Best and worst airline and flight you've ever flown on?

[MORS-AB-ALTO]

Best flight in coach was on a brand new British Airways 777 with the Dutch tail from LHR to JFK. Great service, pilot walking the aisle to meet everyone and my smoothest landing ever!

Best flight in business/first class was on a United 767-200 from LHR-JFK. American was on strike at the time and they arranged the alternative flight for me. Got my boarding card and my row number was 11 and I didn't even realize it. While at security the boarding agent was like you can go over there to expedited line. Now I realize I have a first class ticket so I'm very psyched. I board the plane get situated after grabbing a Champagne Mimosa and relax in this huge seat. About 5 minutes later a another flight attendant comes by and ask top see my ID and then explains that they made a mistake and there are 2 Robert Holm's on the flight and I'm in coach. OUCH! She is pretty apologetic about the whole thing and escorts me to my middle row seat in the 30's. But before leaving she tells me if she has room in business class she'll come back for me. Luckily seconds before we push back she calls me back up and I thoroughly enjoy the best 6 hour sleep I've ever had on an airplane.



The worst flight I experienced was on AirTran back in 1999. From New Orleans to Miami. The gate attendant doubling as a tug driver should have tipped me off. I've got the entire first row of business class all to myself on the very weathered DC-9. In fact there are 3 different sets of seats in business class, another warning, and the closest person is 2 rows behind me. There is no complete cockpit door with an opening on the top and or bottom, it could have been a curtain for all I remember because I could hear the pilot and co-pilot so clearly during the flight.

We take off and are climbing to cruising altitude over Lake Pontchartrain when I hear a pop. I hear a warning indicator in the cockpit and it goes away after a few moments. Then I hear the pilot talking to ATC about a return to MSY. The plane make a few gentle turns back in the direction of the airport and shortly after that the we hear the pilot come over the PA sating there is a small problem and we are returning to New Orleans. Everything is normal until the gear comes down and we set up for approach. At this I start hearing a wide array of whistles, sirens and vocal alerts coming from the cockpit. There were at least 4 different sounds with the best one being "Danger pull up" WA WA WA "Danger pull up" in a pseudo calm computerized female voice. And I'm pretty much the only one on the plane who can hear this because of my proximity to the cockpit.

After landing pretty hard and a long taxi back to the gate the pilot announced it was a small problem that one of their mechanics was going to fix and have us back in the air in about 30 minutes. I'm like get me the hell out of this plane and just before I inform a flight attendant I want off the pilot comes over the PA saying the problem is worse than he thought and we will be delayed at least 2 hours, but they are working on getting a replacement aircraft. I have no time to wait as I have to be in Miami to pick-up my girlfriend at the time and her mom on a flight from Barranquilla. So as soon as I get off the plane I find the next flight to Miami is an American one leaving in 20 minutes so I buy a one way ticket for almost $600 and get outta Dodge as quickly as possible.

To round things up after I got to MIA i figured I would go to the AirTran desk and get a refund for my unused fully refundable business class ticket while waiting for the flight from Colombia. I wait patiently in line and once I get to the counter I start explaining my experience in New Orleans to the ticket agent and I would like a refund. He tells me I'm checked in on the flight, which stall has not left MSY and he cannot refund it. I again explain to him and his supervisor about my nightmare a few hours ago and they don't budge. So then with a packed line of people behind me waiting to check in I start saying rather loudly maybe everyone here would like to hear my little story making special emphasis on the "Danger pull up" part. Surprise! A manager shows up almost immediately with nothing but apologies and refunds my entire round-trip purchase and gives me some bonus travel vouchers which I used sometime later after they upgraded their fleet.

[Winglets747]

Worst: Spirit LGA-MCO in 2003. The flight was on one of the old, old, old MD-80s. Seats had zero cushioning and I could feel the tray table (from the row behind me) in my back. Since then, I'm glad to report their A319s and A321s are much better.

I've also had one bad inter-Africa flight, but I suppose there the flight was an experience to remember.

Best: UA p.s. is pretty sweet, any VS flight is great, flew AA MIA-JFK on a 762 and managed to get one of the biz seats sold as econ. PAL YVR-LAS was also pretty good, as was AF's 77W JFK-CDG.

