Favorite/least favorite airlines

From MCO on June 11, 2019 all of the United flights I saw were to ORD. I sorted them on Exoedia by "earliest landing" and then "lowest price." If United flies from MCO to EWR to BUD on that date, both the price and time are terrible.

United doesn't fly to BUD at all (or PRG for that matter). That is why nothing came up on your search. I guess as part of Star Alliance, they are content to let Lufthansa handle those routes.

In any event, there are so many one-stop options between MCO and BUD that focusing on ORD vs EWR as a connection point is liable to blind you to better itineraries.

I read a few years ago Southwest has one of hte best on-time rates because they only fly Boeing 737 aircraft, which results in on-plane crew not having to make adjustments or changes related to differences in the aircraft itself. I am not sure what this means, but it is true Southwest has a higher on-time rate than big airlines with many sizes and types of airplanes.

 

Like many things airline-related, it's also route and home airport-related. I'll fly Southwest if price and route are right but I don't get the cult surrounding the company. And their tendency to swap planes frequently is highly annoying to me. I live in a place where all the airports within a reasonable drive are small outstations, and if Southwest starts to have little delays in their system, the plane swaps start. While it makes sense from an overall operations standpoint to pull a plane from the Baltimore-Panama City route where the plane will remain overnight once it gets to the beach to a route that's scheduled for Baltimore-Dallas-Phoenix-Los Angeles because it disrupts fewer passengers that way, I'm the sacrificial lamb getting home an hour or more later with them, and I prefer to be more of an on-time priority than that. I've also got gripes about how their IT system is designed to create messages about 'you can't get there from here' because it doesn't allow for exceptions to allowed layover times but that's another outstation gripe.

 

Delta- post merger, they went to pretty much all mainline service out of VPS, allowing me to avoid ASA (Satan's regional airline according to many a customer service and operations study). I've learned to stop worrying and love, or at least like, the ATL for its huge number of flight connections, and I've had them do some pretty impressive things for IRROPS recovery for my non-status self. They may not have the soft product of some of the foreign carriers, but at this point, I've got a good amount of trust in their ability to fix a problem in a timely manner. Partner KLM has also been a pleasant flying experience for me.

 

United- down side is that locally it's United Express flights that are operated by the renamed ASA and there's nothing like starting or ending your travel day with a two hour flight to Houston in an Embraer 135 barbie jet where an average height adult cannot stand up fully without hitting their head on an overhead bin. Employees are generally friendly, if rather clueless at times, and once it's mainline, planes are generally in good condition.

 

American- meh. Not outright horrible, but rarely a compelling reason to fly them once I spent down a couple thousand in gift cards I had with them. Most connecting flights involve Charlotte, where the Concourse E regional partner area has all the ambience of a Paris Metro station in the summer. Employees are neither empowered nor motivated to be proactive if you come to them with an issue. Many planes in need if cabin refreshment.

 

BA- have only done short haul with them and found the experience to be uneventful in all the right ways.

 

Not saying you are wrong but what is the difference between racking up miles on Delta's frequent flyer miles and doing the same with the Capital One Venture Card, then using all of those miles on the same airline?

 

I live in an uncompetitive airport area, and award trips let me play arbitrage compared to cash prices. Compare cash ticket prices to award ticket prices, and the 2.5-3 cents per mile I typically get for the award tickets I book beats what I could get on a cash back card. (Even without redeeming for long haul premium cabin where the cents per mile rate gets even better. But then I'd rather take two trips to Europe in economy than one trip in a premium cabin so the difference between cash rate and award rate is not something I overly value there)

I don't know what this airplane swap deal is. You are the first to tell me they do such a thing.

 

 

BTW the only reason I would fly on AA is the fact they are at GNV. Once they bumped us from a flight after our bags were put on the plane. It resulted in getting $200 vouchers for a future flight, but it would have been a big problem for us if we were at the beginning of our trip due to the long wait for the next flight while our bags were in the air.

I don't know what this airplane swap deal is. You are the first to tell me they do such a thing.

