# AirTran has Best OTP for November, 2014 in the USA



## Nanook (Jan 13, 2015)

AirTran had the best OTP for November. 2014 in the US. Envoy, a subsidiary of American Airlines, had the worst.

Too bad AirTran no longer exists.

From Canadian Business, http://www.canadianbusiness.com/business-news/airtran-hawaiian-and-delta-top-us-on-time-ratings-american-subsidiary-envoy-arrives-last/


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## railiner (Jan 13, 2015)

Back then, Envoy had a serious morale problem....American Airlines Group, its owner, was on a course to end Envoy as an airline, and reinvent it as a ground services provider.

This as a result of its pilots union refusing to accept certain new contract terms. The union finally gave in to the Company's demands, and was immediately rewarded with restoration of flights, and orders for new larger regional aircraft, as well as a "pipeline" into moving up to AA mainline pilot position's, ahead of all other's.

I would look to see a significant improvement in Envoy's next performance evaluation, as a result....


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jan 13, 2015)

Hawaiian is probably the best US airline right now, which is somewhat disappointing because Hawaiian isn't on the continental US. I hope Hawaiian continues their aggressive expansion westward.


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## Blackwolf (Jan 13, 2015)

Swadian Hardcore said:


> Hawaiian is probably the best US airline right now, which is somewhat disappointing because Hawaiian isn't on the continental US. I hope Hawaiian continues their aggressive expansion westward.


Don't you mean eastward?


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## Anderson (Jan 13, 2015)

Swadian Hardcore said:


> Hawaiian is probably the best US airline right now, which is somewhat disappointing because Hawaiian isn't on the continental US. I hope Hawaiian continues their aggressive expansion westward.


I'm going to disagree with you there. Granted, I have less access to Hawaiian since I'm on the East Coast, but as far as I can tell, Virgin's First offering is substantially better than Hawaiian's (though at least Hawaiian has a First product that isn't a blatant insult to the concept of First).


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jan 13, 2015)

I don't fly First, I fly Economy. And yes, I do mean westward, because I want them to put more flights across the Pacific. Virgin America doesn't fly across the Pacific.


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## Devil's Advocate (Jan 13, 2015)




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## Swadian Hardcore (Jan 13, 2015)

Of course Qantas did crash, but only a very long time ago.


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## XHRTSP (Jan 14, 2015)

Envoy is a sinking ship, they'll be lucky to make any list in another year or two.


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## Anderson (Jan 14, 2015)

As far as economy goes...yeah, Hawaiian and Alaska seem to hold a high standard. Same with Virgin as far as I can tell, and I've heard few people speak ill of Southwest; JetBlue seems to be in a bit of limbo with the recent changes. That _seems_ to be about the end of the good operators, though...I've got basically nothing good to say about Delta (my experience being with an unmanned ticket desk, among other joys, in SLC...if I'm not mistaken I ended up having to pull the booking up on my computer to enter it into the kiosk) and I've generally been advised that American and United aren't much better.


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jan 14, 2015)

Unfortunately, for us international flyers, there's American, United, and Delta, and that's it. There's always foreign airlines to fly, but out of Reno, one will have to switch airlines.


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## railiner (Jan 14, 2015)

XHRTSP said:


> Envoy is a sinking ship, they'll be lucky to make any list in another year or two.


Up until the signing of the recent new agreement, I would agree with you. Envoy was well on its way to becoming what once was "AMR Services"....a ground service provider to other airlines. But the recent signing indicates that AAG has reversed that plan.

Time will tell........


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## railiner (Jan 14, 2015)

Anderson said:


> Swadian Hardcore said:
> 
> 
> > Hawaiian is probably the best US airline right now, which is somewhat disappointing because Hawaiian isn't on the continental US. I hope Hawaiian continues their aggressive expansion westward.
> ...


American does offer a very nice Premium Class (F) on its three-class transcontinental flights between NY and California......


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## neroden (Jan 14, 2015)

When flying abroad, *always* take the airline from the foreign country. US airlines are consistently the worst, and this has been true for over 30 years.

Getting to the international airport is another matter, unfortunately.


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## jis (Jan 14, 2015)

Swadian Hardcore said:


> Of course Qantas did crash, but only a very long time ago.


Yep. Last fatality in 1951, a de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover. Last hull loss but with no fatality in 1960, a Lockheed Super Constellation.

In 2008 they came within a hair's breadth of a catastrophe involving a A380, but fortunately things transpired in a more benign way.


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## jis (Jan 14, 2015)

neroden said:


> When flying abroad, *always* take the airline from the foreign country. US airlines are consistently the worst, and this has been true for over 30 years.


Depends on the country and airline we are talking about.  I would not go so far as to say the US airlines are the worst in the world. They are not, but they are somewhere in the middle of the pack, nowhere near the best either.


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## Bob Dylan (Jan 14, 2015)

I'm with jis who has a wee bit of International travel on his resume!

I don't fly anymore when I can help it ( exceptions are for Emergencies and to Canada and Mexico)but back in the day I was a million mile flyer and did get around a bit as the Brits say!

There are some Classic Horror Stories about foreign airlines ( some are even true! LOL), especially about third world countries flag ship airlines, and even such majors as Air India and AreoMexico that are now OK!

Areoflot ( USSR) was the one I tried to avoid @ all costs and still would!! YMMV


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## Devil's Advocate (Jan 14, 2015)

jis said:


> neroden said:
> 
> 
> > When flying abroad, *always* take the airline from the foreign country. US airlines are consistently the worst, and this has been true for over 30 years.
> ...


What's amazing to me is that there's no such a thing as a truly exceptional US airline even though we've been home to the world's largest airline market for decades. US airlines differ in various minor ways but for the most part flying one US airline is a lot like flying any or all of them. None of them seem to know or care how to make the experience substantially better than any of the rest. For a long time I was a fan of Southwest thanks to their combination of quick point-to-point routing, relatively reasonable close-in fares, and simple change structure. Now that Southwest is joining everyone else in putting the squeeze on seat pitch I'm wondering how long before they become just another run of the mill legacy. Virgin America would seem to be an interesting option but they only fly to a handful of destinations and don't serve my home airport. I'm not even sure if they support international interlining in the formal sense.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Jan 14, 2015)

Swadian Hardcore said:


> Unfortunately, for us international flyers, there's American, United, and Delta, and that's it. There's always foreign airlines to fly, but out of Reno, one will have to switch airlines.



Making the switch can be worth it! Even in Economy the likes of Cathay Pacific, Emirates and even Turkish deliver a much better product than their US counterparts. Domestic First in this country is quite sad over the weekend I flew 2 segments in F on American and US I was served more food on a shorter flight in Economy on Laos Airlines than I was in F on AA. Just the way it is these days.


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jan 14, 2015)

Long Train Runnin' said:


> Swadian Hardcore said:
> 
> 
> > Unfortunately, for us international flyers, there's American, United, and Delta, and that's it. There's always foreign airlines to fly, but out of Reno, one will have to switch airlines.
> ...


But not Air China! Poor service and got sick after a flight with them. Not everybody can fly with Cathay, Emirates, or Turkish, it's all about the routing. The airlines from South Korea seem to have good service but poor safety records, as with the airlines from Taiwan. Since airlines from those two countries seem to be repeatedly rated the worst in safety, I'd rather not fly with them, even though they're still much safer than any other mode of transport. ANA or Japan Airlines, though, yes please! But their fares are often expensive.


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## tp49 (Jan 14, 2015)

jis said:


> Swadian Hardcore said:
> 
> 
> > Of course Qantas did crash, but only a very long time ago.
> ...


 And how can we forget what really should have been a hull loss in Qantas flight 1 that overran the runway at Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok.


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## Devil's Advocate (Jan 14, 2015)

Cathay Pacific is great in first class but if you’re tall it is unlikely you can fit comfortably in their economy pitch. On a transpacific flight that can be a bit of a problem. In the past taller passengers traveling on Asian carriers were often offered seats in emergency rows and bulkheads but that is no longer the SOP on many carriers. Today premium economy is offered as the solution for taller passengers, at a cost that can double the base economy rate. Even assuming you’re willing to pay the difference it nonetheless remains difficult to interline premium economy services across multiple carriers which further dilutes the potential value. It’s true that Emirates and Turkish Airlines have superior service to US airlines but they also come with a whole host of moral and ethical dilemmas if you read much about how the countries from which they hail operate.


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## Metra Electric Guest (Jan 15, 2015)

This was about 15-20 years ago and a friend of mine flew on the Laotian airline and had to fortify herself with vodka to get onboard - the ex-Aeroflot planes were something. They apparently had two planes at the time, a turboprop and a jet. The turboprop was fine, but the jet apparently was to the point that there were gaps one could see through in the fuselage (exaggeration I'm sure).

Last year a friend flew to Morocco on RAM (Royal Air Moroc I think) and on the flight back there were fistfights at check-in, no control of carry-on's, leading to loss of lavatories for storage and the pleasure of the overhead bins ALL opening upon takeoff!

All that just to put things in perspective. I remember LOT in the 80's and drunk Danes lighting up while we were on the tarmac in Warsaw waiting to deplane. That was something...


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