I hate airlines with a white hot passion

[DeadHorse]

A previous poster was right. The airlines have taken the fun out of vacationing anywhere due to the dread of getting there and coming back. The Mrs. and I have a rule that if something is within 1,000 miles and we're going to spend more than 3 days there, we're driving. We don't have kids, either. If we did, that rule would probably extend out to 3,000 miles. I can't imagine trying to schlep 2 or 3 kids through the system and I'm not even counting the checked bag fee for a family of 4-5.

Another previous poster was also correct about voting with our money. That used to be an option but in today's environment, we'd all boycott Delta, they'd almost go bankrupt, and then they'd tell Congress they're too big to fail and hold the economy hostage by saying if they would out of business, X amount of people would lose their jobs.

 

[Hornin Hong Kong]

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[DeadHorse]

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[Texas_Rocks]

Part of the crappy CS is due to the fact that our government has practically given airlines and ALL of their employees the impression that they are homeland defense law enforcement agents charged with protecting our country.

Here's the bottom line. If you become the least bit upset with an airline employee you are considered a bad American and potential terrorist until proven otherwise.

 

[diva]

Southwest has always done a good job for me and we were even early on Tues. to Houston from Chicago. Of course, they don't fly everywhere.

 

[GHoward]

When I fly, I always schedule the earliest flight and just assume it will take the entire day.

 

[DeadHorse]

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[zork]

DFW to SFO or DFW to SJC via American are nearly always jam packed full flights on Monday/Fridays but they are rarely more than 15-30 min late if not on time or early most of the time.

 

[the Saint]

I feel the same way about Northwest. They were made for each other. May they spiral down into bankruptcy together.

 

[Sangre Naranjada]

Don't fly any of the legacy airlines. I will NEVER set foot on an American Airlines plane again, and avoid the other legacy carriers whenever it is possible, too.

I fly SWA or Frontier, and have had significant issues only once, and that was due to a snowstorm - a situation completely out of the airline's control. I got to Denver after the last flight leaving for Austin had departed, so I got to spend the night at the airport. But the Frontier folks did all they could for me, including providing discounts to hotels (which I did not use) and meal vouchers. I got the meal vouchers specifically because I was nice to the customer service rep. Whoever made that point earlier is spot on. As difficult as it might be, BE NICE!

My strategy has been to fly to an airport within 200 miles of my final destination using SWA or Frontier, and then enjoy the drive. It has been fabulously successful for me.

The only other time I've had a problem was when I had to fly, you guessed it, Delta, through ATL to Charleston, SC. Even then it was just delayed bags, but that was a pain in the *** to deal with.

 

[MaduroUTMB]

Delta left me in Hostia. Never again.

 

[grinder]

I've flown through Atlanta on Delta 3 times. Twice I was forced to stay overnight at a crappy motel due to weather delay issues. Not entirely Delta's fault, but I will avoid Delta whenever possible.

 

[YoLaDu]

What drives me crazy is that when shopping for tickets you have to make a fundamental decision. Do i go for the "best price" or the "best schedule". More times than not, i choose to pay more in order to get the better schedule (ie. : shorter layovers, fewer connections, reasonable departure times, etc). I have two small children, so i will usually choose to pay more for a schedule that will make my life easier.

Inevitably, the airline screws something up, there are delays and the tickets i paid $150 a piece more for, for a better schedule, gets thrown out the window due to airline screw ups.

I can't tell you how many times I have looked at my ticket and thought: i could have paid $150 less for the crappy schedule tickets and arrived at the my final destination at the same time.

 

[gecko]

This boggles my mind.....I travel every week, to multiple cities on a variety of airlines and it's extremely rare that I experience problems with delays. Sort of like Hong Kong's experience with CP, Continental absolutely kisses my butt at every turn so I don't feel the pain of the average traveler.