What airline will you never fly again and why?

[AZ4WDW]

I was just checking fares again for our trip in November to WDW and started wondering what people's opinions were on different airlines?

While both my husband and I swear we will never fly AW (America West) anymore we also end up on AW due to the convience. We don't have to make layovers, my husband has lots of frequent flier miles on AW etc.

What airline will you never fly again? Or wish you wouldn't fly again?
:D

Sorry meant to post this on CB and I can't get it to delete! :eek:

[DaveKr]

NorthWORST (aka Northwest)

on one trip to WDW (about 6+ years ago) I was on a northwest flight MKE to MCO, with a transfer in Indianapolis (sp?). Well, they kept us AT the gate IN the plane for like 2 hours...wouldn't let us get up, or wouldn't give us anything to drink during that time. Fortunately, they held my Indianapolis - MCO leg.


HTH


Dave

[wdwguide]

TunisAir was extremely scary, but chances are very small that you will have to take one of their planes to WDW.

[GoldenOldie]

Following wdwguide's lead...

I know I'll never again fly Eastern, New York Air, People's Express, ValueJet, MGM Grand, Air Florida, Branniff International, Southern, Air Cal, Kiwi, Reno Air, Republic, Western, or PSA. ;) :cool:

Seriously, I can honestly say that in all my years of flying I have never encountered an airline I refused to fly a second time. Sure I had bad flights but most were weather related.

[ShuisFan584]

Well I don't really like Continental.

When we went to Disney in 97, we obviously had plane tickets and the plane was supposed to leave early in the morning, like 8 or 9 o'clock (I don't really remember). When we got there, they told us something about how they had no room for us on the plane because they had some kind of problem with our tickets so we would have to take a flight about 6 hours later.

We obviously didn't want to wait 6 hours for a flight so my parents had to talk with them. They finally got my grandparents on, but they had to sit by the emergency door. Then they finally got 4 open seats, but my father had to sit all the way at the front of the plane, my mother all the way in the back, and my sister and i in the middle. We both had the middle seats but we got the people sitting in the aisle to switch with us so we could at least sit next to each other.

[nutz4wdw]

Well. I used to travel when I was growing up, because of my father's profession. I lived in the middle east and then in the far east. We flew airlines like Singapore Airlines and United, which Singapore Airlines was WONDERFUL! However, the middle east was very different. Let me just say this...if ever you have a choice, don't fly Turkish Air. Or Saudia Airlines. Rather than launch into the reasons why...just trust me! ;)

[B'rer Karen]

In case you're not aware, Air Tran used to be Value Jet. That in and of itself should be enough not to fly it, but the two times I flew them were disasters. One trip was to Pittsburgh, connecting in Atlanta. The other was to Tampa, connecting in Atlanta. Each and every leg of my trip was delayed at least an hour and it took an hour for my baggage to reach the claim area. Never again!!!

As a side note from someone who travels a lot, airlines regularly oversell their flights. This is why you always want to check in an hour before hand. You want to get that boarding pass in your hands before they start asking for volunteers to go to a later flight. You don't want to get bumped! :)

[Dragon0525]

We had reservations on Frontier for our Jan. trip. They cancelled our Sat. flight to WDW and wanted us to wait until Wed to fly out!! After arguing they finally agreed to try to get us out Sunday. This was after we'd been at the airport previously to get seat assignments and the ticket agent was extremely rude to us, lied to us and wouldn't even give us her name. We ended up going out to Frontiers hdq on one of the terminals and talking to the manager on duty. So-when the fiasco with the flights started we finally got our money back. But would you believe-we didn't get our money credited back until May????

[Beverly Lynn]

I would never fly Northworst again nor would I fly spirit airlines ever.

[Disnydad]

I do not know about "ever again", but I try to avoid US Air. They dominate the Albany County Airport and I try to avoid doing business with companies that have a monopoly in a certain area. If I can.

To be fair to AirTran. Yes, they merged with ValuJet and became AirTran. But, ValuJet was cleared of wrong doing in the Everglades crash.

There is a thread on ValuJet/AirTran over on the debate board with links to CNNFN.com explaining the merger and investigation.