 

 

BTW the only reason I would fly on AA is the fact they are at GNV. Once they bumped us from a flight after our bags were put on the plane. It resulted in getting $200 vouchers for a future flight, but it would have been a big problem for us if we were at the beginning of our trip due to the long wait for the next flight while our bags were in the air.

 

If you are not on the plane, your bags should be pulled from the plane.

I don't know what this airplane swap deal is. You are the first to tell me they do such a thing.

Most passengers who aren't interested in the precise mechanics of this, or who don't have the tools to look for them (or the inside information as an alternative) probably wouldn't notice anything other than that their flight is unexpectedly/suddenly delayed. And, as pointed out above, Southwest's recent record on punctuality has been poorer than the other big airlines'.

I don't know what this airplane swap deal is. You are the first to tell me they do such a thing.

 

 

A while back, I found myself in the part of the Nashville airport where Southwest squishes a whole bunch of gates together, likely for a small but statistically significant labor cost savings reason (gate agents and ramp workers don't have to go as far from plane area to plane area and are therefore slightly more efficient is my theory) And the only place left to have a seat was right in front of where a small group of pilots, gate agents, and ramp workers were talking about work so I got a glimpse into how that company makes the sausage, as the saying goes, complete with the pilot complaining about how operations kept 'stealing' planes out from under him.

 

If you think about it, it's actually quite impressive how a major airline manages to keep so many different pieces in motion and on time every day. But when the schedule starts to get slightly off in some parts of the system and airline has to prioritize and minimize disruptions in order to get the most planes and passengers back on track as quickly as possible. And Southwest's service recovery plan doesn't seem to particularly prioritize my needs so I typically go with a different airline that does a better job of that where I live.

 

As for aircraft swaps, other airlines will occasionally do them to if if you're at one of their hubs where they can reshuffle on the ground plane inventory a bit and minimize schedule disruption. I've had a last ATL-VPS flight of the night go mechanical on the ground, and because it would have taken more than an hour to get that plane signed off on and ready to fly, they herded us over a couple of concourses where we boarded what had been scheduled as the first flight to Biloxi the following morning according to the departure board. Because under those conditions, it's easy for Delta to find another MD-88 not in service at that time and place.

If you are not on the plane, your bags should be pulled from the plane.

 

We were told they were not. Upon our return to CHM (Columbus, Ohio) they were in the office near baggage claim because of their arrival time hours earlier.

The only time I was involved in a plane swap was on AA at CLT. After everyone was ready for takeoff, the the captain said a part of the plane was not working right and mechanics had to be calledd in to fix it. The people he was referring to told him it can't be fixed, so all passengers were instructed to deplane and the luggage handlers returned to get all checked bags in cargo out. The word was we needed to wait for a new aircraft. The delay was pushed back a couple times while we waited for the replacement plane. The next pilot parked between the defective plane and another one, so all passengers were told to board the middle of those three planes by the gate agent.

Once they bumped us from a flight after our bags were put on the plane. It resulted in getting $200 vouchers for a future flight, but it would have been a big problem for us if we were at the beginning of our trip due to the long wait for the next flight while our bags were in the air.

 

Let me see if I have this straight.

 

Your bags arrived ahead of you, and this is a problem??

 

Most folks would think that arriving and finding your bags AREN'T there would be a problem.

 

But then, what do I know.

If you are not on the plane, your bags should be pulled from the plane.

 

Not necessarily, especially if the passengers have *every* reason to believe their own luggage WILL be on the same flight.

 

We had situations like this.

 

We arrived at the airport, also traveling AA, a bit earlier than we expected, and there was an earlier flight leaving that we thought we could make.

 

The agent at check-in said that we could make it, but our luggage could not, and therefore we could not get on the earlier, but would have to stay with our original flight and fly with our luggage.

"Okay", we figured, and we spent a bit extra time in the gate area, after watching the earlier flight board (without us) and then leave.

 

We arrived at the destination, and went to baggage claim, a common enough occurrence.

But... the luggage on the carousel kept disappearing until there was no more, and they stopped the carousel. Our bags were not there.

