READERS' TRAVEL AWARDS 2008

When you are flying SHORT-HAUL on holiday, you prefer Swiss. Why? For a start, you think it's ahead of the competition for child-friendliness (85.04) and convenience of scheduling (93.92), plus you are most impressed with its range of routes (96.08). For luggage handling your airline of choice is KLM (88.57) and for in-flight entertainment, Finnair (84).

For LONG-HAUL holidays, Singapore Airlines leads the way with a top-flight 92.38 for punctuality/efficiency, while Virgin Atlantic provides the most comfortable lounge facilities (87.71) and Emirates offers the best value for money (88). The Australian airline Qantas is best for convenience of scheduling (87.87).

Your favourite BUSINESS airline is British Airways, which scored above 80 in all 10 criteria and above 90 for in-flight entertainment and loyalty reward schemes. You think the catering on Lufthansa is the best you have sampled (90) and Emirates offers the best value for money (90).

Among the LOW-COST options, Sir Richard Branson's Australian airline Virgin Blue soared away with identical top marks for luggage handling and punctuality/efficiency (84.17) and Southwest Airlines came out best for service/staff (83.08). But EasyJet scored above 90 in an impressive five out of the eight criteria, including range of routes, child-friendliness and value for money.