New Data: The 10 Worst Airlines in the US 148 Comments

“I see you. I’ll get your water when I have a minute. Jesus Christ.”

Um, did… that… really just happen?

Strike three for Delta Airlines. More like strike 37. The bad service had reached the “Orbitz threshold”, where I would no longer purchase tickets from Delta, even if cheaper than the competition.

Life is too short to deal with surly nonsense, and — upon landing back in SF — I decided to poll Twitter to find out which airlines create the most collective misery. This would serve as my must-avoid list.

I also learned that two start-ups called PeopleBrowsr and Dolores Labs were simultaneously figuring out the same thing with really cool social search analysis.

Here are the results: the 10 worst airlines in the US according to customers…

Twitter + Slinkset

I used Twitter to drive people to a customized Digg-like page for the worst airlines, where companies were submitted and then voted up and down. Cast your vote here.

#1 – The Worst – Delta
Also submitted as “Delta Blows”, Delta get the ultimate F- for customer service, especially when you include the votes for Northwest Airlines (NWA) below, which they’ve absorbed into twin forces of suckiness. Bad customer service earned the Delta empire more than 30% of the total votes.

#2 – US Airways
#3 – United
#4 – American
#5 – AirTran
#6 – Northwest
#7 – Southwest
#8 – Frontier
#9 – Continental
#10 – Air France (?)

See the exact percentages here.

Of course, there are limits and weaknesses to this data-gathering approach: the availability heuristic. In other words, as commenter John Fawkes observed: are the “worst” airlines just the most commonly flown? Would we also find them at the top of the “best” list?

To make this methodology work, it seems you would have to also run a “best airlines” poll using the same method, and compare the two lists. If an airline is on the worst list and not the best list, then and only then should you declare that popular opinion has voted it down.

The data published below via Dolores Labs accounts for size differences, and their full post includes observations on the best airlines based on sentiment in tweets.

Dolores Labs

Dolores Labs — think Amazon Mechanical Turk on steroids — published the PeopleBrowsr results in beautiful graphic form. The best and worst airlines were determined through frequency analysis of positive and negative sentiment words in tweets mentioning the airlines.

Here are the worst, in descending order of Hulk-smash feelings:

#1 – The Worst – Northwest (= Delta)
#2 – US Airways
#3 – Delta
#4 – American
#5 – United

[Note that the top 5 are the same as the top 4 in the comparable Twitter poll]

#6 – Continental
#7 – Frontier
#8 – JetBlue
#9 – Alaska
#10 – Southwest (by far the best large airline, based on this analysis)

So what are ‘negative sentiment’ words? Here are a few you might have muttered yourself:

See the full Dolores Labs results and insight here. Damn, them boys have some skills with making data sexy. Check out their Fleshmap from crowdsourced sex input. But I digress…

The moral of the story? Drop the extra $30 on tickets so you don’t feel like doing this to fools:

Posted on October 1st, 2009

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148 Comments

Jak — October 1st, 2009, 7:24 am

While I know airlines in general are not strongholds of customer service, I am surprised that Delta has deteriorated so much. I used to do telephone interviews for them and their screening requirements for customer care instincts were TOUGH. I had to fail even the nicest people sometimes because of the smallest hint of bad grammar, unprofessional ideas, or a momentary, joking lapse of displaying customer focus.
Weird.
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scro — October 1st, 2009, 7:25 am

Haha nice article – it certainly doesn’t help that the poor state of the economy is forcing airlines to cut costs, thus sacrificing our safety &convenience.

Did you use wordle to create your tag cloud?
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[anon - remove company name] — October 1st, 2009, 7:33 am

Doesn’t surprise me that Southwest is tops among the big airlines. When flying, the word cheap usually results in cramped, uncomfortable, rude, boring (no TV) travel.

Love the Bruce Lee clip by the way!

