The winner of the SkyTrax Award for the best airline in 2017 goes to Qatar Airways. They also win the awards for the best business class and best first class lounge. They beat out my favorite Singapore Airlines and ANA! AirAsia is the again voted the best low-cost carrier and Lufthansa is the most-improved in the top 10 and ranked best European airline! StarAlliance is again the best alliance with four entries in the top 10!
The SkyTrax awards are considered the Oscars of the airline industry. Despite some bloggers poo-poo’ing the awards, they are probably less political than the movie awards – they are based on a global passenger survey and even have an independent audit – something you won’t find in Hollywood!
Qatar Airways won the award for the fourth time and has been in the top 3 every year since 2010, making them one of the top performers. Especially if you are planning to fly in Business or First Class, you’ll be in very good hands. I have yet to try them and look forward to it!
My personal favorite Singapore Airlines has also been in the top 3 every since 2010, but hasn’t won in this time! They also got the award for the best business class seat – it’s the widest in the market and got the award for the best Premium Economy catering.
ANA isn’t a surprise either – I fly them regularly and they offer consistent service, a great business class product and easy connections in their hub Tokyo, earning them awards for best airline staff in Asia and best Airport Services!
Lufthansa makes the biggest jump up, landing on spot 7 and earning the awards for best European airline and best First Class Lounge dining! I think they earned it in parts for their much improved Business Class as well as their consistent service!
AirAsia has been winning the award for the best low-cost carrier for the ninth year in a row. That’s an incredible record and well deserved. You can get around Asia for less than a bus or ferry ticket and get friendlier service than on the big US airlines! They also won the award for the best Premium Cabin on a low cost carrier – and I fully agree: their PremiumFlatbed is the cheapest business class I’ve ever flown!
Looking for an American carrier? As every year, you have to scroll down the list a lot further! Air Canada wins the award as best North American airline on spot 29! Delta is the highest ranked US airline at No 32 (even behind Russian Aeroflot!), followed by American Airlines on 74 (behind much improved Philippine Airlines on 67) and United Airlines on 78! This should be enough to convince any US-based traveler to fly European or Asian carriers on international trips!
I have been tracking the awards since 2010 – here are the top 10 for all those years:
You can find all the airline awards of 2017 here! If you’d like to get more travel related news like this from around the world, please follow me on Twitter – I’m posting news daily, so you can stay up to date on the world of travel with my Twitter updates! Or, for a weekly update, sign up for my newsletter for a Sunday Summary!