Singapore Airlines or Emirates - who should we fly with?
 

We are looking at flights for next year and have narrowed down the list to two carriers - Emirates and Singapore Airlines.

I know the question has been asked before and whilst Singapore Airlines seems to come out tops I am still not sure who to choose....

We are a family of 3, Myself, Nick and our daughter Ella who will be close to 4 when we fly. I have tried to find information on the airports where the stop overs are but naturally both airports try to sell themselves as the best!

So my dilemma is as follows:

We can fly with Singapore for £1177 for the 3 of us. Stopping over in Singapore for 1 hour and 45 minutes with an allowance of 40kg's per person

OR

We can fly with Emirates for £1280 for the 3 of us stopping over in Dubai for 4 hours and an allowance of 50 kg's per person....


Who do we choose as there is very little in the price and whilst the baggage allowance is better with Emirates, I have heard that Singapore is the best...

Are there things that make or break the flight for you such as food, entertainment, friendliness etc. Who is better?

What to do, what to do!!! :rofl:

and I thought this was supposed to be the easy bit! :eek:

Re: Singapore Airlines or Emirates - who should we fly with?
 

We flew with Emirates last month to validate our trip and had 30kg luggage allowance each - hadn't realised they had increased it to 50kg each - may be worth checking that this is correct or is it that you are emigrating in which case you do indeed have a larger luggage allowance.

We found them unhelpful prior to our flights, they tried to bump us and the kids at midnight from Dubai during our 4 hour stopover (even though we had booked our seats in February and chosen our seats online months ago too). They eventually squeezed us in but we were split up. Not happy. We had very high expectations of the cabin crew, as so many people have said how lovely they are, but we didn't find that to be the case. We waited ages to be served, food was pretty awful and our 4 year olds headphone socket was broken. When I said that I wasn't going on a 13 hour flight with a bored child, she snapped that she would TRY to find another seat for him (yes, just him, WTF). I reiterated that I was going nowhere until it was sorted and she promised an engineer. None appeared. In the end I grabbed the Purser who managed (by using a pen!)to prise the socket out of the hole it had disappeared into in the armrest and then luckily we had some cellotape to hold it all together - as long as he didn't move. :thumbdown: The entertainment was pretty good though, but I think Singapore's is comparable.

When all is said and done, it seems to be your luck on the day unfortunately. Some people swear by Emirates - we do not. I would definately try Singapore.

PS Word of warning, always check in on line when checkin opens 24 hours before departure. It's a bit of a lottery as to whether you get your seat otherwise.

Re: Singapore Airlines or Emirates - who should we fly with?
 

Tricky one that!
I've flown with both and they are both very good.
Singapore is definately the one i would choose though. I like the fact you get a good 14hr flight to Singapore for a decent kip (if you can sleep on planes), the food and service is terrific, as is the inflight entertainment.
Unless Emirates are now using the A380, then the flight used to be in three legs, UK-Dubai-Singapore-Aus. Three legs at about 7-8hrs each, much better for children I thought, as my 6 yr old daughter didn't get frustrated as much.
But i think they use the A380 now so it will probably be comparable to Singapore.........

The extra baggage allowance might sway me though.

So in answer to your questio.......i haven't a clue!!! Sorry...;);):blink:

Re: Singapore Airlines or Emirates - who should we fly with?
 

Singapore is a more consistent service and cheaper in this case. Its a no brainer.

Re: Singapore Airlines or Emirates - who should we fly with?
 

I have flown with both, Emirates recently and both are good. Found service and food was better on SA.
I would reccomend Emirates if you want to break the journey up.
I flew from Birningham to Dubai(2 hour connection) and then to Singapore where they refuel and let you get off about 1.5 hrs.and then on to OZ.
Singapore you stop once.
With emirates you can break journey into 6-7 hour legs knowing you can get off
gary

Re: Singapore Airlines or Emirates - who should we fly with?
 

Always pre-book your seats when booking, we paid for the better seats on the top floor A380, by the exit, £30 pound each i think, well worth it!:) Get those legs out and about!


Oh Yeh, Singapore without a doubt, flew once, great, A380 is awsome!:D

Re: Singapore Airlines or Emirates - who should we fly with?
 

Give a little thought to flight arrival times in Oz.
We found emirates had the best times for us last year for our rekkie as they landed about 6pm in Perth. drove straight to digs and crashed woke up next morning with very little jet lag and the 3 kids weren't to bad either:D
2legs newcastle-dubai 7hrs and dubai-perth 11.5 hrs

Re: Singapore Airlines or Emirates - who should we fly with?
 

We flew with Emirates - had 3 flight leg on way home - definately better for kids of 6ys and 11yrs.
I'd agree entirely with pre-booking seats - even with 2 leg journeys, for 3 of you thats extra £180, but free with Emirates!

Re: Singapore Airlines or Emirates - who should we fly with?
 

I would recommend Singapore Airlines having flown with both carriers. I recall on one occasion years ago that the plane seats from Dubai to Australia were smaller in width than the plane that took me from somewhere to Dubai. Didn't need to measure it because my elbow was in the other half of the seat next to me. It depends on the planes used I guess but I wasn't too pleased and that has meant I no longer fly Emirates. I have flown Singapore airlines many times and they are consistently better. In terms of airports, no question that Changi airport is better. I have flown into alot of airports all over the world and Singapore is still very good. Changi airport has its own cinema, fitness centre and various other facilities to more than occupy your time. If you had a longer stopover, they even allow a tour of Singapore. Dubai on the otherhand doesn't have that much too offer, unless you want to buy a porsche or bentley duty free. It's a boring airport.

Re: Singapore Airlines or Emirates - who should we fly with?
 

Its free with Singapore also to pre-book seats if you book with them from the time of booking onward. What's not free is to pre-book exit row seating.

Re: Singapore Airlines or Emirates - who should we fly with?
 

Hi

Have flown with both Airlines and both were good. If i had the choice though would choose Singapore next time. Emirates now fly straight down to Dubai and then on to Oz with no extra stop at Singapore. Emirates fly out of the local airport for our family when they fly though so easier with pick ups and drop offs. My Mum and Dad take the 2 stop flight and my Sis and her 9 yr old take the 1 stop.
Depends a lot on the cabin crew you get.

Jane

Re: Singapore Airlines or Emirates - who should we fly with?
 

[QUOTE=aussiedreamer;7892631]Hi

Emirates now fly straight down to Dubai and then on to Oz with no extra stop at Singapore.

Depends what service you are on. Emirates still make a refuelling stop in Singapore on some flights.

Re: Singapore Airlines or Emirates - who should we fly with?
 

Thank you everyone for your responses. Have been mulling this over for a few days.

Emirates now fly the A380 from Heathrow which is the 1 stop flight or you could fly the 3 stop from Gatwick still. It's the extra baggage that is confusing me otherwise I'd have chosen Singapore - no second guessing :)


The Emirates flight gets in at 00:50 and the Singapore flight gets in at 14:30. Which do you think would be better?

Think I may just bite the bullet and go with Singapore...:eek:

Re: Singapore Airlines or Emirates - who should we fly with?
 

Were gonna book singapore airlines heathrow/singapore/melbourne for oct
with a stop over in singapore for 4/5 hours to chillax and have a gander!
I wanted a few days there but the guys n gal wanna carry on to melly!

Think our quote was about £1900 for 2 adults n 2 kids

Re: Singapore Airlines or Emirates - who should we fly with?
 

Last year I flew to Malaysia with Emirates and discovered that if you perform an on line check-in - and you can also select your seats at that stage, once at the airport you can use the business class baggage check-in counter. No queueing! :thumbsup::cool: