What's your LEAST favorite airline?

[CreekDog]

This should be more fun than the other thread. :evilgrin:

I'm focusing on the nationwide, domestic carriers here. Any elaborating on your choices would be helpful and possibly fun.

[Pierre.Suave]

1. Current events FAIL

Delta and Northwest are one...

:P

[CreekDog]

34. now wait a minute!

Northwest was distinctly bad enough to earn a separate position in this survey. :think: :spank:

:rofl:

[Dr. Strange]

2. That one that crashes all the time.

I can't remember the name. But they're my least favorite.

[CreekDog]

3. My hometown airline

United.

I'm sorry. They aren't horrible, but on this list they are my least favorite.

[quakerboy]

4. I choose Yes.

[Zavulon]

5. American. Worst of the worst.

Other than an actual crash, I've experienced every kind of horror story imaginable on American.

My favorite was when a stewardess attempted to order me to switch seats with some guy so that he could sit next to his wife (they apparently booked last-minute and didn't get seats together). Doing so would have me next to infant twins. I refused, she threatened to get the captain out, I called her bluff and she eventually caved.

So when I ordered a drink, she conveniently "forgot" over and over. This time it was me who threatened to bring the captain into it, and she talked some other stewardess into bringing me a coke because she couldn't bring herself to do it. Bitch. It took me over an hour to get a lousy can of Sprite.

Bitch.

[pokerfan]

6. Cascade Airways (1969-1986)

AKA Crashcade Scareways...

[mwooldri]

7. I wish you did go international...

cos that would be more fun.

My favourite airline to pick upon is Ryanair.

Basically because of their business practices. They advertise real low airfares, sometimes for $0... and then they fee you to death with everything else. Fees for airport security, fees for just buying the ticket, fees for checking in, fees for carry-on luggage, of course anything on board is pay-for, priority boarding - again another fee... they even went so far as to charge a fee for assisting someone get on board who needed wheelchair assistance, so since that was discriminatory they charge everyone a wheelchair assistance fee now.

Oh and when the pick airports to fly to, they pick the cheapest. They fly to Paris, but the airport's 1 1/2 hours away from Paris proper, and I don't think there's a rail link, only a bus. Want worse: Say you want to fly to Frankfurt. Ryanair services Frankfurt-Hahn airport... 75 miles away from Frankfurt, plus the airport has no rail link nor is it relatively close to the autobahn network.

And Ryanair discriminate against non-EU passport holders. They offer online check-in, which is cheaper than check in at person, but if you have a non-EU passport, you can't check in online. You have to check in in person. Because of this, they make it possible to reclaim your extra fees for checking in in person, but guess what you got next? Yep, administrative fees for administering the credit. Ryanair just fees you to death.

At least I know what I'm getting with BA. I get to fly to an airport in the actual city, usually with a rail link (if in Europe) to where I want to get to.

[tjwmason]

24. Strongly seconded

Ryanair is just nasty - the prices are a joke because one has no idea what extra fees are going to be added.

[billyskank]

33. I would say Ryanair too.

Service with a snarl.

[mnhtnbb]

8. I had to vote Delta. Only airline that has ever lost my bags--three times--

including bags they took away from us when boarding a NY-DC shuttle. Took them 4 days to get
our carry-on bags to us! Fortunately, we were going home and had ability to replace medicines.

Close second is American. Too many cancelled/delayed flights with absolutely zero concern or help
for implications. Boy, the stories I could tell. I will no longer fly American unless there is no other alternative.

[Crazy Dave]

9. Any airline that holds people hostage on the plane for 6+ hours

While waiting to take off. No free drinks, no meal, no working bathrooms and if they complain they get arrested. That's about the only way to get off the plane though.

[rcrush]

22. They should provide drugs if they make you stay on the plane for 6 hours.

[terrya]

10. US Airways

God, what a horrible experience.

[kwassa]

11. They all suck, air travel sucks, airports suck, security lines suck .....

Did I say that it all sucked?

[JCMach1]

12. Lufthansa!

Crappy Frankfurt airport... crappy Boeing with CROWDED seats and NO air nozzles in economy!

