De plane, boss, de plane!

[pauraque_bk]

I think I'm going to be booking airplane tickets this evening. I have flown on many planes, yet it has never been entirely up to me what plane I would take. I turn to you, my lazyweb, for assistance.

What airlines suck? What airlines suck less?

Comments

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

You're East Bay, right? Take JetBlue out of Oakland -- nothing cheaper or easier, in my opinion.

[pauraque]

I am East Bay, but SFO wouldn't be any harder, since BART goes right there now.

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

Oakland's just simpler all around, in my opinion -- it's much smaller and more streamlined. I used to fly in and out of it 3-4 times a year in college, and I grew to love it.

Also, Lufthansa was great for international, and whoever their US partner is was fine (American, I want to say?). I flew Spirit once to NYC, and it was decent.

[arclevel.livejournal.com]

In my experience, Oakland is simply a much nicer airport to be in than SFO, especially if, like me, you're paranoid/careful enough to actually arrive the reccommended 2.5-3 hours before your flight.

The only domestic airline I have enough real experience with to have an opinion is Northwest, which is ehh. Nothing special, but usually acceptable. OTOH, last I heard, they were having both financial and labor issues, so you might want to check on those before going with it. (No idea where you're flying, but should a long Detroit layover ever be likely, make sure you fly Northwest. Their terminal is great, with nice shops and restaurants and stuff; the other terminal is basically a place for planes to park.)

[pauraque]

I'm going to NYC. :)

[arclevel.livejournal.com]

Ooh, sounds fun (one hopes, anyway). :-)

[idlerat.livejournal.com]

OH, right, I forgot JetBlue went from Oakland. Yeah, Eo, do that. Oakland airport rocks- it's just so small and close and easy. And JB really is consistently cheap to NYC.

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

Flights are cheaper going out of Oakland, too, aren't they? I heard somewhere that that was the case.

[chaos-rose.livejournal.com]

American remains my hands-down favorite airline. Frontier and Alaska are a close second. Virgin is great, and I hear really good things about Jet Blue. United is an airborne plague ship - every flight I have taken with them, I have been sick withing 24 hours of my return trip.

Warning: Southwest sucks so hard that it's a black hole, it's like every bitter and disgruntled employee fired from all the other airlines end up working there.

[pauraque]

Thanks!

[davidkevin.livejournal.com]

Southwest has the best safety record of any airline on Earth. Not one single fatality -- ever.

Something worth considering.

[pauraque]

Really? That's almost hard to believe. I bet the interweb can provide a safety record for every airline... Hm. *goes to look*

[atalantapendrag.livejournal.com]

I've flown Southwest, it's not bad but you need to bring your own food, they don't serve any. Not that airline food is all that tasty.

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

They're all making you pay for that ... food anyway, these days. All the airlines are cruddy and grow cruddier every time, United is the cruddiest, and pack lunch, that's what I say.

[wootsauce.livejournal.com]

I tend to fly whatever's cheapest, so I don't know if my opinion counts for much, but my best two experiences were on a Song flight (well..it was Delta, but song ? On a Song plane? I don't know... it was a good flight though) and Southwest. But the last few times I've flown have all been overnight and cheapy cheap, so...

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Warning about JetBlue: http://news.com.com/2010-1029-5080339.html

[idlerat.livejournal.com]

Jet Blue is probably your cheapest bet, SFO to JFK, and they're ok. Just bring your own lunch.

Every plane is tiny and virtually service-free nowadays. Orbitz is a good site for comparing prices.

Yay! You fly..

[very-improbable.livejournal.com]

My experiences with Southwest have been very positive; I think that in several years of flying with them (mostly PDX<-->OAK) I've had one seriously delayed flight and zero negative customer service experiences. They don't have assigned seating, though, so you want to get there early (or print your boarding pass at home) to get in an early boarding group.

I'll soon be flying JetBlue for the first time, but not soon enough to give you a review, I assume.

Do not fly United. They're the ones who stranded me in fucking Denver that one time.

[very-improbable.livejournal.com]

P.S. Southwest does give a lot of money to the GOP, though. Which is why I'm giving JetBlue a try...

[pauraque]

I have had bad flying experiences, but I never remember which airline they were! Woe.

[eponis.livejournal.com]

I'm going to add to everyone who likes Southwest. I tend to do a lot of flying, so here and there, bad things happen - flights get delayed, employees get distracted - but they have a consistently strong standard for customer service. The food is pretty non-existent, but the employees actually seem to want to be there (and internally, Southwest is well-known for succeeding well with its keep-our-employees-motivated-and-happy training). They actually make people laugh while they're flying, which nobody else does.

[arwencordelia.livejournal.com]

I'm adding to the Jet Blue love, mostly because I just spent 4+ hours on a United flight back east from San Diego with only an inch of space between my knees and the seat in front of me (and there's only 5 feet of me!)

If you're staying in/near Manhattan, you might consider flying into Newark (EWR)... might be cheaper, and about as close as La Guardia.

[woolf.livejournal.com]

Stay off of anything with a propeller. That makes for nervewracking flights.

And if you have a layover in either Chicago or Detroit, let me know. Both are in driving distance. ;)

[pauraque]

Seriously? I might do that...