Delta Airlines is the run-away winner in the overall score. Jetblue and Southwest have respectable scores.

Most airlines appear to have very poor frequent flyer mileage service. Often the mileage program rules and policies are obfuscated, revised and twisted to lower the value to the frequent flyer. Several airlines quietly cancel old acquired miles. Some airlines, when questioned about some missing miles, dissociate themselves from the miles program (such as Lufthansa).

Food can be improved in most airlines. They need to increase the quantity of the main dish, decrease worthless add-ons like aged sweets or fruits, warm-up bread before service, remove the coffee cup during meals and provide cups only during coffee, eliminate the cold-sandwich breakfast if they can't give a warm sandwich, get rid of the cookies/biscuits etc among other possibilities. They may also pool passengers with a particular preference in a row of seats. For example, if I do not drink alcohol (for religious or other reasons) it becomes quite difficult to sit next to someone who is boozed to snooze.

The krisvision type inflight TV seen in Singapore Airlines must be introduced by other airlines as early as possible. For intercontinental flights this is a very useful pastime. It may also be possible to provide internet facility through such personalized gadgets, which will greatly enable us to leave our laptops behind and walk-into flights with free hands. This will also speed up the security checks.

The amateurs at check-in counters are the ones who cause the extended queues in check-in counters. Cathay Pacific failed in one such instance when the check-in counter woman during transit demanded to see documents over and above transit boarding pass, passport and visa! Assuming such documents ever existed, the airline must have demanded them before the first boarding and not during transit.

Surprisingly, US and Asia airlines have scored better than the European airlines. This may be because the European airlines do not fully understand international passengers, their culture, requirements, and preferences. For example, the choice of inflight movies, in particular the Asian movies, are absolutely rotten. Passengers need entertainment, not education or cultural appreciation. Entertainment means getting comedy movies or some action thrillers with feel-good endings. The transpacific flights by Asia based airlines do a much better job of selecting movies. In particular, Korean-Air did an excellent job of it.

The inflight shopping needs extensive revision. Firstly, the choice of products is lousy. Secondly, passengers have little space in their baggages to stow any gift item. Thirdly, it is hypocritical to restrict our cabin bag size and then expect us to buy stuff and store. Fourth, invariably the shopping cart arrives after meals and just when people go to sleep. Too many problems. The airlines better contact us if they want to change the way people shop in sky.

Among airports, Singapore, new HongKong airport and Amsterdam are a class above the other airports. Contrary to the popular notion, Frankfurt suffers from crowds, cluttered passengers in transit lounges, smoke-anywhere type freedom that affects other passengers. Not to mention the lack of ethnic food restaurants or proper internet service centers with English instructions.