Worst Airlines?

[CoolCruiser21]

Who would u say is the worst airline to travel with? By worst I mean Flights always late or delayed not really dependable...........

[booboo4031]

For me, Delta wins that award. I have NEVER flown with them that they haven't lost at least 1 piece of luggage and that I've had a flight delayed or cancelled (and not because of inclement weather)! I'd rather go by pigeon:D

[CruisinMatt]

Any airline with a connection at ORD (Chicago Ohare)

[parody]

In terms of on-time performance for the 12 month period ending January 2005, the FAA (http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/reports/2005/0503atcr.pdf) reports that the worst airline is American Eagle at 73.1%. With the industry average being 77.8%, Delta comes in at 75.9%. Illustrating that weather can make a significant difference, the best airline for on-time performance is Hawaiian at 94.3%.

 

With respect to large airports, ORD is fairly low at 59.3%; however, Philadelphia is lower at 58.6%. In terms of all reporting airports, Marquette, MI at 52.3% is the absolute lowest. The best -- Hilo, HI at 98.1%.

 

In terms of mishandled bags per passenger, the worst for January 2005 was (the now defunct) Atlantic Southeast Airlines while the best was Hawaiian Airlines.

[dsclark]

AA is the worst! Even if they didn't send my luggage to the wrong city 12 hours before cruise, they have never, ever, ever ever been on time for me!

The USPS concurs- they have canceled their contract with AA because they are never on time.

On an up note, I have flown Southwest a lot and they have never ever, ever been late, not even by 5 minutes!

[rdcollis]

I'd like the award for worst airline to America West. I refuse to fly with them anymore.

 

They have screwed up two vacations with canceled flights or delays causing me to miss my connecting flights.

 

One time, after waiting in line for over an hour, they annouced the flight had been canceled and "I (the counter ticket agent) can't do anything for you". (in other words - go away, don't bother me). I had to call America west, wait on hold for 1/2 hour and I got told it was canceled due to weather, except other planes were taking off with no problem. They gave no compensation.

[parody]

I'd like the award for worst airline to America West. I refuse to fly with them anymore.

 

You are not alone in you assessment of America West. However, as I didn't mention it in my previous post, I should note that with respect to AW, the FAA received 2.15 complaints per 100,000 enplanements in January 2005-- which was exactly the industry average! The best airline in this category was Southwest at only 0.25 complaints while the worst was Comair at 13.52. Comair suffered greatly in January when they abruptly concelled many flights. Normally they are better than average. This was not the case in January 2004 when AW was worst than the national average.

[CoolCruiser21]

What about Alaska Air?

[parody]

• On-time performance for Jan. 2005 = 76.3% [12 out of 19]
  
• Mishandled bags per 1000 passengers = 3.49 [3rd best out of 19]
  
• Consumer complaints for Jan. 2005 = 0.73 [6th best out of 19]
  

[mlroberts23]

Parody Love your dogs are they yours? Sorry off topic but today Jetsgo left thousands of passengers stranded!! I know I read a couple had to upgrade to 1st class to get to LA for thier Vision of the Sea cruise because they were stuck!!!Nowthat is bad!!I had to check and make sure we were not booked for our flight!:mad:

[hdawson]

According to FAA the Best baggage handling record for 2004 was AirTran. I've never had a baggage problem on any airline though.

[cruisingmimi]

I am looking for information on flying Air France to Rome. They are offering the best flight connections and prices from Boston to Rome. However, I have heard stories that their flights are horrible. I would appreciate any input.

 

Thanks.

 

Mary

[parody]

I am looking for information on flying Air France from Boston to Rome.

 

You may already be aware of this, but Air France code shares with Delta Air Lines. Two years ago I flew from Logan Airport in Boston to Barcelona with tickets that had Air France flights. I knew this at the time, but the flights were actually operated by Delta Air Lines. (Knowing this was important so that one would go to the correct terminal at Logan.) The flights were fine and if I had only one comment to make it would be language. At Logan, announcements were in both English and French. However, in my return flight out of Paris, announcements were only in French. There was a last-minute gate change announcement and fellow passengers in the waiting lounge moved to the new gate area. However, not speaking French I did not until a kind person realizing our situation came over and informed me of the announcement and gate change. Thus, one must be aware of this possibility.

[SheilaInAL]

hdawson, I wouldn't fly AirTrain on a dare, or even if they flew me for free! Here's why: http://www.ityt.com/airtran/

[Dancinboots]

I can tell you who I think is the most courteous, dependable and always on time airline for us and that is United. We have traveled with them for the last 6 cruises and have always been on schedule departing and arriving. We don't have any other airline to compare them to, being we have always flew United, with the exception of last year when we flew Spirit to Ft.Lauderdale, and even they were rignt on schedule. ( Not much legroom on Spirit, but the rates are usually pretty good):)

[SheilaInAL]

I've flown quite a lot on several different airlines: American Airlines, Eastern (now defunct), Delta, Southern (now defunct), Republic, United, British Airways, Northwest and Continental. No complaints about any of them really, except that last year, Delta almost made me miss the ship! I was new at cruising and booked the flight same day as the cruise.

 

This year, I'm going to the port city a day ahead and am flying Southwest. Have heard many, many good things about them, so am giving them a shot.