Mike
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Dan Seidman — October 1st, 2009, 7:37 am

I travel a ton myself and have had bad experiences with every airline (doing out ORD-SFO-SYD this weekend on United). Wondering if the statistical data accounts for size of airline in relation to negative feedback. Should the best research account for numbers as a percentage, rather than volume of comments?
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Gordie Rogers — October 1st, 2009, 7:38 am

I’ll stick to Singapore Airlines thank you very much!
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- NMC — February 7th, 2012, 2:49 pm
  
  Absolutely! Singapore Airlines… followed very closely by Air New Zealand… would have to be the ultimate benchmark of what ‘A First Class Airline’ should be.
  - Cabin Staff who are friendly, attentive and helpful without question
  - Modern aircraft that aren’t configured like a ‘can of sardines’
  - Ground Crew and Customer Services staff who truly understand the meaning of ‘Service’
  - An overall ‘Nothing is a Problem’ attitude, no matter where you happen to be on the planet!
  
  Bottom line though… if you insist on buying cheap tickets, then you get what you pay for and complaining is really a ‘mute’ point! It;s you’re own fault
  Reply
Nathan — October 1st, 2009, 7:40 am

Hey Tim – this is great to know – I will be traveling to USA next year and was looking into booking some flights – now I know which oens to stear clear from!

My best flight experience worldwide was with Malaysian Airlines – such friendly staff and know exactly how to look after you on thier long flights to Europe!

It would be interesting to know what people are thinking of the airlines in Europe as well?

/ Nathan
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- Susan — October 8th, 2011, 8:33 am
  
  Nathan I know this is out of date to help you choose an airline to fly transatlantic but Lufthansa was voted the best intercontinental airline for 2011 for outstanding customer service and quality…I loathe Delta having been on the receiving end of so many bad experiences their complete lack of customer care has dished out! I will never fly Delta again! Am going to do my homework every time I fly and find an airline who understands that if your customers are unhappy one, one they will leave!
  Reply
Caleb - Double Your Gains — October 1st, 2009, 7:40 am

That IS What I feel like doing when I’m frustrated on airlines

Will definitely take this info into consideration when I book my flight to thailand!

LAter,
Caleb
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JF — October 1st, 2009, 7:45 am

I don’t fly often, but I went from Montreal (Canada) to Guangzhou (China) last year on a Northwest Airline plane and I must say their service was A1. The staff was polite and helpful, and even the food was good. They exceeded my expectactions. Maybe I was lucky. If they rank among the worst, I cannot imagine what the best one are doing.
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Bob F — October 1st, 2009, 7:48 am

Yes these airlines have definitely taken the fun out of air travel for me.

My best airline experience across the pond was Heathrow to JFK on Air India. Sitting in coach I asked for a beer with the chicken curry dinner, and the flight attendant handed me three cans. When I told her one was fine, she said maybe I would get thirsty later. Great service all around.
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RyOnLife — October 1st, 2009, 8:06 am

@Dan Seidman: My thoughts exactly.
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Jude — October 1st, 2009, 8:08 am

I’ll be the first one to say that service on domestic carriers has definitely declined, no dispute there.

However, I don’t think it’s fair to say that those airlines have the worst service because they generate the most noise in social media. They serve the large majority of passengers and should generate more in terms of pure numbers. Compare those numbers to their passenger loads and I think you’ll get a different story.
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Scott — October 1st, 2009, 8:19 am

You should list these “sucky” airlines next to the list of the largest carriers in the United States. Otherwise, there is no baseline to compare your results too.

Of course Delta, American, and United are going to see more poor reviews because of the shear volume of spoiled Americans that travel with those brands.

We jet set all over the world in a matter of hours and yet we find reasons to nitpick. Tell you’re great grandfather how you go from New York to LA in 5 hours and he’ll tell you how he lost 2 siblings to cholera during his real life experience on the Oregon Trail.

On the other hand, the airline industry is constantly plagued with ever diminishing margins to try and turn a profit. Therefore, customer service goes a long way and I agree that Delta can probably use a refresher course. However, I would put up with an ornery stewardess much better if I had more than 3.5 inches of leg room for my 6’2 frame.

Maybe if they stop squeezing us like sardines into their flying machines we’ll stop complaining about the service. Are you listening, Continental?

I hear they’re going to keep us standing up on short commuter flights and have us sit facing each other military style on longer trips to increase the amount of passengers by up to 50%.

In the land of no legroom, the airline that doesn’t cause blood clots is king!
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Dynasty — October 1st, 2009, 8:22 am

lol, Bruce Lee rocks.