So we went the the baggage claim help desk, to ask about our bags, and the agent chirped up, "Oh, your bags arrived on the earlier flight! They are waiting right over there [pointing in a corner in the "help" office] for you!" <SMILE, SMILE>

 

Sigh.

When we complained that it would have been nice not to have needed to wait until all the stragglers had collected their bags, and the carousel stopped, to realize that our bags were known to not be arriving... she said, "Oh, we HAVE to tell passengers that their bags must travel with them..." <SMILE, SMILE>

 

Compare this with an arrival from overseas a few weeks later, where we had allowed an extra long connection rather than risk a tight connection. (Not AA.)

By the time we were among the first to arrive at baggage claim, we heard our names being paged, to go to Baggage Customer Service. Once there, we were told the same thing, but much more timely: "Your bags arrived on the flight ahead of you, and they are right over there [pointing]", and we were on our way home before the carousel even started turning for the bags on our actual flight. :)

 

GC

Not certain about the US. Canada requires passenger and baggage matching. This dates back to 1978 when out of Vancouver two explosives were smuggled onto two aircraft on routes to India. One was a Canadian Pacific Airlines flight (that one exploded on the ground in Japan), the second was an Air India flight.

 

The generally principle is if the passenger is a no-show the bags come off. There is no action a passenger can do that results in them being separated from their bags.

 

The airline on the other hand is free for operation reasons to separate the bags from the passenger.

Not certain about the US. Canada requires passenger and baggage matching. This dates back to 1978 when out of Vancouver two explosives were smuggled onto two aircraft on routes to India. One was a Canadian Pacific Airlines flight (that one exploded on the ground in Japan), the second was an Air India flight.

 

The generally principle is if the passenger is a no-show the bags come off. There is no action a passenger can do that results in them being separated from their bags.

 

The airline on the other hand is free for operation reasons to separate the bags from the passenger.

 

Tell that to every airline that bumps paqssengers like AA did. Nothing was wrong with the boarding passses. The plane had 2 seats left. We are 2 poeople - shor white women you could tell are a mom and daughter. It makes no sense.

Tell that to every airline that bumps paqssengers like AA did. Nothing was wrong with the boarding passses

 

Whether or not there was a problem with BPs has little to do with an IDB situation.

 

 

The plane had 2 seats left. We are 2 poeople - shor white women you could tell are a mom and daughter. It makes no sense.

 

Do you know anything about weight and balance issues? About takeoff perfomance issues, especially in hot and/or high conditions? Just because there are two seats empty on a flight doesn't mean that the airline should put people into those seats. Do you want to be on an aircraft that is overloaded for the environmental conditions outside?

 

And if you have to wonder what that might be, perhaps you should read up and understand about aircraft performance data before you go on about "short white women". (FWIW, I have been on aircraft where they needed to have over 20 empty seats to be within takeoff performance specs).

The only time I was involved in a plane swap was on AA at CLT.

That's simply the only time you know that you were involved in an aircraft swap, and that was because it happened after you boarded.

 

You may have been involved in any number of aircraft swaps on other occasions that you simply didn't know about. Because of the tools which I use to keep track of how my flights are likely to be doing, I can see this happening to quite a few of my flights.

The generally principle is if the passenger is a no-show the bags come off. There is no action a passenger can do that results in them being separated from their bags.

 

The airline on the other hand is free for operation reasons to separate the bags from the passenger.

Tell that to every airline that bumps paqssengers like AA did. Nothing was wrong with the boarding passses. The plane had 2 seats left. We are 2 poeople - shor white women you could tell are a mom and daughter. It makes no sense.

A boarding pass does not guarantee that you will have a seat on the aircraft. In fact, nothing guarantees that you are going to fly on any particular aircraft unless you are onboard and the aircraft has actually left the ground. Until then, nothing is guaranteed.

 

Your situation fits exactly what em-sk said: You cannot choose to have your bags fly on a different flight from yours (within the standard checked baggage system). However, the airline can choose to fly your bags on a different flight from yours - and that is what AA did when you were unable to board that flight.

