Lifehacker: Five Worst Airlines
 

Lifehacker posts results of nominations for worst airlines.

http://lifehacker.com/five-worst-air...8Lifehacker%29

Perhaps it is blind loyalty, having been a United customer about 12 years now...including a few years in the pre-merger that were precarious, but I don't get a lot of the hate. I've had a few problems over the years but for the most part things run remarkably smoothly.
(though my peeve is unavailable gates at an on time arrival, that happens more than it should.)

I frankly don't care about IFE options, as I prefer to read. I'm seated in E+ on the aisle so that's fairly comfortable and the planes, for the most part, have retained the famous CO clean. Thankfully.
And I thought the new safety video was well done, even having viewed it countless time already.

I take take it that they have never flown on AeroMongolia... The only airline I've flown that issued hand written tickets. And that was last year..

I have flown on United twice.

First, I missed a connection due to a plane problem and was delayed 16 hours overnight in SFO. That's fine. It happens. They told me and all the other passengers they were out of vouchers but we'd be reimbursed for hotel and the taxi there and back. I asked how much for a hotel. She said anything reasonable. I find the only room I can after calling 10+ hotels, $100 for the night. We wait for our bags. Don't come. After an hour (12 am now) I ask. Somebody goes to check. 45 minutes later they haven't returned. Ask another person, they tell me the first person went home for the night. So they go check. Can't find my bag. Eventually they find it.

Then I submit my reimbursement request. Flat out refused. They tell me the agent didn't have authority to offer me a reimbursement. Sorry buddy. Speak to a manager. Same thing. Email CEO, get an email offering 500 dollars flight credit. Great. I'm annoyed but it was handled and 500 credit is better than 100 cash.

One year later and my second time. Use the 500 to fly to maui. On the way home checking in for a red eye, I mention how tired I am. I'm offered a first class seat for 199/person that "virtually folds flat." Sure, I'll take two. I have a six hour drive when I land. Board the plane and take our seats. They sat my wife and I in seperate rows. Whatever, we are sleeping anyway. But the kicker? Neither of our seats recline. They are flush against the wall of the bathroom, kitchen, first class divider area. Zero recline. Literally none. So I paid 400 dollars to be in a seat that reclines less than coach. Complain. Refused. Complain refused. Told my seat did recline and that I'm lying or mistaken. CEO email, offered $150. Fine. Whatever. [removed Coupon Connection -- for which op not qualified -- material] I'm not flying United again (then again I joined the foreign service, so I'm sure ill experience united international. I'll keep an open mind).

Those are the only two times I've had to complain to an airline, or any company as far as I know. I'm ok with delays. I'm patient. It happens.

Believe it or not, my friend from Morocco has a hand written PASSPORT. :eek:

Ryanair isn't nearly as bad as it used to be. I'd also personally rank easyJet equal with Ryanair.

As for UA, I haven't flown it since it became CO. Still a lifetime Plat though. So the airline's crap, but Mileage Plus isn't too bad.

I cannot comment on UA (have not flown them in many years), but with changes to FF programs, I'm not surprised UA and DL made the list.

As I live abroad at the moment, many of DL's changes do not impact me, although they will when I return to the USA.

The change in earning RDMs will mean I earn 40-60% of what I earned on previous flights. That said, with ex-Europe fees on redemptions, the difference between booking an award with fees and just buying a ticket is not all that far apart. I tend to use miles for friends and family to meet somewhere in the USA or bring them to Europe.

This about gets it right. Been in the air for twenty-five years and run into my share of snafus, foulups, rude or disinterested employees. Despite all that, the airlines get it done right about 98% of the time

DL and UA are on a list of worst airlines that excludes EasyJet and Allegiant?

DL and UA have far more generous carry on policies than most Asian and European carriers. One can reprint boarding passes at the airport for free (unlike many LCCs) get seat assignments in advance for free (unlike AC and BA).

I have my issues with UA and DL but this is a biased and unscientific article.

^
Indeed, it only consists of "nominations" sent in by readers on that website.

Also whoever at Internet Brands writes up the FT front page's "Must Read" titles should actually read the thread and article in the OP before doing so...the title reads "Are These The Five Worst U.S. Airlines?" when the cited article isn't limited to US airlines.

^

Koryo Airlines didn't make the cut?

This seems to be a "study" of the worst airlines in the USA, but they threw in Ryanair to sound "global." There are tons of bad airlines out there. In the global scale, DL and UA don't make the top 10

I fly a lot, and while I've never flown on Spirit, I've taken Frontier, Delta and United plenty of times and can barely remember the flights let alone feel the need to complain bitterly about minor travel annoyances.

You were delayed a few hours? Deal with it, that is just the way it goes when traveling. Overnight stop due to operational, equipment or weather delays? Just another day at the airport ...

Experienced travelers know full well that these are reasonable risks that you incur when flying across a continent or across the world. Grow up people!

I also question the experience level of some of the folks posting "horror stories" about Spirit in the article. I am no Spirit apologist (never flown them, probably won't and really don't care about their reputation either way), but I found some of the complaints somewhat naive:

- poster wanted to cancel a flight and had to pay a change fee (triple digits!) and would only get a flight credit, not money back. Hello, most airlines would do that on a non-refundable fare.
- poster was shocked that Spirit wouldn't pay for their hotel and incidentals incurred for an overnight stay due to a late inbound that caused them to miss their outbound. Poster didn't mention the cause of the delay, but if it were weather-related, not mechanical, many airlines would have played the same card. (I would, however, criticize Spirit for allowing only one hour for an international to domestic transfer, if that indeed was the case).

My guess is that Spirit, in particular, caters to the very infrequent traveler who may not understand what is an industry standard versus a fault specific to Spirit.

United has an absolutely horrendous on time % and cancels a heck of a lot of international flights. They fly and extremely outdated BE cabin in a 2-2-2 and in some planes, a 2-4-2 configuration. They deserve to be dead last.