[Uncle Mikey]

I found my two most frightening experiences with the Turkish airline (THY) and the Greek airline (Olympic). I still shudder thinking about my last experiences. How ever of the airlines serving Orlando, I don't think there is any that I would never fly but American is one I would prefer not to fly. Strangely enough at one time they gave me one of my best flying experiences. But a while back they gave me deifinitely one of my worst experiences. It involved getting bumped not once but twice and being put back a day. In addition they had promised to upgrade me to First Class for my inconvenience and then reneged. The next time I was forced by circumstances to fly American, they cancelled my flight and put me on another that really messed up the rest of my travel plans. So they are definitely not at the top of my list. By the way (and I hope Beverly Lynn can confirm this), I believe that there is a rule called 240 that requires an airline to switch you to the first available airline that is servicing your destination if they are unable to get you to that destination in a reasonable period of time. The airlines sometimes forget that a happy passenger will share his (or her) experience with 7 people while an unhappy passenger will share his (or her) experience with 13 people.

[Lilly]

Beverly Lynn, Can you tell me what you do not like about Northwest Airlines? I just won a Priceline bid with them in December. The flight is from Des Moines to New Orleans, with layovers in Detroit [on the way there] and Minneapolis[on the way back]. The connections are not too bad and the price was certainly right. $145.00 round trip including priceline fees and taxes. Hopefully, your concerns are not safety related... thanks for your reply. Lilly

[travelcoupons]

I wouldn't worry about flying on Northwest...their maintenance is as good as any of the major airlines. Even their oldest DC-9's look like new on the inside.

They have gotten a bad rap (which they deserve) from bad customer service in the past. While I have never experienced the bad service from them, I have been on flights where other passengers were treated poorly by flight attendants. I have also had really good service, especially in the last couple years from Northwest.

I guess I don't have an airline that I absolutely wouldn't fly, I really don't like Southwest's boarding process, but it isn't enough of a reason that I wouldn't fly them.

[imgoingtodisney]

Its not so much the airline but we will NEVER have a connecting flight again. I will pay much more if needed to have direct flight. In 1996 we had connecting flight in Newark and had to run like heck with 4yr old because once we landed late in Newark the next plane was already loading. It was not fun.

[JandD Mom]

I will not fly American again. On a flight to Grand Cayman last year they refused to let me board my flight because my passport expired. HELLO, it only took a call to immigration to prove to them that American Citizens only need a passport that is expired less than 5 years to enter the CI. Mine had only expired a couple of months earlier. I checked this out ahead of time and knew I was ok. Took me going home, with angry DH and frightened kids in tow, to arrange a conference call between the American manager in Philadelphia and the immigration officer in the Cayman islands to get them to agree to put me on the flight. However, I did not arrive until the next day. The American staff was rude, handled it badly (should have made the call from the airport) and worst of all, they were WRONG!!

As a side note, some other people going with us flew USAir the same day. They tried to page me at the airport because USAir had the right info and were going to let me board THEIR plane to the Caymans. Unfortunately, I already left the airport. That's my rant. Now I am forever loyal to USAir.:mad:

[mickey1010]

I fly one or twice a month out of Detroit for the last couple years on Northwest (obviously) and have never had a bad experience with the airline (outside of weather related problems, of course). There is the occasional grouchy gate attendant, but from what I've experienced, that happens with all airlines. For the most part, the personnel seem to be friendly and helpful and have been good at handling the occasional conflict. The planes seem to be as safe as any other of the major carriers, although I'm definitely no expert on that!! ;)

[FergieTCat]

I will try my hardest never to fly US Air again.

The plane was uncomfortable (it was called an AirBus, and it felt like one). Small seats, no leg room, no any room. We each received one small plastic cup with a soft drink for the entire 3 hour flight. I absolutely despised it.

Donna

[Chuck S]

I try not to fly America West...every flight I've had with them has had at least a 4 hour delay somewhere for maintenance...not weather. They finally switched the whole flight over to Southwest onetime...of course, every seat was full.

[Beverly Lynn]

Customer svc is the worst on northworst and they do not have the best maintenance. in fact they have had quite a few fines for shoddy maintenance. the only reason I am aware of this is airline insider info. when you work for a carrier you find out all kinds of stuff. they have an old fleet too but if the maintenance is kept up then an older aircraft is good to fly. but when maintenance is not the best.........
but of course I know someone who will jump on this and say something as usual.

Now that the mechanics have their new contract maybe things will improve but I'm not holding my breath on it. Some people love northworst and swear by them and other people do not. I am one of those people. knowing what I have learned in the past 15 yrs there are some carriers you couldn't pay me to fly. I did fly them once into hattiesburg, miss.(No other choice) and it was without a doubt the worst experience I have ever had flying any carrier. I ended up being stuck in detroit airport for 13 hrs 5 mths pregnant and out of the 11 flights they could have gotten us on every single one of them was a mechanical delay. I couldn't even get a flight back into pittsburgh on usair they were completely sold out due to NW and they had 50 people per flight trying to go standby. I even tried to get rerouted via 7 different cities by both NW and 2 other carriers to no avail. their big compensation was 500 extra frequent traveler miles for losing the entire first day of my trip and being stuck in DTW airport and then finally getting out to memphis at 1 am and spending the night in a rat hole holiday inn. then on the return flight home got stuck in memphis on 5 mechanical delays finally getting them to put me on usair via lousiville and then NW didn't send my bags on with me and they were never found. they lost all of my brand new maternity clothes and all the new clothes we had bought on a shopping spree in jackson miss. Thankfully I had my receipts so they paid me for everything but I would have rather had my stuff than to have to go out and buy all new stuff again.

[gm]

no leg space at all. if someone in front of you reclines you are like an inch from their seat. It is so cramped in there espcially if you have little children trying to color on the trays or have food on the trays. American airlines which we just traveled on is much roomier but they had long delays during our travel and oh my god their little proppeler planes NEVER AGAIN!!.

[bafmrf]

I just got a call today that my flight this Saturday is cancelled to Myrtle Beach....They rescheduled us to the next day at 4:00pm. I've called Delta and they said that all of the other flights were booked. They also want us to stay an extra day. Should they give us some kind of compensation for a hotel stay we did not expect. Can anyone offer some suggestions. Thanks. I'm so bummed.

Martha.

[Beverly Lynn]

Continental no longer has any propeller aircraft. they are all jet now. even the commuter aircrafts. http://www.onetravel.com/advisor/AR_rules_Menu.cfm?DK=3&SessionID=1C506745-21BC-11D5-8C3B0002B31900EF&Token=NULL&Lang=English&Style=1&Modules=Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y&
you can go to this sight and pull up deltas rules. it should explain the rule 240 etc. they may give you somethign as a good will gesture but I doubt if you will get anymore than that. they are reacommodating you on another flight if this is not acceptable then they may refund your money. but they are really not required to put you up in a hotel unles its mechanical cancellaton or soemthing in that respect on their part. I would suggest calling their customer svc department and speaking to them about it but don't get your hopes up.

[Chardo]

Goldenoldie: Don't forget about Pan Am, TWA (soon), National (I know the name is back, but it's not the same), Piedmont, Allegheny, Ransom, Trump Shuttle, Conquest, Western Pacific,....


Imgoingtodisney: Problems with changing planes has more to do with the airport than the airline. All airlines have frequent problems with connecting flights at the busiest airports (O'Hare, Hartsfield, all NY airports, etc.) Airlines that make connections at smaller, less congested airports have fewer problems. Examples: Delta at Cincinnati, Midway at Raleigh-Durham, USAir at Charlotte, Fedex at Memphis.

These airports were designed specifically to be hubs where the planes need to get down, get to the gate, unload, and connect passengers, all as fast as possible. There is very little traffic to those airports other than for the major hub airline, so there are fewer flight delays due to air traffic. If you want proof, fly Delta thru Cincinnati and watch how your luggage is on your next plane before you are. Then look out at the runway and count the non-Delta flights and you'll see why.

