# US Airline Roundup for 2018



## Devil's Advocate (Dec 27, 2018)

In the past year I've flown Alaska, American, Delta, Southwest, and United.  These are my thoughts on those experiences.

*Alaska:*  Alaska Premium Class is fine but the main problem is that Alaska only fly to Seattle from my home airport.  You can also get to Portland from AUS but that airport is two excruciating hours of stop-and-go traffic away and really overcrowded.  They also killed Virgin America, which annoyed me, but that airline never flew to my home airport either so maybe it's not such a big loss in that regard.  Although Alaska is highly regarded in the soft service rating I've found them to be similar to other US airlines.

*American:*  The updated Main Cabin Extra service is slowly winning me over.  I'm not normally a fan of regional jets but with MCE on the current CR7 layout you can get plenty of legroom and only one immediate neighbor.  That's a very simple and easy decision for me.  Intrastate connecting flights are a bit more claustrophobic but they only last fifty minutes so no biggie.  I also find DFW to be a better airport than IAH so they have that benefit as well.  The main areas where AA has disappointed me in the past revolve around lackluster staff performance, dingy airport furnishings, and sudden/premature service abandonment.  Hopefully they stick with the current setup since it works well for my current needs, but they've left me high and dry before (MRTC).

*Delta:  *Comfort Plus is a reasonable option for domestic/regional flights, and it's super easy to buy with it's own booking code, although it's typically priced well above American's similarly tiered MCE service.  Their nonstop options are more varied and widespread than they used to be (for where I live anyway).  Comfort Plus is not so great for transatlantic/transpacific flights.  Buying two CP seats on the outer walls of a moderately sized intercontinental aircraft (767/787/A330) would probably work well but you're nearing business class fares at that point.  In the past Delta's marriage to ATL made them logistically unsuitable for many of my trips, and they're still impractical for nearby city pairs, but their network seems to be growing over time.  The last time I thought Delta was screwing with me I abandoned them for more than a decade.  I feel better about them now, but I haven't forgotten how I felt about them back then.

*Southwest:  *Although I prefer Southwest's much simpler baggage fees and rebooking rules their "modernized" seat pitch adjustments have ruined a great product and I'm just about done with them.  After they shoved the seats into petite sized rows to make room for even more passengers it has become a major pain to fly them.  Under the current Southwest booking and boarding model there is simply no way to guarantee a seat with legroom suitable for a taller adult and that is going to remove them from future consideration of all but the shortest trips.

*United:  *I previously said I would never fly UA again and for the most part that remains true.  I did use up some otherwise forfeited monkey points on a single positioning flight in 2018.  If we set aside my issues with UA's corporate culture the primary problem is that their E+ product is outdated, overpriced, and underwhelming relative to their competition.  As of a few weeks ago that was still as true today as it's ever been.  Nonetheless their planes are always packed to the walls (in my experience) so I guess they don't feel terribly motivated to do much in the way of timely improvements.  On my most recent UA trip the staff seemed to be going out of their way to thank me for some sort of obscure status level that either doesn't exist or doesn't mean anything.  It was awkward but harmless.

*Allegiant:* Not considered due to reputation and lack of tall passenger seating.

*Frontier:* No longer considered due to reputation and lack of tall passenger seating option.

*Spirit:* Not considered due to reputation and lack of tall passenger seating option (being removed).

Those are my thoughts anyway.  How about the rest of you?


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## VAtrainfan (Dec 27, 2018)

I only flew once this year but adding last year's flights to the mix, my experience is similar to yours. I have never flown Alaska, however. They don't serve any airport anywhere near me.

Delta has by far the most service to my home airport so I use them most often, and they have become my favorite. The thing I like about their Comfort Plus product is that the seats themselves are actually more comfortable than regular coach. That makes it worth paying for even when you're 5'6" and don't need the legroom. United's E+ seats are the same hard benches as the rest of the plane, the only thing your E+ fare gets you is a couple more inches of legroom. But one reason to like United is their mileage relationship with Amtrak 

I too am done with Southwest, but for different reasons. I liked their onboard product but their ground staff were consistently rude, dismissive, and routinely destroyed my luggage. And their fares are usually the most expensive to anywhere not named Orlando. Besides, their service from Norfolk has been cut so much that unless I'm going to Orlando, I have to fly to BWI and wait 4 hours for a connection to anywhere.


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## jis (Dec 27, 2018)

United has no mileage relationship with Amtrak. They just have a Lounge relationship. The mileage relationship went away when AGR changed to BofA AFAIR.


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## VTTrain (Dec 27, 2018)

I love first class in the E-175.  2-1 seating and a dedicated toilet.  The lack of overhead storage is the only drawback   

CRJs don’t have a dedicated first class toilet, which is really annoying.  

It’s very difficult these days to get an actual meal in first class.


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## Anderson (Dec 27, 2018)

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/mileageplus/earn-miles/amtrak.html
The relationship is limited, but it's there.

