Your Airline of Choice

[Adelpiero]

In terms of suckage - SWA is my least favorite and it has everything to do with no assigned seating. From lurking on line to get the boarding pass exactly 24 hours before flight, to standing in the zoned cattle shoots to the level of people who all recline their fucking seat onto my laptop and knees they just suck.

a huge reason i won't fly Southwest.

I fly with AA. i pick my seat while purchasing my seat online. Never a problem, never an issue.

If you have a C on your boarding pass for a Southwest flight, you and your family better get ready to sit next to some lard ass who's sweating and smelling up virtually a 3 row area. Then add in the jerkoffs who decide they dont want to sit together, they are going to sit 1 to an aisle for 6 aisles. Then you have the kiddies who want to sit by themselves, not with their parents and end up yelling, "Mom" or "dad" the whole fucking flight. The worst part about having to board last, was that i was one of first peeps who bought tickets on that flight. Then some jerkoffs purchase tickets as were getting ready to board, and they have 1st line ticket.

My favorite line. It was the first time i had flown with Southwest, and I asked the lady if they had an actual first class and could upgrade.
Her: With the biggest shit eating grin "At Southwest, every seat is first class". i almost hurled as i noticed Bubba and his fat chubby children going nuts and tearing shit in airport up. I knew then, fuck this airline! And yes, i was stuck next to fatass Bubba and his KCpaulie-ish wife. Nightmare!

that was 8 years ago, flying back from orlando, never again!

[Smackie Chan]

i pick my seat

I don't believe I'da posted that. TMI.

As much as SWA gets panned by those who've had the unfortunate experience of flying with them, it's held up as the paragon of how to run an airline by just about every college business class I've taken. The airline business is an extremely tough one in which to consistently operate at a profit, and SWA is one of the few, if not the only domestic one, that's been able to do so for an extended number of years. Its no-frills approach is one of the reasons. Another is the fact that they only fly one type of aircraft (737), making configuration management easier and cheaper, as well as training and maintenance. They also supposedly pay and otherwise treat their employees well, minimizing turnover. And in the larger cities they serve, they operate out of the smaller airports rather than the major hubs, keeping their rents low. For instance, I don't believe they service LAX, but rather Burbank, Orange County, and Ontario airports. This allows them to offer lower fares, which are very tempting for passengers. But as the ol' saying goes, you get what you pay for.

[KC Scott]

Good Point Smackie - I wish SWA went to every city I travel to beacuse they absoluetly knock the crap oit of the major carries fares.

I'm lurking right now beacuse I have am going to Orlando Sunday and they had the only direct at the time I wanted - flying back on Midwest though.

I will take them to orlando and Vegas since there are few direct alternatives

[Smackie Chan]

Most of the flying I do is for gov't business, so I seldom have to pay out of pocket. I live about 10 minutes from National Airport (DCA) and 45 minutes from Dulles (IAD). The locations to where I most often travel are NOLA, San Diego, and Ventura County. The gov't has contracts with many carriers for flights originating out of certain airports to certain destinations. For example, the contract carrier from DCA to NOLA is US Airways (USA), which is a shitty airline. However, USA is a Star Alliance partner with United (UA), meaning the miles I fly with them can be credited to my UA Mileage Plus account, and the contract carrier from IAD to NOLA is UA. So I can either bite the bullet and fly conveniently out of DCA on USA and have my miles credited to UA, or spend a few more minutes on the road and fly out of IAD on UA. Pretty much a win-win.

Most of the time when I have to pay out of pocket, it's for my son to travel from SoCal to DC to visit. Miles accrued for gov't travel can be legally redeemed for personal use, so I usually pay for his tickets using miles or vouchers provided when I voluntarily give up seats on overbooked flights. The difference in fares between flying in/out of major airports vs. smaller ones is substantial, and it's far more convenient (and expensive when paying cash) for him to fly from Oxnard/Ventura (OXR) than from LAX. When using miles or vouchers, the cost is the same, so he usually flies UA from OXR. I plan to use miles to pay for a vacation flight to Amsterdam in a few months.

me.

Monday, I'm flying from DCA to OXR on United, hopefully first class all the way to LAX. My 500-mile cert upgrade is confirmed for the leg from DCA to O'Hare, still waiting to hear whether it is for the O'Hare to LAX leg. Hope to not have experiences similar to those Ken related. I've typically had pretty good luck, relatively speaking, with few delays, cancellations, and lost luggage. Hope it stays that way.

[Mister Bushice]

Flew United into Boston thru Dallas/ Fort Worth about 10 years back, and the fuckers lost my luggage. Some wing ding read "DFW" as "DTW" - detroit. It took them three days to find it.

Since I was staying in Southern Maine, the airport had my luggage delivered via taxi. This unshaved smelly dude ( oh no wait, that was me) rolls up in a station wagon filled with luggage, cigarette drooping out of his mouth. "Bushice?" He says. "That'd be me". He roots around in the back until I point out the bag. I asked him how they paid him. He said " Just like any other cab fare. I make a living delivering lost luggage. It's all I do."

I did get a flight discount out of it, but it sucked having one set of non-beach clothes for three days.

Worst flight I ever had was when one of the engines died. We heard this "BANG!" a little shaking, then nothing. Pilot comes on a few minutes later and says "Folks that noise you heard was one of our four engines going out, but not to worry, we practice landing on three engines in the simulator all the time"

PRACTICE? SIMULATOR???

Fucker

That last hour in the air sucked waaay worse than no change of underwear for three days.

[Smackie Chan]

Flew United into Boston thru Dallas/ Fort Worth about 10 years back, and the fuckers lost my luggage.

On a United flight to San Diego last month, my luggage went to San Francisco. Had to wait a day to get it. It sucked, but it's to be expected if one does any significant amount of flying. It's all, like, you can't stop it, you can only hope to contain it.

Worst flight I ever had was when one of the engines died. That last hour in the air sucked waaay worse than no change of underwear for three days.

Did you need a change after the engine blew?

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

-Zyclone

[Left Seater]

KC Scott and Adelpeiro,

For every example you have of sitting next to the fat man or family or bad kids, I have three for United or AA or Delta, etc. Southwest is no different than any other airline in the seats reclining into your computer. If you travel regularly there is a device you can carry with you that prevents the seat in front of you from reclining at all.

http://www.gadgetduck.com/goods/kneedefender.html

Part of the reason SWA continues to make money is their boarding proceedure. On of the best parts of it is that families don't board until after the A boarding group. So if you have an A boarding pass you can board prior to the families and they don't bogart all the prime seats. Further it encourages families to check in as early as possible to get an A boarding pass themselves.


Chan,

SWA does fly into LAX along with damn near all the other socal airports. You are correct in your other statements, however, the biggest feature of there success is their fuel hedging. They have fuel contracts out thru 2012 at pennies on the dollar at the current prices.

[Mister Bushice]

Did you need a change after the engine blew?

Pretty much everyone on board did. That fucker was LOUD when it blew.

To top it off it was night time, and when we began the descent we were flying through some thin clouds and one of the red running lights made it look a little like there was a fire on one of the wings. THAT was a special bonus. The flight attendant had to come on the intercom and calm everybody down. I had a window seat with a limited view of that light but it DID look like a fire at first.

[Smackie Chan]

SWA does fly into LAX

I figured they might be now. They've begun serving more of the larger airports in recent years after having started out serving just Texas. That fuel hedge has gotta be reaping huge dividends right about now.

[Smackie Chan]

American blows donkey balls.

[Diego in Seattle]

Air Tran isn't bad at all.

Feel free to fly them to the Everglades sometime.

[Ken]

So I can either bite the bullet and fly conveniently out of DCA on USA and have my miles credited to UA, or spend a few more minutes on the road and fly out of IAD on UA. Pretty much a win-win.

Oh man... I wouldn't even consider flying US on a transcon. If that upgrade doesn't clear, you're sitting in a typical coach seat, not E+ if it were United. I try and stay completely away from US. I've been pretty successful in doing so, this even residing in Pgh, a US 'focus' city. I think I've been on 1, MAYBE 2, US flights in the past year.

smackie, you did hear about Continental and UA, right? Continental joining the star alliance next year. It'll be nice to have them in the fold now as far as mileage accrual and more options in NA and Europe.

Re: Southwest
I've never been on a SW flight. EVER. Don't plan on it either. As I understand it, at the time of ticketing, you can purchase A seating group. Even then, I'm not big into fighting for a seat. Screw that.

[Smackie Chan]

I wouldn't even consider flying US on a transcon.

Neither would I. I was talking about flights from DC to NOLA (about two hours). Anything longer than that and it's not an option.

And I'm gonna get me a set of those knee defenders, if for no other reason than to piss off passengers in front of me who won't be able to recline, and those behind me when I do. Because I'm all about creating harmony.

[Left Seater]

Ken,

You can assure your place at time of purchase or you get your boarding group at the time of check in.



Did you guys see that UA just raised fares by $90 one way and has added minimum stay requirements. Anywhere from one to three night minimum stays and or the weekend. That along with the $15 checked bag fee is assuring more and more business continues to go to Southwest.

[Smackie Chan]

Did you guys see that UA just raised fares by $90 one way and has added minimum stay requirements. Anywhere from one to three night minimum stays and or the weekend.

I hadn't seen that, but it means that the other major domestic carriers (besides SWA) are sure to follow suit. Another change they recently implemented that's not quite as big of a deal is eliminating the 500-mile minimum mileage credit for shorter flights. When I take the ~50 mile, 13-minute flight from LAX to OXR, I get the minimum 500-mile credit added to my account. That's about to change, as they are revising their policy to only credit accounts with actual miles flown. :(

That along with the $15 checked bag fee is assuring more and more business continues to go to Southwest.

Probably in the private sector, but not in gov't, at least for now. Travel arrangements for DoD personnel are made through the Defense Travel System (DTS), essentially an online travel agent. Unless SWA has recently changed their policy, the only way you can book SWA flights online is through their Web site. I suppose I could go and check for myself, but I really don't care enough to do that. I don't believe you can book SWA through Travelocity or Orbitz or DTS, at least you couldn't as recently as about a year ago. So for now, I'm not gonna sweat having to fly in cattle class.

Also, once you get into the higher levels of UA's Mileage Plus program, you can still check bags for free.

[Ken]

That's about to change, as they are revising their policy to only credit accounts with actual miles flown. :(

Yeah, that's a bummer for sure. Hated to hear that announcement. I don't do too many <500 mile segments though, so not too big of a deal. I usually connect through ORD from Pgh, a 567 mile flight. What I found funny about their announcement stating that 'accounts would be credited with actual miles flown' is that it's not necessarily true. Some connecting flights have the same flt. # all the way through. For example, one might be IAD-DEN-SEA. You fly from IAD to DEN, deplane and catch your connecting flight to SEA at another gate. But because both are the same flight # you get credit as if it were IAD-SEA, slightly fewer miles. FURTHER, if you gain status via segments, you only are credited w/one segment when you actually flew two.

Yeah, way to credit w/actual miles flown, UA

Secondly, if they didn't want to piss off their elite members, they should have only credited actual miles flown towards redeemable miles, not also against elite qualifying miles. It will be harder for some elite members to maintain status. I mean, the whole point of the change was to reduce the amount of redeemable miles on UA's books. But don't piss off your elite members with something like this when Elite qualifying miles don't mean anything towards their books. Keep EQM's the way they were.

[Smackie Chan]

Some connecting flights have the same flt. # all the way through. For example, one might be IAD-DEN-SEA. You fly from IAD to DEN, deplane and catch your connecting flight to SEA at another gate. But because both are the same flight # you get credit as if it were IAD-SEA, slightly fewer miles. FURTHER, if you gain status via segments, you only are credited w/one segment when you actually flew two.

I've never understood this, except from the business perspective. I can see keeping the same flight # if the stop is just a brief one for passengers to deplane or board at the connecting airport. But if there's a plane and/or gate change involved, it's a different flight, and therefore should have a different #.

Secondly, if they didn't want to piss off their elite members, they should have only credited actual miles flown towards redeemable miles, not also against elite qualifying miles. It will be harder for some elite members to maintain status. I mean, the whole point of the change was to reduce the amount of redeemable miles on UA's books. But don't piss off your elite members with something like this when Elite qualifying miles don't mean anything towards their books. Keep EQM's the way they were.

Agree.

[Smackie Chan]

To further illustrate how US (Useless) Airways is living up to their name, they are now charging coach passengers $2 for non-alcoholic beverages. Had to fly them to/from NOLA last week, and this was the first time I'd experienced an airline not offering complimentary beverage service. Fuck 'em - they went from shitty to nearly unbearable.

Good news is the Knee Defender Ken suggested using actually works. Hooked 'em up and watched dude in front of me act like somethin' was wrong with his seat when he could only recline about an inch. Made my flight more enjoyable.

Beginning with last week's trip, I'm in the midst of seven straight weeks of having to fly, including trips on Delta and Useless Airways. Not looking forward to spiraling decline in the quality of service offered by the industry.