[bafmrf]

I just got off the phone with Delta regarding my cancelled flights and I have to tell you, they were extremely compassionate and very helpful. They ended up re-routing me into Fayetteville for my original dates, and I have better times too. (My original flight was through Priceline and arrived at 11:35pm now we arrive at 3:00pm) This worked out great for us. I had such a great agent, that I asked to speak to the supervisor and I told him how much I appreciated the agents help. So I take back my original post above. We'll see how they handle the flights but so far I am very impressed.

Martha.

[gm]

i meant that continental is terrible for its leg space and
American Airlines proppeler planes are the worst. I could hear myself buzzing with the engine it was so weird. I could not even hear my kids when they asked for something. :p

Now on the good note: Singapore Airlines are the roomiest and most friendliest I have been on.

And as far as local I vouch for American Airlines regular jet planes. Nice and roomy in coach.

[klmall]

We had the absolute two worst flights of our 29 years of marriage last summer with Northworst!

Our travel agent had gotten us a great deal to Denver and when weather delayed our departure it wasn't NW's fault but everything from that point on WAS! No one ever helped any of the 100+ of us get new connecting flights to Detroit and then to Denver. If my husband hadn't walked up to another NW counter and insisted on seats later that day for Detroit and insisted on also booking seats to Denver we would have lost our rental car and motel in Estes Park, Colorado. NW kept saying we would still make our Denver connection and we knew there was no possible way and we were among the very few people we got to Detroit that day and had seats on a plane OUT of Detroit.

But the worst was yet to come. After 3 weeks of wonderful touring out west we were anxious to get home. We sat in the Denver airport and waited for two hours for "crew to arrive" from another flight (no storms anywhere in US this time!). Finally we boarded the plane and still sat for another hour waiting for the "missing crew". By then I was frantic.

Finally we took off for Minneapolis. For once, people actually stayed in their seats as those of us who had a shot at still making our connections zoomed down the aisle. The three of us then found out that we had almost 70 (seventy) gates to go to make our connecting Northworst flight and only 12 minutes!!!!!!!!! Thank god, I overheard two flight attendants discussing a 'shortcut' using a garage walkway. We ran and ran and made it just as they were closing the doors. I didn't even care if our luggage got loaded since we were going home and had our valuables in our hand luggage! (PS - Our luggage did make it somehow!)

We asked about the delay of "waiting for crew" and were told that this is routine and should probably be expected. And no connecting flights were held for anyone on our flight including those trying to get to NYC and overseas. It was extremely depressing. A couple of women were even crying.

Others have told us that NW is not unique in moving crew around like this and delaying flights. Even a direct/non-stop flight would be affected by this kind of tactic.

We've always had much better luck with Delta and USAir.

[Ted and Holly]

Pan Am is convenient and cheap for us, but it is SCARY! When we flew in December, their one plane out of NH was delayed and then the inner windshield shattered mid-flight. We had to make a scary emergency landing, complete with rescue crews, and then waited for over 6 hours in North Carolina for them to find another plane for us to use. They put us on another plane, served a limited amount of beverages (no food, no alcohol) and did nothing to make the situation up to us. On our return flight, same vacation, they were delayed three hours because their computers were down. They are famous in our area of lengthy "unscheduled maintence" delays, and the local paper is always reporting "Pan Am makes another Emergency Landing" Basically the planes are falling apart. They went out of business once because many of their planes crashed... it's only a matter of time.....

[caitycaity]

CONTINENTAL!!!

ugh. It's my policy to give airlines 2 chances to really screw up. I'm a reasonable person, and I know weather is not their fault. I don't even get that upset over delayed luggage, as long as it's not a regular occurance and they end up finding it!

here are my 2 continental stories...judge for yourself!

