New Data: The 10 Worst Airlines in the US

Once I flew an airline called Spirit Air. It’s a long story, but to make it short we were flying to Atlanta from Orlando, and the plane that was supposed to take us there had not yet arrived. Normally, this would result in recompensation for all the passengers(most of them were connecting through atl and were going to miss their next flight to mexico). So Spirit air decides to use a loophole and say that the weather is bad in atlanta and thus that will be the reason for the delay even though that point is moot since we had no plane to take us there anyway. However, there is a rule that if a delay is due to weather they do not have to reimburse passengers for missed flights. To make matters even worse, I called someone in atlanta and they confirmed that it was sunny skies all day. Basically, spirit airlines are a bunch of a nefarious liars.

Surprised there wasn’t more love for Virgin America. I suppose they aren’t big enough yet to have been used by most people. They are awesome!

I’ve traveled a lot the last few years and always refuse to fly American, Continental, U.S., United, and honestly, anything that sounds like it would be Domestic American. Just like buying a Ford Escort in the 80’s and 90’s you’d have to be ignorant or stupid to fly “traditional domestic” when there are much better airlines such as Virgin America and Jet-Blue out now.

I want to stick up for the 7th worst airline on the list- Southwest Airlines. I’ve seen the television show- I know about lost bags and other issues that can happen on ANY airline. I’ve personally never had an issue- but beyond personal experience Southwest Airlines has the remarkable combination of the best safety record in the industry, and the best on-time record in the industry.

There are also several other reasons I like Southwest that I’m sure actually get them a poor rating from some people- but these people are exactly the kind of people I don’t like to fly with anyway, and as far as I’m concerned- I’m glad Southwest does a good job alienating them:

1. Fat people. Southwest caused a ruckus in the industry with their policy of charging fatsos for two seats. As far as I’m concerned- great. I don’t want to be sold a seat next to a 400 pound gelatenous blob that is spilling over into my seat.

2. Late people. If you’re late, paging you to a Southwest flight is just for show. If you’re within sight of the gate, they *** might *** wait for you, but they’re notorious for slamming the door and pushing back without late people. Good. Get your a** there on time, or get left behind. Why should the rest of us have to wait because you couldn’t do what we managed to do.

And with regard to late- if you DO actually make it on the plane and you’re fumbling about with your stuff and won’t just SIT DOWN, you will be ridiculed mercilessly by the Southwest crew and told bluntly to stow your stuff, sit down, and buckle up. They’re not shy about telling everyone on the plane over the speaker- we’re all waiting for YOU. If you’re offended by this- got news for you– they’re just saying what the rest of us are thinking.

3. First-come, first-served seating that encourages ONLINE registration. Saves the rest of us time. Sorry if you can’t figure it out, but it ain’t about you. It’s about all of us.

All-in-all, the way I see it– Southwest Airlines are geniuses. Their policies have a “weeding out” effect. What they do is essentially group those of us with common sense together while saddling their competition with the dopes. If it’s not deliberate, I’d actually be surprised. 🙂

I’ve flown on United, Delta, Alaska/Horizon, and a few Foreign Airlines. While I can say that the Foreign Airlines (Lufthansa, British) I thought were the best, Alaska/Horizon has been my best domestic experience. United I won’t stick up for, because they really are as bad as you’ve heard. Somehow however when you are basing your statistics on twitter you aren’t likely to have the best information. People complain about everything everywhere. In some cases it is warranted in other cases it is not. Delta had good service, but that was years ago, I only flew Delta once. How Alaska or Southwest would be worst at anything I don’t know. (I’ve never flown Southwest, but everyone who I know who has loved it.)

Interesting. I fly Delta about once a week, and they have always been fantastic. I’ll fly them even if a competitor has a slightly lower price because they do a good job. I think a lot of people have super unrealistic expectations of what kind of service you should be getting on a flight. It isn’t a restaurant for God’s sake – there are hundreds of people on a plane, and sometimes it will take a few minutes to get you a bottle of water.

