cab5s

Air France - I got held up overnight in Paris in 1995 because of strikes and again in 2006. I will never go through Paris again because of strikes or on Air France in general because of their rude employees!

brandie346

I'm not a big fan of Ryan Air. The flight was cheap, but the service at the Shannon Airport was insanely slow, and getting onto the plane was like a stampede. Major disorganization.

Can't say I wouldn't fly them again, but I might try FlyBe or easyJet if I could.

AAFrequentFlyer

US Air Force - the crews are some of the best in the world, the planes are comfy and capable of many things, but I do question their choice of destinations....

What looks like an exotic, exciting destination, seems to turn into a scary landings and takeoffs everytime.

jcasale

Northwest. They lost our luggage at Christmas a couple of years ago. It went missing for 5 days and we couldn't get ahold of ANYONE to tell us what was being done. When it finally made it to our destination (in time to return home) I refused to let them deliver it to us. We drove and hour each way to pick it up because I figured it would take another 5 days to be delivered. At least when American lost our suitcase for 3 days they were very apologetic and gave us a $200 voucher. Northwest didn't even give us an apology.

simpsonc510

Ozark Airlines. Anyone remember them?

I particularly try to avoid AA, but sometimes it's not possible. I'm a loyal UA flyer, having been premier exec status for about the last 4-5 years. The percs for that status (GOLD star alliance) are often very nice. I especially like going to the first class check in lines!!!

DH and friends from Italy (who won't fly BA again, see earlier post) are now not happy with Delta. Delays and more delays, as well as having to change planes in Atlanta.

I just flew on Swiss Int'l a few days ago, and have to say that even though I do NOT NOT NOT like Airbus planes, the service made up for the really uncomfortable seats on the A330. I don't know how to explain the seats being so uncomfortable other than they don't fit my back and derrier. I'm not a large person (US size 10-12) so that has nothing to do with it. I'm tall, at nearly 6' but I don't think that is it either. I always let the air OUT of those horrible lumbar supports. Can't stand that one... but I do like the massage seats on UA 747's upstairs in business class.

rkkwan... sorry I missed this thread until now.

rkkwan

simpsonc510 - Seats are specified by the airline, not Airbus/Boeing. So you can find comfortable seats on other Airbus planes. Just avoid the Swiss A330.

traveljunkie28

Air Transat-They constantly change flight times. Once they changed our flight time 4 days from the original flight time. We had to cancel our trip. They fully refunded us though!
I always get stumped when people say Air Canada sucks, when we've had nothing but good flights with them. They are always accomadating to change seat plans. Just recently we travelled with a large group and asked at the gate to have them moved closer, and they did it! We have always thought they were friendly as well. I'm still waiting for the bad experience because I've heard so many. I'll keep crossing my fingers and booking trips with them.

simpsonc510

rkkwan
Avoiding the Swiss airbus is easier said than done. We fly to ZRH twice a year, and a non-stop on Swiss is much more appealing than up-down, up-down, on UA or another airline. And now that Swiss is a part of the Star Alliance, I can't see us flying any other option from ORD to ZRH. I'll just have to deal with the seat that doesn't "fit" right!!

The most uncomfortable seats on an airbus were on UA (Ted) and AA flights from ORD to Las. I really still think it's the airbus and not just the airline. DH also doesn't like the airbus planes!!

AAFrequentFlyer

Airbus/Boeing deliver an empty plane to the airlines. The airlines buy seats from different manufacturers and install the configuration it wants. Airbus/Boeing have nothing to do with the choice of seats and or manufacturer, so seat comfort comfort/configuration has nothing to do with the plane manufacturers.

AA does not fly Airbus on ORD-LAS route.

simpsonc510

Sorry AAflyer, I didn't write a travel journal for the ORD LAS trip in February of this year. Maybe it was on MD? Maybe 757? But for sure the Ted airbus is not comfortable for me.

Whatever the situation with the airlines and the planes, I prefer not to fly on airbus if possible to avoid. DH feels the same way. It's not like I want to make others change their minds about what planes they choose to fly/not fly. I'm just telling you about my own experiences and preferences.

In any case, does anyone remember Ozark? Or what about Britt? Both of these were smaller commuter carriers in the midwest. One plane I flew literally had a seat that folded down from the wall!! Talk about small... I recall one flight, in a bad storm, where I could watch the cockpit, see the red lights blinking, the windshield wipers trying to keep up with the torrents of rain, and thinking everytime I heard a beeping sound that we were going down!!

soccr

If you're going to go back to Ozark, what about Allegheny and Mohawk? Flying those wonderful DC3s and Martin 440s at 15K feet through thunderstorms, oh lord. But if you got a meal, there were ceramic plates and metal utentils and a placemat on the tray. Seems to me the seats were well-upholstered and there was plenty of leg room -- or room to crouch down in, in case of "water landing"! ;-)

WillTravel

To the person who said that Air Transat changed their return flight by four days, what route was this on? Was the effect of the change to make your trip shorter or longer?

I could say that I'll never fly Air Transat again due to its extreme cramped conditions (think worse than Ryanair across the Atlantic), but that wouldn't be true. If it's cheap enough, I'll fly it again and take some advanced yoga classes in preparation. Plus, if you take Air Transat on an uncrowded flight, and have two or three seats to yourself, it's better than one seat on a "regular" airline.

traveljunkie28

Hi Willtravel,

They actually did this to us twice. Our 7 day vacation would have turned into a five day vacation. There explanation was very vague, something about rerouting us into Vancouver to pick up more passengers. It was so stupid. We were to leave on February 2, but changed our dates to February 4.There flight flight schedules out of Calgary always suck. You never get a full 7 days out of your package. I guess that's why they're so cheap! I was shocked. We've all been through flight changes by hours, but days!! We had to cancel due to work. We chanced again a year later booking to fly to the Dominican, and they pulled the same stunt. Changed our flights again, not by days, but enough for a red flag to pop up. So, we changed airlines. I will NEVER book with Air Transat again!

mrwunrfl

bmi, British Midland

Last week, I had an exit row seat on a an A321 from LHR to DUB. The aisle seat must have been 17" wide. It was an inch narrower than the other seats because the arm was extra wide because of the tray table. The other seats in the row had no tray at all.

The plane loaded up and a couple of people saw that their seats were already occupied. Eventually, 11 or 12 people gathered in the area in front of me, where a row of seats had been removed by the exit doors. The FAs noted all the empty seats and one-by-one started handing out seat tickets to the 11 standees. It was ridiculous. That all took about 20 minutes and then there was another 40 minutes of delay.

You have to pay for all drinks. A small can (abt 4 ounces) of lemonade costs 1 euro. A 12-ish ounce can of diet pepsi costs 1.5 euro.

This morning the 6:45AM flight from DUB to LHR was CANCELLED. This means I missed the UA 777 from LHR to LAX. Was told it was a technical issue. Looked like everybody from the 6:45 flight got on the 9:05 flight, so I think the early flight was cancelled because it was mostly empty.

Those of us with connections had to go to the ticket sales counter. There was one lady there for a while, joined by a second one eventually. Meanwhile the Ryan Air counter had 4 attendants and Aer Lingus had 3.

bmi is second rate, I think, and the hats that the women FAs wear look silly.

mrwunrfl

And the coach seat on this morning's A321 must have had 30" pitch.

The business class seats were like a bench of 3 seats but the aisle and window were a bit wider and the center arms were each about a quarter way in from the edge of what would have been the center seat. The coach seats on the left side of the plane were different from the right side. Looked like the center seats were a bit wider than the window and row. Strange setup.

rkkwan

mrwunrfl - I am not sure how bmi set up their "business class", but it is quite common in Europe that the so-called BC is the same coach seats with the center seat blocked, and then the armrest for the aisle and window seats can move "inward" to give a little more elbow room. Same pitch, same recline as regular coach. Most do provide free drinks and food in BC.

nevermind

<b><font color="green">United</font></b>. We flew from Dulles to JFK on a commuter plane and had requested a wheelchair to meet us upon our arrival. The wheelchair met us at JFK, but it was pouring rain, so the wheelchair driver stood under an awning and the flight attendant stood on the plane watching while my husband and I slowly made our way (on foot) down the ramp from the plane to the ground. (Anyone who has had an ACL tear will understand that a ramp is nearly impossible to navigate with that type of injury.) As my husband had to assist me, we were unable to use an umbrella or anything to keep us dry. Ten minutes later (it felt longer), I made it, on crutches, to the wheelchair (still nice and dry under the awning) and we were taken into the terminal, only to find that none of our luggage had arrived. (We had checked all our bags, as my husband needed to be unemcumbered in order to deal with me.) How it could get lost between Dulles and JFK is beyond me... We received no sympathy or apology from the United representative and were sent on our way, into the big city of NYC wet as a couple of drowned rats, with not so much as a toothbrush to our names.

mrwunrfl

that is awful, nevermind. what happened with your luggage?

rkkwan, the biz class was as you described, including the free drinks. I finally realized what the difference in the coach seats was. On the left side, the seatbacks had a gap between them as wide as the armrests. The gap went to the top of the seat back. On the right side, the top two-thirds of the middle seat was extra wide so that it was over the armrests, flush with the seats on each side.

jamaltay

nevermind.......you must be the &quot;Out Of Towners&quot;
8-)

nevermind

jamaltay, <i>The Out of Towners</i> LOL.... We were actually lucky that we didn't get turned away at the door of our hotel. Soaking wet and absolutely no luggage. We looked like a couple of derelicts.

Our luggage actually did get delivered during the night while we slept (in our undies of course). Never has a sight been so sweet to my weary eyes as was the blinking light on our telephone when I awoke. I <b>knew</b> a message was awaiting telling us that our luggage had arrived. Clean underwear and toothbrushes, hurrah!! &gt;&lt;