Cover Stories
The Best of 2006
GT readers cast their votes for the best and brightest in the travel industry.
When you’re looking for the best in international travel, you ask the experts — the people who are on the road more days than they can count, for business or leisure travel, all over the world. If that description sounds familiar it’s because we’re talking about you, the readers of Global Traveler.So we asked the experts — in our annual readers’ survey — and you answered. Boy, did you answer! Between Feb. 1 and Aug. 31, 2006 we received completed surveys from 13,653 readers, sent to us by regular mail, by email, by fax or via our Web site (www.globaltravelerusa.com). That’s almost three times the number of responses we received in 2005. It’s clear you want your opinions heard, and we heard you loud and clear.
Winners of the GT Tested Awards for 2006 are the airlines, hotels, destinations and travel service providers you selected, based on your personal experience and preferences. Only surveys in which more than 50 percent of the answers were completed were counted. Members of the travel industry and employees of Global Traveler did not participate in the survey. These are your awards, and that’s how it should be.
Based on your responses and the current trends in the industry, we added some new categories this year, including “Best Airline in North America,” “Best Airline for Cargo,” “Best Individual Hotel in South America,” “Best Hotel Chain in the Middle East,” “Best Tourism Destination,” “Best Car Rental Program,” and “Best Business City.”
Thank you for casting your votes this year. We continue to be pleased by — and yes, proud of — our readers’ sophistication, experience and global perspective. No one embodies the spirit of the “global traveler” more than you.
TOP FLIGHT
After taking “Best Business Class” honors two years running and consistently moving up in the ranks overall, British Airways earned your vote as “Best Airline in the World.” You were impressed by BA’s new Club World experience, starting with its easy online check-in and the “Fast Bag Drop” that lets you hand off your bags at the airport and proceed immediately to the pleasures of the British Airways lounge. And the Molton Brown spa treatments offered in the lounge aren’t too bad, either!
But wait, there’s more. British Airways’ Club World lie-flat seats set the industry standard for business class when they were introduced in 2000. Now they’re better than ever, with brand-new fully flat seats measuring a full 25 percent wider and stretching to 6 feet 6 inches in a space-age “z” bed formation. Look for them on your next BA business-class flight in the airline’s newly redesigned Club World cabins.
Emirates remains your favorite for first class, and with good reason. Its lie-flat leather seats housed in individual “suites” with their own privacy doors, meals on demand, WiFi and 600 entertainment channels make the in-flight experience so comfortable you might even forget you’re flying. And Emirates’ first-class treatment begins before you arrive at the airport, with the airline’s new “Dine and Fly” service that ensures passengers traveling from New York enjoy a top-flight meal at one of the city’s outstanding restaurants before a chauffeur-driven limo whisks them to JFK.
“We are thrilled to win this award for the second year in a row,” said Emirates’ Senior Vice President – Commercial Operations Nigel L. Page. “Given we have only been flying to the U.S.A. since June 2004, we have been honored that Global Traveler readers recognized our service in such a comparatively short time.”
For “Best Domestic First Class” in the United States you chose American Airlines, last year’s No. 2 in the category. For “Best Premium Economy Class” you chose Singapore Airlines’ Executive Economy class, which also moved up from the second position in last year’s survey. And because to the global traveler transporting goods can be almost as important as transporting passengers, we
added the new category of “Best Airline for Cargo,” in which Korean Air took top honors.
