Discover the best airline in the world for 2024

What is the best airline in the world?

It all depends on your perspective, of course, but AirlineRatings.com, the world’s only safety and product rating website, today announced Qatar Airways as its Airline of the Year for 2024.

Qatar Airways nudged out previous winners Air New Zealand as well as Korean Air, Cathay Pacific Airways and Emirates for the top spot.

The AirlineRatings.com Airline Excellence Awards, judged by five editors with over 100 years of industry experience, combines major safety and government audits, with 12 key criteria that include fleet age, passenger reviews, profitability, safety rating, product rating, innovation and forward fleet orders.

AirlineRatings.com Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas said: “In our objective analysis Qatar Airways came out number one in many key areas although it was a very close scoring for the top 10.

“The passenger reviews, however, scored Qatar Airways ahead of all airlines and its consistency and high standard of service delivery came through in the feedback.”.

The Top 25 premium airlines are Qatar Airways, Korean Air, Cathay Pacific Airways, Air New Zealand, Emirates, Air France/ KLM, All Nippon Airways, Etihad Airways, Qantas, Virgin Australia/Atlantic, Vietnam Airlines, Singapore Airlines, EVA Air, TAP Portugal, JAL, Finnair, Hawaiian, Alaska Airlines, Lufthansa / Swiss, Turkish Airlines, IGA Group (British Airways & Iberia) Air Canada, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines.

If Air Canada makes the top 25 I hate to think how bad some of the others are.

Qatar Airways picked up Best Business Class for the fifth year running and Best Catering and Air New Zealand won Best Economy Class.

Singapore Airlines won Best First Class, while Virgin Australia won Best Cabin Crew. Best-In-Flight Entertainment and Best Premium Economy went to Emirates, while Qantas picked up Best Lounges. Etihad Airways picked up Best Environmental Airline for the third year running.

Best Regional Airline was Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA).

AirlineRatings.com’s Best Low-Cost Airlines were; Americas – Southwest'; Middle East – Fly Dubai; Asia – AirAsia Group; Australia/Pacific – Jetstar Group; and Europe – easyJet.

Vietjet picked up two awards; Best Ultra Low-Cost Airline and Best Low-Cost Airline Onboard Hospitality.

See AirlineRatings.com

The most beautiful vineyard destination in the world?

Is this the most beautiful vineyard in the world?  

One travel agency thinks so. And while regular readers will know of my disdain for the ever-increasing torrent of wine and tourism awards, I can confirm that Boschendal in South Africa's Western Cape is indeed a spectacular destination. 

For anyone fancying a journey to one of the best destinations for enjoying wine, the travel agency CV Villas recently released a new rankings list of the world’s top 20 wine regions, as well as its most beautiful vineyards.

As with all such lists, there is plenty of room for debate, but here are the best destinations on this one list. 

The top wine destinations are Champagne and Côtes de Provence in France, followed closely by Napa Valley, California in third place. Rounding out the top five were Bolgheri in Italy and Stellenbosch in South Africa. 

The rankings were determined by which region was home to the highest-ranked and best-reviewed bottles of wine sold on the online marketplace Vivino.

When it comes to the world’s most beautiful vineyards, a different set of factors were considered - including Instagram images. 

So not so scientific. 

The most aesthetically pleasing winery in the world was is Boschendal, followed by Penfolds Magill Estate in the suburbs of Adelaide. 

Located between Franschhoek and Stellenbosch, Boschendal is one of South Africa's oldest wine estates - dating back to 1685. 

The US claimed the world’s third-most beautiful vineyard with Castello di Amorosa in California, ahead of  Donnafugata Marsala in Sicily, Italy, and Catena Zapata in Mendoza, Argentina. I'm happy to have visited three of the top five. 

Seppeltsfield in the Barossa was 27th, with Craggy Range in New Zealand 28th. 

Should you be interested, you can find out more here: www.cvvillas.com/blog/archive/worlds-best-wine-destinations/

Meet the global cuisine guide that lacks any taste

The United States has more delicious food than France.

England has more culinary delights than Thailand.

And Bosnia and Herzegovina has tastier food than Malaysia. Oh,and the Netherlands has a ‘cuisine’ that is tastier than Lebanese.

 

All right. Stop laughing. 

It is, of course, the silly season, when publicity seekers take advantage of a lack of news in a bid to make their own absurd headlines.

The culprits this time are Croatian-based "food experts" TasteAtlas, who released their own guide to the best global cuisine for those with poor palates.

Great local food can be a matter of national pride, so the reaction to the list was swift and scathing.in nations like Malaysia and Singapore. 

Italy was in first place (not totally unreasonably), Greece 2nd, Spain 3rd, Japan 4th, India 5th and Mexico sixth.

The US (in 8th spot) outranked several countries renowned for their food culture, including France (9th), China (11th) and South Korea (19th). 

England (29th) out-rated Thailand (30th) on the list.

The list was described on social media as "redundant" and "completely insane". Which would seem to be fair.

TasteAtlas defended its bizarre rankings by citing a complicated algorithm that considers ingredients, dishes and drinks in each nation.

The rankings, TasteAtlas says, are compiled “according to audience votes for ingredients, dishes and beverages".

Their voters are obviously Euro-centric in the extreme and blessed with appalling taste.

Fail.

Next. 

For those wondering New Zealand was 76th and Australia 89th. 

 

Playing the powerful passport game

Japan and Singapore continue to share top spot on the Henley Passport Index - the global rankings list of all the world's passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa.

Passport holders from Japan and Singapore are able to access 192 destinations around the world visa-free, not taking any temporary Covid restrictions into account, as of Q2, 2022.

Germany and South Korea hold joint-second place, with a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 190, while Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, and Spain share third place, with their passport holders able to access 189 destinations around the world without having to acquire a visa in advance. 

The UK, which recently dropped all remaining Covid-related restrictions, now has a score of 187, with the US just one place behind, with a score of 186.

New Zealand is also on 186 with Australia trailing on 185, alongside Canada.  

Afghanistan remains at the bottom of the index­ — which is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) — with its nationals only able to access 26 destinations visa-free.

Dr Christian H. Kaelin, chairman of Henley & Partners, says the latest update provides a unique snapshot of a volatile and rapidly changing world.

"The country you are born in dramatically impacts the quality and extent of opportunities you will have in your life as well as the challenges you might face along the way," he said.

"Holding more than one citizenship, with the range of personal access rights each guarantees, is the ultimate asset in a time of crisis and volatility."

The Henley Passport Index compares the visa-free access of 199 different passports to 227 travel destinations. If no visa is required, then a score with value = 1 is created for that passport. The same applies if you can obtain a visa on arrival, a visitor’s permit, or an electronic travel authority (ETA) when entering the destination.