# Airline Ranking



## Kauai Kid (May 10, 2011)

Best to Worse from a Consumer Magazine

SW Airlines
JetBlue
Alaska
Frontier
AirTran
Continental
American
Delta
United
US Airways


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## Talent312 (May 10, 2011)

Seems reasonable, but I don't put much stock in unattributed sources.
Which consumer magazine?  Motor Trend?


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## Kauai Kid (May 11, 2011)

Don't use it then.:annoyed: 


Sterling


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## bryanphunter (May 11, 2011)

Talent312 said:


> Seems reasonable, but I don't put much stock in unattributed sources.
> Which consumer magazine?  Motor Trend?



It was from Consumer Reports magazine.  I would say that's a pretty well respected periodical.


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## Jimster (May 11, 2011)

*ranking*

It all depends on what they consider important.  Personally, I think the frequent flyer program is very important and because of that I certainly wouldn't rank them that way.  I know some people on here think Delta's FF program is ok but every time I try to use it I need a billion points to go 200 miles or there is no availability at all.  How many system wide upgrades do you get to foreign countries on Frontier?  Answer- none.  They don't fly to foreign countries and I don't believe they offer system wide upgrades.  I like Alaska Airlines alot but if you live East of the Mississippi, you only get a few destinations exclusively on Alaska.  Also if you live in Philadelphia, US Air(which I generally don't like) becomes more attractive because they have a large number of flights from there.  Meanwhile Continental does not have many flights from there.  Finally, the list totally excludes the foreign carriers which generally tend to be much better.

I think this list is only interesting at best and at worst it distorts the reality of the situation.


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## x3 skier (May 11, 2011)

Jimster said:


> It all depends on what they consider important.
> I think this list is only interesting at best and at worst it distorts the reality of the situation.



I agree totally. 

Cheers


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## bryanphunter (May 11, 2011)

*From USA Today Travel Section*

By Ben Mutzabaugh, USA TODAY

...Consumer Reports evaluated 10 of the nation's biggest airlines, evaluating them on check-in ease; cabin-crew service; cabin cleanliness; baggage handling; seat comfort; and in-flight entertainment.

The ratings (scored on a 0-to-100 scale):

1. Southwest (87)
2. JetBlue (84)
3. Alaska Airlines (79)
4. Frontier (78)
5. AirTran (74)
6. Continental (72)
7. American (65)
8. Delta (64)
9. United (63)
10. US Airways (61)

As for its methodology, Consumer Reports says:

Consumer Reports airline ratings are based on responses from 14,861 readers who told the Consumer Reports National Research Center about their experiences on 29,720 domestic round-trip flights from January 2010 to January 2011. Airlines were scored based on passengers' responses to questions regarding overall satisfaction, check-in ease, cabin-crew service, cabin cleanliness, baggage handling, seating comfort, and in-flight entertainment.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (May 11, 2011)

Relying on _Consumer Reports_ for objective ratings is like trusting _Wikipedia _for objective information.


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## Kauai Kid (May 12, 2011)

Talent312 said:


> Seems reasonable, but I don't put much stock in unattributed sources.
> Which consumer magazine?  Motor Trend?



Proctology Today:hysterical:


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## lvhmbh (May 12, 2011)

Agree that the FF miles are more important.  I have never flown SW.  DH only wants to sit in the front of the plane so we use miles to upgrade and/or get tickets.  We tried to use Delta cross country but no go.  We are hooked on AA.  Is it the best?  For our FF miles it is and that's what counts with us.  Linda


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## Helene4 (May 12, 2011)

Are they kidding? No Virgin America?  I'd take them over all the airlines mentioned here.

I'm waiting for a non-stop direct from JFK (o rLGA) to CUN!


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## K2Quick (May 12, 2011)

Jimster said:


> I know some people on here think Delta's FF program is ok but every time I try to use it I need a billion points to go 200 miles or there is no availability at all.


