For people shorter than 6'2"...

For people who've never flown Virgin America...

I'm surprised Southwest finished only third, but I'm STUNNED it finished behind American. American Airlines is about the most ridiculous, untrustworthy and poorly managed operation in existence. Southwest, on the other hand, while clearly no frills, is a great airline that I've flown dozens of times and never had a problem.

timujin: For people who've never flown Virgin America...

I'm keen on PORTER airlines

Isn't that like being the least irritating boy band? I mean, kudos, but you still suck.

tnpir: American Airlines is about the most ridiculous, untrustworthy and poorly managed operation in existence.

You're thinking of Delta.

American is bad, but nobody has perfected bad to the level of Delta.

Pocket Ninja: tnpir: American Airlines is about the most ridiculous, untrustworthy and poorly managed operation in existence.

You're thinking of Delta.

American is bad, but nobody has perfected bad to the level of Delta.

I've flown Delta exactly once, with no problem. However, I've flown American countless times and, much like trying to rent a truck with U-Haul, there is always--ALWAYS--some sort of problem or hassle.

True story: I always fly American from DFW to Las Vegas (mostly because Southwest doesn't go there directly). I've done this probably ten times in the last four years. On every single one of those trips, my flight home was delayed by not fewer than three hours. It's to the point where I wonder if American is doing it to me on purpose. As if dropping several hundred bucks in Vegas isn't bad enough.

Well, I travel a lot. Several times a month. Over the past three years, I've had my bags lost exactly twice. Both Delta. I've had unplanned overnights in cities because of dropped/delayed flights maybe three times. Two of those, Delta. I've had drinks spilled on me by a stewardess once. Delta. I've been wedged between obscenely obese people who should have each been made to purchase two seats once. Delta. Virtually every bad flying experience I've ever had comes at the hands of Delta. I hate them. I hate them hard.

Pocket Ninja: I've been wedged between obscenely obese people who should have each been made to purchase two seats once.

They could have made them both purchase two seats then give them three adjacent seats. Then they would have an extra seat worth of fare to put towards saving their business.

Pocket Ninja: tnpir: American Airlines is about the most ridiculous, untrustworthy and poorly managed operation in existence.

You're thinking of Delta.

American is bad, but nobody has perfected bad to the level of Delta.

I'm guessing they saw merging with Northwest the quickest way to absolute bad. The last time I flew with them, I made it 30 minutes outside Cincinnati before the pilot made an announcement that we had to return to Tampa (no explanation why). After getting near the Tampa airport, we were told we had to circle the airport for 2-3 hours to burn off excess fuel before we could land. No other information was given. That was the first part of the fun.

We did manage to land safely, but the the closest supply of parts to fix the plane were over an hour away and there were no other planes available to replace it. Keep in mind that this was in the f*cking Tampa airport, not exactly a small place.

They weren't giving anyone any information and apparently felt threatened by the 80 people that were on the plane, so they called TSA guards to watch all of us. After sitting for more than 6 hours (luckily, not a plane but back in the terminal), they made the announcement that the flight was canceled. It took another hour for them to get permission to issue hotel vouchers to put people up for the night. And the meal vouchers were an incredible $5 value that could be used at any restaurant. In the Tampa airport, that won't even cover the cost of one beer, let alone a 'meal'.

So yeah, Delta deserves the rating they have.

I hate United because my Dad used to work for United, and I hate my Dad.

Beyond that, I really don't fly frequently enough to have a valid opinion.

Buh-Bye!

I've always had the best luck with Southwest. But for cheap flights check out Allegiant Air. They only fly to select cities, but if you're lucky enough to live in one that they go to, the tickets are crazy cheap.

I have family in Montana, and many days out of the month (if it's not close to a holiday) I can fly Allegiant from Las Vegas to Billings and back for $29 each way.

Epsilon: I've always had the best luck with Southwest. But for cheap flights check out Allegiant Air. They only fly to select cities, but if you're lucky enough to live in one that they go to, the tickets are crazy cheap.

I have family in Montana, and many days out of the month (if it's not close to a holiday) I can fly Allegiant from Las Vegas to Billings and back for $29 each way.

I have to agree here. Unfortunately, they cut out Vegas, Phoenix and Ft Lauderdale from my town, only fly to Orlando and Tampa now.

timujin: For people who've never flown Virgin America...

thread over in 2

timujin: For people who've never flown Virgin America...

Didn't even know Virgin Airlines was in America.

But, looking at their website, not surprised, since from their city list, they have basically decided that middle america is literally "Fly-over" country.

Continental Airlines: Highest ratings among people who really, really, really enjoy Houston Intercontinental Airport.

About three weeks ago we were flying Delta (wife and inlaws), departing from the same location, and going our seperate ways at a connection in Atlanta. We were delayed, which is understandable, making it tough to reach our connecting flights, there wasn't much time. So with a short 15 minute window, and in opposite terminals we had to sprint to the correct terminal (we missed that farking train). Well, we made it to our gate, but the inlaws, once they had arrived on time, the plane was still boarding, Delta gave away their seats to someone else.

Continental gave me a sandwich on my last flight.

I was so confused that I didn't ask why, because I didn't want to risk the stewardess realizing that nobody gives out food anymore.

timujin: For people who've never flown Virgin America...


Or Virgin Galactic

Pocket Ninja

Well, I travel a lot. Several times a month. Over the past three years, I've had my bags lost exactly twice. Both Delta.


Deliver
Everyone's
Luggage
To
Atlanta

Osomatic: Continental Airlines: Highest ratings among people who really, really, really enjoy Houston Intercontinental Airport.

Bush Intercontinental: Legally we couldn't make it any bigger, so we settled for less efficient.

Osomatic: Continental Airlines: Highest ratings among people who really, really, really enjoy Houston Intercontinental Airport.

IAH is not a bad airport to fly out of, it has decent food options if you change planes there, and it's not a bad airport to fly into, as long as you don't have to retrieve any checked bags. I don't know why at IAH it always takes at least 40 minutes to get your checked bags when every other airport I've been to, it takes 10 to 15 minutes at most. It doesn't matter what carrier, either.

haemaker: For people shorter than 6'2"...

Continental's CEO is 6' 6". I've never heard him complain about leg room.

minoridiot: haemaker: For people shorter than 6'2"...

Continental's CEO is 6' 6". I've never heard him complain about leg room.

He flies coach? What a guy.

From my last flight:

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are preparing for our final descent into Minneapolis. We should be on the ground in twenty minutes, about 35 minutes ahead of schedule. So, as you can see, we pilots here at SunCountry don't overshoot the Twin Cities. Thank you."

Sun Country FTW!

I fly pretty frequently, and rarely fly Continental because they never have the cheapest tickets (in the DC metro area). I have no loyalty to airlines, they're all crap to me, so I just go with whichever is cheapest.

I always fly AirTran if I can. I've never had a problem, or had a flight canceled.

SouthWest on the other hand, is hell on earth.

I fly several times a month. The holidays are going to be a blast this year with all of the people who never fly trying to carry all of their crap on.

WestJet. WestJet WestJet WestJet. I love them to muthafarkin' pieces! It's actually occasionally within spitting distance of fun to fly with them...

...as opposed to, say, Air Canada. We've flown with them way too often because they have this habit of undercutting WestJet by like $20 on the exact flights we want. We have come to the conclusion that it is worth $20 to not have our luggage lost, our flights rerouted and delayed, and indeed to deal with employees who are able and willing to help if we have a problem.

WestJet WestJet WestJet.

I'm a little scared to fly my old favorite, Midwest, now that they're merged into some unholy Republic-Frontier-Midwest where-airlines-go-to-die pile. Not that I've ever had a problem with Frontier, either. But, I still remember Midwest Express pre-9/11. All leather seats. Steak on actual dishes with real silverware. Complimentary beer. Really decent crew. $200 roundtrip KC to Newark. They've slowly drifted further and further toward mediocre, but they started out a lot better than the rest.

Flew Continental many times and never had a serious issue. American on the other hand lost my luggage for 6 months the one time I flew them.

Scratch the above. I missed the news that Midwest had functionally gone the way of Braniff, Eastern, and TWA a few weeks back. Sigh.

Englebert Slaptyback 2009-11-16 07:49:26 PM

Deliver
Everyone's
Luggage
To
Atlanta

Don't
Even
Let
Them
Aboard.

Obscure?

Lawnchair: I'm a little scared to fly my old favorite, Midwest, now that they're merged into some unholy Republic-Frontier-Midwest where-airlines-go-to-die pile. Not that I've ever had a problem with Frontier, either. But, I still remember Midwest Express pre-9/11. All leather seats. Steak on actual dishes with real silverware. Complimentary beer. Really decent crew. $200 roundtrip KC to Newark. They've slowly drifted further and further toward mediocre, but they started out a lot better than the rest.

I think most or all flights branded as Midwest still have all leather seats (including the Frontier Airbus 319s and the Republic Embraer 190s), and I know that all Southwest planes do as well. I don't know if anyone will still serve you a steak in business or coach, but I hear that Porter Airlines (flies to Toronto City Center airport from MDW, LGA, BOS, and various Canadian airports) still has free beer.

I'm flying to India and flying Turkish Air. Lets see how the rest of the world does it.

darkscout: I'm flying to India and flying Turkish Air. Lets see how the rest of the world does it.

Emirates Air is the way to go if you're going over that way.

Hawaiian Airlines FTW, if only because they still include food in the ticket price on trans-Pacific flights. All the legacy airlines (United, American, et al.) want people to pay extra for the privilege of eating a decent meal on a 5-6 hour flight.

IFLYSWA

EmmaLou: Emirates Air is the way to go if you're going over that way.

or Etihad. The Kuwait airline is pretty good too- I remember their thinking that their food was above restaurant quality.

tnpir: American Airlines is about the most ridiculous, untrustworthy and poorly managed operation in existence.

If you fly once or twice a year, sure. If you're a frequent flyer, American is one of the best in the country. They treat their frequent fliers like gold and will bend over backwards for them to get them home on time. United and US-Air are really the two worst legacies. If you don't care about frequent flyer programs, Virgin and Jet Blue would be my two first choices though.

Rapmaster2000: I fly several times a month. The holidays are going to be a blast this year with all of the people who never fly trying to carry all of their crap on.

THIS!

CNN just did an article yesterday about this exact subject (I looked but can't find it now), but it all comes down to this, if your carry on luggage makes it on to the plane:

If you're on first, you're fine. If you board last, you're screwed. The flight attendants don't seem to care, but they will try to help find space.

The airlines have really painted themselves in a corner with this. They can either drop the baggage fee (at least for the first bag), lower the baggage fee, or put their employees on the front line with dealing with angry customers who don't have room for their carry on bags.

I'm not defending passengers who bring on luggage that is too big - even if they did get it past the gate agent - but what will end up happening is they'll have to check the luggage anyway, or delay take off while they try to sort the mess.

On a recent flight I was carrying on two bags; one small backpack (North Face Recon) with clothes and a messenger bag with my laptop and camera. They made an announcement at the gate, stating that the flight was full and made a request for folks to check their carry on luggage. It wasn't mandatory, they were asking a favor. They said they would drop the luggage fee if we checked our bags.

I was impressed by the number of people who lined up to check their bags as I did. I don't know about anyone else, but I got my bag without problems at my destination. We can only hope the holidays run this smoothly.

FWIW, I was flying US Air.

In my experience:

Best airlines:
Singapore
Thai
Cathay
Lufthansa

Best US Airlines:
Southwest and Continental.

Worst airline:
Philippine Airlines.

Worst US Airline: Delta.

Epsilon: But for cheap flights check out Allegiant Air.

Not that this is your fault in any way, but I went over to Allegiant just to see where they went. In their fine print I found this:

A convenience fee of $14.00 per passenger will apply when booked on allegiantair.com.

Does this mean Allegiant has TicketBastard doing their web site?

Bukharin: I'm keen on PORTER airlines

Umm... (new window)

Better than Continental. Same with Porter.

My favorites, for international:
JAL
Lufthansa
KLM
Air New Zealand

Worst international:
Air France
Mexicana

Best for US:
Virgin America
Alaska Airlines, except they take forever with baggage claim.
Continental is pretty good

Worst for US:
United - I will not fly with them.
American can be pretty horrible but they do have direct flights to more places than anyone else, and if you have a gold card, the customer service is decent. One flight I was on had to make an emergency landing because the pilot realized mid-air we did not have enough fuel to get to where we were supposed to be going.

Southwest is probably the actual airline with that title. They make their flights cheap by making them actually cheap (no first class, no food, limited routes) and not by having all their baggage handling and scheduling done by a single retarded monkey or whatever causes the problems others have noted with companies like Delta and Continental (and American, to some extent).

iirc, they didn't have to be bailed out/Chapter 11'd in the last few rounds of such (airlines have major bailouts roughly every 3 years), so they're doing something right.

Jim_Callahan: iirc, they didn't have to be bailed out/Chapter 11'd in the last few rounds of such (airlines have major bailouts roughly every 3 years), so they're doing something right.

The last couple of quarters notwithstanding, Southwest has consistently turned a nice profit in an industry where Chapter 11 and going tits-up is commonplace.