READERS' TRAVEL AWARDS 2003

When you are flying short-haul on holiday, you prefer British Airways. Why? For a start, you think it's ahead of the competition for convenience of scheduling (92.10) and range of routes (88.19), plus you think its loyalty reward scheme is the most generous available (74.41). For value for money, you choose Ryanair (95.22) over easyJet (93.65), although your experience tells you Swiss is best for punctuality/efficiency (94.25) and SAS has the best in-flight entertainment (73.57).

For long-haul international flights, Virgin Atlantic wins across the board, with top-flight scores above 80 in eight out of the 10 criteria on which we asked you to rate airlines for leisure travel. British Airways came out best for range of routes (93.85); Singapore Airlines is best for service/staff (96.78); Emirates has the most impressive pre- and post-flight facilities (87.60) and also offers the best value for money (85.22). Malaysia Airlines has the best food (a very impressive 93.13 for catering) and was also a winner on child-friendliness with 86.09.

When it comes to flying on business, you think Virgin Atlantic has the best in-flight entertainment (94.29), Singapore has the most appetising catering (95.24), Cathay Pacific has unsurpassed service/staff (97.67) and Emirates is the most efficient (94.12). But in the end, you decided that, once again, British Airways can't be bettered for convenience of scheduling (90.55) and range of routes (94.04), two important criteria that helped ensure that this year BA is your favourite airline for business travel.