# Best & Worst Airlines List



## Talent312 (Jul 30, 2011)

From Smart Money online (condensed):
http://www.smartmoney.com/spend/travel/the-best-airlines-for-5-types-of-fliers-1311890717895/
How U.S. carriers stack up:

*(1) [Ancillary Fees]*

Best: Frontier 
3.7% of its revenue is from fees, an average $4.05 per passenger.
Ticket change fees are at most $50. Big carriers charge as much as 3x that.
Pets ($75) and unaccompanied minors ($50) are also significantly cheaper.

Worst: United Continental & Delta
14.7% of its revenues is from fees, an average $34.32 per passenger.
Second-worst: Delta -- $22.75 per passenger.

*(2) Arriving on Time*

Best: Hawaiian Airlines 
92.5% of flights arrive on time, up from 92.1% in 2009...
Also, bumps very few passengers -- just 0.04 per 10,000.

Worst: Delta's Comair 
73.1% of Delta's regional carrier Comair's flights arrived on time.

_Denied Boarding:_
Best -- JetBlue with 0.01 per 10K passengers this year (0 last year).
Worst -- American Eagle with 4.02 of every 10,000 passengers.
The carrier also has the third-worst on-time rating at 77.1%.

*(3) Checking a Bag*

Best: Southwest 
The only U.S. carrier that offers two bags for free, a savings of up to $60.
AirTran is fairly cheap at $20 for a first bag and $25 for a second.
AirTran also had the lowest mishandled bag rate at 1.63.

Worst: American Eagle 
On par with the other major carriers, but no discount for paying in advance.
American Airlines' regional carrier mishandles 7.15 of every 1,000 bags. 

*(4) Flying in Comfort*

Best: JetBlue 
JetBlue has the most generous economy seating on domestic flights.
Seat pitch of at least 32" (and often, 34") on all its aircraft.
Each passenger has a personal TV in the seatback in front of them.
Amenities include unlimited free snacks and nonalcoholic drinks.

Worst: Spirit 
Spirit is the least-comfortable domestic carrier according to Zagat.
Seats are the smallest with a seat pitch of just 28" on most aircraft.
No cabin TVs; no WiFi; food and nonalcoholic beverages cost $2 - $5.

*(5) Redeeming Rewards*
_According to a survey by IdeaWorks..._

Best: Southwest 
99.3% of requests filled, significantly ahead of other U.S. carriers.
JetBlue, runner-up, filled 79.3% of requests.

Worst: U.S. Airways & Delta 
U. S. Airways fulfilled 25.7% of reward-seat requests.
Second-worst: Delta -- 27.1% of requests.


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## dougp26364 (Jul 30, 2011)

I understand Delta being hard to redeem FF miles. I have 39,200 miles and can't find a flight for less than 40,000 miles. I've flown recently on AA with miles and booked 2 seats with miles on United. I've had over 25,000 miles on Delta for a couple of years now and have never been able to find a seat. We were flying them upwards of 3 times per year. We're down to ZERO times per year this past year and I'm avoiding them when looking at flight for next year as well. 

We gave up on USAir a long time ago. Eventually, We'll get our Delta miles over 40,000, cash them out and put them on my no-fly list along with USAir.

I have two future flights booked on Frontier and will be looking at them for our west bound destinations more frequently.


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## 1950bing (Jul 30, 2011)

Ever wonder why they put stickers on the inside of of the doors of airplanes that say, " do not open in flight " :whoopie:


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## Rent_Share (Jul 30, 2011)

1950bing said:


> Ever wonder why they put stickers on the inside of of the doors of airplanes that say, " do not open in flight " :whoopie:


 
For the same peope who need to be told not to use a hair dryer in the shower


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## x3 skier (Jul 30, 2011)

Actually, the best worst stuff is sort of nonsense to me. The actual difference between any thing the media rates is usually in the weeds.

For example I (and most other people can as well) avoid most fees by any of several different means like having an affinity credit card, using carry on bags, getting "super status" etc.  

