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OT - Air Travel

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Just recently took a couple trips to Key West and Atlanta.
Flew various airlines including Delta, American, and Allegiant.
Wow, haven't traveled much since I was jetting around for the job back pre-911. Could not believe how bad Allegiant was. Forget the plane, which was cramped as heck. The bag check was a nightmare, on both ends. Both times arrived at airport to find zero workers at bag check. Got to the point the first time where we started to get nervous. Worked out, but cut it close. Trip back? Line 60 people deep. 3 overwhelmed and zombified workers. Line not moving for 30 minutes. With a very long TSA line, finally decided to ditch the single checked bag we had. Stuffed as much stuff in our "personal" carry ons as possible. Vowed never to fly that airline again. Then the 60 minutes story broke. Scary stuff.

I found Delta to be great. American, a close second.

Glad I'm at a place in life where I don't have to think about the discount carriers again. Planning on doing more travel going forward.

Beyond those mentioned, opinions on other carriers? Thinking of taking a few trips to Europe.
 

polycom

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Delta is often viewed as the best followed by American for domestic travel. (Business travel)
 
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Just recently took a couple trips to Key West and Atlanta.
Flew various airlines including Delta, American, and Allegiant.
Wow, haven't traveled much since I was jetting around for the job back pre-911. Could not believe how bad Allegiant was. Forget the plane, which was cramped as heck. The bag check was a nightmare, on both ends. Both times arrived at airport to find zero workers at bag check. Got to the point the first time where we started to get nervous. Worked out, but cut it close. Trip back? Line 60 people deep. 3 overwhelmed and zombified workers. Line not moving for 30 minutes. With a very long TSA line, finally decided to ditch the single checked bag we had. Stuffed as much stuff in our "personal" carry ons as possible. Vowed never to fly that airline again. Then the 60 minutes story broke. Scary stuff.

I found Delta to be great. American, a close second.

Glad I'm at a place in life where I don't have to think about the discount carriers again. Planning on doing more travel going forward.

Beyond those mentioned, opinions on other carriers? Thinking of taking a few trips to Europe.

Really just depends on your destinations but many of the Asian airlines connect through Europe and are lovely.

Emirates to has direct service to Milan from JFK. Logan too I believe. Fantastic airline. Lufthansa is brilliant as well. Delta-Air France is also a solid choice.

Singapore airlines is the best of the best imo and has service to London I believe. Same for Qatar airways.

US airlines are mostly rubbish compared to many of the top global airlines. Delta and Southwest for domestic travel.
 
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I like Southwest and JetBlue domestically.

Have recently flown British Air and Air France, and thought they were much better than American Airlines. If flying to Europe, Air Canada has two standards, but they don't advertise which one. Sometimes you get the newer full service planes, and sometimes you get these cramped older ones.

If I had to choose, I'd do British Air.
 

Chin Diesel

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I definitely like Delta amongst the Big 3 legacy carriers. AA is better than United on domestic routes I fly, but I like United's international flights better. Flew JAL over in Japan back in Fall of last year and January this year. Great airline all around. For short haul domestic flights I hunt out the Embraer 175 and 190's. Very comfortable 2 by 2 seating arrnagements. No middle seats. I have one place I have to visit that has a CRJ-200 as the final leg. That airplane is pure hell.

Have to head over to UK on Saturday. Flying Delta. Fortunately my company permits us to fly business class on international leg. That cost gets you complimentary upgrade to business/first class on the domestic leg almost all the time. Flying first class international with lay flat cubicles is one of life's greatest pleasures.

It's a 777 on way over and flying Virgin on way home and it will be first time on an Airbus 340-600.

Missed out flying one of Delta's last remaining 747 flights last fall by a week. I'm searching for British Airways, Korean Air or other international carrriers who fly it for a seat on the upper deck.

Domestically you couldn't pay me to fly Frontier, Spirit or any of the ultra low cost. Supposedly Jet Blue is very good but I haven't ever flown it. I don't like Southwest. I never got their vibe. My best friend flies Southwest once a week for domestic travel and he's learned to like it.

At some point the "you get what you pay for" has to work it's way in to service and quality. Sure the legacy carriers carry way higher labor and maintenance costs, but they have more options when stuff hits the fan.

I'd also recommend seeking out 787 Dreamliner flights. That plane flies smoothly.
 
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A-340? Didnt know anyone used those monsters anymore. They are the Hummer of the air when it comes to fuel consumption and the a350 and 787 have made them redundant. I flew recently on a new a350 which was nice and the a380 is always a pleasure. b787 and b777 are both fine for long haul. Some US carriers use other boeing planes over the atlantic, the horror.

In the USA I would rather just fly Southwest than deal with the inevitable disappointment of all others. Just standard and no nickle and diming. Jetblue is fine too but limited usefulness for me and my travels.

