Favorite Domestic Airline?

[deadheadskier]

I have had some good experiences on Continental as well.

The two Us (United and US Scare) have always been my least favorite and they seem to be the ones dominating the industry and buying all the good carriers up.

 

[xwhaler]

US Airways is one of the worst for sure. Haven't done the Spirit Air experience tho so maybe that is worse

 

[andrec10]

JetBlue!

 

[gmcunni]

On JetBlue as I type this. No ABC and no AMC so can't watch the 2 shows I was hoping. 1st world probs. Guess I just surf the free wifi

 

[gmcunni]

US Airways is one of the worst for sure. Haven't done the Spirit Air experience tho so maybe that is worse

Won't ever fly spirit again.

 

[dlague]

We flew Southwest to Colorado and we each got to check in two bags for free and each had two carry on pieces. Our flights for all three of us from Boston was less than $800. I was happy with that and I was very satisfied.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone

 

[benski]

My 1st flight on Alaska was in 09 on my way out to Whistler. Their calling card was the free beer as I recall they were one of the last remaining domestics to offer it...that Alaskan Amber went down very nicely to start off our trip.

I can see that ending very badly.

 

[SkiFanE]

I've had spurts in my career of serious travel (AA platinum in the glory days of pre 9/11). Can't say I have a favorite though - they all have something that bugs me. Took a JetBlue flight once and loved it - but for business it never seemed to work. SW is okay - boarding sucks and really not much cheaper. Just booked AA flight to Bogota last night. Best choices of times/flights, no baggage fees for international and Term B at Logsn is best.

Went to Vegas with girlfriends last fall. Friend found the flight and just told us which to book. Should have paid closer attention - best deal was Spirit Airline. Fine, whatever. Not until day before did I wake up to what we got into lmao. I'm a great light packer (4 days of business trip and I still use half size carry-on wheely bag) - but charged for a carryon. I think I paid to use the bathroom lmao. BUT - as much as I felt like cattle (in those tiny seats I had the 6-4" Amazonian 300pd guy in middle seat) - all 4 arrival/departures were TO THE MINUTE! Never experienced that before in the U.S. Not sure if it was my lucky day or the fact Spirit has special clout with air traffic. They are such penny-pinchers, sitting in runways is huge waste of $. So for that reason - I kinda changed my tune - since I'm usually an efficient traveler.

 

[ctenidae]

I usually take whichever flight gets me to where I need to be at the time I need to be there. Since I travel as much as once a week, I have a lot of miles scattered a lot of different places, and none concentrated enough to be helpful at all.

In the past month, I've flown American, United, Delta, British and EasyJet. British and American were business class, so hard to compare (did like the British arrangement slightly better) but in general, I only know what airline I'm on by the ticket. It's a crap shoot who your seat mates are, you can't control the weather, and air traffic control is its own animal. I pack light, bring a bottle of water and a snack, have a couple of videos and a stack of work to do, so I just hunker down and do it.

American out of Westchester sucks- they always overbook, they never assign seats until the end, so I'm always on the verge of getting bumped, and the airport is horrendous. Except that it's 20 minutes away, so that's a plus. Beyond that, it's 5 to 4 and pick'em.

 

[Funky_Catskills]

Yup can't let travel problems get to you.. Just gotta hunker down.
Spend a flight to Korea in a middle seat sometime... resets all your pain points..

For international
So far Emirates is my favorite hands down.. JAL is pretty good too..
I also flew KingFisher domestic Air in India and that was amazing.. Food was great - the filght attendants were some of the most gorgeous women I've seen.. I was shocked.. My buddy who's Indian said it's because in India you can advertise for a flight attendant between the ages of 21 and 28 - thin build - pretty features...

 

[gmcunni]

Flying JetBlue back to NYC. Captain just had us sing happy birthday to one of the flight attendants.

 

[LonghornSkier]

I used to fly JetBlue a lot back and forth from Houston to Boston.. Once every month or two on average. Always had a good experience, the TV's, the snacks, etc.. They also have pretty good seat pitch which this 6'7" guy appreciates. The plane is also always empty, as its a business route and the ties between the two cities aren't great.

My travel habits have changed significantly, and I now am forced to fly around the country quite often to various locations. Southwest is the best combo in terms of variety of destinations, price, and schedule for me out of Houston. Their rewards program also far exceeds Jet Blue..

I have flown American a fair bit in the past, and they're fine I guess. Honestly, with consolidation in the industry, it's tough to tell the difference between Delta, United, and American.

I've flown Alaska, Hawaiian, and WestJet also. All fine.

 

[skifree]

can a 6'7" person fit in a southwest seat?

 

[thetrailboss]

So I said that my favorite domestic airline was Southwest and got some laughs. Let me explain.

First, as someone just said, their rewards program is great. I have already gotten two free flights in the last year just by flying them when I can and earning miles that way. I had never gotten a free flight before....let alone two. Now if I had the credit card, I'd be getting more miles. From what I have seen so far, the miles don't expire. Now I had a good experience in 2012 with JetBlue and signed up for their rewards program. I flew them a few times in 2011 and 2012 but the miles expired in one year so I could not use them. Worthless to me. Delta has a decent program too and we have the SkyMiles Credit Card that gets us Zone 1 Boarding and good benefits. We have used miles on them to get free flights, but it has not been the same value as SW.

Second, the schedule works pretty well for us and we can get to where we need to go from SLC on SW with at most one stop. They have a perfect flight to MHT from SLC that gets me in at 4:30pm in MHT so that I can drive to VT and get there at a reasonable hour. The reverse trip leaves MHT at 4:30--I'd like it earlier, but it works. All of JetBlue's eastbound options for me involve either an overnight flight getting me into JFK at the crack of dawn or require me to backtrack to CA before flying back east.

Third, the bags flying free is huge. That knocks off about $50-85 each way per person in fees. I hate Delta's system...although our first bags fly free the second one gets hit at the higher rate.

Fourth, their planes are CLEAN and NEW. I know what I am getting on almost every flight. I want to like Delta more, but their planes are usually older and quite shopworn and dirty. Granted I have been on some newer 737-900's lately and their 717's are pretty nice with power in every seat. JetBlue's are nice.

Fifth, the service is hands down the best. Delta is average in my mind. JetBlue's, in my experience, was just OK. Southwest's folks have been great to my daughter and us. Two good anecdotes come to mind--last year we were flying back from Tampa to SLC and somehow our itineraries got changed such that my wife and daughter were flying on a different flight (they booked separately from me). We showed up at the airport and soon learned that my wife and daughter's flight had already left. The gate agent said, "no problem, what flight can we get you on next?" It was not their fault, but they switched us for free and apologized. Second, on my last trip east the weather in MDW was crap. They cancelled the leg from SLC to MDW but diverted the plane DIRECTLY to MHT. So the 45 of us who were going to MHT that day got a direct flight and a VIP experience. The plane had only 45 passengers on it....translating into a huge $$$ loss for SWA. We got in over two hours earlier than planned. Now I know that they were "deadheading" to get the plane to MHT to continue on its rotation that day, but other airlines would have simply axed the plane and left us at SLC with a "sorry, the weather sucks" to save coin and just shuffled planes around to fill the route. Instead, they smiled and flew us to MHT to get the job done. Made me pretty happy.

Yes, I hate how the "People of WalMart" sometimes fly Southwest, and yes I do hate the boarding process, especially if you have kids or just buy the regular ticket, but their service, free bag program, and clean planes make up for it. Call me crazy.

You'll notice that I don't mention American or United. SLC is a major Delta hub and has a lot of Southwest flights. My first, and last, experience on American left much to be desired--very dirty plane, meh service, and dumb connections. United used to be great, but it too has gotten worse.

 

[Hawkshot99]

So I said that my favorite domestic airline was Southwest and got some laughs. Let me explain.

First, as someone just said, their rewards program is great. I have already gotten two free flights in the last year just by flying them when I can and earning miles that way. I had never gotten a free flight before....let alone two. Now if I had the credit card, I'd be getting more miles. From what I have seen so far, the miles don't expire. Now I had a good experience in 2012 with JetBlue and signed up for their rewards program. I flew them a few times in 2011 and 2012 but the miles expired in one year so I could not use them. Worthless to me. Delta has a decent program too and we have the SkyMiles Credit Card that gets us Zone 1 Boarding and good benefits. We have used miles on them to get free flights, but it has not been the same value as SW.

SW does have a pretty good rewards program. The company I work for has a SW credit card that we use for any expenses we can. Every year we build up enough points to fly 8-9 people to a convention in Denver, then also 8-9 of us fly out west somewhere for a ski vacation as well. All of that is on points.

 

[thetrailboss]

SW does have a pretty good rewards program. The company I work for has a SW credit card that we use for any expenses we can. Every year we build up enough points to fly 8-9 people to a convention in Denver, then also 8-9 of us fly out west somewhere for a ski vacation as well. All of that is on points.

Exactly. It is easy to earn and easy to use.

 

[gmcunni]

i've not looked at SW's program but do like the current jetblue one. we use the jetblue credit card for most purchases. 3 of us flying to denver next month on points. wife flying to FL in june on points and still a lot left over.

 

[deadheadskier]

Just booked flights to San Diego. Jet Blue out, Delta back. Riding bitch both ways. :-x

 

[thetrailboss]

And why fly commercial when you can fly private? Jokes aside, this is an interesting documentary about Trump's plane:

 

[Hawkshot99]

And why fly commercial when you can fly private? Jokes aside, this is an interesting documentary about Trump's plane:

My friend used to own a Nursery/Landscaping company with his father (he now owns it by himself). His father was a member of Trump National Golf course and had done several landscape jobs around the coarse, and so he wanted him to come look at a new coarse he had just bought down in NC. Trump flew him down to NC for the day in his private plane. The plane is kept at Laguardia. My friends dad showed up a bit early, and got a full tour of the plane from the pilot, and he snapped a pic of him laying on Trumps bed.

When his father passed away a few years ago, Trump sent him a huge flower bouquet, and a nice letter to the kids.