The largest airlines with the strongest unions will always have the most complaints. I did not see where you had adjusted for the number of person flights per day but expecting amazing performance from a large company that has to deal with weather, the government, the local airports an millions of unreasonable people every day isn’t easy.

taking a break from the tsunami volunteer work in Thailand, flying back to UK. Young lady asks if I would like a drink, yes please, whisky and water. Clunk clunk went the ice, sorry, whiskey, water , clunk clunk, sorry, only heathens and Americans put ice in whisky, she got it, I got a proper drink in my hand. Whump, bit of turbulence, she went on her ass. I don’t know why other people were screaming, I was screaming because the liquid, that precious negotiated-for-patiently liquid went 3 feet vertically out of the tumbler – spread out and descended randomly. The attendant got up, rushed the trolley to the end of the cabin and strapped herself in…

Was it something I said?.

Over the past 20 yrs I have logged many a flight, most good, some bad, the worst flights have been on Delta and United. These two airlines have cancelled, or delayed more flights than I can count. AA has been good to me for the most part, with delays in and out of DFW due to sumertime thunderstorms which can really mess things up. Only really bad experience with AA was a couple of yrs ago when a storm caused 4+ hrs of delay for our flight, but many others where cancelled. Biggest beef was the gate agents really didn’t know anything more than we did and they were becoming defensive because all the stuck passengers were getting pissed off and taking their frustration out on the agents, so who was worse, the airline or the passengers for forgeting their manners, unfortunately it was the passengers.

My favorite airline is Southwest, I know exactly what to expect on each flight, knowing that it will probably leave/arrive on time and with any luck there will be someone with some personality and maybe even a little talent, to make me laugh. I don’t mind paying a little extra to be in the first 15 of the A group and I get a free (OK I did pay for it with the upgrade) beer, whiskey, or tequlia.

I just got back from Kauai flying on Hawaiian and with the exception of the way they run the check-in at LIH, they did very well, serving me and my very demanding wife. She drinks a lot of water and asked to have her 40 oz. canteen filled, one attendant filled it only half way, another asked me to follow her to the galley, where she was more than happy to fill the canteen full, so I guess it really depends on who is serving you.

So the bottom line on flying is, set your expectations really low and if they manage to exceed your expectations, it would have to be called a great flight, if on the other hand they fell below this expectation, next time vote with your wallet and use a different carrier.

Being that I work directly with my customers, I know that sometimes no matter what I do, I can not make them happy and they will write a letter to my pointy haired bosses and bitch their asses off about how bad my service was, then there is the majority of my customers who love my work and walk away happy, but never write a letter to let the PHB know how much they appriecate my work and then every once in a while, I have a customer write a letter to the president of our firm and to thank me for everything I have done. I really like this last group of people because they know that a few kind words will go a long way and get them even better service next time.

So, next time you take a flight, remember to thank everyone who helps you, if something is wrong, is it the person or the circumstance that you are upset with and no matter what, remember your manners. Two wrongs never make a right.

I had a bad time with American Airlines. I was moving overseas and brought my dog. It was a long flight, with a long layover in Dallas. There were instructions on the kennel to feed him and give him water.

When I arrived in Europe, I found that they hadn’t given him anything–there was untouched homeland security tape around the kennel, and the poor dog was sick from lack of water. It had been nearly 24 hours of travel, and nobody thought to give him any water!

I used to bartend in a bar at a Marriott and got to hear the complaints of the business travelers frequently. The number one complaint, above all others and not limited to airline complaints, was that Delta was terrible. And that was coming from business travelers. These are people who had platinum status with Marriott or other hotels. I took that as a clue for when I travel.

I still liken travelling on a plane to like being a long bus ride but with wings and without homeless people.

And who the _____ is Megan? lol

Isn’t it curious that best service is provided by airlines of the “third” world countries? When you flying Korean, Thai, Mexican lines you feel “serviced” rather than “dealt with” on Delta, etc.

The real issue is that the steward/stewardess is not aircrew. They are flying waiters. When we started refering to them as “aircrew” is when the trouble started.

Being in the service industry is tough and the work is frequently unpleasant. That said, I can think of few other legal jobs in the world where you can earn the better part of $70,000 a year with great benefits and have zero actual job skills beyond being friendly and personable.