-Will

[cancidas]

best: LO business class on a 763ER nonstop KJFK to EPWA. food was great, as was the free alcohol. FAs were very accomodating and i really enjoyed being able to speak to someone in my native language.



worst: WN on a 733 from dallas love to KPHX. seats were dirty and smelled funky, FAs were rude and unprofesional. on yea, i really don't liek bneing treated like cattle.

[bonanzabucks]

Tough to say "best" or "worst", but I can say really good or really bad.

The good:

JAL JFK-GRU
KAL JFK-ICN
AC International YYC-LHR (domestic service sucks , but they have a good international product)
VS JFK-LHR
CAL EWR-GRU (Best US airline for international service)
CP (Canadian Airlines, no longer exists, but was the best North American airline period for both domestic and international. What a shame they no longer exist)
B6 SEA-JFK (I think the best domestic product now, but I am still pissed off they didn't hire me)

The bad:

AC Domestic (piss-poor service now. It used to be a good airline)
NWA MSP-LGA
LH FRA-YYZ (HORRIBLE)
LH FRA-ATH
OA JFK-ATH (probably the worst airline in Europe)
UAL JFK-HKG (supposedly, they're good to Asia, but I can assure you they're not. Out of all the airlines in the bankrupcy court, I wouldn't shed a tear if they folded)

[Alex T]

worst: WN on a 733 from dallas love to KPHX. seats were dirty and smelled funky, FAs were rude and unprofesional. on yea, i really don't liek bneing treated like cattle.

and How on earth did you fly from DAL-PHX? ;)

Where did you change planes? HOU, OKC or ABQ?

Sorry they weren't good for you, you met a rare crew unless you think cheering, and chatty F/A are considered rude :P

Never been treated like cattle on them, sorry.

Alex

[Nonstop2AUH]

So much of the travel experience today is random that it's hard to say that any one airline is much better than another, it can depend on weather, security situation, day of the week, time of the day, attitude of the crew, condition and type of aircraft allocated to the sector, where you get seated, etc etc.

That said, pre 9/11 I had some truly amazing experiences with Gulf Air and British Airways. With Gulf Air it was mostly about the extremely friendly cabin crew, which I think is a hallmark of smaller airlines or airlines from small countries. With BA it involved some in-flight cockpit visits (yes kids, this was possible in the good old days), most memorably being invited to sit on the jumpseat for a landing in DXB aboard one of the first 777s (G-ZZZA) when she was still quite new. Wherever they are now, thanks to Adrian (Capt.) and Sean (FO) for an experience I will never forget!

[hiss srq]

Jump seat is defineately the way to go I got jumpseat once on an undisclosed airline's A-310 ::cough lovebirds::cough in 2002 from ATL to Montego Bay. Quite the enjoyable experince. The captain was very very informed and gave me a great deal of advice being a student pilot at the time.

[Mateo]

Best flight: 05Aug94 LY?? JFK-TLV 744 4X-ELB (look to the left). My first time to Israel, my first time on a 747, the whole El Al experience, and a magical sunrise over France, which I got to see because I was trapped out of my seat by the prayer service that was going on! Plus, back then, the upper deck was set up as 3x3 coach, so it was like having your own tiny cabin on the enormous plane. PTVs (very new and nifty in 1994 on this 4-month-old plane), songs that I still remember from the IFE selection (Penny Lane, among others), and the oft-mocked, yet somehow always special clapping on landing. It was 12 years ago last week, and I still remember it like it was yesterday.

Honourable mention: 22Feb02 AC316 YUL-PHL CRJ C-FVKM. The most thoroughly improbable series of events came together to make this flight very, very memorable.

Worst flight: Like pretty much everyone else, my bad flights are more customer service fiascos than actual bad flights. The winner is probably 12Apr01 AC744 YUL-LGA DC9 C-FTMC. I was booked into Newark, which was cancelled. I was given a choice of Newark 6 hours from then or LGA in an hour and a half. I chose the LGA flight, sat for an hour and a half in a ground stop, couldn't eat anything served on board because it was Passover, and spent an hour being rocked around before shooting an ILS 13 close to mins (broke out right over Rikers) at LaGuardia. At least Air Canada bussed us over to Newark, which they didn't do for my sister when AC did the exact same thing to her a few months later.

