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Flew a lot in the seventies and eighties. Eastern always struck me as a little dirty.
Worst was a six passenger twin I took out of Butler Aviation on O'Hare grounds. Good news, I was allowed to fly right seat on the night trip to Valparaiso, Indiana. we landed, I helped push the aircraft into the hangar and as the pilot walked to his car, I walked to the phonebooth to call for my assistant to come for me .
Bad news, no phonebooth! Ran out onto the tarmac to read the sign. Michigan City. Chased the pilot down and we took off in deteriorating weather. He had an IFR rating of course, but I'm pretty sure I had more hours. A lot more. I lied a little and asked if I could take the controls for a while as I hadn't flown in quite some time. I put us on the ground nicely. He looked at me and said, you've done this before, haven't you?
Brussels airline was the worse flight of all the time for me. If to say sorry they offer me a free ticket I would never accept.
I think that United has another level comparing to any other air companies. It is definitely the best if I have to flight for long distances.
If you have their credit card they offer you a lounge at the airport.
In the United States I like Delta Which also has a very good service.
I'd never heard of Brussels Airlines, after googling them I found, (as I suspected), that they are the present day face of Sabena, which used to be the Belgian National Carrier.
I flew with Sabena twice to the best of my recall, once from London to Charleroi, and once from London to Liège.
Can't remember those flights being bad, so they must have been regularly mundane, and I'm still here.
The two airlines that stick in my mind as bad, are Olympic Air, the Greek National Carrier, and RyanAir, a low-cost Irish airline, they stick there for two separate reasons.
I flew with Olympic once in the mid eighties, a round trip London-Athens-London.
It must have been one of the last airlines to ban smoking on board, I've never smoked, but you could have counted the non-smokers on those two flights on the fingers of one hand, my eyes were red and streaming for hours after I landed in Athens, and again on return to London.
RyanAir flies predominantly out of Stansted, an airport to the north-east of London, mainly to Europe, but although they advertised themselves as flying to various cities, they actually flew to airports that were NEAR those cities, e.g. I flew to Stockholm, Sweden, and landed somewhere that seemed closer to Finland, and had a long bus ride to Stockholm after landing.
In addition, on this early a.m. flight, I asked if I could buy a coffee, or a bottle of water, and was told, "No, I'm sorry sir, but you can buy a miniature of vodka!" At 07.00? I don't think so.
I dropped my guard and tried RyanAir again a few months later, to Faro, Portugal.
There was no seat allocation, when boarding was announced, it was first come, first served.
I hung back until the mad rush eased off, then when I boarded, there were people screaming and jostling in the aisle because those with the sharpest elbows, and fleetest of foot, had claimed the best seats, and families were seated a long ways apart.
Come back T.A.P. and Air France, all is forgiven.
Alitalia. Flew them to Rome. I had a broken seat back, broken tray table, the food was terrible, the flight crew disappeared after serving the meal until "breakfast," and the in flight entertainment was an Italian detective show on overhead screens broadcast in Italian with no subtitles.
Have to agree on Spirit, discount airline to the max. You might save a few dollars but at what cost? Always had good luck with Jet Blue, Delta, Southwest, but all it takes is one bad experience. The biggest issues aren't always the airlines, it's some of the passengers. Extra carry on baggage, some dressed like they rolled out of bed, or are headed for the beach. Flying use to be special, now it's like riding the NYC Subway...
Northworst. I've never seen flight attendants more adept at ESCALATING minor things into major traumas. Little old lady in the wrong seat? Make her CRY, of course! Drunken Quebcois on his way to Nouveau Orleans? Scream at him, and threaten him with arrest! (she was screaming it en Englais, mais c'est bien entendu, and if I hadn't translated, there's no-telling what would have happened to the poor man). Guatemalans can't stow their luggage properly? Intimidate them to the point where they think 'The Secret Police' are going to board the plane, and drag them off to be tortured-to-death!
I'm telling YOU! Pam-Ann is TAME, compared to what I used to see on Northwest.
Another vote for Air India, and this is for the plane.
I flew from O'Hare to New Delhi with Air India on a Thursday, and came back on Monday. I expected the service to be crap, but I encountered something worse.
I generally take my seat in plane and go off to sleep even before the plane starts taxiing. On this flight, 5 minutes being seated in my seat, my bums started hurting. So, I moved/ twisted my body. Felt the pain again after 5 minutes, and then it never stopped. After 2 hours, I was feeling the springs of the seat in my bum. Of course I was unable to sleep, and landed in a different time zone completely drained out.
But, this was not the end. The story repeated on the return flight. When I got down at O'Hare and got into my 2006 Camry, the seat felt like a Lazy Boy recliner to me. My bums felt like they were in heaven.
Air India is well known for ****ty service, especially if the color of your skin is not white. I was OK with it as it was just a 15 hr journey and I was seated in economy. But no proper cushions on the seat? That is a bit too much.
Air India is definitely better than United or European carriers even though not on par with Arab carriers. Probably they are the only one operating non stop to India from ORD and EWR and one of the few carriers who don't add extra seats or reduce seat pitch.
Just try a Star alliance Base economy or a BA cattle class next time before you review Air India about their " non white" treatment.
Primarily not because of the service but the general public on the plane.
Goodness me!
Small children crying EVERYWHERE.
Moms opening the baby poop filled diapers by using the food tray tables as the diaper changing tables - stink and chaos EVERYWHERE!
I used to use Air India quite a lot in the eighties, to fly from London to N.Y.C., they were around the same price as Icelandair, but they went via Reykjavik, whereas Air India went direct.
Coming back one night from N.Y.C. with my then girlfriend, (now my wife), we were seated one row up from the rear row, on the right of the plane.
Behind us was another British couple, in their mid forties I guess.
Half way across the pond, three Asian guys, probably Indian, came from up front somewhere, and sat on the floor, near the rear bathroom, and began to talk, gradually getting louder in volume.
The Brit guy behind us got up and asked them to please turn the volume down, as he and his wife were trying to sleep.
Murmured apologies from the three guys, and the guy sat back down.
Ten minutes later, the conversation began to rise in volume again, annoyance compounded by the fact that they were speaking Urdu or whatever, so I had no idea if they were talking sense.
The guy behind got up again, and said, "I asked you politely to hold your box of toys, (London rhyming slang for noise), now I'm TELLING you politely that if you wake my wife up, I will put you to sleep, all of you, got it?"
Without a word, they got up, and disappeared toward the front, whence they came.
I remember thinking, "Jeez, I wish I'd had the moxie to say that."
Alitalia. Flew them to Rome. I had a broken seat back, broken tray table, the food was terrible, the flight crew disappeared after serving the meal until "breakfast," and the in flight entertainment was an Italian detective show on overhead screens broadcast in Italian with no subtitles.
Oh, heavens, I forgot about Alitalia. It was 1970 and we were flying out of Rome on, I think, a Caravelle Jet. We sat on the runway for 2 1/2 hours in the August heat with no air, no water, bathroom was locked. The attendants opened the doors and sat in the doorways dangling their legs outside, refusing to deal with anything. I was pregnant and not feeling too well. They wouldn't give me any water and I ended up vomiting several times, luckily in a air sickness bag. I was tempted to walk up and vomit on one of them, but restrained myself.
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