO-RJAA with United. Concerning safety, I think they are like KLM (part of a disaster...), but I think they are safe.
Number 5 is maybe the most subjective one, because I've never been to Canada. And an Air Canada flight from Germany to the AC home country is something I want to do in the future.

There are certainly more than 5, but even if you only look at EDDL, there are at least 3 German airlines, so I did not mention the German airlines.
And I tried to mention 5 airlines who serve destinations that German airlines do not serve (that often)...

If I had a little more time, maybe this wouldve been a top10 (also having in mind CX, SQ, AI, AF and AZ).

[NickN]

A safety record is only part of the story. Sometimes accidents happen, and they are called accidents for a reason. In the case of Garuda etc there seems to be a legacy of poor air safety and you'd never see me flying Garuda. However other operators with one or two minor blemishes can still be safer airlines than those with no mishaps. When an accident occurs nobody will be caring about if the airline has had any previous conditions all that will matter is they have chalked one up now.

In terms of safety, I believe all Australian carriers are safe.

In terms of service, I believe Qantas has fallen behind in the last 5 years as QF have pumped alot of resources into Jetstar and I think Jetstar have benefited greatly from this. Virgin Blue have also improved their service levels as well.

Keeping in mind they are both LCC's their service is in some cases better than Qantas and their cabin crew are definately much friendlier which is in keeping with the youthful image both airlines portray.

[HalcyonDays]

In my comments above I was addressing commercial/service factors only. On the subject of safety, over the past 10 years, there have been major improvements in the safety culture in South Korea, especially at Korean Air, and in Taiwan. I also believe there have been improvements, in general, at airlines in India, China, Russia and Mexico. There has been no improvement, and possibly a deterioration, at airlines in Iran and Indonesia - possibly Brazil as well.

As for so-called Western airlines, and those which operate closely to international world-class standards, it's hard to make any meaningful assessment. Accidents are so rare to a given airline in the context of millions of departures as to be statistically insignificant.