What's your favorite airline?

[GTM]

I have found for all around service Jet Blue is on top although they are not as cheap as their image presents.
But their service and their planes are excellent.
The downside to Jet Blue is they are New York based which can be an inconvience for many that do not live near NYC.

American Airlines has some great prices and flies everywhere. For value I think they are the best.

But my favorite is Continental. If you are a One Pass member (their frequent flyer plan) they will call a coach passenger before boarding and move them to first or business class should a seat be empty. They also fly non stop to alot of international locations.

Traveler's
Who do you like? and why?

 

[Hyperborea]

Favourite is tough cause it depends on what I'm trying to maximize.  Even if it's price then these can often be in the running depending on the destination.  If it's quality of service then it's definitely:

1) Singapore
2) Thai
3) Lufthansa
4) JAL - Japan AirLines

These airlines have good service, decent food, clean planes, and reasonable seat spacing. If I'm staying within North America then it's often UAL or Air Canada as there is little difference with most of the North American carriers and I might as well keep collecting my airmiles.

I normally try to fly Star Alliance as that's who my miles are with (my previous employer's airline of choice was UAL a Star Alliance member).  When I flew more for business and was a Star Alliance Gold member that was great.  I would get upgraded to business regularly and sometimes to first.  Being able to get into the short line at the check in counter was also very nice.

 

[VoyT]

I also second JAL .... great service!

 

[renferme]

I hate all air lines, with one exception: Icelandair.
Especially dislike USAirlines - a nasty company, treat customers like s*&t.

 

[Eagle43]

I like space-available on U.S. military planes. The schedule is erratic, but the price is wunnerful.

 

[Nords]

I like space-available on U.S. military planes.  The schedule is erratic, but the price is wunnerful.

Heck, I thought it was the box lunches. Or is it the high-quality seat webbing, the free heating on the runway, and the free air-conditioning at altitude?

Haven't tried a C-17 yet. Only had one ride on a C-5 and it seemed nice. I guess I can live with C-141s. C-130s & Navy P-3s... never again!

If I was going to splurge a windfall, I'd upgrade to first class & private charters for the rest of my life. But I only fly once or twice a year anyway.

 

[GTM]

I don't have much experience with non US companies only flew Air Canada once.

I did book with Iberia one time and I would say they were the absolute least customer service airline I could imagine, never did take the flight I scheduled and reservation they lost. I would never even consider them.

No grips with US airlines. Prices are reasonable when you book properly and they offer perks.
Jet Blue is really good.

 

[JOhn Galt]

Even though I no longer fly, I spent the last 10+ years
of my career in some aspect of aerospace
manufacturing. So, I had a lot of exposure to various
airlines and the people who used them. The "cheap
fares" airline that stands out in my memory is
Southwest. I can't recall hearing one complaint.
I personally never flew them though.

JG

 

[brewer12345]

I can say Continental without too much trepidation. However, that is because the closest airport is Newark, and they fly everywhere from there, usually direct. The downside to this is that they also tend to get pretty ridiculous on fares sometimes because they are the 600 lb. gorilla in that airport.

I'd rather go greyhound than US Air. I've flown JetBlue and it was OK, but the plane was crowded and many of the passengers appeared to be on a plane for the first time ever. Not the most pleasant trip ever, but no fault of the airline.

I think of Southwest as the "ghetto bus of the skies".

 

[Hyperborea]

but the plane was crowded and many of the passengers appeared to be on a plane for the first time ever.

How about the type of passenger or behaviour on the plane you dislike the most?

1) The guy with the too big carry on bag trying to shove it into the overhead bin.  When it won't fit he first just pushes harder.  After a while he turns it around and continues shoving.  Of course the aisle is blocked during all this and there are 100 grumpy passengers behind him.

2) The kid who takes to arhythmically thumping the back of your seat with his feet.

 

[yakers]

For travel to South Pacific and anywhere else they go my wife prefers Air New Zealand. For the US we like Alaska Air, nice service, nice atmosphere and its wonderful to be in Palm Springs in summer and big bearded guys in flanner shirts are loading snow shoes in the overhead compartments.

 

[Spanky]

I like Singapore Air Line. They have great service and pretty flight attendants. That was many years ago. They may have added handsome flight attendants also.

