"E" Airline Rankings
Here's my ranking of airlines I've flown from Worst to Best:1. Alitalia - Any airline that goes on strike and doesn't tell you that your connecting flight will not happen due to the strike sucks. Same trip also involved overshooting the runway and extreme use of brakes.
2. ATA - On Always Talking Airlines they believe in sharing every worst case scenario with passengers. My flight included having the heating element break in the windshield. The pilot felt the need to detail what could happen to us if this wasn't fixed - certain death. Oh, but there's more - we may have to land at O'Hare because the crosswinds are deadly at Midway and they could blow us off the runway and once again result in a fiery death.
3. Delta - Any airline that deliberately overbooks every flight to smaller cities is an airline I hate. What really irritated me about them was that they bumped me off of my connecting flight. Apparently I was the last person to check-in in Salt Lake City, nevermind that I had checked in 4 hours earlier in Minneapolis. I seriously doubt everyone on the flight had checked in before I did in Minneapolis. They also bumped me off the next flight and the third and last flight of the night was almost cancelled due to bad weather. I got to Idaho Falls at 1:00 AM - No taxis, no cars available for rent, and a meeting at 8:00 AM. If not for a nice fellow traveller who gave me a ride (I know, I know never accept rides from strangers), I wouldn't have gotten to my hotel.
4. LOT - Their flight attendants are majorly rude especially to young adults.
5. Malev - It's okay. They just run older planes that could use a bit of updating.
6. Continental Airlines - The lack of leg room makes it impossible to get out of a row on some of the airplanes. It's crazy. Service is good though.
7. United - I flew with them to London. I really appreciated having my own video screen. All transatlantic flights should have this for everyone on the plane.
8. Northwest Airlines - You know, I've never really had a problem with Northwest and I fly them much more than any other airline.
9. KLM - Their flight crew is much nicer than Northwest's but they're pretty similar airlines.
10. American Airlines - They've always been really nice including putting me on an earlier flight without hassling me about it. Also, the extra leg room is nice.
11. British Airlines - Except for their ugly uniforms (and they seriously need to rethink the whole flowered blouse thing), I was impressed with how helpful they were - including holding a plane for me so I had time to run across Heathrow. They just handed me my boarding pass when I got to the gate and let me in the door. I was travelling business class on that flight so I got better seats and cleared customs a lot faster being the first off of the plane.
12. Swiss Air - The now defunct and renamed Swiss airline is fantastic. Leather seats and friendly Swiss service. They also had nifty video screens for short intercontinental flights. Though the fog delaying our landing in Zurich nearly caused my eardrums to burst that was hardly their fault.
13. SAS - I really like SAS. The best part of my flight was that once I got into the gate (and they check your ticket into the gate), you get access to the fully stocked refrigerator - deli sandwiches, fruit, pop, juice, chips, etc. All open for you to take.
posted by E @9:25 AM