Interesting analysis and wordle visualizations from the social search engines. The correlations look amusing.

As for the crowdsourced sex input, I’ll take a closer look at the Skin to Skin visualizations and browse through the heat maps of data. Overall, this type of sex data is always pleasurable. Yeah, the back of a women’s neck is a sweet spot .
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Bernard K — October 1st, 2009, 8:24 am

Considering all the airlines I have flown coach I can whole heartedly state that “they all suck” and that there are no exceptions to the rule unless you spend the big bucks to fly first class. It’s unfortunate, but its just the way it is at this period in time.
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Baker — October 1st, 2009, 8:25 am

Wow… Air France just made my day!
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Tanya Monteiro — October 1st, 2009, 8:28 am

here’s a link to mr branson/virgin, in case you’ve not seen it – http://opencast.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/wcrs-poison-pen-letter-demonstrates-internet-viral-hell/
be interested to know the European data.
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Adrian — October 1st, 2009, 8:35 am

I’m surprised Tim would publish such fantastical data. Ok, so maybe it got Delta right, but Southwest at #6?!?! Best airline of all-time. Twitter data must be bogus.

Air-Asia is catching on and will soon be breaking into the US market fyi. It’s like a southwest without the song, but better food. And cheap.

Be well all,
Adrian
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Jez Liberty — October 1st, 2009, 8:36 am

Wow! Cool word visualisation!!

I am definitely going to check peopleBrowsr! What a cool tool with lots of application this could have.

Imagine you could build an automated contrarian stock investing based on twitter tweets, etc.

ohohoh very exciting!! Need to do some more digging on that!

Thanks for the great post
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Geri — October 1st, 2009, 8:40 am

Wow – I’ve flown with Delta a couple of times, and I’ve always had a positive experience. The cabin crew were incredibly helpful and pleasant, my flights were punctual, my seat was comfortable (regular ordinary class seating) and my food was as good as you can expect for any airplane food.
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Peter Williams — October 1st, 2009, 8:48 am

I live in Charlotte. The two main airlines that fly out of Charlotte are:

1. US Airways
2. Delta

And I agree both those airlines suck.

One time I flew Delta I was connect through Atlanta (I hate the Atlanta airport). We were on a small plane so we didn’t have a jet way. We exit the plane and need to walk under these crappy tent like hallways to get into the terminal. Except they had the way we were supposed to go coned off. There were Delta people standing around who did nothing. Finally I had to move the cones and figure out the correct way back to the terminal (I was about the 15th person off the plane).

When we get inside the terminal there is an escalator that leads from the flight deck up to the terminal level. I get on the escalator take one step on it and they turn it off. The Delta lady who did this at the top of the stairs doesn’t even say sorry just looks at us. Here’s to Delta.
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Harris — October 1st, 2009, 8:52 am

I agree with Dan’s comment above, and came to pose the same question before reading his. Are there any major airlines NOT included on this list?

As an entertainer/illusionist, I travel full-time, so I hate bad airline service as much as the next guy. But I’m curious how this data would pan out if the study were performed again to gauge positive experiences and “wow” moments, instead of complaints.
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Rich — October 1st, 2009, 8:56 am

I rarely leave comments, but this is one of the funniest blog posts I’ve seen. I was flying on Hawaiian Airlines a few weeks ago, and when I asked for a bottle of water so they didn’t have to keep coming to my seat they straight up said no. Awesome!
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Paul Norwine — October 1st, 2009, 8:56 am

I’d have to go with United. All four of my last flights on United resulted in either lost baggage (twice) or non-weather related canceled flights (twice).

“Fool me once, shame on you – fool me twice, shame on me.” What is the saying for shaming me four times? On second thought, I don’t want to know. Needless to say I will not be flying United anytime soon….

But nothing is as bad as the twin prop flight in Costa Rica where the pilots thought it would be funny to mess with the tourists by dropping hundreds of feet in seconds on purpose all while faux screaming…I will forever be scarred by the incident – but it is kind of funny, now…

Paul
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Bob F — October 1st, 2009, 9:01 am

I’m a big fan of the European low cost airline model such as EasyJet or Ryanair.

