From legitimate complaints about customer service, baggage handling, and annoying habits of fellow travelers to the funny complaints of why someone did not get upgraded even though they dressed very nice and complimented the gate agent, all different types of threads and posts grace this website.

Some are funny posts about a particular thing or event that took place on the ground or in the air. Some are laments of failing airlines.

But most of all they are informative (well most of them lol). I mean, if you need to know something, just use the search function and look for previous posts. And if you cannot find it, just post a thread and sure enough there are enlightened folks on here that can, at the very least give you an anecdotal answer, if not the exact one you are looking for.

As I was perusing the site going back a few pages here and there in different forums and subforums, however, I did notice that there were very few, if any praises or compliments.

So, as the thread title says, lets think positive. Lets hear some good things that have happened to our frequent and infrequent fliers. Was there a great crew that took care of you? How about a gate agent that was excellent during a stressful moment (i.e. IROPs, cancellations, delays)? Or how about a fellow passenger helping out another human being? Or even just a pleasant experience while traveling?

Just want to see some sun shining through the gloom that clouds the airline industry as we all know it.

5SP

Especially with fuel prices, FT is crybaby central lately, legitimate gripes or not. So I definitely endorse this thread.

Personally, I've had very few bad experiences in a decent amount of traveling. But maybe I just don't expect as much as some people here.

A few weeks in Panama City, Panama I was surprised at how honest and friendly the cab drivers happened to be. You really don't know what your going to get in some countries with cabbies, but I had only good experiences here.

I always think positively about airline employees. Especially since deregulation when they've had to work harder for less money, and less security, and they do it while maintaining the highest levels of safety possible.

I'd like to complain about your post . . . j/k . . .

I think its the age old marketing saying that says something like, those that like a service tell two of their friends, and those that have a complaint tell 80 people they don't even know. Its just the nature of people's psychology.

That being said, I think FlyerTalk is full of compliments. Many regulars to trip reports very frequently--the thing to remember is regulars also will point out nuances that they encounter, so a thread that has a ton of positives might have a negative or two within it. I certainly have done this a few times and I find that most of the responses focus on the one negative, versus the three or four positives. I also think FlyerTalk has a lot of people that genuinly want to help the airline--since they seem to spend more time on a plane than with their families. So, they compliment in their trip reports but they also criticise where they see fit. Afterall, we know that most airlines have someone monitoring, if not participating in these threads as its a free focus group.

Given the state of the airlines and the morale that a lot of their employees face, I think its important that we do give compliments (some people can be motivated very quickly through them, even if there's no $$$ involved) but that we also still point out where things go wrong. Unfortunately, there's just a disproportionate number of people that post about the latter.

I have learned that if you go in expecting things are going to be bad, your expectations will be met. You will find SOMETHING wrong to support your expectation.

I go in expecting the best and I am usually not disappointed. Now, I do not set unrealistic expectations of free upgrades... and gourmet food... and I am not disappointed....

My philosophy with most things is this:
"Expect the best, prepare for the worst and be happy with the outcome no matter what it is~ unless that is, you have the ability to change it."

With that said, I would like to express my most heartfelt and sincere gratitude to the airline professionals, especially the flight crew. Of course the ground crew have their share of disgruntled passengers (ever watch "Airline" on A&E?), delays and inexperienced travelers, that they have to deal with. But, the other night when my flight was supposed to depart at 8:30 P.M. from JFK, but left the gate at 9:30 P.M. and was airborne at 11:30 P.M. arriving in Orlando at 2:15 A.M., I was exhausted, but more than anything else I felt incredible sympathy for the flight crew. The Captain of the plane came out at least twice in person and several times over the P.A. before take- off apologizing profusely for the delay. It was not his fault, there was a terrible thunder storm and half the flights had been canceled, besides this was JFK. I was glad just to be sitting on a plane. He had absolutely no control over the situation. He was making the most of a negative circumstance dealt by Mother Nature. The rest of the flight attendants had just flown in from San Francisco and were exhausted. They did not have comfortable seats to sit on, nor could they sit back and relax. They had to serve the passengers drinks and snacks. Next thing you know, the passengers were complaining that the front of the plane was hot but the back was freezing (B757 E). I cheered the crew up by saying "Is the plane experiencing Menopause?" At least, they got to move around. The Captain and the First Officer had to endure the entire arduous flight stuck in the cockpit.

