My wife insists we fly Southwest because it is typically $20-40 cheaper per ticket and has free bags but I am put off by the multiple times our flights have been delayed and the boarding like cattle instead of assigned seatings. I was a continental fan who went to United after the merger, but since 2013 I've been using Southwest if I am not flying alone. What's your favorite domestic carrier in 2024? Or is it whomever gets you to your destination for the lowest cost while not being Spirit Airlines?
I typically don’t fly anywhere of significant distance unless there is an airport lounge as part of the commute. Delta is pretty reliable in this regard. I have Amex platinum and chase sapphire cards and usually fly first class. So, yeah, whatevs… (obnoxious post)
Once you’re on the actual plane (and presuming it’s not a very long international flight)… I don’t think any one airlines can possibly do anything to be significantly better than another (plus the planes themselves are about the same now). So basically you’re going for the ones that have the most direct flights, the most flexible time options, the one that flies from the easier airport to get to, the one that makes possible cancellations/reschedules as easy as possible, and the one with the better app/rewards. The Airport also matters as well. Flying Southwest out of Hobby is a different experience than flying Southwest out of Denver or Vegas. Same goes for flying United out of IAH vs. United out of LA, Chicago or Denver. Thus, please re-title this thread… “Favorite Airports 2024”… because apparently that’s what truly makes/breaks the flying experience.
Smaller airline not many have heard of, Trans America. Their safety record is spotty. I first flew with them over 40 years ago though. During one flight, both pilots and half the passengers got food poisoning (I didn't though; I had the chicken). This one passenger started having a nervous breakdown so some of us had to help her calm down and get ahold of herself. Unbelievably, this retired Air Force pilot with a drinking problem was able to help land the plane. True story.
Data says they all suck but Delta sucks the least. Please stop bailing out airlines. Let them ****ing rot. I'm 6ft 3 with long legs. I hope they all burn.
I wouldn't say they're all the same. JetBlue markets having more leg space than other airlines and it's true. There are likely less rows on JetBlue spec planes than other airlines who try to pack in as many passengers as possible. For me, I mainly care about cost after baggage fees. I hate the new "basic economy" that airlines added which doesn't allow a carry on. Hard to imagine they made a worse class than economy.
Flying commercial in the US sucks in general. Since I am closest to Miami, I usually fly American when I fly commercial. Tried JSX once recently which was very convenient, but I am not that big a fan of the very small planes.
I worked at Continental 17 years and (very fortunately) left before the merger with United. I've always respected Southwest's business model but refused to fly them even after leaving Continental because I thought they treated people worse than cattle. Well, after being completely disgusted by various things about United and hearing my wife crow about Southwest, I tried them and haven't looked back. They completely blow United out of the water and living in Mo City makes Hobby very convenient vs IAH. The worst airline in the history of aviation is Spirit. The ambivalent behavior and complete lack of professionalism of their staff was only exceeded by being 3 hours late each way on a trip to/from Chicago.
As someone from Canada, I gotta say avoid Air Canada unless the price is significantly cheaper. My favourite gotta be ANA if you are travelling to Japan.
Delta is the best of the worst. This is how I see it Delta = Best overall but they know it and they are expensive. Austin is now a focus city so if you are there marry Delta and avoid American and UA. Everything about Delta is much nicer than all the other companies mainly how clean their planes are. United = Best app and the Star alliance is the best network. So while lower level status is not much on UA getting Gold and flying international within Star Alliance is nice. Worst employees many planes super ghetto. American = of these 3 the worst imo. Although like Delta they treat their frequent flyers much better than United. American lacks doing just 1 thing really well. Southwest = the airline to fly for the 1 or 2 time a year customer. People who don't fly won't have status and would not get a credit card so Southwest with the free bags and flexibility are nice. The cons are the cattle class lineup and the cancelations. They were also by far the worst during Covid and went from friendliest to terrible customer service. Smaller Airlines are usually pretty bad Jet Blue and until doors started flying off Alaska were both decent if you happened to be in those areas
^^^ This Comparing airlines usually comes down to just a few things. Price, logistics (times and locations), and then after those major concerns are dealt with you have customer service. I check Southwest first for flight options because 9 times out of 10 they are the best option for me in all 3 of those major categories. Even if they're not the best price or it's logistically a bit awkward sometimes I will lean their way just because they usually have the least amount of ****-ups and if they do **** something up my experience dealing with their customer service has been better than most. If your local airport doesn't have a lot of SW non-stop flights though this stuff may all be completely irrelevant. United, Delta, and AA... I can barely tell them apart at this point.
As a total shill for Delta, I'll just say that everyone's experience with airlines varies wildly based on where you live. I used to live in a Delta hub (Minneapolis) and they're by far the best at running their hubs among the major US carriers. There's a reason that Detroit and Minneapolis are always the top airports in the US. Delta flat out paid for the entire Terminal C renovation in LaGuardia and it went from being one of the worst airports in the US to an above average place to fly through. They made a similar investment to Terminal 3 at LAX and there's an ongoing project in T4 at JFK. Delta places a premium on customer service and customer experience at locations it controls but again you only really appreciate that stuff if you either live at one of those places or frequently fly to one of the hubs. The other key thing is that Delta's IT investment and integration is totally different from the other airlines. Delta owns its entire IT stack and operates its own reservation system. I work in the airline IT industry so I guess I care more about this stuff but the level of integration that they have with third parties is quite impressive. The best example that I have was from several years ago where I checked a bag at the gate in Madrid on an Air France flight that was connecting to a Delta flight in CDG. Within seconds of checking the bag, the bag tag number and tracking info showed up in the Delta app and the tracking (loading/unloading at each airport) was on point throughout the journey. In the background, that requires pretty thorough integration with foreign baggage handlers and the Air France reservation system. But they place a premium on little stuff like that but it all adds up to the overall experience. Now all of this costs extra as Delta generally offers the most expensive fares but from a quality standpoint, they're head and shoulders above the others in the US.