The first time I ever flew continental, I did so b/c of a great fare. I got to the airport 2 hours early as usual. Checked in, no problems. I went to the gate that was printed on the ticket I recieved 5 minutes earlier at the desk. After sitting there for 30 minutes, they changed the town listed on the check in at the gate. hmmmm... no announcemnet made. so i went up and asked. sure enough we had been switched to another gate in another section of the airport. still, no announcemnet was made. so i went to the new gate and waited. it was then announced that only people without connecting flights would be allowed on the plane (apparently there were some weather concerns at cleveland, which was where we were flying to). well, i had a connecting flight, but i decided it was early enough in the day, and i'd rather be in cleveland (their hub) where i have family and where i'd probably have a better shot of getting on a plane to my final destination. if not, no worries, i'd just call up my relatives and spend the night. so when they called boarding i got in line and tried to board. the man taking tickets took my ticket and then refused to let me on the plane. i argued with him for about 1 minute and then figured, ok, maybe this is some policy i've never heard of. i was about to tell him just to forget it and go bac to the counter when he took my tickets and RIPPED THEM into about 4 pieces. :mad: I was staring at him and he seemed to think nothing of it. He wrote me a code and some other stuff on a SCRAP piece of paper (no letterhead or anything) and told me to go to the counter. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

So after waiting at the counter for about 1 hour I finally got to the front of the line. I gave them my scarp of paper and explained to them what happened. she looked in the computer and was going to try to put me on a usair flight. then she sent me off to the usair counter, scrap paper in hand. i waited in line there for another hour, and got to the front. well, needless to say there were some problems with the paper i had. the gate agent wouldn't take it as a ticket and had to get her manger. after calling continental and about 30 minutes later, it seemed that everything was taken care of. now what about my luggage i had check with continental. well, continental claimed that since i now had a usair ticket, they were not responsible. as a matter of fact, after they were supposed to pull my bag, they apparently didn't and it was now sitting in cleveland. the continental guy informed me that i would have to go to cleveland to get it, or usair would have to handle it. well, usair showed me the ritten policy that says if you have checked your baggage on an airline it is their responsibility to get it to you no matter what (actually this whole experience convinced me of how great usair was, they were so helpful, eventhough it wasn't their problem). i eventually got to my final destination, and many aggravating phone calls to continental and about 3 days later, so did my luggage.

it was the trip from hell!!!

the second instance was en route, while we were in the air, continental went on strike. me and about 2000 other passangers were stuck in newark, b/c none of their planes were flying to the NE. they could only send about 1 plane every 2 hours b/c they didn't have enough crew. Ok, I understand that strikes will happen, but they refused to make any allowances for us. I ended up being stuck in the newark airport for 24 hours. They wouldn't put any of us on another airline, they wouldn't put us up for the night, they wouldn't even give us food vouchers!!! Once again, my luggage was missing and it took them 1 week to find it. UGH!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[idontknow]

That's strange....I won't fly thru CLE anymore because of Cont! they made announcements for gate numbers and they were not correct. when I went to the gate to ask if they had changed it, they said no and I was in the right place. After I told them that the announcement was wrong, the gate attendant went nuts saying she said the gate I was standing at. Ok, my hearing is going, I figured, and delt with it. then the rest of the passengers came over and ask the SAME THING!!! the gate attendant wents nuts trying to tell them that she was right, she had announced the right gate. Another gate attendant came over and apologized saying she told the other woman the wrong gate. But the first attendant was still swearing she said the right gate. It really didn't matter, but if she would have said "oops, my mistake" and reannounced the correct gate, everyone would have been happy. Nope, she stood her ground after the other attendant admitted to telling her the wrong gate number. I wrote Cont a letter saying how nasty the gate attendant was just so they knew what had happened. (didn't want anything, just letting them know) they sent be a box of mints. LOL I thought it was funny. but I won't fly thru CLE anymore because of it.

[ballgame]

Since Boston does not really have a "hub" airline, we have a wonderful choice of airlines (all of which are delayed by Boston traffic). Having flown Delta, United, USAir, Northwest, American, and TWA, I can honestly say that I try to avoid USAir at all costs. Now I know that the airlines can't always be held accountable for weather delays, but I have yet to have an incident free flight on USAir. I have several horror stories with this airline. My flights have never arrived on time, and my luggage has been significantly delayed (> 1 day) 80% of the time. The straw that broke the camel's back happened about 1 year ago. I was flying from Boston to Savannah, GA through Charlotte. We were delayed leaving Boston to the point that the pilot said all connecting passengers must get off the plane and rebook (which is apparently cut off at only 1.5 hours). So I got off the plane and waitied for 1.5 hours at the ticket counter. The counter agent then proceeded to scold me for getting off the plane and said that I should have stayed on the plane as Charlotte was delayed as well (the original flight was taking off at this time). When I explained that I was "ordered" off the plane, he grudgingly rebooked me for the next day, but said that he could not and would not try to locate my bag and it was likely going to Charlotte. Needless to say my flight the next day was delayed (it landed on time but waited for 30 minutes in Charlotte for a gate) and I had to dash across the airport to my connection. My luggage arrived two days later (it apparently had never left Boston, but nobody had recorded that it was taken off the plane.) Since then, I have tried to avoid USAir.

