What is your Favourite airline and why?

[julieannbabe]

This topic has probably been done a thousands times but i still a newbie and was wondering what airline you guys use and why you like it.

I have flown US Airways to North Carolina then on to Memphis - I wasn't all that impressed.

Now I know why Virgin Atlantic is so popular - I can't fault them at all.

I have flown with them three times now and I have booked a flight with them for September.

I have never flown with BA - What are they like?

Also - do you guys prefer direct or a non - direct (so you can stretch your legs, etc)?

 

[WDWFOREVER]

A vote for Virgin from me too. We used to fly Delta but that involved a stopover. Once we had our son it was obvious that the stress involved in changing flights half way through the journey was not worth the saving. So its direct all the way for us now! Our next trip is our 7th flying Virgin Atlantic and about the 5th with Virgin Holidays.

 

[vernon]

Being fairly broad about the beam, seat size is probably the most important factor to me. I find the American companies have wider seats and more legroom. I really enjoyed American airlines last trip ( but I read today they are adding extra rows in some of their aircraft in an attempt to raise profits). I've always been happy with USAirways and probably fly them more than any other company. I though Virgin have lost a lot of the lead they had 7-8 years ago, their fleet is aging and their seats are pretty measly with the amount of room you get. BA again are not very generous with room, but probably offer better food and service than the US companies.

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

We only fly direct as we find the travelling part of the holiday a tedious experience at the best of times. Changing to another flight would just be too much for us.

We used to prefer Virgin over BA, but only because Virgin offered twilight check-in and their Downtown Disney check-in desk. Both made a big difference to our holiday plans, especially DD check-in. Now that's gone (post Sept-11 security) I don't think that there's much difference between the two, so I'd choose whichever was the cheaper (or offered the best Airmiles deal). Next year we might try the upgraded cabin of one of the charter companies (perhaps EAL) to see how they compare to the scheduled operators. The only time I've flown American (not Orlando) I was not impressed with the service.

I recently flew from Los Angeles with BA, flying in their new Club World seats. If I could fly like this all the time I'd be happy to stick with BA for the rest of my life! Oh to have a large bank account...

Regards

Rob

 

[TracyK]

I actually much preferred US Airways to Virgin. The inflight entertainment was better with our own tv/video so we could watch at our own leisure. I felt the vegetarian food was also better on US Airways. I was also very impressed with Air New Zealand who I recently travelled to LA with.
Tracy

 

[HeidSFost]

My usual holiday haunt is Vegas, and I fly with United, it involves a non direct flight (we usually change in LA, so it's a short hour hop to Vegas from there).

United are really good, they have upgraded us to Business Class one trip back from LA which was very nice<g>.

I also find that travelling with a US airline means that the queue for immigration is shorter, as most of the travellers are from the US, so we breeze through the line.

Virgin flies direct to Vegas, but the flight is expensive compared to United, and I have used them about 4 times going to Miami, and find them pretty lacking.

We are flying BA to Orlando this year (back with Travel City's airline), so I shall be interested to see how they are.

I have enough miles to do a free return flight to the US as well, with United, so nect flight to Vegas will be with United.

I may well have to go back to Orlando with it though, if I enjoy Orlando as much as I think I will<g>.

Heid
xx

 

[Beth__WDW23/6/02]

We have only ever flown with Virgin,so i cant comment on others but i prefer flying with virgin i feel they do have somewhat a good reputation,etc,and i feel comfortable with what they offer on flight etc,and we didnt find any major faults when we flew with them last year!

Beth

 

[Disbabe]

I have to say out of all the airlines I have flown with Virgin has to be tops as I can't fault them in any way.

 

[Clarey]

I have only flown long haul with Virgin but found them very good Could do with a bit more leg room though

 

[Sue & Co.]

I have never flown Virgin although we will be in November but have always used BA previously and they were very good. the only reason for changing this time was cost Virgin was cheaper and with five of us the £££ soon add up.

 

[Astrid]

Well, up till now it has to be Virgin - can't fault them, especially last year when I upgraded to Premium Economy.

However, this might change on Saturday when I fly with Travel City Direct in their airlines!! I'll keep you posted.

I flew to New York with United Airlines and thought they were pretty good too.

Astrid

 

[SidB]

Although it doesn't fly to Florida, the best airline I've flown is Emirates. Why ? The best food, seats, flight staff, etc.

The worst had to be a certain budget airline. 29" leg pitch ! Even my kids thought it was tight.

 

[Enright78]

I had no idea how many airlines I'd used till I tallied them up!!
Here goes...
Virgin, ok but not really as impressed as I'd hoped I'd be. Quite expensive for the times I need to fly and I'm not sure the cost is always justified.

BA, more impressed than I thought I'd be!! Good legroom, good entertainment but staff a bit surly?

Delta. We tend to fly indirect partially because DH has had a stroke and doctors recommended breaking a flight if we could, partially because I like a break to stretch my legs, partially because of cost and availability. Wwe like Delta a lot having flown to Orlando via Atlanta several times. Good service and pleasant staff. I think my favourite and using them again in April 2004 (brilliantly cheap flights!!)

AA Always been upgraded by AA so near the top of my favourite list! Good range of flight and routing options, nice staff and fabulous legroom!!!

Britannia Not one of my favourites. Very cramped and basic...not a fan of charter flights.

Phew! HTH

 

[WILDCATS]

Flew Virgin from manchester last July flight was ok but the plane was a little old & the seats were not comfy at all well worn .Then flew BMI from manchester to chicago & then on to orlando for christmas & new year the bmi flight was great more room,good food,plenty of free drinks & the crew were great even in cheap class,I think schedule is now the way to fly for us from now on as i have booked the same flight for this christmas also can't wait.

 

[Mickey_UK]

It has to be US Airways for me.we have used virgin,AA,BA.and Delta plus charter flights but they now work out more expensive than schedule and you can only go for exact weeks.We paid £280 for our flight 29th April 2003 returning 17th May(17 days)and we got upgraded on our outward flight (again)the seats are wider and the entertainment is great,you can pause the film you are watching if you need to pay a call or eat your meal or even rewind if you miss something,also if you have lost interest just stop it and pick another movie.The cabin crew have always been good and there dividend miles scheme is worth being a member of

 

[edie w]

We're flying Virgin this October. Previously we've flown with Monarch outbound (good service) and Britannia inbound (dreadful service), and twice with Delta both ways via Atlanta (good if a little humourless, but too long journey).

We're sold on Virgin mostly because it's direct to MCO but also because of the individual TV screens, kids' games consoles and backpacks, meal choices. Will we definitely get these? It's too late to change now but I'd like to be prepared for disappointment (actually I don't care at all but rest of party would be unbearable!)

Completely unrelated question - how are you all putting the countdowns at the bottom of your posts?

 

[AlisonB]

The instructions for countdowns are here . They're a bit longwinded but they work!!

 

[Hilary]

We've flown with Virgin, BA and Britannia to Florida - always direct.

Britannia was pretty uncomfortable in the main cabin, but we upgraded (very reasonably, not as much as upgrading on the scheduled airlines) a couple of times and enjoyed that. Downside is the limited flight timetable.

Virgin have always been okay, but not quite as fantastic as I'd hoped they would be from all the hype.

BA have been on a par with Virgin, but get my vote for the comfier seats with extra headrest bits and pull-out footrests

In the end, for our family, our choice usually comes down to the best price we can get for the dates we need. It would be nice to have a really luxurious start and finish to the holiday, but we feel we can 'endure' eight hours or so in most aircraft without it spoiling the rest of our trip, and would rather spend any extra cash on enjoying ourselves in Florida. The flight is a means to an end rather than an event in itself for us.

 

[WDWFOREVER]

We've flown with Virgin 7 or 8 times now and have never ONCE been on a plane with the games consoles. We fly out of Gatwick. DS takes his Game Boy Advance on the flight to compensate!

 

[Pootle]

I've flown with Virgin 4 or 5 times - starting with when they used to advertise a generous 34" seat pitch giving good leg room (many years ago now!) to a couple of years ago by which time the seat pitch was down to its current measly 30".

We've also used BA (seat pitch 31") a few time and most of the charters, Air 200, Britannia, Monarch etc, particularly since they added the premium cabins a few years ago. We're a tall family and you couldn't pay me enough to fly with a charter in basic seats these days.

My winner would be American Airlines which has a seating pitch of 34" (further to an earlier post, according to The Times, the proposed re-instatement of more rows of seats - and therefore less leg room - was on their domestic routes and not transatlantic).

I tend to favour American carriers generally because the seating (with Delta and American at least) is usually a 2-5-2 configuration and so couples do not end up sitting with a third person.

Another poster mentioned bmi out of Manchester. Friends of ours took this recently and couldn't speak highly enough of it. It also rated well in the Holiday Which? survey of carriers.

Comfort and leg-room are my number one priority (no, perhaps safety ) but for what it's worth, I think the British carriers win on the food issue.