I have redeemed Skymiles for low level Biz class tickets to Europe very year for at least the last 20 years. Takes work but it is doable. Others may be easier but the end result is the same in my case. 

On time ratings are driven mostly by where an airline flies. Good weather hub (like Hawaiian) means lots on time flights. Bad weather hubs like ATL in the summer and anywhere on the east coast in winter means lots of delays.

Bottom line "you pays yer money and you takes yer choice". Flying is cheap 
compared to bad old days of monopoly air lines and it can be a pain but if 
there is no viable alternative, go with the flow since it is mostly out of your hands. 

Cheers


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## Carolinian (Jul 30, 2011)

If you read the long threads on the subject at FlyerTalk, this article is spot on as to DL and US being far and away the worst on redeeming ff miles.


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## dougp26364 (Jul 30, 2011)

x3 skier said:


> Actually, the best worst stuff is sort of nonsense to me. The actual difference between any thing the media rates is usually in the weeds.
> 
> For example I (and most other people can as well) avoid most fees by any of several different means like having an affinity credit card, using carry on bags, getting "super status" etc.
> 
> ...



My problem is that I have no desire to fly business class to Europe. I just want a domestic flight that I've been able to get for 25,000 miles on every other carrier. 

In the last year I've booked a RT FF ticket on AA for 25,000 and two RT FF tickets on United for 40,000 mile each. With Delta, there hasn't been anything lower than 40,000 miles and I've been searching for the last 3 years. Hawaii coach class is 65,000 miles. 

When all things are nearly equal, I'll fly anyone but Delta. Unless Delta is significantly lower in cost, they, and USAir, are our last two choices for air travel.

I suppose if I was more interested in business class to Europe and Delta was still providing FF tickets at competitive values, I might feel differently. But for our needs Delta is 15,000 miles to expesnive.


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## K2Quick (Jul 30, 2011)

dougp26364 said:


> I understand Delta being hard to redeem FF miles. I have 39,200 miles and can't find a flight for less than 40,000 miles. I've flown recently on AA with miles and booked 2 seats with miles on United. I've had over 25,000 miles on Delta for a couple of years now and have never been able to find a seat. We were flying them upwards of 3 times per year. We're down to ZERO times per year this past year and I'm avoiding them when looking at flight for next year as well.
> 
> We gave up on USAir a long time ago. Eventually, We'll get our Delta miles over 40,000, cash them out and put them on my no-fly list along with USAir.
> 
> I have two future flights booked on Frontier and will be looking at them for our west bound destinations more frequently.



My attitude toward Delta is similar to yours.  The miles are truly worth about half what they were worth when I accumulated them.  One thing that sounds really counter-intuitive is that signing up for a Delta SkyMiles Amex Gold Card might make sense for you.  Just wait for the right sign-up bonus.  I got a 50,000 mile sign-up bonus, fee-free for the first year.  With the card, you can pay for Delta flights using your miles at the equivalent of $0.01 per mile.  When you fly, you can get your bags for free.  When your miles are gone, just cancel the card.


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## CapriciousC (Jul 30, 2011)

1950bing said:


> Ever wonder why they put stickers on the inside of of the doors of airplanes that say, " do not open in flight " :whoopie:



An additional bit of irony is that most doors on commercial aircraft are "plug doors", meaning that they won't open if there's a difference in the pressure level inside the aircraft vs. outside the aircraft.  Basically the higher pressure in the cabin forces the door outward into the frame, so you couldn't open it in flight even if you tried.  But hey, we do love our ridiculous warning stickers, don't we?  My hair dryer has a sticker on it advising me not to use it in the bathtub...and here I was thinking it would be such a great time-saving measure.

As for fees, I heard a story on NPR a couple of months ago about how the airlines are likely to not only keep the fees they have currently implemented, but add new ones, because they're all profit:

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/31/136810736/business-news


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## x3 skier (Jul 31, 2011)

dougp26364 said:


> When all things are nearly equal, I'll fly anyone but Delta. Unless Delta is significantly lower in cost, they, and USAir, are our last two choices for air travel.
> 
> .



