How the Contrail Index Works
The Contrail Index ranks every airline Contrail has reviewed, using scores from flights we've actually taken. Each review gives a flight five scores out of 10, and the Index brings them together so you can compare airlines side by side.
The Five Scores
Ground experience covers everything the airline controls before takeoff, like check-in, the lounge when one is included and boarding. Problems the airline can't control, such as a slow security line, don't count against it.
Seat covers comfort, space and privacy. For lie-flat seats, it also covers how well the seat works as a bed.
Amenities covers what comes with the seat, from the screen and Wi-Fi to bedding, headphones and amenity kits.
Catering covers the food and drinks, including how they taste, how much you get and when they're served.
Service covers the crew, from how attentive and friendly they are to how they handle problems.
The overall score is the average of all five, so a great seat can't hide a poor meal or an unfriendly crew.
Judged Within Each Cabin
Every flight is scored against others in the same cabin. An economy seat is compared with other economy seats, never with business class. That's why an economy flight can outscore a business class one: it means the economy flight was better at being economy.
What the Numbers Mean
A 9 or 10 is exceptional, the kind of experience we'd go out of our way to book again. Scores of 8 are excellent, and 7 means good. A 6 means the flight was genuinely disappointing, and anything at 5 or below means something went seriously wrong. Very few scores fall below 4.
One Flight, One Day
Each score reflects a single flight, and airlines can have good and bad days. When we fly an airline again, we'll update the review and its scores so the Index stays current.
Flights marked "Full review soon" have already been flown and scored, and their full reviews are on the way.
How We Stay Independent
Airlines don't pay for reviews or rankings, and they never see our scores before they're published. When an airline provides a flight at no cost, we say so clearly at the top of the review.