Pico Iyer’s recent post, The Friendliest Country, and the Unfriendliest Skies is a great read. I’ve read a few of Iyer’s books and some of his contributions to anthologies, but I hadn’t read his work in blog format prior to his contributions to JetLagged.

When comparing foreign-flag carriers to those operating under the US flag, he noted that they provide good service:

instead of the large, angry and tired militants on U.S. flights to Japan, who act as if every question is an insult, and every passenger an injury.

While I agree in general, and no currently-operating airline will ever top Singapore, I found the service between the US and Japan to be significantly better than US->elsewhere. I attribute that, in part, to the Japanese staff on board NWA flights (I’ve never flown JAL) and the Korean staff on KE. Asian culture demands higher-quality service (think elevator ladies in Takashimaya) than US culture. Sure there are some people, many even, who take respect and politeness as their badge of honor, but in general it cannot compare.

I don’t fly *Alliance often. I actually need to find a way to pick up my soon to expire SQ miles. I’ve found CO’s service to be above par for the US airlines, and the Eagle flights out of HPN are great. I think there are bad apples everywhere, but Iyer’s post raises some interesting questions.