<p>Note that some airlines listed may be those that you have not heard of, like Mesa Airlines, Skywest Airlines, and ExpressJet Airlines. These may be the actual operating airlines behind names like United Express or Delta Connection (the regional arms of the well known airlines). There may be more than one actual operating airline behind a name like United Express.</p>
<p>I fly to Washington DC several times per year. The last four times I have tried to fly in and out of Reagan airport, I have had problems. Twice the flights were completely cancelled. The other two times they were significantly delayed. Only once was there any apparent reason (weather at one end or the other). I refuse to do it again. Now, I fly to Baltimore on Southwest (they also fly to Dulles) and rent a car. Sometimes it’s a bit more expensive, but it’s worth it to avoid the hassle. I will drive up to four hours to take Southwest and avoid flying on any other airline. </p>
<p>Our American story involves S2 coming home for Thanksgiving his freshman year. He didn’t have a car and the nearest Southwest airport was an hour away, so he flew out of the local airport on American. On the return he needed to go through Chicago. They sat on the ground for over an hour for no apparent reason and, of course, he missed the connection in Chicago. This was on Sunday. The best they could do to get him to his destination was Wednesday morning! But the could get him to the other airport an hour away. He ended up having to use his last dime to take the bus and got in well after midnight. Since then he’s had a car and always flies Southwest. He’s graduating this spring and in 3 years, there’s never been a cancellation and rarely a delay.</p>
<p>H & I fly to Europe once or twice a year. We’ve tried every possible combination. Our favorite so far is Iberia through Madrid. This year is complicated because our flights over are on different days to different cities, but we wanted to return home at least on the same flights. After much searching and maneuvering, I was able to book the flights we needed on Air Canada, connecting through Toronto. We’ll see how that goes.</p>
<p>My son, while traveling on business always takes Business class. He’s had so many bad experience with American, he’s done with that airline. Their planes are ancient and equipment in J class constantly breaks down.If the high revenue passengers are avoiding the airline, I wonder how long they can survive.</p>
<p>I try to fly Jetblue first, then Southwest. United is next on the list if cities are a problem. Weather in another city could cause a delay in the departure city of the incoming American plane your son is flying out on which could explain why other flights are arriving/departing. There is no way to prove this, though, as a passenger. I hate feeling like a victim and airlines that make their employees lie or withhold information from passengers don’t earn my dollars.</p>
<p>If your son can fly Southwest he can avoid the cattlecall by paying an extra $10 for priority boarding. It is well worth the money. Other positives of SW include their processes. They insist on following the exact same routine for every flight. ?every flight is a 737, so every pilot, and every ground-crew employee does every single thing the same, every time That’s</p>
<p>That’s why they can fly us cheaper. They stick to the protocol. Delays cost money and everyone is pushing to get the in gear, release the brake, and push back. Getting into the air keeps everyone’s paychecks coming. i have a friend whose brother is a pilot for SW, and he explained most of this to me. I also believe that most, if not all, SW pilots have military training.</p>
<p>Fly early in the day as delays and cancellations get worse throughout the day. Avoid O’Hare and Atlanta to change plans whenever possible. Delta has gotten much better and they have become my airline of choice after Jet Blue. Weather delays can happen at anytime in the winter of course but all spring and summer with afternoon storms especially.</p>
<p>For Europe I also recommend changing planes in Madrid-the airport is great. I’ve never had any problem making connections when flying on Iberia or their code share partners. Avoid going through Heathrow, unless you are spending time in London of course. We also had no problem changing planes at Charles De Gaulle last year even though it doesn’t have a great reputation as an easy airport to negotiate but maybe since Air France/KLM are now one company, they have improved.</p>
<p>As cbrezze says avoid O’Hare. In the winter it is snow. In the spring/summer it is thunderstorms. And, never, never fly in or out of O’Hare late in the afternoon or early evening on a Friday.</p>
<p>Next suggestion - pick an airline or two and stick with them. Get the “credit card” for that airline. Book your ticket on it, you get double miles and priority boarding with most, and free checked bag. Even if it costs - you will pay you back.</p>
<p>Also - most importantly - a lot of the credit cards will also give you a pass to the “club” of the airline. They can often help you rebook a flight when there are problems. Huge help during cancellations. Also - better place to wait than the gate.</p>
<p>I fly American a lot - I can’t say it’s better or worse than most. Delta’s employees seem overall more helpful and nice. United OK. Jet blue - have had some good experiences as well as Air Tran.</p>
<p>My usual advice is to fly one airline alliance and earn elite status (medallion status if on Delta) on one of those airlines. My experience has been that airlines will treat elite passengers better, which includes waiving many fees and being more flexible in IROPS (irregular operations ie delays, cancellations, and diversions). This is not to say that things will be perfect, especially when flights are full, but it has made things a lot easier for me. I’m an Alaska Airlines elite, which grants me reciprocal medallion/elite benefits on Delta and American. When delays have happened, I’ve been able to go up to an agent or call the elite phone line with an alternate itinerary, preferably on the same airline, and am rerouted on those flights, most often in an exit row or bulkhead seat.</p>
<p>Beyond that, know the flight schedules into your home cities and try to choose an airline that offers lots of service into that city. For example, I know that if I can arrive into Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Minneapolis-St. Paul, or Las Vegas by 9pm local time, I can get a flight to Seattle that night on AS/DL/AA.</p>
<p>While many people love to fly Southwest, keep in mind that it does not reroute passengers onto other airlines. This can be a problem when flights are full. Compare this to a “legacy” airline which, in order to get me to my destination as early as possible, was willing to book me on United Express connecting to Alaska and then connecting to Delta.</p>
<p>I am lifetime platinum on AA, previously also Executive platimun. I use a AA rewards card to accumulate miles and use those miles for first class travel for DH and I. When you get the status they do treat you better. They automatically rebook me if there are problems. The priority phone works well. But if he travels a lot on one airline I found the club the best place to get great service. AA’s Admiral’s club could work wonders on rebooking when I needed it. It was also a great place to wait out layovers and delays. Well worth the fees.</p>
<p>Oh, and I agree, avoid O’Hare whenever possible. And learn which airports have problems during which seasons… It varies.</p>
<p>I don’t know about the pilots, but my Dad is a recently retired SW pilot instructor. He was Air Force, as were most of his co-instructors, though I think there may have been some former Navy pilots as well.</p>
<p>Air Tran now belongs to Southwest. A flight attendant told me that the merger is taking longer because Air Tran flies several different planes. All of Southwest crews can fly any one of their planes. Now everyone has to cross train on the Air Tran planes, and that’s taking longer. </p>
<p>While it is true that Southwest will not book you on other airlines, that is rarely necessary. Southwest generally doesn’t cancel except for weather and that affects all the airlines. I have seen Southwest flights that were late because of weather and some people missed their connections. Southwest personnel had already rebooked them on other Southwest flights. No standing in line and trying to figure out what to do while they take care of one customer every 30 mn. </p>
<p>Another American story. We had received a really special fare to get to Europe. Again we had to connect through Chicago. There was a mechanical problem with the plane. We were one it and ready to leave and after nearly an hour, they made us all get out and rebook. I tried to do it by phone, but they couldn’t help because we had already checked in, but the person did tell me that there was a connection through another city which would get us to our destination. The flight was not full and there was plenty of time…until we got in line. I was ready to strangle someone by the time we got up to the counter. If I had not known what flights we wanted, it would have taken too long. We had to run the length of the concourse, they shoved the boarding passes in our hands, we got on, the door shut and we took off. We were supposed to have 55 mn. to change planes at O’Hare, of course. We sat on the tarmac because the gates were all full for 35 mn. Again, if we hadn’t known O’Hare so well we never would have made it. I told H to run for it. S2 and I would collect the carry on bags and follow as quickly as we could. Again, they were ready to close the doors. He was able to get them to wait the extra minutes until we got there. Others on the original flight who were supposed to do the same thing didn’t make it because they stopped to ask. Luggage didn’t make it, of course.</p>
<p>American’s flights in and out of PIT are very crowded because of all the gas drilling activity there by companies with DFW roots.</p>
<p>Remind your son to never read business papers or do work related stuff on his computer on the DFW/PIT flights. The person in the seat next to him probably works for a competitor.</p>
<p>Most pilots on major carriers are prior military. There are some pilots with civilian backgrounds, but the vast majority are either Air Force/Navy.</p>
<p>As GladDad mentioned, it is very much how a carrier handles a weather delay. Some will cancel in a second, others will do anything they can to make it happen, and put customers on other airlines if necessary. Personally, when I really need to get somewhere (and don’t want to head out there two days earlier), I go on the carrier that I work for (sorry, can’t name it). But I know they will always find a way to make the trip. If an airplane breaks and they can’t fix it, they will send another airplane there to do the job. They will divert another airplane there in a minute if they think the flight won’t make it. They have crewmembers that live all over the nation and won’t hesitate to call them if someone gets sick or delayed in the field. Then again, you get what you pay for, unfortunately.</p>
<p>DH flies several times a month and pretty much has to use Delta from here. They have lost/delayed his luggage so many times on the return trip that the driver knows our house and where to leave bags if no one is home. He has had flights cancelled when the plane just doesn’t show up and more delays that he could even begin to count. DD has had problems with them every single time she has flown to/from school. </p>
<p>I don’t think any airline is more reliable than another; a lot depends on the airports involved.</p>
<p>United was pretty good before the merger with Continental. FF benefits are now really limited and service has gone to the dogs. Flight cancellations (for airline convenience) seem more frequent.</p>
<p>Except for the luggage part, that is exactly how my DH LOVES to travel. No kidding. He likes the adrenaline rush. I, on the other hand, like to be at the gate a full hour before the flight leaves. Makes for some interesting vacation stories, many of which begin with marital stress and conflict. By the time we get to our destination, we really need a vacation.</p>
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<p>I think this must be true. We live near DFW, an AA hub. We rarely ever have to make connections to our destinations, and as I said before, I’ve never had an AA flight canceled, though certainly have experienced weather delays. We usually manage to book flights with miles and/or upgrade our status with miles. I hope this doesn’t change with the bankruptcy/merger, but that’s probably just wishful thinking.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for their stories and advice. My H hopes that things will settle down soon and the weather won’t be so turbulent once summer starts.</p>
<p>S loves the project he’s on. He loves his job, the travel is frustrating but hopefully he will start to figure it out. </p>
<p>He flys on the first flight of the day usually so that he can minimize his delays.</p>
<p>ACKKK! I wish I’d read this thread a month ago. This weekend I am flying to see my D for Mother’s Day…on American…connecting through O’Hare…on Friday afternoon. I hope this isn’t a “perfect storm” to mess up my trip.</p>