Really a Difference Among U.S. Airlines?
 

Every airline thanks you for choosing them at the conclusion of the flight. My question is do you really think there is a difference among u.s. carriers?

I choose airlines based on price, timing of flights, whether I'm a member of their frequent flier club. I can't honestly say I think I get better service on a particular carrier. How about you?

United has E+ which is a huge differentiator.

IFE with free headphones is also nice and missing from others.

There is a difference.

For me the flight isn't about just the time I'm in the plane, how good an airline is starts at check-in, and finishes when I've claimed my luggage.

The thing I've found is, the US majors usually excel in one or two area, but IME never all of them. For that I fly BA :D

sometimes the difference is in First Class. DL and US use plastic cups in First :td:

I think that if you travel a lot, sooner or later you will get good/bad service on any of them. In my opinion, they are pretty much the same. Too bad we can't get some of the European carriers over here!

I don't think one is far superior to the others. Some definitely have some competitve advantages over the others.

United has E+ in coach, p.s. service SFO/LAX-JFK, and Channel 9.
AA has the best award redemption of the majors and international F to Hawaii.
CO/DL/NW/US have space available upgrades for all elite levels--highest first.

There are pros & cons to each program.

As a non-elite the is zero difference in coach service for all the majors, it's such a miniscule difference--except for Jetblue or Song--their products come close to some airline's F experience (NW and US come to mind).

As an elite member there's a minor difference as you might get a UA E+ seat, which by teh way has the saem pitch and smaller width of a Jetblue seat behind row 12....so go figure.

I do agree that airline travel is now as commoditized as ever.

I fail to see where all the gushing over Euro airlines comes from.

I have flown 5 times on European airlines. Once on BA, 3 times Lufthansa and once on Austrian Air. Two times Lufthansa lost my baggage en route to Frankfurt. The 1 BA flight was delayed about 2 hrs into London - not weather related. As far as service goes, nothing spectacular, they fed me, gave me a drink or two, showed me a movie and that's it. The food on average is better I'll give them that.

Not the case in my point of view. My experiences with AS & WN have been far superior than what I have encountered with UA, AA, or CO. Sure WN doesn't have the extra amenities and extra catering provided by UA, AA, or CO, but the bottom line is that they have ground personel as well as young upbeat FA that care for your needs and work their tails off and those are the thing that really matters most to me. This is something UA, AA, and CO needs to improve on.

Interesting because my experience has been the exact opposite. I avoid WN at all costs and I fly AS as infrequently as possible, primarily because of poor service from gate agents.

However, to answer the OP's question, I don't think there is any one carrier that is consistently better than the others. On balance, when one considers the plusses and minuses of each, it's a wash. It's up to each individual to chose the airline(s) that best serves his/her needs.

So is a seat assignment an extra ammenity? That's my #1 beef with WN. The zoo that forms at the gates is like something out of a bad third-world detective movie.

Their boardings based on groups (A, B, C) forms massive lines at the gate. But it is not any worse or any better than the massive lines I've encountered for UA, AA, or CO. But the patience and attitude of WN's staff in handling the massive lines is one aspect leads me to fly WN and avoid flying UA, AA, or CO whenever possible.

Well, that's a matter of opinion. ;) On WN, even if I checkin online, I have to queue up very early (to attempt) to get my preferred seating. Sure, I can be the last of Group A to board and generally find adequate seating, but I still have to deal with the pushing and shoving Bs and Cs. On AA, I can sit in the AC until boarding, secure in the knowledge that my preferred seat awaits me. Even if I have to elbow my way past a few Group 2s-6s to get to the front of the line, it is IMHO, not even close to the horror that constitutes WN boarding.

Again. Our experiences are vastly different. I'm glad that WN suits you, but I'll be sticking with AA for a while longer. :)

And I'm glad that AA suits you very well. :) We have different experiences and our experience will dictate what suits us the best and that's why we have these types of discussions. ^

What irritates me is that they often thank you 20 minutes before landing. I don't consider the flight over until I'm on the ground.