No offense to some more seasoned readers, but the low cost airlines have a much younger flight attendant crew that is a bit more energetic and fun. The US carriers usually have an older, less energetic crew, a bit more motherly acting and sometimes moody as well.

Adrian – I haven’t heard of Air Asia yet, but just briefly taking a look at their website you immediately see four good looking young flight attendants having fun. Of course it’s marketing, but I’m sure the actual flights are similar. Totally different feel than the US carrier experience.
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Joe — October 1st, 2009, 9:14 am

Totally agree on Delta. Coming back from Costa Rica this summer with a mission team, our departure was delayed almost 2 hours because the flight attendants had been out late and were tired. Over half my team missed their connection in ATL and got home up to 6 hours later. Bruce Lee has it right, should have roundhoused someone right there on the tarmac.
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Andrew — October 1st, 2009, 9:22 am

While flying US Airways Shuttle last month I noticed that embedded deep in the fine print of the US Airways magazine was language that seemed to indicate free drinks for first class AND US Airways shuttle passengers. We ordered beers, and were not charged.

You may want to ask first, but the flight attendant did look worried when she served the beer and people noticed no money changed hands. Would all of these grumpy people want free beer?

Again, you may want to ask first to be sure, but after paying to check a bag, a free drink or two seems to make the flight a little more tolerable.
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LD — October 1st, 2009, 9:23 am

I absolutely agree with Delta/NWA being the worst. I fly over 100k annually with them and they are terrible. I am young looking guy. I don’t usually wear a suit when I travel. Sometimes I even look scruffy I suppose. But I nearly always am in first class. However, when boarding I have been ignored multiple times. Literally standing right there and the gate agent takes someone else’s pass and lets them board before me. It was so blatant one time the guy in front of my actually said something to the gate agent.

I think Alaska/Horizon have the best service consistently.
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Allen — October 1st, 2009, 9:29 am

Honestly the worst airline, is the one you are on. We should have let them go out of business back in the bailout days, so perhaps they’d learn their lesson, or better yet be replaced with better airlines.
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Tim T — October 1st, 2009, 9:29 am

I’d like to see a comparable study of the best airlines too. The Wordle visualization of that would be nice to see. I’d be curious about which airlines overlap both categories; Adrian’s comment above saying Southwest is great conflicts directly with my awful experiences with Southwest.
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- Tim Ferriss — October 1st, 2009, 2:52 pm
  
  Hi Tim and All,
  
  Be sure to see the Dolores Labs post, which shows both.
  
  Tim
  Reply
Chuck Rylant — October 1st, 2009, 9:36 am

I love the power the internet and social media has given us individuals to collectively voice our opinions. We consumers have voted for a long time with our wallets that we demand lower prices over service. I believe that in this new economy, where consumers are more selective where they spend their hard earned money, that we can now demand reasonable prices and great service.

I agree Tim, that time is too short to put up with the terrible service that most big dumb companies offer, and I also would prefer to spend a little more money to be treated better. The problem is that many of even the more expensive products still have very bad service, but I hope that better customer service will be the benefit we get from the companies that survive the recession.
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Christopher Lee — October 1st, 2009, 9:37 am

Agree with Allen and Dan,

I wouldn’t hesitate to guess that the worst airlines above are the ones most frequently traveled. And the more you fly, the more chances you have a bad incident.

Would be interesting to see related statistics of worst airline by travel volume.
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Rich de Rossi — October 1st, 2009, 9:43 am

Southwest was charging us $200 to rebook our vacation because it counts as a cancellation. Regardless, the price of their vacation package was just too good so I can’t blame them.

I’d say you get what you pay for, but maybe that doesn’t apply to airlines.
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A.R. — October 1st, 2009, 9:46 am

LOL… Did you really ask for a water on an airplane? You can’t do that, that’s like asking for a bomb in the middle of the desert…. oh wait…. I think I might have mixed it up…

Looking at the chart there seems to be a negative corelation between airline size and quality. SouthWest being the obvious exception. That’s interesting, but not very surprising.
While interesting, whitout knowing the sample size and the conditions the survey was made, we can’t make any more conclusions.

