A flight attendant greets you upon entering Qatar Airways.Shutterstock/Dmitry Birin
Flying first class is the ultimate indulgence when it comes to air travel. Just stepping on a plane and taking a peek through the curtains at those elite seats is an experience in both envy and admiration. But there is also something fun and exciting about fawning over first class. After all, it’s pretty impressive the way airlines design that exclusive section, trying to one-up each other in customer satisfaction and luxury.
Skytrax, the United Kingdom-based consumer aviation agency, recently released its annual “Best Airlines in the World” ranking for 2018. The survey, which began in 1999, is an annual customer relations satisfaction survey that is among the most professional and prestigious. It has gone from attracting the entries of 2.2 million airline customers in 2000, to receiving more than 20 million entries in 2018.
It’s no surprise that Skytrax, which prides itself on an exhaustive appraisal of the airline industry, would also evaluate which first-class cabin sits supreme in their 2018 rankings.
This year, 335 airlines were included in the survey and more than 20 million respondents were counted in the final results, which measured multiple parameters like service attentiveness, staff language skills, and meal service efficiency.
For 2018, the World’s Best First Class was also voted the World’s Best Airline, as Singapore Airlines took home both awards. Singapore Airlines has distinguished itself recently by focusing on customer service and investing in a newer, more modern fleet of aircraft. It made headlines last month when it announced plans to re-launch the world’s longest flight, a trip from Newark, New Jersey to Singapore later this year.
Below are the top 10 first-class cabins ranked by customers in 2018.