As to my preferences, Virgin America was my preferred airline.  Alaska's mishandling of that (I would have basically admitted that it was a defensive acquisition and left VX doing its own thing _a la_ the C&O/B&O merger) has given me an axe to grind.  I've flown Delta, United, American, and JetBlue in the last few years (no Southwest or Alaska for me...Alaska per above, Southwest since they really don't fit my patterns).  Here's what I've got:
-United is rather "meh" in some respects, but having United Club access is nice and despite it being a 2-2-2 layout I did enjoy my ride on their 787.  Even getting free Silver from Marriott isn't going to convert me to flying them regularly.  United doesn't fly into PHF (though they serve ORF and RIC).  I've heard that their IT sometimes has a mental breakdown (in a good way as well as the usual bad ones) and if I could get *A Gold with some regularity, I would do so for the *A lounge access.
-American gets killed on SDC restrictions for me.  Their First product isn't bad, however...but it tends to be more expensive than everyone else.  My only experience with them was when I took the train into Indianapolis to take the Hoosier State (under IP) one last time and then hunkered down in a diner until it was time to catch a flight out of IND.
-JetBlue's Mint is a wonderful product, and if you can get one of the "suites", it's basically a flying roomette.  The food is good, if sometimes strange, and I enjoy the IFE setup (I've spent more than one flight mainly watching cartoons).  Unfortunately, their IT blows chunks...it cannot handle putting a Mint leg and a "regular" leg onto the same itinerary without fouling up pricing or making seats "disappear" at random, it doesn't carry your luggage allowance through, and if you have to call in to get them to un-frak themselves you get screwed on points earning with them.  They also have OTP that...well, years of taking Amtrak means that I'm usually the calmest person in the airport when _that_ happens.  I'll take Mint if the price is right and I've used them for a positioning flight before, but I'll usually use someone else to position for a Mint flight (either Amtrak or Delta, usually).
-I actually like Delta.  There's a reason I was optimistic when Anderson came over to Amtrak...Delta has a solid company culture, flexible SDC policies if you're in First, and a solid partnership with Virgin Atlantic that provides some solid earning and redemption opportunities.

Notably, Delta is the only airline that I _ever_ credit "internally" in the US (and even then, only to maintain Gold for the SDC waivers; I can pretty regularly get _far_ better earning over on Virgin Atlantic, but maintaining the SDC fee waiver is a nigh-priceless benefit).  JetBlue and United cross-credit to Singapore while American cross-credits to British Airways.

Edit: Worth noting is that often, DL's lie-flat network has been more suited to my needs.  Being able to knock the seat flat and sleep off a hangover (combined with the staff holding my breakfast for me to do so) was priceless the one time I needed to do that.  I'm trying to figure out what it would have taken for me to land somewhere else after the AS/VX merger fiasco.  Delta actually lost me _hard_ a few years before, between a gate agent frak-up at YUL and a mildly unpleasant overnight SLC-MCO flight (which was basically the Shoreliner with the lights on for most of the flight and worse BC seating)...

Also consider that I came into this from about five years of riding Amtrak cross-country, so...well...when I had to book VX for a conference amid a major railroad meltdown, getting a quote for about $1000 DCA/IAD-SFO in First seemed _reasonable_ to me, and the product _was_ worth a pretty penny.  I've had trouble working with trying to sort out cost/product expectations.


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## railiner (Dec 27, 2018)

Had my first flight on Alaska this past April.   I thought their airport and flight service was pretty nice.   

Flew on United for the first time in about 30 years in May.   They treated me pretty well, I thought...

The rest of my flights have been on AA, because.....well let's just say, "the price is right"...


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## VTTrain (Dec 27, 2018)

I’ve noticed some serious price creep with JetBlue Mint.  I agree that their IT is a hot mess.


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## GBNorman (Dec 28, 2018)

Three trips, six flights,  this year namely ORD-MIA; ORD-MUC; ORD-RIC. All were on my "go-to airline" United.

The MIA flights during January were "just what they were supposed to be; on time and without incident. Southward, I was seated next to an "ex-Con" Captain who was commanding the return flight. While the Officers (pilots) were the first major craft to get the "urge to merge" (the Attendants only came to agreement last year), he was a "bit less happy" being displaced from a CO Captain to a UA First Officer, but has since been able to hold Captain. He also showed me how to quickly distinguish an A-319 from a 20 (one emergency hatch over the wing). Otherwise my wine class was full and the Chicken pie as good as you get in First for three hours nowadays.

I would have been a "happier camper" ORD-MUC during August with them had there been a 777-300 (W) rather than the 777-222 (Q) this year. To translate from "Unitedese to English"  (W) means a Polaris configured Business Class, while (Q) is the traditional Business Class in which Polaris is simply a label. For my '17 sojourn, there was a brand new 773 (W). Unfortunately, for those souls "Aft", the additional creature comfort afforded those "Fore" comes at their expense with 3-4-3 Coach configuration.

ORD-RIC was Eastward in Econo+, but next to the bulkhead which on an ERJ-145 obviated any space advantage. But I was seated next to a nice "fiftysomething" gal joining two of her sorority sisters for a "girls weekend out". She has misplaced her Driver's License (and she was going to rent the car) and understandably upset. But I found it on the floor (something "slick" under my shoe)  - time for hugs and the Express Jet Attendant even comped both of us with wines (one each; we both had to drive). Return was seated Aft on the Left side and  single seat - the flightseeing was good.

Continuing, but off-topic, my only Amtrak trip was SFA to LOR during February. All the other eight out-of-town overnight were auto.

Finally, my 23K United points earned this year went to Fisher House - a veteran's support organization.


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## Maglev (Dec 29, 2018)

My only flights this year, as last year, were a roundtrip to Hawaii on Delta Airlines.  I prefer Delta's 757's over Alaska's 737's, and although Hawaiian has lie-flat seats for the same price, I avoid them on advice of an air-traffic controller from Maui.  We bought first-class tickets, and found the comfort and service to be good (the food was acceptable). 

I guess I should add my Kenmore Airlines Cessna Caravan flights from Eastsound to Boeing field to connect to our Hawaii flights.  Sometimes, I wonder how they make ends meet flying (often) only a few passengers at $150 each.  Even a full plane is only worth $1500.  They have to pay pilots, ground crew, facility fees, equipment, etc.  I'm not aware of any subsidies, beyond the government's providing airports.


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## Anderson (Dec 29, 2018)

Just looked them up.  I've got to admit...sometime when the Cascades get bustituted, I'd consider their downtown-to-downtown flights.


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## GBNorman (Dec 29, 2018)




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