Ranking of America's Best Airlines

[Speedbird1]

I've always liked statistics. I was searching for which airliner has the most daily flights to JFK. I think it's either JBU or AAL. Instead, I got a ranking of best US Airliners from Forbes Magazine. It's supposed to be based on passenger complaints, on-time performance and mishandled baggage. #1 is Virgin America, #2 JBU, but #3 surprised me as it's AirTran (as everybody I know who flew AirTran said it was terrible). #4 is Delta. UAL is at the bottom as #14. Spirit and several others are not even mentioned. The entire list can be Googled at www.forbes.com (http://www.forbes.com). Do you guys agree with this list? I don't agree with everything listed but I wanted the forums input. Should we take this list with a grain of salt? Just wondering. :confused:

[megatop412]

I flew Air Tran in 2005 and had no problems myself. Personally I don't believe any 'surveys' you see in magazines or on the internet, I believe they make up the data in order to get ratings/clicks

[lijk604]

United, while not the best, is definitely not the worst. I've had more customer service issues with the folks at Delta than anywhere else. Southwest has been good to me, as well as jetBlue. I get to try Virgin America next week, so expectations are high.

Honestly though, I feel these surveys are skewed. Remember, you can always make statistics look the way you want.

[Zee71]

Here are some more statistics to keep your mind occupied
http://www.faa.gov/data_research/aviation_data_statistics/

[Mateo]

The Port puts out some pretty detailed stats, too. The 2012 traffic report is available at http://www.panynj.gov/airports/pdf-traffic/ATR2012.pdf

[Speedbird1]

Thanks. Interesting but can't find a list of which airliner has the most flights into JFK, LGA or EWR. As a spotter, I believe JBU would be #1 at JFK, followed by AAL then DAL, but somewhere there must be a listing. My ranking could be way-off.

[Gintaras B.]

Skytrax - Airline Rating and Airline Reviews, Airport Rating and Reviews, Airline Seat Reviews, Airline Lounge Reviews and the official Skytrax global Airline ... (http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/seats.htm)

JetBlue & Virgin America - have 4-Star ratings, rest - 3-Star....

[gonzalu]

I usually have a WONDERFUL in-fligth experience with very professional pilots and crew in general on all the major US airlines I have flown:

United
jetBlue
Virgin America
Delta
USAir

I can't remember the last time I flew American airlines. My favorite airline was Continental for OVERALL experience. By overall, I mean the scheduling, prices, ability to stick to the original plan, lack of changes last minute, good and working equipment, etc.

Lately, I have flown a couple of times on Delta and US Air which were not on-purpose... happened to be the only choices. Delta was great all around while USAir made it clear why I do not like them. They did everythign in their power to make me feel like an idiot and a lamb. The In-Flight experience, once again, excellent. I feel as if the pilots and air crew are a different breed and have their own standards. While they are influenced by corporate, the main goal is customer service and flying the plane in a good efficient and smooth way to satisfy your need to get to point b.

Best experience for me so far ever has been on KLM First Class from JFK to AMS. Will be hard to top them.

Domestically, jetBlue and Virgin have given me consistent excellent overall experiences. I fly Continental/United far more (most of my points are there and for business travel, I will usually keep rackign up points with them) and while their prices are never the lowest, overall experience to miles flown ratio goes to them. jetBlue ONCE really screwed up with a vacation to DR. While they eventually got me to the island, it wasn't without a hard fought fight.

Virgin has always been great overall. But unfortunately only flown them a few times.

Finally, I may be considering a switch to Delta from United as my preferred go to airline. Given that United is Star Alliance, I can no longer enjoy the old Continental Club (Skyteam) though American Express. My recent trip to LAX was flown on Delta (thanks Phil) and I got to enjoy the Sky Club which was a great experience. I am NOT happy with the distance you now have to travel to get to the new Delta gates at JFK T4 though... and I prefer KEWR to KJFK as far as accessibility from home.

[Delta777LR]

I still say the best airlines i flew with are

Delta
JetBlue
Continental
Northwest

I never had any unknown bad experience with any. Even flying on Delta on the JFK-LAX-JFK the service was pretty super..

[PhilDernerJr]

I like JetBlue and Delta the most, and I certainly agree that United is the worst, more so than Spirit.