Granted, our expectations of airlines these days are notoriously low...this thread is for those positive experiences you may have had with an airline or an airline you might recommend for those traveling in the future.

We've all had negative experiences Im sure. Try to keep this thread to the positives.

All that said, We flew to Denver & back this week on Delta. The return and connecting flight to Newport News via Atlanta were only delayed about an hour each. Not too bad

4/15/2008 10:02:49 AM

I've flown Express Jet Raleigh to Kansas City several times now and I thought the flights were very quick, smooth, and convenient. I never got my luggage lost, get XM Radio in the seats, and the prices are cheaper than the major carriers. Gotta love those direct flights.

4/15/2008 10:05:35 AM

I flew to Frankfurt in December on American. Flew through Chicago. Their business class service is awesome! I still couldn't sleep on the plane.

4/15/2008 10:08:25 AM

so is this the thread where we give out backhanded compliments to the airline industry by expressing our gratitude for them not completely fucking up?

4/15/2008 10:09:35 AM

look, i know southwest is nice and cheap

but their feeless rescheduling, being able to do it online, being able to reschedule a flight (use a credit) and push to another passgenger name are all wonderful

not to metion the rewards being so low for free flights, and a long period for which to accumulate flights that count for them (8 round trips in 24 months qualifies for a fee round trip)

i've gotten like 2 free round trips in the last year and i dont even travel that much...

4/15/2008 10:21:35 AM

Quote :

"All that said, We flew to Denver & back this week on Delta. The return and connecting flight to Newport News via Atlanta were only delayed about an hour each. Not too bad"

Almost every flight East/West was experiencing delays last week. My brother is a captain and said it was some of the strongest headwinds he's seen in 5 years.

4/15/2008 10:24:04 AM

Quote :

"strongest headwinds he's seen in 5 years. "

GIGGITY

4/15/2008 10:26:38 AM

I just flew SAS from europe to the states last week and it was a great experience. It is the second time that Ive flown transatlantic with them and they have blown all of the competitors away both times. Best customer service, comfortable aircraft, best complimentary on board amenities, and on time. I highly recommend them.

I actually had a positive experience with American amid the MD80 debacle. I was scheduled to be on one of the canceled flights last week and the lady at the counter went out of her way to get me on another flight. She even walked with me to the continental counter so that i didnt have to wait in line and to make sure that there were no problems. Most impressive of all was that this took place in Newark, the airport that I have had the most miserable experiences with airline representatives in the past.

4/15/2008 10:48:58 AM

Domestic: Southwest.

Foreign:

KLM, British airways, South African Airways, Emirates, Air india.

4/15/2008 11:00:10 AM

i have around $500 is credits on southwest due to letting them take my seat on flights to give to other passengers and just getting on the next available flight

occassionally they'll exercise this option with me, and then another person doesnt show up so i get on the flight anyways

one thing you need to realize though is that there's a big difference between a shitty airline and just a total failure of the system due to weather, which affects ALL airlines, depending on destination.

southwest usually always gets me there on time, with my bags, and the seats/legroom are fairly comfortable and i never have a problem getting an aisle seat as long as I'm in B31-60 or better (some people really like window and middle seats for some reason)

however the one time southwest lost my bags, it was fairly egregious, as they lost my one bag filled with everything i needed to go skiiing (i was flying to denver) but somehow my ski's showed up at the right location. did me absolutely no good. however they send some old lady in a minivan out in a snowstorm that had closed interstate 70 to send me my bag, and so i only lost a half day of skiing, and to be fair, the whole incident was due to a flight diversion from weather in chicago and the ensuing aftermath

im about to fly virgin for the first time out to California in a month and ive heard a lot of good things about it, so im curious to see what they're like

[Edited on April 15, 2008 at 11:33 AM. Reason : .]

4/15/2008 11:33:00 AM

i flew american airlines a few years ago...2004/5 ish?....and flew with a face mask, like the kind they wear in a hospital/michael jackson. i wore the mask bc i had a very week immune system (and still do) and cannot risk getting sick. everybody else on the plane of course thought i was the sick one. anyway, all of the flight attendents were VERY helpful and wanted to do everything possible to make sure i was comfortable. they checked on me several times each flight to bring another drink or food or blanket or whatever. i was impressed.

i would have been much more comfortable had i not had an itchy mask on though.

4/15/2008 11:41:53 AM

^ im gonna start doing that so i can get beers faster

4/15/2008 11:55:50 AM

so far each time I have flown we did not crash

one flight i got first class and got drunk for free, then turbulence made the flight attendant stop working (no more drinks), but overall that was a good thing because we were landing at night and staring at the lights on the ground made me

4/15/2008 11:59:18 AM

*Knocks on wood.

I've actually never had a bad flight experience. Given I haven't flown that much (maybe a dozen or so flight trips), but I've never been bumped and never had my luggage lost. I was flying into Denver once right after a snowstorm and got heldover in St. Louis for about 6 hours...but it wasn't the airline's fault.

I love flying. Next flight will be to Europe, so that should be interesting.

4/15/2008 12:05:43 PM

well, none within the last 4 years
The last 5 times I have flown, my luggage has been lost or destroyed.

My grandma swears by US Air though.

4/15/2008 12:25:03 PM

i generally fly out of Reagan or BWI (dulles = )

and i always hear my friends complain about sitting on tarmacs for hours, seemingly on every flight they take

ive never sat longer than half an hour except once at JFK when the little truck pulling our luggage actually got lost on the tarmac somehow.

like, the dude was driving it around the tarmac for an hour before he finally got where he was supposed to go

4/15/2008 1:01:07 PM

Quote :

"*Knocks on wood. I've actually never had a bad flight experience."

same here. I've been upgraded several times for free to first class, too.