 

Anyway, having two passengers unable to board because the aircraft had to leave with two empty seats is nothing. The real headaches come when a full flight unexpectedly has to take a payload restriction measuring dozens of passengers, each of whom has to be reaccommodated on other flights.

I don't know what this airplane swap deal is. You are the first to tell me they do such a thing.

 

Airlines do it regularly as needed to lessen disruptions. Let's say passengers are waiting at gate 1 for plane 1, but it is delayed 3 hours for whatever reason. Meanwhile, plane 2 is sitting gate 2 and isn't scheduled to depart for another 2.5 hours. Rather than make all the gate 1 pax wait 3 hours, and likely have to accommodate all of them on a new connection due to the delay, the airline switches them to plane 2. When plane 1 finally arrives they will use that aircraft for the pax at gate 2. They'll be delayed 1/2 hour, but that causes a lot less disruption than a a plane delayed 3 hours.

 

 

If you are not on the plane, your bags should be pulled from the plane.

 

True. However, the bigger concern in this case is when the passenger deplaning is initiated by the passenger. It's a security risk to board a pax and his bag, and then have the pax decide not to fly. When the airline initiates the deplaning, you don't have the security risk of "why is he deplaning? do we have to worry that he is leaving a bomb behind in his bag?" So sometimes in that case the rules don't get followed.

 

Same reason why when you have a long connection time, say 3 hours, and there is another flight to your destination in the meantime, the airline will often send your bags ahead of you if the first flight has space and/or they know they may have a cargo space/weight issue on your actual flight.

Let me see if I have this straight.

 

Your bags arrived ahead of you, and this is a problem??

 

Most folks would think that arriving and finding your bags AREN'T there would be a problem.

 

I wondered that too. Was the poster in question somehow expecting to access the checked bag during flight for some reason? I can't imagine any reason why your checked bags going on ahead of you by an hour or two would be a problem. I actually like it when that happens. If I have a long connection I use the app to see if my bags went ahead. Saves me from waiting at the carousel; I just go straight to the airline baggage office to get my bag and I'm on my way.

 

 

Not necessarily, especially if the passengers have *every* reason to believe their own luggage WILL be on the same flight.

 

We had situations like this.

 

We arrived at the airport, also traveling AA, a bit earlier than we expected, and there was an earlier flight leaving that we thought we could make.

 

The agent at check-in said that we could make it, but our luggage could not, and therefore we could not get on the earlier, but would have to stay with our original flight and fly with our luggage.

"Okay", we figured, and we spent a bit extra time in the gate area, after watching the earlier flight board (without us) and then leave.

 

We arrived at the destination, and went to baggage claim, a common enough occurrence.

But... the luggage on the carousel kept disappearing until there was no more, and they stopped the carousel. Our bags were not there.

So we went the the baggage claim help desk, to ask about our bags, and the agent chirped up, "Oh, your bags arrived on the earlier flight! They are waiting right over there [pointing in a corner in the "help" office] for you!" <SMILE, SMILE>

 

Sigh.

When we complained that it would have been nice not to have needed to wait until all the stragglers had collected their bags, and the carousel stopped, to realize that our bags were known to not be arriving... she said, "Oh, we HAVE to tell passengers that their bags must travel with them..." <SMILE, SMILE>

 

Compare this with an arrival from overseas a few weeks later, where we had allowed an extra long connection rather than risk a tight connection. (Not AA.)

By the time we were among the first to arrive at baggage claim, we heard our names being paged, to go to Baggage Customer Service. Once there, we were told the same thing, but much more timely: "Your bags arrived on the flight ahead of you, and they are right over there [pointing]", and we were on our way home before the carousel even started turning for the bags on our actual flight. :)

There are a few airports like Las Vegas where baggage theft as the carousel can be a mild to moderate concern, so I can understand a bag arriving before you do being less than optimal.

 

Also, United lets you voluntarily consciously uncouple from your baggage and stand by for an earlier flight during IRROPS for domestic flights . We've had the offered during a messy ground stop recovery not too long ago. I guess that if you seem to have intended to stick with your bags from your original departure airport, it's good enough fro ma security standpoint