[adamak]

US freaking AIR. Never ever again.

Last year we have 3 parties flying down to FL, from Boston, from Baltimore (2 different times). We're supposed to arrive in MCO all within an hour. They re-arrange ALL of our flights without *ever* calling us or mailing us. Luckily one of us found out, and we all end up calling.

The Boston party was re-booked on a 10 hours later flight. Mine was bumped up 2 hours earlier. The other Baltimore flight was 7 hours after my flight.

You can imagine the chaos trying to meet up that day. We end up cancelling all dinner plans, travelling back and forth from MCO / WDW picking people upm and losing one whole day of fun.

I don't mind no leg room. I can somehow tolerate bad service. I can make myself understand bad flight connections. But this?? Come on. They cancel flights because they don't have a full flight. And they did it well in advanced, but not calling us until we found out 1 week before we go. And they don't even appologize.

Really bad company. Because they DON'T CARE ! I wish them bankruptcy.

[The Hunt]

So here's the list so far (I omitted foreign carriers):

Air Tran
American
America West
Continental
Frontier
Northwest
Pan Am
Spirit
USAir

Interesting that although there is another thread about how bad United is, nobody listed United here.

[ducklite]

I won't fly anyone but the "Big 5". And of those I won't fly Untied. Emergency landing in 1990 because they didn't load enough fuel... 'nuff said.

Anne

[Poohbear123]

I never Fly! I take the train! It's a lot safer and I know where my luggage is!:D

[Raysplus1]

America West

Not that I would never fly with them. I have flown with them about 5 times and have been delayed at least 2 hours each time I have flown with them. If the price is right and the times are right I would fly with them again. I just make sure I have time between flights to allow for this.

Mike

[Baileymouse]

Continental! I will never fly Continental again!

I've had more than one bad experience with them. They have a huge hub at Newark, so they dominate the area. In the mid 80s we used them to fly to Colorado. It was awful, both times. The second time we landed in a thunderstorm, even though the ground information said that we were being diverted to DC. My parents were terrified for me and my sister, and they didn't know where to get us. Ground people were extremely rude.

Over the years we've had to fly them again and they have the worst leg room (I'm 5'3" and I'm complaining - imagine how my 6'2" DH feels). His knees were in the seat of the kid in front of us. The staff tends to be much more rude than any of the other flights out of EWR. Our last flight was this past January and as we (all 7 of us) deplaned we all made a pact - NEVER AGAIN!!!!

Most of the planes to MCO from EWR are cattle cars. Delta has good rates and keeps up with Continental on those runs so I go with them. Seating isn't too much better but the flight crews seem nicer. I will never fly any of the budget airlines - they come and go too quickly and the prices are about the same.

[lynaaron]

If you like being treated like cattle or sheep then you will love SW. I hate not having assigned seats, especially with a family. I guess it's fine for short trips but not more than an hour. I will also never fly on Corsair again, but that probably won't be a problem since I probably won't go to Tahiti again either.

[frannn]

I have flown ATA (ugghhh!), Delta, and TWA (long delay). I was not overly impressed
with any of them. It kills me that after booking early with Jetblue, all the airlines
lowered their fares. We are going in Oct, and are paying 662 for 2 adults, 2 children.
I think I would deal with questionable customer service and small delay, but not being
bumped & not long horrible delay. Should I be breathing a sigh of relief with Jetblue,
or kicking myself about the price? (We would have saved about 80 total with new
sale fares on other airlines):confused: