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Bad- Southwest (I absolutely hate their open-seating and their A/B/C lines which no one respects).
Since they line you up by number, it is difficult for me to see how people game the system. I do NOT see that on any of the flights on Southwest that I have been on.
I used to fly Southwest pretty much weekly. Throw some money at it and you always get an aisle seat. A-List Plus gave you the early boarding number for free and threw in free WiFi. Unfortunately, they haven't been doing a very good job maintaining their planes. The failures are pretty well documented. I can't remember the last time I flew on one that had a new interior. The ones I fly on are dirty and worn. As a business traveler, it's nice to know you can grab a flight on short notice and not have a middle row death seat back by the blue toilet water. It's also nice to know you can change flights without the annoying change fee that the bean counters always question on my expense report.
I've flown 30,000 miles on United this year. As long as you're in Economy Plus and not in those 30" seat pitch seats designed for dwarves and elves, it's fine. I have first tier elite FT status so I at least get early boarding so I have a spot for my roll-aboard and usually can move to an Economy Plus seat when I check in. You really have to fly 50,000 miles with them so you get Economy Plus when you book the ticket to get the good experience. Without any FT status, you have to get the United Explorer credit card for the early boarding and pay for the Economy Plus seat to have a reasonable experience. The equipment I fly on is mostly new with clean cabins.
I like JetBlue the best but they're not in my current travel pattern. The Airbus has a wider seat. They haven't resorted to 30" seat pitch.
I don't fly American or Delta much at the moment. One US Airways Boston/Philly round trip last summer. I used to be Chairman's Preferred on US Airways so I've seen it all with total service breakdowns in Philly. It doesn't seem to have changed putting American logo on the jet. I used to fly American on a lot of international flights. Boston/Miami/Santiago Chile quite a few times. Quite a few Europe flights. It's fine. It's been a very long time since I've flown Delta anywhere but Atlanta. Not a great airport and that probably soils my opinion about the airline.
I fly Air Canada a lot. It's far better than any US carrier. The US seems to be a race to the bottom for service and quality of the experience.
I usually fly out of Houston's main airport, where United has 80% of the flights (last I heard). The flights have generally been OK and it helps that I almost always fly business class (I don't have kids, so who am I going to leave money to?). So, I fly in a comfortable seat, but I gotta say, the "food" included in the ticket price is rather pathetic. I just flew from San Francisco to Houston in biz class and the only food offering was a dry hamburger. That's a far cry from the food on the old Continental. But ... at least I didn't have to rest my old carcass on one of those Economy seats. Has our country gone so far downhill that Economy seats can't be comfortable? I don't really care about food service, but I don't want to arrive at my destination with a sore back.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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I fly SWA several times / week, and have never had someone 'trick-the-system' into early boarding, and frequently those who are 'confused' / mistakenly out of sequence - get sent back to their rightful positions. But... I do see plenty trying to get ETB (extra time boarding) pre-board status, tho few are successful. (You can ALWAYS pay for early boarding when you buy your ticket)
I have never had a less than clean / modern plane on SWA and frequently get brand new 800's on the routing I travel (I do not prefer 800's as the overhead bin lids drop DOWN (in your face / hit your head). The high quantity short routes (<1hr) and quick turns (10 minutes) cause a few planes to get a little more dirty during the day (peanuts on the floor). I have NEVER found a SWA flight crew to be less than totally responsive to any needs of service. (i.e. I could ask them to clean my space and they would do it, or relocate me).
SWA did 7 changes at the gate for me in ONE day last week, so I was pretty pleased. I made all my connections, in spite of aircraft being pulled out of service.
UA and Alaska has often done the same. I have been granted 'honored' ticket on competing carriers when TSA messed things up.
Flying is quite successful, in spite of complexities.
Spirit has been the ONLY carrier I have been rudely responded from. And that filters from their CEO who has that same attitude.
Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza responding internally via email about a complaint from an unhappy Spirit customer who wanted a refund. Baldanza’s thoughts on his customer:
I complain about SWA some, but I keep flying it... the positives outweigh the negatives. I'd like to have assigned seats, but the absence of change fees is more important.
And in fact, I flew on SWA this afternoon (BUR to SFO). There were about 50 empty seats on the aircraft, so a hint to those who have travel flexibility: fly mid-day mid-week if you can!
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