Howdy all! Well as Christmas and the end of the year speedily approaches, it’s time to start looking back at 2023 and talking and best (and worst) of the year. Which I guess will mostly be in January 2024 but I’m starting today with the flights.

I should start by saying I am not including anything from my latest little trip as I have no vlogs or posts up about that, so I guess they will end up being rolled into the 2024 best ofs, providing I do the same sort of thing I guess. It’s also hard to compare things evenly when you’ve JUST completed a trip and the earlier trip (Jan to April) is further away in your memory.

Today though I am looking at my flights this year occurring fully between January and April, as afterwards I didn’t fly until November. I’ll keep it short and sweet with three bests and just one ‘worst’. It’s hard to compare Business Class and Economy flights as really ALL the best flights, well the first four, were Business, so I’ll do the two best Business Class Flights and ONE Economy. Sound fair?

Best Flights

3. Indigo Dhaka to Kolkata

Although I was told I wasn’t allowed to film out the window as we landed, otherwise I found the flight excellent value for money, comfortable, short? Yes. But that’s only because they refused to move Kolkata further away from Dhaka at my request. I found Indigo to be great value for money, comfortable, and with the exception of one cabin crew, friendly! Therefore it was my best Economy Class Flight of the year!

2. Singapore Airlines Business Class Adelaide to Singapore

My first Business Class in many many years did not disappoint and left me smiling all the way to Singapore! What can I say, they know how to do it right!

1. Etihad (Business Class) Abu Dhabi to Melbourne

The flight that took me home to Melbourne after my long Dhaka to Sakar trek takes the cake with a wonderful cabin experience, incredibly warm and friendly cabin crew, dedicated check in area for Business Class including security check and more!

The Worst Flight

Qantas Economy Melbourne to Adelaide

I didn’t shoot a video on this one or do a written review. But it was cramped, and the cabin crew were pretty hostile to be honest. I was told I was not allowed to film cabin crew due to ‘security’ which on one hand I can sort of understand and then on the other seems a bit pointless. I actually try to avoid filming cabin crew except in passing anyway. I have NEVER actually had another airline tell me that, and aside from Indigo have never had anyone tell me off for filming in any way on a flight.

Qantas typically give you on a one-hour flight a little snack box of biscuits which is ok without setting the world on fire, but it is a full service airline so you might expect SOMETHING. The experience coupled with the bad news stories through the year on Qantas makes it the worst flight experience of the year (although the baby screaming on the entire overnight flight Cairo to Doha was again not great, but not the airline’s fault). Qantas have copped a $600 Million fine (AUD) for booking people onto flights that were already cancelled, their frequent flyer program is under fire from a lot of members about its lack of delivery compared to how it used to function, and they pressured the government into blocking Qatar Airways’ request to fly more flights in and out of the country. They also have made it super hard to get refunds and their image is in tatters here in Australia at the moment.

Having said all that, I didn’t have a ‘bad’ flight at least for the most part in 2023, Reviews from November pending I guess lol!

Thanks for popping by! May the Journey Never End!