A good customer service is critical towards building customer loyalty and trust.
So much focus goes on pricing (especialy in recession time) trying to make it as cheap as possible to gain a few more customers and get a prettier report by the end of the year.

That’s not always the best course of action, more is not always better.
With decreasing profit per customer the next course of action is to reduce the cost per customer and customer service is usually one of the first to go out the window.
The irony being, that the most loyal customers and the ones that give the most profit per customer (inside their own class) are usually the ones that will resent the most.

In the end, there a few conclusions to make.
First, if you want it cheap, sometime you’ll get it cheap.
Second, companies that offer distinguished customer service, already have a factor that distinguishes them from the competition.
Third, in some areas, Customer Service is more important than others.

Customer Service (CS) is a real bi***, many of the times your cheapest clients use up most of your resources in CS and while you may offer great CS all it takes is once. He will always remember that time…

That’s just the way it is… bad experience sticks longer and stronger in peoples memories.

I am wondering the sample size (uniquer users and amount of tweets) for the Dolores survey.
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Jonny — October 1st, 2009, 9:52 am

This seems a very negative post from you Tim, I must say I am slightly disappointed.

I agree that airlines can suck from time to time and you probably see alot more of them then most but you are too good at inspiring people that I don’t think that you need to stoop to a slating email, it doesn’t seem your style.

Thats just my viewpoint though. You inspired me to quit my job and now I live an awesome life in Bangkok so I will always be forever grateful.
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Bradley Gauthier — October 1st, 2009, 10:14 am

@Jonny I don’t see this post as being negative. Rather it is a heads up on airlines to avoid. Personally, when I travel I really don’t care if an airline is ok or awesome. I’d like to know which airline is most likely going to lose my luggage or give me a bad experience.

For me, Southwest has yet to disappoint.

Thanks Tim
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KNau — October 1st, 2009, 10:30 am

Even the best airline in the world (Emirates?) is nothing compared to travel by sea. And you have far more interesting stories at the end of it. What’s the purpose of lifestyle management if not to *slow down* and really experience the journey?
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Trevor — October 1st, 2009, 10:33 am

Delta charges $300 per surfboard, one-way, for international travel. $600 RT, and thats just one surfboard. You tell me who goes on an international surf trip and brings ONE surfboard.

Delta could provide a free IV drip of cheap wine, xanax, and 128kbps internet…and i still would consider them the worst airline to fly internationally because of these charges.
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John Ozog — October 1st, 2009, 10:34 am

I think this guy shares Tim’s frustration.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_13454049?source=most_emailed
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Tim Lyons — October 1st, 2009, 10:41 am

Tim – I know you mentioned no more endorsements, etc. But you are doing a diservice to your readers by only recommending 1 option.

You list a suggestion for self employed / unemployed people for health insurance, but you only list one carrier. Each carrier has different rates, coverages, exclusions in each zipcode. So what is great for you may not be great for another, also height, weight, age, relative health, all play a factor.

As an independent, self employed, broker, i am uniquely qualified to help and I represent all the major carriers and can get access to any localized initiatives, I am licensed in almost every state and can quickly get licensed whereever my clients need.. I perform the consultative review of their actual needs (how often they go to the dr right now, what their threshold for risk is, what their activity level). We do an annual review to ensure that this years policy is the best combination of pricing and coverage.

My proposals come with a side by side line item by line item comparison for easy decision making.

My goal is to help people 1) protect themselves against disaster and 2) never overpay.

I am not trying to be a loser and bombard you with a sales pitch. I know that this issue can be incredibly confusing and time consuming and a professional review is helpful, saves time and money, and can bring peace of mind.

Just some thoughts.

Loved the book – changed my outlook. Am working on my “Muse” as we speak – childrens items, home/on the go workout equipment, nutrition
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Ron Johnson — October 1st, 2009, 11:10 am

I agree with Bradley Gauthier. Truth be told, all air travel is pretty bad. When you think about it, how could it not be? Being confined to a chair for hours on end, sharing recycled air and a bathroom with 100 other people, no greenery, no control over your environment, random encroachment of personal space.

I’ve never traveled by sea (@KNau), but I’d like to.
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Tom Wanek — October 1st, 2009, 11:19 am

I’ve recently had several bad experiences with United.
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Peter — October 1st, 2009, 11:55 am

One explanation for PeopleBrowser results: Southwest hiring actually recruits for “nice” people the same way other biz’s might target people with certain degress. USAir and Delta apparently get who’s left.

All airlines face challenges – weather problems, air traffic, etc. What’s different is how Southwest handles those issues.
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Michael — October 1st, 2009, 12:12 pm

Well when you fly for a steep discount, as I do, because I had a relative who retired from Delta Airlines, then its hard to give it up, even if you would like to do so.

On the other hand, airlines are terrible for many reasons, very little of it by the way because of the airlines themselves but rather because of the regulatory environment in which they operate. So the gentleman who said the worst airline is the one you are on, is telling it like it is in my opinion.

Here is an article detailing the frustrations of travel by air on any airline.

Peace, Quiet, and a T1 Line
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SJ — October 1st, 2009, 12:26 pm

I just like the post as it’s a reflection of just how social networking sites online can be used to develop popularity contests.

Pretty cool..
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Coop — October 1st, 2009, 12:44 pm

I agree that Delta should hold the title as the worst.

We know things go wrong, but it was the attitude of various (4) employees, that was unbelievable. Their attitude was “I don’t give a sh**” about your situation, and good luck.

My thought was to the Delta employees… you guys do want to keep this airline in business don’t you? If so, then act like you appreciate my business.
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Megan Donovan — October 1st, 2009, 12:47 pm

Wow, Bruce Lee rocks….

Thanks for sharing Tim. I don’t see this as a negative post. More as a service for the readers to help avoiding bad experiences and wasting our precious time and engery with the bad airlines. Will definitely avoid some of these in the future, as I had bad experiences as well.
Btw. Your 4HWW book rocks!
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John Fawkes — October 1st, 2009, 12:56 pm

Okay, someone had to be the bad guy here. Have you considered the availability heuristic? As Allen said, the worst airline is the one you are on. Ditto for the best airline.

It seems to me that the airlines that are larger, have more passengers, and are therefore more familiar will be more likely to be voted both best and worst, simply because their omnipresence makes people more likely to have opinions on them. Smaller airlines, by contrast, will be more likely to be rated middle of the road.

To make this methodology work, it seems you would have to also run a “best airlines” poll using the same method, and compare the two lists. If an airline is on the worst list and not the best list, then and only then should you declare that popular opinion has voted it down.
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- Tim Ferriss — October 1st, 2009, 2:44 pm
  
  Hi John,
  
  This is a great suggestion. That would be an excellent way to spot-check this for availability heuristic.
  
  Tim
  Reply
elizabeth mars — October 1st, 2009, 1:13 pm

Go Virgin!

however, I must admit, as soon as i saw the Bruce Lee clip, I immediately felt that it would be fun, at least once in this lifetime, to pull a move like that, barring permanent damange or casualties of course.

Hmmm… I think I’d deliver the blow to a well-picked Goldman-Sachs, Monsanto, Pfizer, Philip Moris, or (insert your favorite misery-inducing public or private global entity here) bigwig, even more than the ill behaved little people.
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Trevor — October 1st, 2009, 1:14 pm

Delta charges $300 per surfboard, one-way, for international travel. $600 RT, and thats just one surfboard. You tell me who goes on an international surf trip and brings ONE surfboard.

Delta could provide a free IV drip of cheap wine and 128kbps internet…and i still would consider them the worst airline to fly internationally because of these charges.
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Sherene — October 1st, 2009, 1:29 pm

I don’t know what’s the most politically correct way to put this, but I’d say that all American airlines suck in comparison to, in particular, Asian airlines. It just seems like Asian airlines try so much harder when it comes to service – whether it be the impeccable Singapore Airlines (their economy experience is better than the business experience on some American Airlines, I bet!), fun Kingfisher Airlines or the slightly less outstanding but reliable Malaysian Air, Thai Airways, Srilankan, etc. Many European services are pretty good too, I’ve rarely felt like cattle on any non-American airline, to be honest!
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Harry — October 1st, 2009, 1:38 pm

Bruce Lee head kick…fuck yeah.
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Aakash — October 1st, 2009, 1:46 pm

Unsatisfactory indicator.

Tweets mentioning and voluntary response tweet polls are not good measures of service. There’s no reason to believe there’s a significant difference between airlines.

This is because your list of the “worst” airlines is eerily similar to flown passenger-kilometers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_airlines#Scheduled_passenger-kilometres_flown). That’s no coincidence: the more distance planes take people, the more time on planes. That means more likelihood to receive bad service that you might tweet about or stick out in your mind when filling in a poll, through the availability heurestic.

You’re broad prescription only applies if you believe paying more for a smaller company with less flight times is better than a larger company that provides negligibly different service. However, the conclusion that Southwest is the most reliable large airline certainly seems valid.
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- Tim Ferriss — October 1st, 2009, 2:42 pm
  
  HI Aakash,
  
  Agreed. This is correlation and there are a lot of variables unaccounted for. That said, I batted 0-for-10 or so on Delta, so my experience has been saturated with bad service in a statistically meaningful way, at least for this one passenger.
  
  Good points!
  
  Tim
  Reply
Norris — October 1st, 2009, 2:36 pm

Spare a thought for some of the African airlines who have very old fleets
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linden — October 1st, 2009, 3:18 pm

I keep flying United with no major complaints–sucka for miles–but Im at a conference in LA and reading Virgin America’s new report on their environmental impact. Only US airline that is a member of the climate registry and now you can buy carbon offsets on the plane. Great value, good service, and fuzzy feelings if the cities they cover are the ones you need.
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Moby — October 1st, 2009, 3:20 pm

If you haven’t tried Virgin America yet, I think you should.
they are going to shake up the US market. if Airasia jumped in as well, the US airlines wouldnt know what hit them

The US is painful to fly in.
I just did SFO – Dublin (via atlanta) for $230 on Delta.
For $230 they can make me sit on the floor, scowl at me all they want and I wont complain. (but really Im saying internal flights in the USA suck the big one!
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oboros — October 1st, 2009, 3:24 pm

Just this morning my husband boarded a Delta/Northwest flight only to immediately deboard, wait for two hours and was re-scheduled with two hops from his previously one-hop flight.

No more Delta that’s for sure.
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Trent — October 1st, 2009, 3:54 pm

I’m glad to see that Alaska air received fairly favorable ratings. I’ll always remember that they gave my parents (and each passenger) wild salmon, venison, dutchess potatoes, red wine and commemorative GOLD BULLION to celebrate the inaugural flight.

What happened to airlines between then and now?
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anthony — October 1st, 2009, 4:07 pm

what is the most amazing part is americans still PAY to be treated this way. I say until you stand up and fight back this nonsense will continue. don’t be afraid to give the flight attendant a little nudge or frequently flick on your “call button”.

In addition, I have been able to involve surrounding passengers into the antics. Smush some of the airplane food all over the lavatory door, spill your drink on the flight attendant. Do whatever it takes to annoy them more than they annoy you and you will get much more than you bargained for. + it’s a helluvah good time.
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Pizzamancer — October 1st, 2009, 4:14 pm

Hey Tim. I hope things are changing for NWA/Delta. I got my new Skymiles card earlier this year when they announced the merger and new program. Here are the details for one flight Japan (NRT) to MPS for my wife and I:

New Cards: 40,000 bonus miles
RT flight NRT-MSP): 48,000 (double miles for using above card)
RT flight (MSP-Reno): 5,600 (Burning Man FTW, and double again)
Lasik sales talk: 10,000 (took 15 minutes, well worth it)
Miles for purchases: 10,000 (tickets and related expense for 3)

My son also made 24,000 miles

One flight total: 137,600

That is almost 2 free international tickets (NRT to MSP). They might have given you bad service, but there are some serious deals to be had there. My tickets cost just over $4000 for the 3 of us. If I can find another 10,00 miles that will be 6 tickets for $4000. Nothing to shake a stick at.
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- Tim Ferriss — October 1st, 2009, 7:00 pm
  
  Nicely done! There are definitely some cases where the potential for a few hassles may be more than compensated for by disproportionate opportunities.
  