I have yet to meet anybody who thinks Delta's FF program is ok.  In my past I used to travel a lot for business and accumulated a ton of miles on Delta and United.  My United miles were gone a long time ago because they were easy to redeem.  I still have a bundle of Delta miles because they're so ridiculously difficult to use these days.


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## Ken555 (May 12, 2011)

Helene4 said:


> Are they kidding? No Virgin America?  I'd take them over all the airlines mentioned here.



100% agree. I don't even care that I don't earn miles sufficient for redemption on Virgin... It's just great to fly in a new plane with a wonderful staff. No airline hassle with Virgin like all the others, much less negativity... In general they offer the best overall experience.


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## Jimster (May 12, 2011)

*Delta*



K2Quick said:


> I have yet to meet anybody who thinks Delta's FF program is ok.  In my past I used to travel a lot for business and accumulated a ton of miles on Delta and United.  My United miles were gone a long time ago because they were easy to redeem.  I still have a bundle of Delta miles because they're so ridiculously difficult to use these days.



I personally think Delta is terrible.  They made another list I saw a while back "Top Ten Most Hated Corporations" (They came in 9th).   I don't like their "sky peso" program; I don't like their service; and I find them incredibly difficult to deal with.  However, if you read on this board more of the travel posts, you will find some staunch defenders of Delta.  Obvioiusly, my airline of choice is UA but then I fly out of Chicago and I have elite status.  Have I had some problems with them?  Yes, I have had a few, but they are much more customer friendly than some of the others.  They also are the world's largest airline since the merger.

I like some of the others mentioned in this thread (especially Alaska and Virgin) but their network just doesn't compare to UA.  If i only flew ord to pdx, I'd fly Alaska, but they don't help me much getting to Bangkok or Rome.  And as i said before, if you are traveling internationally and leave off the foreign carriers, then you are leaving off many of the best airlines (and many are partners of UA and the Star Alliance).


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## Dori (May 13, 2011)

Up until they rolled out their RR2 program, I also would have ranked SW as #1. I have seen big changes over the last year, including much higher fares. Oh, how I yearn for the good old days of RR1.

Dori


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## vacationhopeful (May 13, 2011)

Dori said:


> Up until they rolled out their RR2 program, I also would have ranked SW as #1. I have seen big changes over the last year, including much higher fares. Oh, how I yearn for the good old days of RR1.
> 
> Dori



Yes, same here. Under RR1, you were rewarded for flying the last flight of the day (cheaper fares, but equal RR1 reward). And it is much harder to get a free flight with RR2. Just my personal opinion...


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## x3 skier (May 13, 2011)

K2Quick said:


> I have yet to meet anybody who thinks Delta's FF program is ok.



I definitely won't say Sky Miles is great but I have been able to redeem them for round trip low miles awards in Biz Class for my annual trip to Europe on my schedule every year since I can remember. 

Sky Miles are definitely *NOT* "Best in Class" as Delta advertises and it takes a little work to get the awards I want but since I am a captive of them, I have learned to endure and devise ways to get what I need. The first way is to totally ignore whatever the totally hopeless Award Calendar tells you.  

Actually, being a Million Miler on USeless Air and American as well, I find they are better in award redemption but not stunningly so.

This is not a "defense" of Delta but just a report of how I usually make lemonade out of the lemons Delta offers on a routine basis.

Cheers


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## gwenco (May 13, 2011)

*Frontier*

Having flown them several times as it used to be our hometown airline, we just flew with them this past week.  They recently merged with Republic/Midwest and now offer warm chocolate chip cookies! For Free!   Also, a very nice touch was when the 1st Captain came out and gave a nice greeting to all of the mothers for Mothers Day. On the second leg, another pilot actually pushed a wheelchair bound passenger from the plane to the gate. Pretty impressive...


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## RFW (May 27, 2011)

I guess Spirit is too small to make the list, where it would have to fall right to the bottom of the list!


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## sfwilshire (May 29, 2011)

Bad sign I guess, since I only fly the four at the bottom. We keep hoping Southwest will come to Knoxville and Frontier starts limited service here in June. Maybe it will get better.

Sheila


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