What is your favorite airline and why?
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I have three overriding concerns when it comes to choosing an airline...
1. Getting a direct flight to my destination.
2. On-time performance.
3. Not having to pay for luggage (if the airline charges for carry-on luggage, they are out, period! That automatically eliminates Spirit and Frontier from consideration). This is a pet peeve of mine because on the airlines that charge for checked luggage almost every passenger that boards the plane has a carry-on, myself included. With limited storage space in the cabin, this causes problems, and also slows down the boarding and unboarding process noticeably.
As a result of the above three concerns, in most cases Southwest ends-up being my choice. I actually don't mind the unassigned seating system that they have. I prefer to get "B" seating because families with small children board between "A" and "B" and when I board I can choose my seat far away from them (and obese passengers).
1. Getting a direct flight to my destination.
2. On-time performance.
3. Not having to pay for luggage (if the airline charges for carry-on luggage, they are out, period! That automatically eliminates Spirit and Frontier from consideration). This is a pet peeve of mine because on the airlines that charge for checked luggage almost every passenger that boards the plane has a carry-on, myself included. With limited storage space in the cabin, this causes problems, and also slows down the boarding and unboarding process noticeably.
As a result of the above three concerns, in most cases Southwest ends-up being my choice. I actually don't mind the unassigned seating system that they have. I prefer to get "B" seating because families with small children board between "A" and "B" and when I board I can choose my seat far away from them (and obese passengers).
Cheapest fare always wins, meaning total payment including luggage.
Originally Posted by CKN
Originally Posted by opus1
I flew Southwest once. That was two times too many. Never again.
None of the other airlines are really a favorite, but being near Chicago I tend to split between United and American, which ever is cheaper. And as I get older, I find that I really don't want to deal with any of them anyway.
My all-time favorite airline was the original Midway that was around in the late 80's. Not as many destinations, but if they served somewhere that I wanted to fly, they were my first choice.
The last thing I want to worry about when I arrive at the airport is where I am going to sit in an airplane.
A DOZEN TIMES NO THANK YOU..........DON'T CARE HOW MUCH LESS THEY ARE - BTW-it's usually not that significant of a difference...IMHO.
And that's the thing - they're not always the cheapest choice when I need to fly. The booking system I use for work travel always steers me towards the cheapest flight, and in all the times I've had to travel since my first experience on Southwest, they were the lowest fare only once, and I was able to justify not using them by pointing out that the flight would get me there in time to miss most of the first day of the training I was being sent to take.
Originally Posted by opus1
I flew Southwest once. That was two times too many. Never again.
None of the other airlines are really a favorite, but being near Chicago I tend to split between United and American, which ever is cheaper. And as I get older, I find that I really don't want to deal with any of them anyway.
My all-time favorite airline was the original Midway that was around in the late 80's. Not as many destinations, but if they served somewhere that I wanted to fly, they were my first choice.
The last thing I want to worry about when I arrive at the airport is where I am going to sit in an airplane.
A DOZEN TIMES NO THANK YOU..........DON'T CARE HOW MUCH LESS THEY ARE - BTW-it's usually not that significant of a difference...IMHO.
And that's the thing - they're not always the cheapest choice when I need to fly. The booking system I use for work travel always steers me towards the cheapest flight, and in all the times I've had to travel since my first experience on Southwest, they were the lowest fare only once, and I was able to justify not using them by pointing out that the flight would get me there in time to miss most of the first day of the training I was being sent to take.
We fly Alaska because they have non-stop flights from STL to SEA.
We also fly a fair bit of SWA as they offer us good value without being nickel and dimed this bag or that charge.
I used to fly TWA/American almost exclusively when STL was a hub. No longer being a hub removes a fair bit of the appear. Add in all the nonsense charges now and we seldom fly AA.
We also fly a fair bit of SWA as they offer us good value without being nickel and dimed this bag or that charge.
I used to fly TWA/American almost exclusively when STL was a hub. No longer being a hub removes a fair bit of the appear. Add in all the nonsense charges now and we seldom fly AA.
Delta used to be my favorite, until they started gate-assigning seats on their lowest fare tickets. When I book a ticket, I want to know where I'm sitting at that time. You have to 'upgrade' to avoid this. Just another money grab, but they all have their own methods of money grabbing.
For the first time in 10+ years, I'm flying American to see my parents at Christmas, instead of Delta, as American has the only direct flight I could find from DFW to GNV. I'm thrilled about finally not having to stop in ATL. We'll see how they perform.
For the first time in 10+ years, I'm flying American to see my parents at Christmas, instead of Delta, as American has the only direct flight I could find from DFW to GNV. I'm thrilled about finally not having to stop in ATL. We'll see how they perform.
I used to strongly prefer Alaska / Horizon. I don't have business in the places they operate any more, except extremely rarely. Of the rest, I generally fly American because they're the only ones that go where I need to go directly. Having a 6-hour transit time for a 1 1/2 - 2 hour trip is just silly. If I have my choice of several similar flight times and carriers, I'll generally prefer Delta. United has treated me poorly (in one fashion or another) a few times fairly recently, and their planes are the least comfortable to me, so I don't fly them unless I have to. I had to recently on an international route. I was unhappy on the outbound flight, and pleased that a late change of travel plans let me skip them and move to Delta for the return side.
I stopped using American years ago, before they started charging for checked luggage. Wherever I was going from where I live I had to connect through DFW. Doing a connection through DFW is the absolute pits, it is the worst airport in the country IMO. Any time you have to connect there, when you get on the ground it takes 30-45 minutes to get to the gate, then to get to your connecting flight you have to "travel" (literally) to another terminal (almost missing my connection a couple of times), and when you leave, the plane has wait in a long line to take off. All of this fooling around adds 3 hours or more to the travel time. It is for these reasons that Southwest doesn't use DFW. Also, American is the only airline that ever lost my luggage, TWICE! On top of everything else, I found American's employees to be rude and unfriendly.
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