Airline Comparisons

I have a bad one for you unfortunately. This summer we traveled to Florida for a family vacation on Frontier Airlines. Way there from Ca was great but on the way back we were laying over in Denver. I had to stay there with my 4 kids as oldest son was playing in Steamboat Springs, hubby had to go on back to work. My mother in law had purchased the tickets and had all tickets fly back to Sacramento even though she knew we had to stay in Denver. Anyhow, I knew this might be an issue so I called the airline and explained the dilemma. Gal said no problem when we are to fly back home just make sure all bags get checked to Denver. I asked several times if she was sure and she said yes. Long story short and the most expensive tournament we ever went to...When we tried to get home they wanted to charge us an extra $1000 to get the bat bag and luggage to stay in Denver. We all know how important that bat bag is and we had to have it as we were playing in 2 days. Got it down to $500 but still... Told them I would never fly their airline again (which I actually liked)and would be sure to tell my friends not to fly them either. Frontier really messed up our trip.

Everyone here in FL raves about flying on Jet Blue and many fly to CA using that airline.

Frontier did the same thing to my husband, flying into Denver, on another airline for business, he had to use Frontier for second leg of trip, they refused to take a package he needed for business.

We had two very different experiences this summer with 2 airlines in relation to our medical emergency.

JetBlue - OUTSTANDING! Allowed changes w/o penalty...very accommodating, very polite.

United - Horrible! Lousy customer relations. Lousy manners. Cost us a lot of $$ to change some tickets even though we had a serious medical issue requiring the changes along with doctor's note. I've flown United a lot, but will try to avoid from now on.

And some airline executives probably think the reason their airline is in financial trouble is the price of jet fuel or terrorist worries. All they have to do is look at JetBlue or Southwest to figure out what is wrong with their own airline.

In Frontier's case, it sounds like the problem might be ATTITUDE.

I would like to fly Jet Blue but they are really expensive for this flight.

I have flown a whole lot in my life - for many years the beneficiary of United first class 'upgrades'. Most recently, when I have not travelled so much (and on my dime), I have had the opportunity to fly other airlines. First pick without hesitation - even cross country, is JetBlue. Flew from Oakland to New York a couple of weeks ago and was able to watch an entire baseball game (Giants vs ??: pre-implode). Also flew from Oakland to Dulles the week before. Flight attendants were pleasant and actually seemed to enjoy their job; a major shift from most commercial airlines. I'm flying Alaska tomorrow morning to Portland (final destination Sun River, Oregon), and will be interested to see how they are these days.

We took Alaska several times in the Spring to Seattle and Portland. It was very good. Hopefully still the same.

I fly Southwest. No charge to change your flight,if you have to cancel you get credit that anyone can use within one yr.
After booking if you find the price has dropped you can rebook at the lower price and difference is held as credit for a yr.
Always seem to be on time...

Southwest for us, too.

As a consumer, I thought I'd bring this thread back. Recently dealing with a death in my direct family, I got to see firsthand the courteousness and flexibility of 3 major airlines.

* Delta - With a quick request for a supervisor, my uncle got all change fees waived due to bereavement.

* United - Not ready to waive fees at first, but when told about Delta's action, quickly waived the fees for my wife and daughters.

* Northwest - No matter how much begging and pleading and references to Delta's and United's gracious actions...would absolutely not waive ANY fees for me. In fact, was treated to a very rude supervisor who threatened on the phone.

I was pleasantly surprised by Delta and United. I was horrified by Northwest's antics. After much complaining to their customer service, they did add miles to my frequent flyer account. Yippee!

I have had good experiences on JetBlue, Frontier, and Southwest. I try to avoid all of the other former major airlines unless flying internationally or when I have a free trip.

We were just victims of JetBlue's ice storm woes, getting canceled out of a flight to Boston a couple of hours before it was due to take off, and having watched online as the departure time changed from 8:40 p.m., to 10 something p.m., to midnight something, to 2:20 a.m. to "cancelled". HOWEVER--this is not a bad thing, as we were able to take a lovely car trip to southern California for our week's vacation instead, and JetBlue is giving us a travel voucher for the full cost of our trip ON TOP OF a full refund. So now we have a free trip too! So we feel well-treated by JetBlue even with their recent troubles. With the exception of an occasional surly gate agent, the JetBlue personnel have been uniformly great. The directTV is good, although honestly sometimes it can get a bit boring. You can check out the programming online before you go, so you know what is on during your flight. Bring a good book if the programming is light while you're in the air.

JetBlue and Southwest are my favorites.

I have to agree with njbb about Southwest....all of the the changes, etc. mentioned can be done directly online without ever having to deal with customer service.

I like Jetblue because of the DirecTV and the LEGROOM! I can't believe nobody has mentioned anything about it! And I read or heard on the news recently that they are removing another row of seats to add even more legroom. So this is one airline who is really looking out for their customer's comfort. I was really sorry to see what happened to them during that last weather storm and I hope they bounce back from it.

Air flight isn't any fun anymore and I find that, at best, you get what you pay for. So I drive when ever possible, Ca to Fl - probabily not possible.

Continental, with it's Houston HUB, i get direct flights to all my destinations. Connections suck.

quote:

Originally posted by DB2BMom:
JetBlue and Southwest are my favorites.

I like Jetblue because of the DirecTV and the LEGROOM! I can't believe nobody has mentioned anything about it!

Just an FYI, airlines don't remove seats to create legroom. They have figured out that there is a balance between pounds of cargo and flight efficiency. By lowering the amount of passengers on the flight, the particular aircraft will achieve greater fuel efficiency. United did the same thing when they created economy plus, but they made up for lost revenue by charging an extra $29 per seat for those.

They spin it as good for the customer, which it can be, but it really is good for the airline/aircraft.

When I was an Elite member of Continental it was great. But I've lost my status and it stinks. Just flew to Orlando last week....both flights were full. I'm thinking if they could get away with letting people stand in the aisles for the flight or putting them in the overheads, they would.

Actually had that situation on an EgyptAir (within the country) flight 30 years ago, Beezer. Folks in the aisle hanging on to the overheads; literally a flying bus. I thought I was having an acid flashback.....