HM: 03Nov04 WN494 CLE-BWI 733 N655WN. Nothing wrong with this flight, but after 106 hours of non-stop work for the Kerry-Edwards campaign in Cuyahoga County (including 5 whole hours of sleep over the 2 days prior), I couldn't have been more depressed heading out of Ohio.

06Oct00 AC316 YUL-PHL CRJ C-FZSI. Dear Matthew, Don't fly hungover ever again. Love, Your Body.

I also vaguely remember fiascos on Braniff (III) and Carnival flying FLL-EWR in 1992-ish and 1994, respectively, but don't remember enough about them to expound.

[FlyingColors]

Best:
UAL on a 741 SFO to HNL in 1977.
When you boarded the whole Hawaii experience started right way. Along with the leis came one meal after another, all with complementary champagne. And this was in coach! Generous leg room, friendly staff.

Runner up:
AA on a 707, EWR to SJU in 1978. First class upgrade. Elegant service. (Note to Tommy-this was before Deregulation)

Honorable mention:
Any flight on National, Eastern or Piedmont, all good. Alitalia too.

Modern Best:
Jetblue EWR-ORL, superb product!
Virgin EWR-EGGL

Worst:
AF 742, JFK-PAR, 1980. Condescending, rude crew. Went out of there way to make a miserable flight.

CO 727-200, EWR-PBI. It was Dec 25 1994. Had purchased tickets 6 months in advanced. Was flying down to see my parents on Christmas and was bringing the girlfriend. We get to EWR with 1.5 before departure. The terminal is a ghost town...except for my gate. Find out were both bump off, and the flight is leaving an hour early. Gate agent said were late, and the tried to call us, at two different homes. We never received a message on either answering machine. Never got an apology, discount, coupons or complementary ticket. Worthless SOB

CO 757-300, EWR-LAX, 2005
Rude staff, dog-food not fit for a dog, preposterous seats, cramped, no head or legroom. IFE system half inop and from the stone age.
Return flight 757-200, same as above including the yet another shot IFE. On both flights the isle was packed with pax stretching and trying not to get a blood clot.

HEY CO-LOOSE THE "MYSTERY MUFFIN", AND GET SOME SEATS THAT PEOPLE CAN RESEMBLE AS A SITTING POSITION WITHOUT REQUIRING A VISIT TO THE CHIROPRACTOR! HOW ABOUT DOING THE IFE SYSTEMS FROM THE LATE 90'S. ANYTHING IS AN IMPROVEMENT SINCE WHEN YOU HIT BOTTOM YOU CAN ONLY GO UP!

[Iberia A340-600]

Best:

KLM 777-200, JFK-AMS, November 2005. Great service the entire flight, comfortable seats, great food, great IFE product with AVOD, and of course the fact that I was able to visit the cockpit in flight made things a whole lot better!

Air France 747-400, JFK-CDG, Summer 1999. Got to JFK 20 minutes before flight closing and were able to still check in but the check in lady was whisked away on business and forgot about us so we missed the flight. They were very appologetic and gave us passes to the business class lounge and business class seats. Best 7 hour flight ever!

Worst: (Sorry Tommy)

TWA 767-300, JFK-MXP, Summer 2000. Horrible and rude flight attendants, seated in the middle row, crappy seats, bumpy flight, and horrible food that gave me food poisoning.

TWA 757-200, JFK-SJU, Spring 1999. LONG lines at Terminal 5 that made us miss are flight and then miss the second flight to SJU, had to stay in a hotel over night, next morning got bumped off of are re-scheduled flight, got first class but spilled orange juice and flight attendant want crazy on me and started screaming at me.

[Nonstop2AUH]

hiss that's a great story, hopefully your lovebird boys weren't already flying before they left the gate!

[hiss srq]

ha ha ha ha lmao

[Nonstop2AUH]

Gives a whole new meaning to "smoke in the cockpit"