Just how bad is airline service

[Joel/ak]

One thing you gotta do is research the partners of the airline you are flying on.

For instance I was a contractor for delta. I was stuck in DFW for a maintenance delay. I was told by the time the aircraft was ready, I will have missed my flight to Anchorage out of SLC.

I called my station manager and he told me AK Air had open seats out of dfw to sea and then onto Anchorage, in the same night.

I mentioned the availability to the ticket counter and dang if I wasn't flying home that night.

Research everything

 

[Hughman]

It is annoying and I do hate it but I'm not driving back home to SC from Reno.

I would. Driven from California to New Orleans a couple of times in the last few years to see family. I'll take a road trip any day over the current cattle call that airlines have become.

 

[bmg88201]

American is the pits and what I’ve read, is rated near the bottom for punctuality and lost bags. A few years back when I was flying to NM, the lady at the ticket counter wanted my passport. I said I don’t need a passport to fly to New Mexico. She was insistent, I said “it’s the 47th freaking state, it’s in between Texas and Arizona!!!” She actually had to get someone else to help me. Stupid is as stupid does.

 

[Joel/ak]

Ticket counter folks usually aren't that stupid, they may not go out of their way to help you but not that stup....dang, NM is no longer domestic...that's funny

 

[dodge man]

You don’t fly and you don’t drive? Do you just stay home?

I flew from Minneapolis to Phoenix last month without a hiccup.

We drive.

 

[bmg88201]

When I go back home to Roswell (alien land) in June, if American screws up my flights again. I’ll call the mothership and have the freaking planet vaporized. Nothing personal.

 

[MossRoad]

We flew to Vegas in January. We took Allegiant. They are all direct flights to destination cities, so no layovers. However, they only go a couple days per week. Not daily. Soooo.... we get on the plane at 9:00pm. They de-ice the plane, and then it has "an indicator light problem". So they push us back to the gate and we deplane and wait for the mechanic. Everybody runs down to the airport bar. It's closed and so is the snack bar, because we were the last flight out that night, and all workers went home. There are no drinks available. The airline is supposed to give us some, but they can't bring any through TSA because.... we were the last flight out that night, and all the TSA staff went home. Eventually they got a Sherif to get the drinks and bring it through a secure area.

The way Allegiant is set up, the crew lives in the destination city. Vegas, Disney areas, etc. They fly out and back once or twice a day, and then they're out of time. They can't fly any more that day. They don't have spare planes or crews they can send in a reasonable amount of time. So you either wait for the plane to get fixed and hope the crew has enough time left that day, or you wait until the plane is fixed and wait for them to sleep X hours, or you try and book on another airline tomorrow.

Fortunately, mechanic shows up, corrects the issue, and we take off 3 hours late. Since there's no connecting flights, things work out OK, we're just a bit more tired before we hit the town.

Otherwise, I've never had problems with Allegiant's service. That was a mechanical issue and could happen to any airline.

I'd recommend them if they are available in or near your area, and if they are going someplace you want to go.

 

[ZTMAN]

I try to avoid flying. Aside from the airline hassle, the TSA swarmed my wife and took her into a screening room. They thought the fudge we were bring back from WI was plastic explosive. They were not very nice about it either.

 

[MossRoad]

My wife had to fly Delta a few times, and had some bad experiences. Somewhere in that timeframe, someone gave her a phone number, and ever since then, she calls it, they straighten things out, and she's on the next available flight. We have no idea who that person is, but they treat her like, well, a good customer.

 

[MossRoad]

I try to avoid flying. Aside from the airline hassle, the TSA swarmed my wife and took her into a screening room. They thought the fudge we were bring back from WI was plastic explosive. They were not very nice about it either.

I get frisked and "special attention" every time I fly. Must be my appearance or they just like feeling up Hungarians.

My wife and kids walk right through. I always leave my belt in my luggage and wear slip on shoes and take just my wallet, phone and car key in my pocket. I know I'm gonna get undressed by TSA, so I just plan for it and wear my Burger King underwear.