Which is the worst US Airline

[markbot]

My vote is United Air. The idea of my money going to them gives me a shudder. I can't remember the last time my UAL flight wasn't delayed.

[markbot]

I've found proof!

http://businesscenter.jdpower.com/JD...df/2008069.pdf

[kindlekitten]

United has definetly let me down more than once.

Southwest just keeps doing an incredible job. not only have they not started charging for checked luggage, they do a damn fine job of getting you where you are going in a timely fashion. I flew Seattle to Albuquerque in mid December. we actually took off EARLY!!!! all the seats were filled, they got the permissions and boogied! with that plus a tailwind, we landed a good 45 minutes early. coming back, Tucson to Seattle, I managed to boggle the departure time. they got us on the next flight, and then got us on the next necessary connecting fllight through Vegas. our luggage made the entire transition even though it was "checked in late", and we ended up in Seattle about 20 minutes after our original landing time was supposed to be.

I'm not real keen on the way they handle seating, but by gosh they get you there!

[nohmi2]

Airlines in general.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBca1ixoEbg

[happy_terd]

I hate going to the airport.

I am at the point now to where I actually consider driving to where I have to go. My work makes me go TDY though so I usually end up having to go through the horror.

[Alexander Turcic]

US Airways. Only had bad experience with them. United is actually one of my favorite US airlines, because they have that Economy Plus seating which works well if you are a frequent flyer.

[phenomshel]

I'm with Happy, I hate airports. And I hate American Airlines. ATA through Midway Chicago was our preferred way to get the kids back and forth from Texas to Illinois, until ATA went out of business. Now, as far as I can tell, there are no direct flights from DFW to Midway. So we've been doing American from DFW to Chicago O'Hare, which sucks (in myriad different ways). I keep meaning to check Southwest to see if there's a direct flight from Dallas Love Field into Midway; but now we have the familiarity thing going with DFW airport, and my son doesn't want to learn a "new" airport since he just had to learn O'Hare. I hate 'em all, at the moment.

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

... and my son doesn't want to learn a "new" airport since he just had to learn O'Hare. I hate 'em all, at the moment.

I actually like O'Hare. But only because I am very familiar with it. My worst experience with an US airport was only a few weeks ago, before Christmas: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport. OMG. It was my worst travel experience. The airport itself feels run down and is just plain ugly. You spend an inordinate amount of time fighting ill-controlled crowds and trying to get through security with poorly trained TSA guards yelling directions at you the entire time. And the worst? Coming from a flight from Germany, they had me do a baggage claim again. Madness! Once you get the bags you checked in from your point of origin, they make you check it back in again and travel through multiple terminals to get them back. I have never seen that before, and as a frequent traveler, I have seen quite a few airports. In the future, I will try to avoid ATL by all means.

It's a shame because otherwise I am a huge fan of the Southern Charm.

[Fledchen]

The DOT has a new air travel information site with a handy complaints page. http://airconsumer.dot.gov/problems.htm

[MickeyC]

I vote for Continental being the worst. Had to make several trips from DC to Providence, RI and every one had major problems and the airline seemed to care less.

[Bob Russell]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

I actually like O'Hare. But only because I am very familiar with it. My worst experience with an US airport was only a few weeks ago, before Christmas: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport.

I hate O'Hare also, but last time I was there, they were doing a lot of construction, so maybe that's part of it. Atlanta is one of the busiest airports, with lots of delays, isn't it?

Here's a great story for you... I'm flying home on Northwest and the plane coming in to pick us up has engine problems. We wait hours and then finally they fixed the problem and we had a plane. They rush us onto the plane and get us going. After some bumping noises, the guy on the other side of the aisle shouts something like "Oh my god! That's our luggage!" You might think at first that he spotted similar luggage on a luggage cart nearby. But no! While we were starting to taxi away from the gate, our luggage was being dumped out of the plane onto the tarmac!!! After another delay, we finally take off, but after all that, I was not exactly confident that they took sufficient care when they rushed the engine repair job! Fortunately, we made it home safe.

But on my route, the flights are always crowded (every single seat taken). That weighs down the plane a bit, apparently, because sometimes I would swear we were not going to make it out of our early ascent without stalling. Maybe it's the pilots trying to save fuel or a very steep ascent, but it sure feels to me as a non-pilot like the engines are struggling to get enough speed to avoid a stall!

While I generally like the opportunity to travel, and I love to get to see those people who I work with remotely, I hate the flying experience these days. It's bad because I'm on a 2-hr Northwest flight on a tiny Bomardier commuter plane. It's so tiny that unless I have a really skinny woman sitting next to me, there's this terrible overlap of bodies between seats. I'm not that huge, but even if I fold my arms tight to my chest, I'm probably right up to the dividing line between seats or overlapping. Get a large man next to me, and it's unbearable. I'm literally forced to hang out into the aisle, and believe me - it doesn't feel great being hit by a metal drink cart!!! Plus, I really don't want to get to know businessmen that intimately, and for some reason it seems like those planes are always full of tall, large and wide men. I can't remember the last time I actually had the middle armrest. (Well, actually I do remember - it was a tiny and thin woman who was curled up in a ball because she had the plague, or whatever other illness would make someone that sick!) Everything about the seat is cramped and awkward.

And because the plane is so tiny, Northwest has gate check for the bigger carry ons, which I like, but they often leave us for extended times on the runway waiting for a gate after we've landed. And the planes get so stinking hot when you are waiting to take off before they start the engines and get some airflow.

I'm seriously considering changing to any other airlines to get out of that plane. Maybe a 5-6hr indirect flight with a connection through Detroit or Atlanta or anywhere just to get a "real" seat like in a 737 or one of the Airbus planes. It would mess up my frequent flyer miles, but would be such a relief in the air!

WARNING - (Another, and off-topic) Rant Coming - To make matters worse, on such a short flight, much of it is under the "no electronics" rule, so you can't watch a movie, read a book or listen to an audio book for much of the flight. I've resorted to bringing paper newspapers to cover that portion of the flights. E-book and electronics manufacturers should get together and come up with a government/FAA approved device logo that can be prominently placed on low-radiation devices like dedicated e-book readers so they can be used during all portions of a flight. I really feel bad for e-book lovers with multi-leg flights that are each short! It could, after all, really open up a new advantage for dedicated e-book devices in the era of smartphones and the new tablets like iPad and other tablets coming soon with Android and Google Chrome and even WinMo7 or Linux or Win7. It just doesn't make any sense for people to not be able to read or listen to music just because some electronics could interfere (it's probably more about people being annoying or interfering with flight attendents because they are on the phone, and less about electronic interference anyway). </end of rant>

Ah.... I feel much better now! I probably didn't say anything on topic, but I feel quite happy to have it off my chest!!! Now, what was this thread about anyway?

[Bob Russell]

Originally Posted by markbot

I've found proof!

http://businesscenter.jdpower.com/JD...df/2008069.pdf

I feel your pain. I fly Northwest all the time, and they are tied for the worst!!!! I'm hoping that the merger with Delta will raise Northwest customer satisfaction rather than lowering Delta.

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

I actually like O'Hare. But only because I am very familiar with it. My worst experience with an US airport was only a few weeks ago, before Christmas: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport. OMG. It was my worst travel experience. The airport itself feels run down and is just plain ugly. You spend an inordinate amount of time fighting ill-controlled crowds and trying to get through security with poorly trained TSA guards yelling directions at you the entire time. And the worst? Coming from a flight from Germany, they had me do a baggage claim again. Madness! Once you get the bags you checked in from your point of origin, they make you check it back in again and travel through multiple terminals to get them back. I have never seen that before, and as a frequent traveler, I have seen quite a few airports. In the future, I will try to avoid ATL by all means.

It's a shame because otherwise I am a huge fan of the Southern Charm.

Oh, heck yeah, Alex. I got stranded at ATL in January of 2005 in the process of moving from Texas to Illinois. Only perk of the whole thing was we made CNN news...I guess ice storms in Atlanta are somewhat rare.

[Lirael]

Northwest, definitely. Every time we've flown Northwest, the plane has always been really dirty - seats covered in garbage from the passengers of the previous flight, etc. We've also had ridiculous delay problems, but I figure those are part and parcel of air travel. However, I really don't think a moderately clean plane is too much to ask.

[daffy4u]

Hate Southwest. Love Jet Blue!