I find that at work - Aussies are surprised I travel with Qantas, but I'll stick with an airline that I find performs well.

Try Jetstar to Hawaii followed by an internal flight to mainland US. Might be cheaper, although longer.

Buzzy

I think Quantas is on a level with BA - fairly ordinary now compared with Asian operators.

Having said that, as long as I have a good book and meals served regularly I don't really care about service.

My preference is for the takeoff and landing to be without me spilling a drop.

PS what is service? serving meals?

To me service is anything other than dishing out a plate. It might even be facilities too, actually- but a good book does me.
I expect x no of meals, and x drinks.

I'm not over bothered about the food, but the airlines I prefer are those that bring me a drink when I ask for one, have pleasant crew, willing to find out the odd bits I collect like aircraft reg number, willing to tryn and find the gate number is the conenctions are tight, that kind of thing.
I'm always polite to the crew, and don't believe the crew should treat the passangers as an inconvenience - Emirates were particularly bad about supplying drinks for example, esp when the bloke sat next to me compalined that I was drinking alcohol! Cathay's crews are generally exceptionally polite - even apologising when the bump your elbow while walking past. Its that kind of small personal touch that can make a flight much more pleasant.

And I agrre - good service from the fligt crew is when they take off and land smoothly without disturbing the drinks!!

I've found that with Emirates too, and they use moderate turbulence as an excuse to stow away the teas and coffees for the remainder of the flight.