I know it's their chosen profession, but for someone who flies as much as they do, I felt nothing but total sympathy and ultimate gratitude for what they do for me every time I fly. Most of the time, they don't even have time off and have to fly back or fly to a different destination. And, if my flight attendant friend informed me correctly, flight crew only get paid from the time the doors close to the time the doors open on a plane. They don't get paid for between-flight-times.

So, since we are discussing "positive thinking", I would like to thank the Airline Staff for making my job a little bit more bearable. And a reminder to fellow frequent and non-frequent travelers; Treat your flight crew with respect and kindness since (God forbid) in case of emergency, THEY are the ones that will be saving your derriers!

On a personal note, couple of months ago I was flying back from Los Angeles to Orlando on a B767. I had a window seat and next to me was a young man. Across from the aisle was a little Chinese boy who was probably no older than 7 and his grandfather. A few minutes later a young lady boarded and spoke to the young man next to me in Spanish. It turns out that the airline had put her husband next to me and the wife in the middle seat of the center row. Of course, they wanted to sit next to each other. There is another twist. The little Chinese boy kept on pointing to my window seat and was talking to his grandfather in Chinese. I do not speak Chinese but it was obvious he wanted to sit in the window seat. Mind you, Los Angeles to Orlando is at least 5+ hours not counting ground time. I dread sitting in a middle seat, especially on a cross country flight but I was the only solution. I asked the young man if he wanted to sit with his wife and he replied "yes". I asked the grandfather if the grandson wanted the window seat, and he replied "yes".

So, the Chinese boy sat in my seat, the grandfather next to him, the husband and wife in the center aisle sitting together and I sat in the middle seat of the center aisle between 2 complete strangers (turns out they both worked for a competitor company of mine and both wanted aisle seats). Here is the final twist, this was a red eye. Some of you reading this would say, no way in hell would I give up a window or an aisle seat on a cross continent red eye, but I made the little boy happy, his grandfather happy and the newly married couple happy. My little sacrifice was totally worth the happiness of the other four passengers. They were more than grateful and that was the only reward I needed.

My point is this. Traveling to and from Orlando, I see a lot of families that get split up. A lot of times, I see people who are more than willing to swap seats, but I also see people who simply refuse to move to a different seat. These families are starting or ending a wonderful vacation and if a person can swap seats and make their vacation a little bit more memorable it would be totally worth the little inconvenience. So, that being said, I thank those who gladly swap seats and I ask those who don't to kindly reconsider when this happens to you next time.

Safe Travels!

Sorry, Duplicate

Thanks...Great Post! It reminds me of that beautiful tagline:
"Be kinder than necessary. Everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

All over these boards, there are loads of compliments for people working for airlines and other travel providers.

I've sort of done it before, but I'd like to express my gratitude to practically each and every Alitalia employee I have come in contact with.
Even though they work for an obviously below-average airline, these people have always been fantastic to me (my generally upbeat attitude usually helped, too), whether that involved arranging an interline to LH that would get me home for Christmas lunch after a missed connection at FCO (plus the usual hotel, meal etc), letting me into their own lounge after said interlining, honouring mistake fares and associated rules re date changes, holding an Embraer departure for 10 minutes so that I could make up the ATC delay from MAD, allowing me to travel as a standby pax without a BP or simply making me a perfect cup of doppio machiatto, and generally bending over backwards to help and showing that they genuinely care about pax and are proud about their work.

Even if I nowadays fly a more "high quality" airline and only choose AZ a couple of times per year (typically because they're cheap for last-minute purchases), it will be a very sad day for me when they go into liquidation. Unfortunately, that day is fast approaching!

True, I held off flying Southwest because it looked so bad on Airline USA
eventually bit the bullet and flrw PHL-MCO and it was fine, left on time and didnt have to pay to drink soda, good value for the $89 I paid
(The seat comfort wasnt fabulous but I had just done an 8hr TATL)

Let's also be sure to think positively

Broke my shoulder at STL. On the plane the next day, the lady seated next to me and the lady acoss from me both went out of their way to be helpful. This was especially impressive as the lady seated acoss from me was elderly and using a cane. What wonderful women!