Worst US airline?
 

Does anyone recommend not to fly any particular US airline, if I have to get to LAX from JFK on time and on schedule? I read Delta, has had many bad reviews in terms of delay and cancellations.

Thanks

Most delays in US are due to weather or mechanical issues that then cascade to effect flights not directly related to the one with delays. In a country so vast, weather in Seattle may effect a flight from New York if that plane was the one designated for that route. They no longer have extra planes sitting around to fill in when there is a problem.

If you must be someplace at a specific time, the only true guarantee is to schedule a flight that gets there far ahead of the necessary hour. And pick an airline that flies multiple times/day on that route.

We fly Delta all the time and I can count on one hand the few times we have been delayed on our flights. We do go in and out of some areas that can and do have weather problems but it usually is a breeze. We do fly some other domestic carriers and I have had more delays on them than on Delta. The most delays we have had with an airline is with American, and yet it is not a bad airline, however we do like Delta better.

They're all bad.

A generalization such as "good" or "bad" for a major airline across a sprawling international and domestic network is bound to as much wrong as right on a specific route. Instead, you can look up firmer data on the Internet.
Flightstats.com is one source, not the only one. It has been around for awhile and it rates flights by their number codes and departure city. http://www.flightstats.com/go/Flight...tingByRoute.do
Travellers can help themselves by allowing a comfortable amount of time to make connections between flights, determining how luggage will be handled, understanding security regulations, and so on. It's wise to go directly to those responsible, the airlines and airports, for research.
One essential caution, for those unfamiliar with the system, is that stated departure times are not the time you must be standing in the departure lounge to board the plane. Especially on international routes, airlines are closing the cabin door up to a half hour, or more, before departure time.

Airlines don't close the cabin door up to half an hour or more before departure time. Sometimes it is only minutes before departure. But there is a limit as to when one can be at the gate for boarding and this is stated on the boarding pass.

Delta has to be the worst airline in the entire United States due to it's inability to meet a timely flight schedule. As a frequent business flyer from LAX for an accounting firm, time is crucial for me. I need an airline to offer prompt departure time in order for me to connect or arrive at my point of destination for an early meeting. United Airlines seems to be one of the best to get that done, I highly recommend United to fly with, if your sensitive on your time. I rarely experience any delays from LAX.

Mind you, I have not recently traveled from LAX during those airport scares.

You might have trouble with a particular flight on any airline. One bad experience does not make an airline "bad" (any more than one good experience makes an airline "good"). For example, I flew US Airways for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It was a pleasant experience—in fact, much better than I was expecting, given all the criticism of US Airways I have heard over the years. Whether my next flight with them (whenever that might turn out to be) is equally as pleasant is anyone's guess.

Personally, I have had far more good than bad experiences on Delta, although I have had both. It is one of my favorite airlines to fly.

Gail gives good advice about choosing an airline with multiple flights per day between your origin and destination. And as Southam says, you can check to see if a particular airline is known for problems on the route you want to fly.

Also, you probably want to choose a non-stop flight rather than a connecting one (there are plenty of those LAX–NYC). Because a connecting flight involves 3 airports rather than 2, and 2 planes rather than 1, there is more potential for something to go wrong. Also, make sure you get a non-stop rather than a "direct" flight (which involves a stop at an intermediate airport—and sometimes deplaning and even changing planes—despite the same flight number).

OP, if you go with low expectations then you have the chance to be satisfied or at least not disappointed.

I avoid US Airways, Delta, and Southwest. Southwest is not bad, I am just tired of the overbooked flights and being herded on the plane like cattle. My favourites are Midwest and Continental. Just got off of my 50th flight with Midwest Airlines. I love their 717 aircraft with the extra big seats and the food, even though you have to pay for it.

<i>I avoid US Airways, Delta, and Southwest. Southwest is not bad, I am just tired of the overbooked flights and being herded on the plane like cattle. My favourites are Midwest and Continental. Just got off of my 50th flight with Midwest Airlines. I love their 717 aircraft with the extra big seats and the food, even though you have to pay for it.</i>

Did you step into a time warp?

Midwest Airlines ceased operations in 2010. They are now known as Frontier Airlines, and Frontier doesn't even have a 717 in their fleet. The only big planes they have are Airbuses.

Continental ceased being Continental in 2010 when they merged with United and the Continental name was officially dropped in 2012.

To Melissa - Never been a fan of the DC9 series myself, but if you want to fly the 717 you'll need to use Delta...

To OP. I agree with the other posters. There is no clear worst airline to avoid. You can find bad reviews about any airline if you look. Reviewers tend to post when they have bad experiences, not the 1000's of passengers who fly every day with good experiences.

I choose an airline based on the combination of route (non-stop over connection), price, and frequent flier program. To me the latter is important due to free bags, points accumulation or usage, and priority boarding. I have credit cards linked to several different airlines that give me those perks.

From LAX to JFK you have several options for non-stop flights. Virgin America, Jet Blue, Delta, United, and AA all fly that route so fares tend to be competitive and there are frequent flights throughout the day.

sparkchaser, I googled "Midwest Airlines" just to see what I got and found this on the first page of results:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/MEP210

My favorite part of the webpage is "Status: Landed 4 years ago"! :D

<i>Delta has to be the worst airline in the entire United States due to it's inability to meet a timely flight schedule.</i>

The numbers disagree with you. Delta's on-time performance over the 12 months ending September (latest available data) shows DL at 84.3% on-time, behind only Hawaiian and Alaska for on-time flights. Their on-time rates for LAX and JFK are even higher.

By every metric out there, Delta is a more reliable operation than the other large national carriers.

<i>I read Delta, has had many bad reviews in terms of delay and cancellations. </i>

See above. And bear in mind that the only thing posted on the internet regarding airlines are complaints, so take what you read with a grain of salt.

In general, I would think that Delta best fits the bill for this route, but I wouldn't necessarily pay a huge premium to fly them over the competition. JetBlue, FWIW, would be somebody to consider if you are flying coach, as they offer a pretty compelling product.

If you are attracted to Virgin America, I'd make sure to look into their current financial situation. I haven't looked lately, but they were bleeding cash for a while. They are, by all accounts, a good airline though.

<i>Southwest is not bad, I am just tired of the overbooked flights </i>

I fly SW almost monthly and I cannot remember them ever overbooking a flight I was on.

Southwest is among the worst of all airlines when it comes to overbooking. In the 1st half of 2013 they had a total of over 50,000 denied boardings, voluntary + involuntary. Highest total # in the US industry, and among the highest %. See p44 of the link. They have a very liberal cancellation policy so perhaps they are taking a calculated gamble that some passengers will cancel at the last minute, or maybe they've run the #'s and come to the conclusion that the price of 1-2 denied boardings per 10,000 is worth it in order to keep the planes fuller in the first place.

http://www.dot.gov/sites/dot.dev/fil...ctoberATCR.pdf

I am honestly very surprised!

So I am I DebitNM. Fly SW frequently and never see that happening.

My all time disliked airline is US Air which will be part of AA soon. Hope it doesn't bring AA down a peg.

<i>Fly SW frequently and never see that happening.</i>

That is because, even at the "worst" airline, denied boarding is relatively rare. Even at Southwest, only around 0.1% of passengers are denied boarding and only around 1/6th of those are involuntary bumps.