[MamaParrotHead]

does anyone else think that these studies can be somewhat subjective? :confused:

 

both the "offical" report that parody is posting, down to the personal preferences that people have? I mean, the sheer *amount* of things that the ratings/opinions depend on is mind-boggling...from every employee (reservations to baggage handlers to gate personnel to inflight personnel, even pilots), to the level of service received by the airline from each airport employee in each city (the people that fuel the plane, deliver the food/beverages, control towers), the weather, the individual airline policies (regarding when to announce flight changes or offer compensation for other things that happen, or something as basic as the qualifications they use to hire decent employees), even the level of "comittment" shown by dissatisfied passengers (as to whether or not they follow through with filing an official complaint).

 

I just think it's a rather blanket judgement for one to make based on some printed studies or a few people's bad impressions. which, I know, is why we're here, to share opinions :) ...but I just wondered if anyone else had considered those things.

[Globaliser]

does anyone else think that these studies can be somewhat subjective? :confused:

Totally and absolutely.

[Nliedel]

Of course this is subjective.. every post on this board is somewhat subjective. That said, bring it on. There is truth in both glowing compliments and whining. I read em all. I am entertained by train wreck stories. It's more PC than standing around at the scene of an accident (no I would not do that).

 

I love Continental, never had a problem. Northwest? Not so wonderful imo. I have had several problems with them but the cake taker is Southwest. I know I get what I pay for and I have consistantly had problems with them canceling one specific flight I take on a frequent basis, putting me on a flight that does not make a legal connection and being forced to run through a terminal. It would be a problem if I was not a runner.

[parody]

does anyone else think that these studies can be somewhat subjective?

 

Totally and absolutely.

 

I'm not sure I would paint such a broad brush. If by "subjective" we mean "perceived", then responses to the "best cruise line" or the "best food" are all subjective. However, when statistics are based on measured data, I'd like to think that the results are NOT subjective. If a bag is misplaced (we would say "lost"), that's a hard number. One doesn't perceive that they lost their bag or feel that they won't file a report since they didn't want to adversely affect the resulting statistics for an airline. Now there can be deception in these statistics. For example, I believe that a flight is considered "on time" if it leaves from its gate within 15 minutes of scheduled departure time. Sometimes a flight will pull 10 feet away from a gate and stop, and thus be considered an "on time" departure, but then sit on the tarmac for any number of minutes after that. This action looks good statistically, but is cold comfort to the people on the plane.

 

 

 

In looking at statistics from "official" reports, it is helpful to understand why they are what they are. For example, the on time arrival rate at Boston's Logan Airport was fairly low in January. But this was adversely affected by the fact that the airport had to deal with some nasty winter weather in January. Similarly, Comair's statistics were abnormally low resulting from an abrupt cancellation of flights due to a computer glitch. Southwest Airlines has extremely favorable statistics for misplaced bags. How much is this due to the fact that they don't interline bags with other airlines, tend to fly shorter flights where baggage is less an issue, generally fly point to point and not cross country or internationally, or maybe they are just good at it. One needs to examine further to see if this is a pattern or a one-time event.

 

 

 

Lastly, perceptions can live on much beyond the time that demonstrable changes have occurred. For the longest while, USAIR (now US Airways) was affectionately referred to as Unfortunately, Still Allegheny In Reality, a throwback to Allegheny Airlines.

[MamaParrotHead]

I agree, I think that the various reasons "why" things are the way the are is worth closer inspection before jumping to conclusions about one thing or another, including airlines. I was just wondering if the thought had crossed anyone else's mind. :)

[Globaliser]

I'm not sure I would paint such a broad brush. If by "subjective" we mean "perceived", then responses to the "best cruise line" or the "best food" are all subjective. However, when statistics are based on measured data, I'd like to think that the results are NOT subjective. If a bag is misplaced (we would say "lost"), that's a hard number.

I agree, some of the numbers in those official reports are hard. But others are almost meaningless - "complaints to the FAA" being top of that bracket. They don't measure the number of complaints received, only the number of complaints that the airlines have failed to buy off.

For the longest while, USAIR (now US Airways) was affectionately referred to as Unfortunately, Still Allegheny In Reality, a throwback to Allegheny Airlines.

And that has of course been superseded by the new "full name": Unfortunately, Still Allegheny In Reality, Why Alter Your Signs? :D

[parody]

Unfortunately, Still Allegheny In Reality, Why Alter Your Signs?

 

Thanks -- proves the point to those who recall Agony (whoops, Allegheny) Airlines.

[BlueHerons]

I think if you ask 50 people, you will get 50 different answers.

 

In 1996 I transfered my FF status from Delta to USAirways and never looked back. I had serious issues with Delta in that they would not credit my FF account and that I'd rather have all my teeth pulled with no anesthesia than switch planes in Atlanta/Hartsfield Airport.

 

That said, all the airlines that aren't in bankruptcy court all have bankruptcy attorneys with the exception being maybe JetBlue and Hooters. Southwest is getting ready to face the same problems all the others are facing because their employees are aging out meaning they are now paying majority senior wages.

[hdawson]

I think Southwest has bee profitable each and every year of their operation. About 30 years now. The other two domestic airlines that are consistantly profitable are JetBlue and AirTran. All the others that I know of are loosing money. If two airlines go into liquidation, the industry will be more healthy. I don't think any of those three profitable airlines went to the federal government after 9-11 for loans like all the legacy airlines did.