Being a semi captive of Delta at my home airports, I have no desire to defend them but I am glad to be able to make lemonade out of lemons.  

OTOH, I will walk before I fly Useless Air.  

Cheers


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## Carolinian (Jul 31, 2011)

The big question on biz to Europe is what season and how far out?  Biz to Europe in low season is no great prize.

Also, one of the quirks of DL is that while they are awful on availibility generally, they work inventory control in a way, that sometimes seats appear at the last minute that have not been there for months.  Of course, that is not condusive to timeshare planning, but may work for somebody interested in a trip on short notice.  The other thing about DL is how they will sometimes quote milage for award tickets way over the top tier in their charts.  Posters on FlyerTalk have reported being asked over 500,000 miles for a simple TPAC or TATL award ticket in coach.




x3 skier said:


> Actually, the best worst stuff is sort of nonsense to me. The actual difference between any thing the media rates is usually in the weeds.
> 
> For example I (and most other people can as well) avoid most fees by any of several different means like having an affinity credit card, using carry on bags, getting "super status" etc.
> 
> ...


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## x3 skier (Jul 31, 2011)

Carolinian said:


> The big question on biz to Europe is what season and how far out?  Biz to Europe in low season is no great prize.



I have gotten tix just about any month, usually six months to a year or so out. Right now I am enjoying a long weekend in CPH after a Biz Class flight. Next trip is London via AMS in Oct. Most of the flights have been from May to Oct about evenly spaced over the months in past 20 years on mostly DL with  a few KL and AF. When I see a fare (low miles) that Delta.dumb cannot book since it is an absolutely *terrible* set of software, I call DL and have been able to book it via human intervention. 

Too many people rely on Delta.dumb and give up in frustration. If it works OK but highly unlikely it will. Try humans. At least I get to speak to someone in the USA or Canada when I call:whoopie: 

As I noted earlier, it is not easy but it can be done. 

Cheers


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## dougp26364 (Jul 31, 2011)

K2Quick said:


> My attitude toward Delta is similar to yours.  The miles are truly worth about half what they were worth when I accumulated them.  One thing that sounds really counter-intuitive is that signing up for a Delta SkyMiles Amex Gold Card might make sense for you.  Just wait for the right sign-up bonus.  I got a 50,000 mile sign-up bonus, fee-free for the first year.  With the card, you can pay for Delta flights using your miles at the equivalent of $0.01 per mile.  When you fly, you can get your bags for free.  When your miles are gone, just cancel the card.



I had issues with AMEX customer service maybe 15 or 20 years ago. Call me stuborn but I can't see having that card in my wallet again.


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## Talent312 (Jul 31, 2011)

x3 skier said:


> Too many people rely on Delta.dumb and give up in frustration... Try humans. At least I get to speak to someone in the USA or Canada when I call. As I noted earlier, it is not easy but it can be done.



My last two FF trips on Delta involved...
(1) 1st Class R/T to Hawaii -- booked online for base rate.
(2) Coach R/T to Rome, IT -- got human to do it for base rate.
... _But that was many moons ago_ ...

These days, I let my FF miles gather dust and fly whoever is cheapest, with  preference to Jet Blue if its close.


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## Kauai Kid (Jul 31, 2011)

US Airways will cancel ALL your frequent flyer miles if you don't fly with them for a year or two--.

I've canceled all future flights with US Airways because of this.


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## Carolinian (Aug 1, 2011)

Most airlines do that.  NW (now gone) is the only airline that did not pick up that policy even on paper.  CO (soon to go) had two inconsistent provisions on that subject but went by the one that said miles did not expire.  DL has recently reversed its position and now says miles will not expire, but given it is DL we will have to see how long that lasts.




Kauai Kid said:


> US Airways will cancel ALL your frequent flyer miles if you don't fly with them for a year or two--.
> 
> I've canceled all future flights with US Airways because of this.


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