[Edited on April 15, 2008 at 1:29 PM. Reason : USAIR]

I take this back, I had a 3 day delay from dulles. It was during a blizzard, so I can't really blame the airlines or airport. I just stayed w/ relatives in Alexandria. It was fine by me.

[Edited on April 15, 2008 at 1:31 PM. Reason : ]

4/15/2008 1:29:12 PM

l'avion new york to paris, best flight ever

4/15/2008 1:42:19 PM

Quote :

"...and flew with a face mask"

An elderly french guy that was sitting with us had to wear one. Something about a doc's recco for the dry air in the plane

4/15/2008 4:13:28 PM

Flew Raleigh to Pittsburgh and Raleigh to NY-MacArthur (spelling?) in the last couple months. Flight delayed about 40 minutes from NY back to Raleigh (stopped in Baltimore) due to rediculous strong winds that day. When we were landing at RDU we hit the pavement and bounced back up and started swaying side to side....I swear the wing was .5" from hitting the ground. Everybody started screaming, but pilot corrected and slammed the breaks.....everybody started clapping.

Flying RDU to Vegas in 2 weeks on American so hoping no delays.......

4/15/2008 4:59:10 PM

I've flown southwest and us air within the past few weeks and both experiences were great - southwest has the best overall attitude, in my opinion, but us air got me there with no delays and was a good experience as well.

United SUCKS, and I flat out refuse to travel on them anymore

Also, Delta and US Air seem to have good baggage tracking systems, as they took care of my bag when I was traveling for business even despite multiple layovers and dleays and reroutes, including my final destination changing due to me not wanting to stay overnight in ATL. SO, include Delta in my "yay, sort of" list as well.

Never had a problem flying intn'l with American, and also had good experiences with Ryanair, Easyjet, and BA intn'l as well (mainly in Europe).

HATE United!

4/15/2008 5:51:27 PM

i've always liked airtran for cheap domestic flights....but granted its been a few years and all of those flights were between atlanta and raleigh, and atlanta and vegas

i've also never had a problem with delta, but it probably helps that i live in atlanta

4/15/2008 6:02:30 PM

Northwest Airlink was fine, American Eagle was fine, even my American flight was fine.

never had many problems altho delta did happen to forget my luggage in Houston and then delay my flight overnight.

4/15/2008 6:04:15 PM

Flown AirTran 10+ times and never had an issue.

4/15/2008 8:35:53 PM

the last 2 times they've lost my bag, they delivered it to me the same or next day.

[/back handed compliment]

4/15/2008 8:45:07 PM

Southwest for the win. Print out boarding passes beforehand, get to sit wherever you want on the plane, and those neat little dried fruit in-flight snacks.

4/15/2008 8:55:40 PM

i've never been disappointed with Continental or NW. (same company)

4/15/2008 8:57:57 PM

^Not for long. Delta and NWA are merging.

4/15/2008 9:01:18 PM

i flew with Delta across the country and back this weekend and didnt have any problems. first class only gets one free alcoholic drink. that was gone before we took off. but i usually have good luck with Delta

i just want to say how much i hate atlantas airport. fucking shoulder to shoulder all day every day

[Edited on April 15, 2008 at 9:06 PM. Reason : .]

4/15/2008 9:05:37 PM

living in Atlanta, I pretty much only fly delta now. in the four years I've been here, I have never been bumped and never been delayed when there wasn't some retarded ass storm going on at either my departure city or arrival city

so long as i live here i will never fly a different airline...plus i rack up miles like crazy and their new pay with miles programs makes getting free tickets that much easier

and while atlanta is the busiest airport in the world, i find that even at crush hours, the security line goes extremely fast...take for example a monday morning when the consultants are flocking out...a line that goes back to the ticket counters (couple hundred yards x 4-8 lines) probably only takes half an hour to get through, if that long

[Edited on April 15, 2008 at 9:23 PM. Reason : .]

4/15/2008 9:21:13 PM

ive never had a positive airline experience... even once when boarding was fine, no delays on takeoff, played a good movie, and had edible food, they managed to fuck it up in the end by losing our bags

4/15/2008 9:21:21 PM

missed my flight from RDU because of my own stupidity...all the flights were booked up, but luckily got stand by and everyone was really nice...even though it was my own damn fault

4/15/2008 9:21:49 PM

I have not seen a good airline in the western world until now...and I fly a lot...

4/15/2008 9:32:34 PM

i once saw a fight on a US Airways flight because a guy cut in front of another guy when we were shuffling off the plane

douchebags

4/15/2008 9:58:31 PM

my only real complaint about ATL is no free wireless internet. the lines move relatively quickly, although the luggage has been known to end up on the wrong carousel.

detroit is the scariest airport to fly into. i don't think i've ever flown in there and not be crabbing on the way down.

i generally have the best experiences on delta. the best time was when a cute flight attendant asked me if i'd change seats. she said if i did she would make it worth my while, with a grin and wink. unfortunately we had conflicting ideas of what worth my while means.

american's planes seem super ghetto, especially the md-80s. i'm not just saying that because of the recent cancellations.

[Edited on April 15, 2008 at 11:02 PM. Reason : .]

4/15/2008 11:01:35 PM

Has anyone flown with Allegiant before?

4/15/2008 11:28:57 PM

Quote :

"Also, Delta and US Air seem to have good baggage tracking systems, as they took care of my bag when I was traveling for business even despite multiple layovers and dleays and reroutes, including my final destination changing due to me not wanting to stay overnight in ATL. SO, include Delta in my "yay, sort of" list as well."

yeah just dont take usair into philly

i'm about 50% on gettin my bags back

and i fly through there enough, that last time the customer service rep knew my name when i walked up

4/15/2008 11:42:04 PM