Which airline????

[goofy4tink]

Okay..you would think I've never flown before, and that I've never booked a flight before. Hardly. BUT...I just can't make up my mind. Flying from Boston to San Diego in Sept. I've checked out Jetblue, SW, Delta, United, American. I love JB...really I do. BUT they are much more expensive than the others...followed by SW. I've never flown either American or United..so have no idea if there are any things to watch out for. And Delta is, well...Delta. I've flown Delta before but it's not my first choice by any means..way too many changes to their schedules.

So...any thoughts to help me make a decision??? Really need to get this one done.

 

[helenk]

I've flown both AA and United for business and I have no complaints about either. I think they both charge about the same for luggage fee, I would just choose whichever has the better flight time if the prices are compatible.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

United - and buy up into Economy Plus.

 

[Anal Annie]

Okay..you would think I've never flown before, and that I've never booked a flight before. Hardly. BUT...I just can't make up my mind. Flying from Boston to San Diego in Sept. I've checked out Jetblue, SW, Delta, United, American. I love JB...really I do. BUT they are much more expensive than the others...followed by SW. I've never flown either American or United..so have no idea if there are any things to watch out for. And Delta is, well...Delta. I've flown Delta before but it's not my first choice by any means..way too many changes to their schedules.

So...any thoughts to help me make a decision??? Really need to get this one done.

I felt the same way about booking our trip in August on United vs one of the "low cost" carriers. I don't even know how many years it's been since we used one of the "big 3" because we've been using Air Tran, SW or Jet Blue for years now. BUT, at the time that I booked, United was significantly cheaper so that's what I booked. I was hoping for improved stability with our flight status (since Air Tran almost ALWAYS changed our flights) but that failed to materialize. Granted, I booked early (which almost always guarantees a flight time change) but I was still extremely let down when United changed our return flight time from 7:00 pm to 2:00 pm AND didn't bother to notify us!! So now we basically lose our last day at the World. I just HAPPENED to check it online and found it changed not only the time but the flight number and the type of plane - then on top of that they didn't bother reassigning our seats together!! By the time I discovered this there was only 1 row left together so I found it just in time to get us moved. I am used to this sort of crap from AT but was really flustered that United did it too. I don't think ANY of them are better than anyone else. I always book based on the best combination of price and flight times / duration as we'll only fly non-stop.

(FWIW we used Jet Blue over spring break and they changed one of our flight times too - only by a couple of hours which is better than FIVE hours - and at least they TOLD us....but really, any of them can do it.) GOOD LUCK choosing!!

 

[deegack]

We do jet blue or one of the legacies and then at 24 hours attempt to buy cheap upgrades to first class. Last time it was $50 going down and $37 coming back. By the time you factored in baggage the extra money was well worth it to us.

 

[Tara]

United has always been great for me (I do about 100k miles a year on them). I don't fly AA because they don't service my airport but DBF is a lifetime platinum member and loves them.

 

[goofy4tink]

Well....finally booked this morning. Went with Jetblue..nonstop. Yeah, it's about $105 more than American (bags and seat charges added to nice low fare with AA), and $20 cheaper than Delta (again, seat and bag charges)...but figured it's the best bet. I fly JB to MCO all the time, so if I end up having to cancel the trip, I can always use the leftover credit (after change fees) for Florida trips. And it's non-stop, which makes the hubby happy.
Not going to quibble over a hundred or so dollars.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Granted, I booked early (which almost always guarantees a flight time change) but I was still extremely let down when United changed our return flight time from 7:00 pm to 2:00 pm AND didn't bother to notify us!! So now we basically lose our last day at the World. I just HAPPENED to check it online and found it changed not only the time but the flight number and the type of plane - then on top of that they didn't bother reassigning our seats together!! By the time I discovered this there was only 1 row left together so I found it just in time to get us moved. I am used to this sort of crap from AT but was really flustered that United did it too.

It's up to you to keep an eye on your flights. UA did inform you of the change on their web site.

You did not have to accept the flight change. You could have found another UA flight which better met your needs and requested that UA change you to that flight. If there had been room, this would have been done at no cost to you.

Equipment swaps happen sometimes; this often changes seat configurations and you may lose assigned seats. Again, you need to keep an eye on this as well.

It's all part of the "fun" of flying

 

[Anal Annie]

It's up to you to keep an eye on your flights. UA did inform you of the change on their web site.

You did not have to accept the flight change. You could have found another UA flight which better met your needs and requested that UA change you to that flight. If there had been room, this would have been done at no cost to you.

Equipment swaps happen sometimes; this often changes seat configurations and you may lose assigned seats. Again, you need to keep an eye on this as well.

It's all part of the "fun" of flying

I'm sorry, but I disagree. Even Air Tran sent me change notification emails if they changed the flight by more than 30 minutes. I feel like if they cancel the flight that I originally booked and paid for that they should at a minimum notify me that my flight was cancelled and ask me to accept or decline their replacement options. I realize that the type of plane can and does change (which is why I always book seats on the right side aisle as if it's a change to a plane with 2 and 3 the 3 are always on the right) but I do not feel like I should have to continuously monitor their website for their current schedules and then call them to correct it. They in fact did NOT offer me any choice in it or whether I would accept the change or not. And in this case I felt like there was no other choice but to accept the change only because the change meant it was the lates non-stop flight they offered that day as they cancelled all of the others. I refuse to spend 5 or 6 hours rather than 2 hours getting to / from FL. So there were no other acceptable options on United. But if they can't bother to even notify me of cancellations then they're not my airline of choice in the future. In this day & age with computer automation they could certainly set up something to send out change notifications without it being too much of hassle. It's not like they need to have an operator call everyone individually or something. It's a freaking email and poor customer service to NOT send out a notification.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I'm sorry, but I disagree. Even Air Tran sent me change notification emails if they changed the flight by more than 30 minutes. I feel like if they cancel the flight that I originally booked and paid for that they should at a minimum notify me that my flight was cancelled and ask me to accept or decline their replacement options. I realize that the type of plane can and does change (which is why I always book seats on the right side aisle as if it's a change to a plane with 2 and 3 the 3 are always on the right) but I do not feel like I should have to continuously monitor their website for their current schedules and then call them to correct it. They in fact did NOT offer me any choice in it or whether I would accept the change or not. And in this case I felt like there was no other choice but to accept the change only because the change meant it was the lates non-stop flight they offered that day as they cancelled all of the others. I refuse to spend 5 or 6 hours rather than 2 hours getting to / from FL. So there were no other acceptable options on United. But if they can't bother to even notify me of cancellations then they're not my airline of choice in the future. In this day & age with computer automation they could certainly set up something to send out change notifications without it being too much of hassle. It's not like they need to have an operator call everyone individually or something. It's a freaking email and poor customer service to NOT send out a notification.

I'm sorry, perhaps you don't realize that I do not work for an airline and have nothing to do with the rules. You should direct your ire towards the airline, not me. Did you sign up for flight notifications?

http://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/flightstatus/updates.aspx

Keep in mind that you cannot rely on any airline notifying you in a timely manner about changes. You need to check yourself to know for sure. It might make you feel better to say you'll never fly UA again, but if everyone who said they would never fly a certain airline again after a problem really meant it, all airlines would go out of business! They all have problems.

 

[goofy4tink]

I'm sorry, perhaps you don't realize that I do not work for an airline and have nothing to do with the rules. You should direct your ire towards the airline, not me. Did you sign up for flight notifications?

http://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/flightstatus/updates.aspx

Keep in mind that you cannot rely on any airline notifying you in a timely manner about changes. You need to check yourself to know for sure. It might make you feel better to say you'll never fly UA again, but if everyone who said they would never fly a certain airline again after a problem really meant it, all airlines would go out of business! They all have problems.

I no longer depend on the airlines to notify me. Most are decent about it, but tend to not alert you unless the change is in the next week or so. So...when I book flights, I check on them every few weeks, up to the month before I travel. Then, it's every week, and the week prior to travel?? Every day.