I seldom fly at all, but I just came back from a trip on Alaska airlines. I followed the directions of the reservations staff and brought my husband’s medications and cervical traction device on the plane as carry-ons. Someone else walked out with his traction device and they didn’t care. Some of the employees blamed me because they thought I should have checked them on in regular baggage. One employee told my daughter that just because I was ADVISED to take them as carry-ons, that didn’t mean I had to FOLLOW that advice!!! Perhaps it would have been better to have just had them land in some other state!! Now we are dealing with having to replace a medical device that cost $520 when it was purchased 3 years ago, and now costs $795! I don’t know if Medicare will pay for it a second time. My daughter demanded that the police be called, and a report was taken. I will NEVER fly Alaska or Horizon again.

On our wedding anniversary, we had flown first class to new york for a week’s stay. Upon our return flight home, I was getting a cold, my nose was stuffed up, and since I couldn’t taste anything, did not eat . I had my eyes closed and was anticipating getting home. All of a sudden, I hear a woman’s voice talking to me, calling me by NAME. I open my eyes and a stewardess is crouching down on her knees, her face very close to mine. She wants to know if I am changing planes after this flight. I say no, why? She says because there is a first class dress code and I was wearing jeans and they are not acceptable and I should not have been allowed on this flight.(She didn’t say it, but my instinct is that had I said I was going on to another flight, she would have tried to stop me) I say, What first class dress code? She wanted to know if anybody stopped me at the gate. I said what? She said I should have been denied boarding. I said the man across from me was wearing jeans and so was a woman in front of him. What are you talking about? She stood up and walked away. I thought she might have been talking to the wrong person, dismissed it as a weird, inappropriate question, and proceeded to disembark the plane. She stood there just smiling at me. I decided to call AA and ask them to explain what the heck that was all about! Upon calling American Airlines to discuss the conversation I had with her, an airlines rep told me what transpired. He said that she thought I was flying free and if so, anyone flying on a free first class ticket has to observe a dress code, of which jeans were not permissible and one can be denied boarding. I wanted to know why she hadn’t checked the passenger manifest for that information, as she knew my name, which most certainly would have told her what I paid for the ticket. He had no answer. He also said that the stewardesses/flight attendants are encouraged to challenge/question customers anytime they felt it was necessary. I said it was poor customer service and rude. He was most apologetic for her behavior and said her supervisor would talk with her. I feel that the flight attendants are stooges for the airlinessince they are encouraged to question customers if they feel it necessary. Needless to say, I told him AA just lost two (and possibly more) customers as we will never fly AA ever again. He didn’t seem to care. By the way, there is no first class dress code for PAYING passengers, only ones with a free ticket. Had she checked the manifest, there would have been no need for this conversation.

Absolute worst is the UNITED. Why they are not on the top list,

They should the worst. Losing luggage every time, no customer service over the phone really. For whatver milres they give for traveling very expensive flights you you could buy couple of candy, otherwise you will loose miles as well. Pretty expensive. Connect through idiotic Frankfurt airport.

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Jetblue is the worse American airline by far!!!!

I have traveled for 3 years and my experience with Jetblue has been far worse than that of United, American, Continental, and even Delta. Jetblue is the king of delay. I didn’t fly on a single flight that went on time. They also have the longest checkin of any airline I have flow on, especially on their international flights. I fail to understand how jetblue rates so well relatively. Maybe it’s because of people like me that don’t complain.

Jetblue is by far worse than Continental, Alaska Air, American, United, and Delta.

Jetblues flights are always delayed, the plans are old and the seats and try tables are always dirtier, the TV’s and headphone jacks don’t work. They sell headphones after the movies have stared, and I think that’s great, because it’s a hint that you shouldn’t purchase the headphones. Because even if the TV display works, the headphone jack doesn’t work. They board you on the plane even when they know the plane will not be able depart for another 2 or more hours and just have you sit on the plane. There are so many more issues.

All of the American fleets are bad, but none of them are as bad as Jetblue. I have started collecting photos and videos that I may share one day.