[Left Seater]

Glad the knee defender worked for you. I keep that in my brain bag. Have even had people offer to buy them from me on planes for three or four times what I paid for them.

Anyone had an issue with paying the bag fees for checked luggage and then having the airline loose them? My mom was just on AA and she knew she was going to have to pay for checked bags but she knew that going in as a family member had just died and she was bringing some things home with her. So she paid $15 for the first bag, $25 for the second, and $100 for the third. Two were overweight so she paid an additional $100. So she is $240 in on baggage fees and AA looses them. After filing the lost bag report she asks for a refund of the fees paid since they didn't deliver the bags as agreed. AA says they have 24 hours to get them too her. 24 hours later she goes back to the airport and speaks to the same lady who says the policy isn't to refund baggage fees. My mom stays cool, but blasts her for basically lying to her the day before. Letter to the paper and a letter to AA and as of now they have offered her a $100 travel voucher. Has one of the three bags at this point.

Any of you lawyers out there this sounds like a good class action suit.

[Mister Bushice]

Bah. Class action involves a group of people. If that's the case you won't make any money. Eight years from now you'll get a check for $3.17 cents.

Best thing is to try and get them to pay for lost time and/or lost items, and don't stop pestering them until you take up so much of their time they give you something to make you go away.

[Smackie Chan]

Best thing is to try and get them to pay for lost time and/or lost items, and don't stop pestering them until you take up so much of their time they give you something to make you go away.

Yep. And don't take "no" for an answer from anyone not authorized to say "yes."

[Left Seater]

Oh, don't worry, she is retired and this is now her project. She is on it and will stay on it.

She is also an owner in my company and can throw that at them as well. I often fly commercial home when working charter flights or fly commercial somewhere to work a charter from another location. So she can reference the 20 or so trips a month the company purchases for its pilots.

The class action status is more of a double rods to the airline.

[Felix]

Frontier is a pretty decent airline-relatively speaking
they fly the Airbus A318's and A319's both of which offer a lots of leg and seat room...typically one of the cheaper airlines as well

i just wish they flew to more cities

[Funkywhiteboy]

Trans American.

[Left Seater]

Frontier is the airline most likely to go tits up in the next year. They would already be in bankruptcy but for a huge cash infusion by a new investor who has very favorable repayment terms. Southwest is expanding rapidly at DIA and that is causing a world of hurt to Frontier. Apparently getting to your destination on time with your bags is more attractive than watching TV while delayed.

However, United has their own issues as the pilots want tilton out. Glen Must Go! Some of you big United fliers can prolly get some of your stories posted on that site.

[TheJON]

At the expense of being called cheap by Lefty.....

I got $204 round trip flights (3 of us) to Pittsburgh off Travelocity on Northwest. I love Northwest Airlines. Northwest terminal at Detroit airport is quite literally the best part of that city! Tried to get flights out of Des Moines, but they were going for about $450. To heck with that, between 3 people we could rent a luxury car, stay in a 5-star hotel and sit on the 50 yard line at the Iowa-Pitt game for that price!

Pittsburgh and KC are 2 of the cheapest airports in the country to fly in and out of from what I've found.

[Left Seater]

Pittsburgh and KC are 2 of the cheapest airports in the country to fly in and out of from what I've found.

Its amazing what Southwest can do for a market.

[KC Scott]

They all suck - but have also been using the One world Alliance Delta, NWA, Continetal whenever possible. This year I foucsed on Delta miles Got the Delta AMEX - All my rental car points - everything except my Marriott points to get up ASAP to award the tix for next summer's vacation.

So in about 11 months I built up 190K - which was just barely, and I mean barely enough to book the trip for 5 of us one year in advance. And by one year I mean I booked for July dates as soon as they opened up on Delta and the cheapest points flight I could get was 37,500 per flight. Add $49 per person processing fee they just tacked on (up from $10 last year) and I'm not real thrilled.

Still, it's better than buying 5 tix to Miami - but still doesn't seem nearly enough for how much I've spent on tix

[TheJON]

Pittsburgh and KC are 2 of the cheapest airports in the country to fly in and out of from what I've found.

Its amazing what Southwest can do for a market.

True, and living in DSM the majority of my life it's been very frustrating because they always say if the DSM airport would ever get Southwest, prices would literally drop in half on the major airlines right away. We've had a couple cheap airlines that only fly to limited places such as Allegiant (which I flew to Vegas last year), but most of them just go bankrupt a year later.