[MorningGlow]

13. Delta--especially if you have to catch a connection at the Atlanta hub

:scared:

Terrible airline, plus the hub is about 50 square miles of walking (okay maybe not that much, but when you've got a senior citizen aunt, senior citizen mother with polymyalgia, and a 4 YO in tow, it FEELS like 50 miles). And they arbitrarily change gates for their flights at the last minute--and of course, rest assured that the new gate is at the EXACT OPPOSITE END of the terminal from where you're standing. Needed one of those transport thingies, but they were all sitting on the sidelines, with no drivers. I finally boosted a wheelchair and my kid sat on grandma's lap and I pushed them and my aunt pulled the carryons.

Closest I've ever come to actually seeing a guy's head explode was there--redneck with a mullet and neon-colored muscle tank missed his flight and was banging on the skyway door with both fists, his face frighteningly red. Took the Delta employees quite a while to get up the nerve to approach him. And you know, that was the one and only time I kind of felt sorry for them. But not really.

[av8rdave]

14. Believe me...

last minute gate changes aren't a good deal for the crews either.

[MorningGlow]

16. I believe it

Wazzup with that anyway? I don't think there was one plane that actually pulled up to the gate it was originally scheduled for. :shrug:

[av8rdave]

18. There are a lot of things that go into that

Everything from what gates can physically accommodate which aircraft, connecting flights, catering, maintenance and probably a bunch of other things I haven't thought of. I know they try to keep scheduled gates - sometimes to the point of making us wait for our occupied gate to open up when there are dozens of vacant ones, because once they change one, it usually dominoes into having to change a lot of others. When something causes that to happen, the outcome is normally frustrating (and embarrassing for us).

[MorningGlow]

19. Cool--thanks!

I love to learn about the underlying reasons for whatever TPTB are doing.

When we were coming back from California in the summer, the pilot kept us updated on which gate we were going to be pulling into--it changed FOUR times! Sounded like he was trying to cut a deal with the airport crew as to which gate he could pull into quickest. It got quite amusing. Luckily the airport was small, so it really didn't matter to us which gate we ended up at--I think there were only about 10 total.

[av8rdave]

20. That is the part of the job that probably raises my blood pressure the most!

[JCMach1]

15. My experiences with Delta have all been positive...

Even when I have failed to make a connection from Dubai, they already had my cards printed for my next flight and ready to go.

Atlanta is really not a bad airport at all... for the size (frankly), it's excellent.

You want bad, try some European airports...

[MorningGlow]

17. I envy you

I haven't given Delta another chance to prove itself. Maybe someday, in a pinch.

I have been to several non-American airports, including Mexico and Costa Rica. My favorite was the hilltop Costa Rican airstrip right out of an Indiana Jones movie. We flew through a thunderstorm, the copilot apparently didn't know what he was doing (my husband has some flight hours under his belt and could see into the cockpit) and we nearly crashed. I still liked it better than Delta.
:rofl:

[JCMach1]

25. Several reasons to skip Europe: Gatwick, Heathrow, Frankfurt

and to a certain extent Charles de Gaulle.

I have had nightmare experiences on United. However, only one part was the fault of the company...


Delta is the cream of the American crop... by world standards that's not so great. However, it beats walking or US Airways.

[MorningGlow]

26. Wow, I really liked Gatwick

Didn't have the insanity of Heathrow, and a train directly into London. :shrug:

[JCMach1]

28. You've got to be kidding!

GATWICK has been named as Britain's worst airport for check-in and security delays.

Passengers must wait over an hour to get into the departure lounge.

Shuffling through check-in takes an average 27 minutes, followed by 35 minutes for security, according to a website set up to monitor delays... http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_/ai_n19501003

It beats the uncomfortable concrete maze that is Franfurt, but not by much.

[MorningGlow]

30. Huh! I must've gotten lucky that trip

:shrug: I had no problem at Gatwick whatsoever! Now Heathrow on the other hand... :scared:

[mnhtnbb]

21. I had a meltdown at O'Hare when I watched American close the door as I was running

from another terminal to catch a flight.

My LA to Chicago flight sat at the gate for 1 1/2 hours while we waited for a pilot to drive
in Sunday summer traffic from San Diego to LAX. The flight crew PROMISED all of us that our
connecting flights would be held. I was holding a first class ticket. I pleaded with
them to please open the door--call a supervisor which they refused to do--and watched the plane
sit there for 15 minutes before it pulled away from the gate.

Of course, I realized they had given away my seat. You have never seen a more unhappy woman.
They did give me a hotel overnight and put me on a 6:30 a.m. flight next day(honored my first class ticket) but of course that meant getting up at 4 a.m.

Damn them.

[JCMach1]

27. Try a 5hr CATERING delay on United in O'Hare

After hr. 3 they boarded us AND we waiting the final 2hrs in the plane as it sat there at the gate... :(

On the flight from Europe for this trip, an 8hr flight from Frankfurt turned into a 15hr flight from hell with a medical emergency landing in Boston. We were another three hrs. in the plane as we waited for severe weather to clear D.C.

Thank the diety for VERY good flight attendants. Otherwise, this trip would have become doubly horrible. Also, can't blame United for health problems.

[CreekDog]

23. It's worse at O'Hare when they send you from a gate in Elmurst to one in Des Plaines

10 minutes before takeoff. :rant: :banghead:

At least Atlanta has a peoplemover.

[Crazy Dave]

32. Delta is the worst airline for overbooking flights too n/t

[FloridaJudy]

29. United

Always sent my bags to Boston, except on the one occasion when I was actually flying there: that trip they sent them to London. Then there was the time they diverted my plane to LA instead of SF. Not their fault - it was weather related - but no one showed up for hours to help the stranded passengers get to their original destination. They also refused to call the SF airport and explain the situation to those who were waiting there to pick us up. My mother was in intensive care, and a mentally ill family member had volunteered to pick me up, so by the time I arrived six hours later he'd gone into a psychotic rage - with me naturally, and not with the airline. This was in the days before cell phones were common, so I had no way of letting my family know I'd be arriving much later on a different flight.

The last time I flew, I booked ahead on Delta through cheap tickets. No problems, except the usual hassles with security. Why people who should know they'll be asked to remove their shoes insist on wearing thigh-high boots with a brazillion little hooks and buttons is beyond me. I'm a Birkenstock gal myself.

[montanto]

31. Air France currently tops my list.

In flight service was fine, but . . .

1. Flight left 2 hours late.
2. No legroom.
3. Missed connection (see late flight) London.
4. Reroute (Stuttgart), change airlines (Lufthansa) arranged by Air France.
5. "You don't have tickets for Lufthansa, its 2 o'clock in the morning, the ticket counter is closed, you can't board our flight." See 1,3, and 4 above.
6. "You don't have boarding passes for Lufthansa so we can't check for your bags on that flight." Look, I just got off the plane didn't I? I'm here aren't I? (yes, we fought our way on to the Lufthansa flight without tickets and got off without any evidence of having been there).
7. Fifty dollar tip to driver (Istanbul) for having to wait for hours while I fought with and got the runaround from everyone in the airport after 36 hours of no sleep.
8. 4 days in Istanbul in same (dress, evening type) clothes we left Los Angeles in.
9. Hundreds of dollars worth of runaround phone calls to do-it-yourself lost luggage department, figure-it-out-on-your-own head office staff, and call-London-maybe-they-know-something advice.
10. Hours of lost travel time in phone calls and search for new clothes.
11. "your bags will be here tomorrow at ________ o'clock, they have been found in ____________." Days on end. Fill in the blank with any time and any city I was either in or not in at any time before, during, or after this trip.
12. We finally got our bags the day we left.
13. The flight home was overnight and
a. the t.v. didn't work, and
b. the sound system didn't work either, and
c. the overhead lights didn't work either

Seems like I missed a few things but you get the idea. So If you are flying Air France, Bon Voyage!!!

[CreekDog]

35. i had two go-arounds in a row on different flights from San Diego to SFO

So I told a friend who's a retired pilot about it.

He said, "go arounds are expensive!"

I said, "it was on United"

He said, "oh well, that explains it!"

He was a retired American pilot. :dilemma:

Not sure how I feel about either airline now. :rofl: