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I won't fly the budget airlines (Spirit, Ryanair, etc.). With that caveat, my choice for worst is United. Won't fly with them anymore if I can avoid them.
Chilean SKY Airlines are actually really good for a budget airline, if you are ever in that part of the world I recommend them
On my recent flight on JetBlue I had wi-fi the entire way. And the wi-fi? Totally free! Whereas on United the wi-fi is paid, and only worked the last 10 minutes of the flight
Air Transat, HANDS DOWN. I was on a trans-Atlantic flight that was packed full with VERY small seats and leg room that I suffered the whole way. I'm not a large person and can't imagine what it was like for someone overweight.
I was so cramped and couldn't even sit forward to relieve the pain in my back because the seat in front of me was only inches away. I got up and walked the single aisle a few times, but it didn't help much. As soon as I sat down again, I was in pain.
Piedmont--I have lots of stories. I think they got absorbed by USAir.
I got food poisoning on a flight in South America but I don't recall the airline name.
But what would have your husband thought it he couldn't upgrade (there is only a limited number of upgrades available) The vast majority of travelers on that flight have to deal with the least amount of leg room of any carrier and seats that don't recline. In addition, assuming it was a round trip, it is likely that the extra $100 upgrade fee plus the carry on bag fee ($50ish) he could have flown on another carrier for either less or at the very least had a better on board experience.
No, we priced the carriers very carefully prior to booking, always do that Shelly. Thanks for the tip though.
He had a good experience with Spirit, both directions and even with the upgrade it was still about $125 cheaper than the next cheapest, which was Southwest (always our first choice for flying). He brings his SCUBA equipment with him so he would pay the checked bag fee anyway and he had only a small personal item, a small backpack.
He is 6'4" and weighs around 210 so on a four hour flight it is worth it to him to pay extra for the comfort. That's the downside of Southwest for him... they don't offer that unless we pay to upgrade to the A boarding group and grab an exit aisle so he has a place to stretch out his long legs.
Spirit - they suck, big time. I had a Spirit flight about a month ago that only had one departing flight that day (I was going home), and they cancelled the flight. There were no other flights that day, only the next - and, they didn't even offer to put me up at a hotel. If I hadn't already been staying with family, I would have had to spend the night in the airport.
Plus, Spirit advertise themselves as a "budget" airline, but they're really no cheaper than any other airline - and, they nickel and dime you on everything, including seats & bags - so, you're probably actually paying MORE money overall on the flight than with another airline.
Never had extremely bad experiences, but I didn't particularly enjoy Air China.
Of course, some of the low-cost carriers have bad service and are annoying but you get what you pay for so it's expected. Not so much from a flag carrier.
Eastern. In the 80s I flew up and down the east coast about a dozen times on business. The only time the airline arrived on time, my baggage didn't.
One time I was flying from Providence to Fort Lauderdale. Had to take a puddle jumper to Newark first. That wasn't bad, except on the way back I had to jump off the plane at one stop to use the bathroom. On the way down, the flight out of Newark was late. I was going to North Miami to interview for a promotion. By the time I got there, I had to take a taxi, because the person picking me up gave up waiting. I finally got to my work destination, only to find out the company had instituted a hiring/promotion freeze that day.
Back to Ft Laud, only to find out the plane had mechanical problems with one of the engines. After about an hour they had that resolved, and fired up the engine to test it. About that time a catering truck was driving by and got blown over on its side. More delays.
Few years later, after I quit that company, I was flying to Houston from Baltimore on Republic, through Detroit. Got to Detroit and all hell was breaking loose. Unfortunately, I was flying the day that Republic and Northwest, after merging, had decided to combine their reservation computers. Eventually I had to make them find my bags and I had to switch to a different carrier to get me there.
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