What airline do you fly?

[NGXfanatic 85]

I never liked flying US Airways. Nothing particularly bad happened flying with them, I just thought their customer service was relatively unenthusiastic. Rarely heard a peep from the pilots over the PA.

As a US Airways/American shareholder and Philadelphia resident, where they comprise the majority of KPHL's traffic, I have mixed feelings about the airline.  I have been rewarded for investing in the stock numerous times, both before and after the merger with American.  But I agree, their customer service is "meh".   Not sure about now, but their was no inflight entertainment when I flew with them back in 2010, on a 757 between Montego Bay Jamaica and Philadelphia.   Not even a seatback monitor with a moving map, the horror!   I always thought of them as a faceless corporation, as just a way to get between point A and B.   Now Virgin America, that outfit is the polar opposite.  

 

I have always dreamt of starting my own airline, and they pretty much fit with my idea of offering competition on heavily used routes with premium service and a reasonable price.  It's fun watching the upstarts come into my market and try to uproot US Airways monopoly on some routes, with the resulting airfare wars.   Southwest did it with routes like KPHL to KPIT and KBOS, and now, Virgin America offers the same level of competition on flights from KPHL to the two main west coast destinations, KLAX and KSFO. 

[bic 44]

I usually fly United out of KEWR.  If you don't mind going to LGA or JFK airfares are usually cheaper  One time I flew out JFK on TWA, but that was only because I had a free round trip First Class to use to Paris.

 

For London, I've been using Virgin Atlantic as Premium Economy  an option, but United they consider it first class and the fare is first class.  Just not worth it.

 

I once heard of someone who tried to start an airline and got a loan from the local government, but then apparently they had problems and was not producing enough revenue to pay for the loan.  I think they only had a PC-12 or is there a larger version of that?   They ended up skipping town.  

[Captain_Barfbag 31]

Direct flights first, price second.  I don't fly enough to make airline loyalty worthwhile.

 

We fly out of Boston.  JetBlue to PBI.  We've done our last couple of ski trips out west on United, and I would have to say they treated us very well, particularly taking good care of us when our original flight got cancelled due to weather.  Swiss to Europe was like a trip back in time, to when flying was comfortable and relaxing and they treated you like guests, not cattle.

 

Southwest out of BOS almost always involves a plane change in Philly or Baltimore.  This makes the trip hours longer, and with their seating policy I avoid it.  I avoid Delta because I've had too many bad experiences with them.

[BillW 210]

Southwest or Delta. The two best airlines in the U.S. IMO

+1

[Dillon 2,197]

I would imagine the best airline overall in the US right now is Virgin America.  I wish they were larger.  What's second is Southwest Airlines but that may change now that they are getting bigger.  

 

For me I fly Sun Country or Delta.  I have to support Sun Country as it's my hometown airline.  It's good to hear many here feel Delta is pretty good, I've never had a problem with them outside of the fact they absorbed Northwest and took all the cool simulators away from Eagan (Northwest's former HQ).  I had fun on the weekends (when I could) flying the DC9, 744, A320's and 757 simulators.  

[g_precentralis 191]

Turkish Airlines and Emirates, because they cover all routes I need. Avoiding low cost airlines.

[Dragonmount 5]

Maybe I just had a bad experience with United. We were pretty much treated with as little customer service as they could legally get away with. I will forever remember the line "You are all on your own to find both accommodations and your way to Europe now." 233 stranded people and United didn't lift a finger. I will never fly them again.

[Dillon 2,197]

That's interesting to hear concerning United.  What rings in my head was a Delta flight years ago through Atlanta, "We are asking those that don't have a specific time to be at their destination would they kindly give up there seats for other passengers with more criticle deadlines.  Seat accommodations are running really short".  Who in their right mind is going to give up their paid for seat because the airline can't get it together or provide enough planes for the demand.  I was appalled when they bought out Northwest Airlines who was in a better financial position than they were.  The CEO that spear headed this was the ex-Northwest CEO.  Everything they promised KMSP they are going back on for the most part.  It seems they are doing a reasonable job now with customer service, go figure.

 

That being said I hear Spirit Airlines is the worst airline to fly, period.  Everything from nickle and dimming to poor customer service has been reported about this airline constantly.

[Dragonmount 5]

That's interesting to hear concerning United.  What rings in my head was a Delta flight years ago through Atlanta, "We are asking those that don't have a specific time to be at their destination would they kindly give up there seats for other passengers with more criticle deadlines.  Seat accommodations are running really short".  Who in their right mind is going to give up their paid for seat because the airline can't get it together or provide enough planes for the demand.  I was appalled when they bought out Northwest Airlines who was in a better financial position than they were.  The CEO that spear headed this was the ex-Northwest CEO.  Everything they promised KMSP they are going back on for the most part.  It seems they are doing a reasonable job now with customer service, go figure.

 

That being said I hear Spirit Airlines is the worst airline to fly, period.  Everything from nickle and dimming to poor customer service has been reported about this airline constantly.

 

Customers are always being delayed for whatever reason, due to mechanical issues or weather and what not, and during my day at the airport that is actually a common occurrence. Person A has connecting flight from airport A to say Dublin Ireland and needs to be there jack flash so they don't miss the flight. That I understand more than  an airline not doing anything to help the people find SOMETHING when they do get stranded due to the airlines fault.  I will say that the people at the front counter at Dulles did their best to find us something, but I think they could have gone a bit more out of their way considering that it was their fault in the first place we were stranded.  I just felt like they were saying: "We screwed up, you clean up our mess."

[dcgator29 37]

American needs to scrap the aging MD-80,83 fleet. They're working on it with more 737 purchases but it's not going fast enough. I hate flying on them and will choose another flight for that specific reason.

[metalmike 34]

 

That being said I hear Spirit Airlines is the worst airline to fly, period.  Everything from nickle and dimming to poor customer service has been reported about this airline constantly.

 

That's interesting; I remember reading not too long ago that they were growing pretty rapidly. I might be mistaking them for someone else though (Allegiant maybe?).

[jetsflier 87]

Being from PHX, Southwest usually gets the job done! I recently flew to St. Maarten and had to fly jetBlue, which was a fantastic experience; lovely crew, new aircraft, and wifi/directv at each seat!

[Mickel 42]

Virgin Oz or ANZ. Flew Tiger (before the grounding) because it got us closest to the in-laws in one hop. Would again for 1 hour or less (cosy seat pitch), but not sure if that route is back. Should we ever head north west (Europe), would probably go Emirates. Won't book JetStar on principle, and would be very wary booking QANTAS for long domestic routes for fear of being shoehorned into a JetStar plane.

[klamal 282]

 

 

That's interesting; I remember reading not too long ago that they were growing pretty rapidly. I might be mistaking them for someone else though (Allegiant maybe?).

 

Just because you grow rapidly doesn't mean you're good.  There are a lot of people that will still fly an airline no matter how "bad" they are in every area.  As long as they get them from A to B CHEAP, that's all some people are looking for.

 

So, you can still grow being horrible at customer service and all that, but if your prices are right and you have a business model that can work, you can still succeed and expand.  I've never flown Ryanair in Europe but from what I've picked up over the years on the internet about them is that they are the same way.  But, look how huge they are in Europe.  People still fly them despite all the negative stuff we hear about them.