 

[WanderALot]

I strongly agree with Singapore Airlines recommendations. We flew them about a month ago and I never thought 22 hours of [total] flight time could be so bearable! They must have 50+ movies that you could watch on demand along with countless CDs you can listen to. AND, the flight attendants were incredibly friendly! The seats were relatively comfortable and food wasn't bad at all. The best part was that they gave us a free hotel room because we landed in Singapore at 1am and our connecting flight was that evening at 7pm.

Icelandair was nice especially since they let us stopover in Iceland for free on our way to Copenhagen.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Mine is DELTA for the wrong or right reasons. I have 700,000 FF miles with them..

SWR

 

[Mr._johngalt]

AMTRAK

 

[Eagle43]

AMTRAK

JG,
If you ever leave the forum, what will we do? I'm still chuckling.

 

[LEX]

Aeroflot:  Its way cheap if you are going from LAX to Moscow (about $850 RT) , as much booze as you want regardless of seating (Drinking is the national sport)  and on most flights its as if you are hanging out in a Moscow Nightclub, complete with some excellent "in-flight" floor shows.  The Russians still require that their flight attendants be 1) drop dead good looking 2) polite even to those in the rear rows 3) speak at least three languages.

If you liked flying in the 1960's there's still time to enjoy the trip, comrade!

 

[Nords]

If you liked flying in the 1960's there's still time to enjoy the trip, comrade!

Lots of pilots on U.S. airlines are military veterans. Perhaps Aeroflot attracts a similar group.

In the late 1980s, in the spirit of glasnost, the Navy started exchanging helicopter hops between U.S. & Russian aircraft carriers. There were even talks of trapping & launching each other's logistics aircraft.

The program screeched to a halt on its second day when a Russian helo pilot landed on a U.S. flight deck and hopped out wearing a do-rag head scarf (instead of a cranial helmet), slippers (instead of heat-resistant flight boots), smoking a cigarette, and smelling of alcohol. And after talking with their Russian counterparts, U.S. maintenance crews wouldn't let them touch U.S. aircraft.

I'm not claiming that U.S. pilots or crews are clean as the driven snow, but I'd sure wonder about Aeroflot's safety & maintenance records.

 

[LEX]

But you have to give credit where it is due...those dudes know how to party...I'll bet the Ruskie Military Pilots can drink anyone else under the table and still fly the plane as if it was just another day in the cockpit...Da!

 

[tryan]

... USScareAir has become a nightmare. Refused to board a co-worker and myself 10 minutes before departure time so they could get the "on-time" departure. Forget that the reason we were late was because USAir connection was late arriving.

We sat and watched from the service center line as the plane sat for 20 minutes before moving from the gate.

Question is: who do you blame for poor service - union employees or management?

 

[Cut-Throat]

Question is: who do you blame for poor service - union employees or management?  

Top Management Always! - Employees have little control. Union or not.

Top Management decided that an on-time departure was more important to the success of the airline, than catering to a couple of customers.

 

[sgeeeee]

... Question is: who do you blame for poor service - union employees or management?

Who's job is it to:
decide who to hire,
establish salaries,
train employees,
motivate employees,
manage resources,
establish goals,
establish systems of rewards,
negotiate with unions, vendors, customers
. . .

Blaming the employee in any business is nonsense. Management hires the wrong people, de-motivates them, rewards the wrong behavior and then blames their workforce for their problems.

 

[Nords]

Question is: who do you blame for poor service - union employees or management?

Unions wouldn't have a reason to exist without management!

 

[BUM]

Thankfully my flying days are about over. When I was a rookie salesrep my boss taught me to sleep in flight. Some kind of self hypnosis. I fall asleep on takeoff and wont usually wake until the landing gear touches down. If you can do that then all airlines are pretty much alike.

BTY the above approach is rendered useless when flying with DW. Those white knuckles and sharp nails can really mess up 40 winks.

 

[sgeeeee]

Thankfully my flying days are about over. When I was a rookie salesrep my boss taught me to sleep in flight. Some kind of self hypnosis. I fall asleep on takeoff and wont usually wake until the landing gear touches down. If you can do that then all airlines are pretty much alike.

BTY the above approach is rendered useless when flying with DW. Those white knuckles and sharp nails can really mess up 40 winks.  

That's interesting. I've always thought that sleeping is one of the most effective things I could do when flying. I'm really good at it. I arrive refreshed and alert. I can stay up late (regardless of the time zone) and either work in my room or meet with people who I've come to work with (ie. drink beer till late in the evening).