I can not wait to move back to the states and stop flying so far and so much.
 
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Just recently took a couple trips to Key West and Atlanta.
Flew various airlines including Delta, American, and Allegiant.
Wow, haven't traveled much since I was jetting around for the job back pre-911. Could not believe how bad Allegiant was. Forget the plane, which was cramped as heck. The bag check was a nightmare, on both ends. Both times arrived at airport to find zero workers at bag check. Got to the point the first time where we started to get nervous. Worked out, but cut it close. Trip back? Line 60 people deep. 3 overwhelmed and zombified workers. Line not moving for 30 minutes. With a very long TSA line, finally decided to ditch the single checked bag we had. Stuffed as much stuff in our "personal" carry ons as possible. Vowed never to fly that airline again. Then the 60 minutes story broke. Scary stuff.

I found Delta to be great. American, a close second.

Glad I'm at a place in life where I don't have to think about the discount carriers again. Planning on doing more travel going forward.

Beyond those mentioned, opinions on other carriers? Thinking of taking a few trips to Europe.
I live in Europe. You can't beat KLM. We have a bunch of discount carriers here like easy jet and wow. Same old crap, you have to walk out on the tarmac (sp?) to board the plane and service in general is bad or non existent. But you can save money and still get where you are going.
 

David 76

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Consumer Reports just came out with a passenger rating. Top three: Southwest, Air Alaska and Air Hawaii.

Never flew the latter two and I have a slight preference for Jet Blue over Southwest.

Edit to say the CR rating was for domestic flights.
 

CTBasketball

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Air Alaska is very good. So is Jet Blue. American and Delta get trash talked but they’re miles better than Spirit or Frontier.

It seems every company has a plane blowing an engine or having engine problems too.
 
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Used Delta on a recent trip. I concur. Delta does a great job moving people about.
 
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MattMang23

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I usually try to fly not quite the discount airlines or the larger, more expensive airlines, but the second tier. Jet Blue domestically.

For European travel, I've flown Aer Lingus and Wow Air to Europe, and then once in Europe I fly the discount carriers Ryan Air and Easy Jet. The discount carriers both suck and nickle and dime you for everything, but if you know that going in, so as long as you pack smart and only need a carry-on, most flights are cheap so its worth it when you're only paying ~€75 RT.

Aer Lingus is the best airline I've ever flown. The planes are the largest I've ever seen, the seats are spacious and very comfortable, every seat has a personal tv/video game console, they give you two large full-sized meals and none of these are added costs. Comes with the ticket price, which is relatively affordable. I flew RT Boston to Barcelona on Aer Lingus for ~$550. Oh and the Irish stewardesses are the nicest people- Ireland is known for extremely hospitable, nice people in general so maybe this isn't such a surprise.
 

Hankster

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Just recently took a couple trips to Key West and Atlanta.
Flew various airlines including Delta, American, and Allegiant.
Wow, haven't traveled much since I was jetting around for the job back pre-911. Could not believe how bad Allegiant was. Forget the plane, which was cramped as heck. The bag check was a nightmare, on both ends. Both times arrived at airport to find zero workers at bag check. Got to the point the first time where we started to get nervous. Worked out, but cut it close. Trip back? Line 60 people deep. 3 overwhelmed and zombified workers. Line not moving for 30 minutes. With a very long TSA line, finally decided to ditch the single checked bag we had. Stuffed as much stuff in our "personal" carry ons as possible. Vowed never to fly that airline again. Then the 60 minutes story broke. Scary stuff.

I found Delta to be great. American, a close second.

Glad I'm at a place in life where I don't have to think about the discount carriers again. Planning on doing more travel going forward.

Beyond those mentioned, opinions on other carriers? Thinking of taking a few trips to Europe.
I am also a Delta fan. Don't care what the route is. I fly Delta anyway. I fly from Harrisburg to Savannah at least three times a year. My wife fly's to Boise for family visits a couple of times a year. Delta's route is not so direct as United, however the next time I fly United will be when they are the only airline left standing. Harrisburg is a small very nice airport. Plus, I often get TSA Pre'Check on my ticket.
 
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I flew both American and JetBlue recently. I got stuck with a seat that wouldn't decline on American with leg room designed for ants (which is great fun on a six hour flight). The flight attendants were inattentive and incredibly rude (and my expectations from customer service are incredibly low. Say "hello" and I'll usually feel good about it.) But I earned good miles so there's that.

JetBlue, as always, was a great flight.
 

Hankster

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Another comment about yesteryear. Many times I flew Pan Am from LaGuradia/JFK to Munich. Now that I think about it, they were a great airline. Forget what happened to them.
 
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Another comment about yesteryear. Many times I flew Pan Am from LaGuradia/JFK to Munich. Now that I think about it, they were a great airline. Forget what happened to them.

After the Flight 103 disaster and rising fuel prices = fewer long haul passengers, they went bankrupt. As a kid, they always seemed like the coolest airline out there. I do not have much to add to the thread as I'm an infrequent flyer, but my preference has always been Southwest or JetBlue for anything domestic and I've always had great luck with American beyond that. I've never flown Delta so that's why they are being excluded. Unfortunately, I am in the position to search for discount airlines and I've had (so far) great luck with Spirit and Frontier. You just have to be smart about using them and know that they are going to nickel and dime you. Pack efficiently, expect no frills, and you'll get a cheap, relatively comfortable flight. The last part is in regards to the physical seating on the plane not concerns about equipment, etc. The Allegient stuff is scary as hell and there's no way I'd go anywhere near them.
 

polycom

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I flew both American and JetBlue recently. I got stuck with a seat that wouldn't decline on American with leg room designed for ants (which is great fun on a six hour flight). The flight attendants were inattentive and incredibly rude (and my expectations from customer service are incredibly low. Say "hello" and I'll usually feel good about it.) But I earned good miles so there's that.

JetBlue, as always, was a great flight.

People who recline.....:mad:
 
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Living in Atlanta I pretty much fly Delta exclusively. Their fleet is known to be a bit older than some of the others, but I have never really had a poor experience with them. Must haves for flying is TSA-Pre Check and Clear (especially getting through ATL). There is nothing better than moving past the lines of those who only have TSA-Pre Check or not having to pull out your ID to show it to the TSA agent (there probably are better things in life, but as far as security goes this is the best it can get with the exception of Global Entry).

Delta is soon going to be replacing the MD-88 and MD-90 fleet with the A321 and Bombardier C-Series. I really enjoy the MD-88 so I will miss that plane for sure.
 
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Just recently took a couple trips to Key West and Atlanta.

I found Delta to be great. American, a close second.

Glad I'm at a place in life where I don't have to think about the discount carriers again. Planning on doing more travel going forward.

Beyond those mentioned, opinions on other carriers? Thinking of taking a few trips to Europe.

Agree with the Delta/American. Have done a lot of biz travel over the last couple years, Delta has been great, American very good.
Won't fly any other airlines unless there's absolutely no other option. United was a nightmare, SW - the cattle call seating seems like a pita...

What I always find interesting is that, they always finish off their announcements with "enjoy the flight."
I think folks rarely 'enjoy the flight'...I enjoy the 'getting there quicker'...but, I rarely enjoy 'the flight'...
 
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Jet Blue, American or Delta domestically. I avoid Southwest always.
Recently flew American business class to Barcelona 777 and back from Milan 767 and both flights were great
 
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If I am travelling internationally I always try to go with the company of the country I am flying to (national carrier) as I have always found them to be better than Delta, AA, etc. (experience, been to 35 countries, France 5 times, Ireland 2 times, flown in and out of Colombia and Guate several times while living there, most other countries visited once).

Turkish airlines was awesome, some of the Asian airlines I have taken were also great. Even Airasia, the discount airline of the region was better than AA or delta in my experiences and even had superior perks. Avianca is pretty decent for Latin America, Aerlingus and Icelandair are also superior. Not sure why, but even on long flights I do not recall AA even giving a snack. Avianca always gives lunch or dinner (flown them too many times to count). Copa airlines was also one of the better ones I took though I am not a huge fan of customer service in Panama generally speaking.

Low costs like ryanair, well, ehhhh, it gets you from point a to point b. Spirit was decent, even allowed me to cancel one flight last minute but maybe they have changed. VivaColombia also a discount airline, is the absolute bottom of the barrel garbage airline and customer service which makes ryanair, spirit, allegant, etc. look perfectly fine is some of the worst you will fine which is a shame because Colombains are great people....though Wingo, also from colombia was actually pretty good, even gave a snack on a short flight.

Turkish airlines had the nicest, most accodomading staff. I remember on a long haul flight from Istanbul to Chicago I was on the huge flight. 3 seats on the left, 3 on the right, 4 in the center. I had the 4 seats in the center all to myself, also happened to be super hung over after a wild night in Izmir followed by a hectic flight from Izmir to Istanbul to make sure I would get my flight to Chicago...the staff let me sprawl out, all 187cm of me, across the 4 seats and basically make a little fort. Haha, they were so nice. They saw me scramble to get up and told me "No worries, go back to how you were." Even came back with my lunch later in the flight when I had slept past it.
 
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Domestic: I lean towards Southwest, yesterday's events not withstanding (hey, at least it wasn't a Pratt engine!)

I used to prefer JetBlue, but I've had a few of bad experiences with them in a row and I know others who experienced similar situations. As they've become a more "traditional" hub and spoke airline, the stupidity of having JFK and Logan as your hubs is becoming more apparent.

International: Lufthansa flys everywhere in contentenial Europe and I think they're great.
 

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