I've probably flown out of DSM 5 times in my life. Save a couple hundred bucks by flying out of KC or Omaha. Besides, flying out of KC always gives me an excuse to go get some KC BBQ or see a Royals game so I don't complain. But there are times in the winter when it would be nice to not have to pay $450 for the same flight I could pay $200 out of KC.

[Left Seater]

but have also been using the One world Alliance Delta, NWA, Continetal whenever possible.

Wait. What? Are you saying you use oneworld and sky team? The airlines listed are not part of oneworld.


Jon,

Part of the reason fares are higher in DSM is because people like yourself will drive to KC to catch a flight. If more of you used DSM then the fares would fall. Now granted one person or even ten won't make much of a dent, but a focused campaign by DSM to get people to fly out of there could do wonders for your costs. My hometown of Corpus Christi is very similiar. People would drive to SA to save $100-$200 on flights. Kind of a chicken and the egg thing.

[Mikey]

I'm thinking that Spanair right now is not in too many people's top 5.

[KC Scott]

Wait. What? Are you saying you use oneworld and sky team? The airlines listed are not part of oneworld

Yea - skyteam.

Oneworld is AA - after a while I just forget the Superfriends names and just remember to fly Delta, Cont and NWA to bag up the Delta points

[Left Seater]

That should get even easier, at least for awhile as Delta and NWA merge. But if the 'new' Delta sticks to their statements that they will keep all their current hubs, then watch out as they will fail faster than Independence Air.

[warren]

What with all the airlines folding in the past few weeks and others adding crazy fees, what is your airline of choice?

I always choose Southwest for both business and personal travel if they are going where I need to go. Biggest factor for me is on time arrivals and getting there with my "Brain Bag." Second factor is frequency of flights. If they fly a route they often do it with 6 + flights per day. Some of the others may only have a morning and evening departure. Third is they don't stick you on the RJs where your carry on bag is no longer a carry on bag and then they want to check it to your final destination. Southwest does much better than any of the others in my experience and yours too according to the statistics.

If Southwest doesn't go where I need then I tend to fly on one of the Oneworld Airlines. AA domestic, British Airways to Europe, and most recently Cathay Pacific to Asia.

Damn other airlines including AA now charge for any checked bags, USAirways now even charges you for tap water. How are your companies handling the baggabe fees and the snacks and drinks you must now purchase on board?

Take this from a frequent transcontinental travel, I used love BA, however, and this is recent news, they have begun to suck.

Lufthansa has surpassed.

Domestically, Southwest rules in all categories: price, timeliness, baggage handling and friendliness.

[KC Scott]

That should get even easier, at least for awhile as Delta and NWA merge. But if the 'new' Delta sticks to their statements that they will keep all their current hubs, then watch out as they will fail faster than Independence Air.

Agree - one of the major NW hubs will go

I like Detroit and Memphis airports - hate Minneapolis even though I have to go there quite a bit

If I had to guess - I'd say Detroit or Memphis get the axe maybe Delta's Cincy

[warren]

And I've never had any complaints about the service in coach.

They provide young boys instead of bags of peanuts?

That's freaking funny!

[Left Seater]

I can't see Detroit getting the Ax at all. Brand new terminal that they have to themselves. Runways capable of launching 747-400s to Europe and Asia in summer.

Got to think that Memphis and Cincy will both get the ax at some point.

Then I think you see them build up some at PDX. Nice airport, not as crowded as SEA and both Delta and NWA are familliar with it. Delta used to hub their Asian flights from there and NWA has an A330 flight to Japan there still.

Haven't been on BA in about 18 months, so can't comment on the decline. Problem is they go non-stop from IAH and it doesn't make much sense to go to GER to backtrack to London. However, Lufthansa does fly non-stop from IAH also.

[Left Seater]

Now United is removing the free meals from coach on European flights from Dulles. Way to go UA.

Also for those of you that use upgrades on UA get ready to eat the boxed, buy on board meals the coach pax are eating. However, if you are up front you won't have to pay for it, but you will get the same box as the guy in the last row of coach.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/ ... reax_N.htm

[KC Scott]

Got to think that Memphis and Cincy will both get the ax at some point.

Losing Memphis takes them out of the Texas market for sure if your basing from midwest states.
No way I'm flying to MN or ATL to get to TX - miles be damned.