  Tim
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- Eric Groovy — July 10th, 2011, 11:54 pm
  
  That is complete horsesh*t!!
  
  First, you only get double miles for the DOLLARS you spend on the card. In other words, if you spend $1,300 for the ticket, you get 2,600 miles, instead of the 1,300 miles you would normally get for the $1 = 1 mile formula. You do NOT double the miles you actually FLY, simply by purchasing your ticket with your SkyMiles credit card.
  
  Second, by late 2009, Delta was charging DOUBLE miles for their awards travel, so, instead of it costing 60,000 miles for a trip from the U.S. to SE Asia, it was then costing 120,000 miles. By early 2010, that had doubled again, so that it cost 240,000 miles for ONE ROUNDTRIP TICKET from the U.S. to SE Asia.
  
  Want proof? I recorded the conversation with the Delta SkyMiles agent, where I was trying to book a flight from SFO to Manila using some of my 550,000 SkyMiles. This was April of 2010, and I was trying to book a flight for late August or early September. I was told that all of the 60,000 miles seats had been booked, and that I was booking my flight too close to departure date to get the better deal. So, I asked how many miles it would take if I were to depart in October. I was told it was still 240,000 miles round-trip. How about November. Same thing. How about December? Same thing. How about January? Same thing. How about February? Same thing. How about March? She told me that they couldn’t book that far in advance.
  
  So, originally, the story was that I was booking too close to my departure date, and it was for THAT reason that I was being charged QUADRUPLE MILES. But, once I pushed the issue a little further, it became obvious that Delta was committing fraud by radically changing the ground rules of their awards program by ass-raping SkyMiles members.
  
  So, the lesson learned here is, that I cut my American Express card in half, and started charging EVERYTHING to my Citibank Master Card, where I get American Airlines Advantage miles. I live in Dallas, American’s hub, and although I have had some flights on American with absolutely rotten service, they have been the LEAST likely to lose my luggage, and have provided me with MUCH better service than Delta (THE ABSOLUTE WORST AIRLINE IN THE WORLD, EVEN WORSE THAN CHINA SOUTHERN, AND THAT IS SAYING A LOT), or NWA, United, or U.S. Air.
  
  The service that I have gotten from Delta over the years, on both domestic and international flights, has been consistently terrible, and that is speaking in terms of customer service, agent attitude, screwing things up, losing luggage, fees, bad food, shoddy airplanes (especially since acquiring the dilapidated planes from NWA), and failure to make things right when things go badly.
  
  In my experience, flying 50-100k miles per year, both internationally and domestically, there is no comparison to the airlines here in the U.S., when comparing the quality of our airlines against other domestic carriers around the world, even in such backward countries as Indonesia, The Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, and others.
  
  However, my experience on Southwest has always been VERY positive, and American has been mostly positive, with a couple of BIG exceptions.
  
  Here is a hilarious example:
  
  Back in 2003, I flew to SLC from DFW on American, and had one of the most rude flight crews I had ever dealt with in all my years of flying, both before and since that time. And what did I do to deserve the venom of the entire flight crew, and pilot? I simply asked, while boarding this mostly empty flight, whether I could have the flight attendant locate a seat with a power jack, so that I could work on my laptop during the flight. I was scolded severely for asking, and was told to sit down. So, I sat down. Once all of the passengers were boarded, I stood up and asked the attendant again. I was scolded again by the other stewardess, and this time the pilot (whose door was still open), turned around and shouted at me, as well. Like I said, folks, I fly all of the time, and I was being totally professional about this, yet I was treated like an obnoxious 10 year-old demanding to be transferred to first class without holding a first class ticket. In the end, I took my seat and gave up on the idea.
  
  So, during the flight, the flight attendant is serving drinks, and asks everyone around me what they would like, and then opened the can, and handed them a cup with ice, along with the open can.
  
  Finally, as an afterthought, she looked down at me and said, “What do YOU want???!” as rudely as she could muster.
  
  So, I decided to be a little passive aggressive. I said, “Ahhhhhhh. Hmmmmmm . . . . I’ll have aaaaahhhhhhhh . . . . . Hmmmmmmmm . . . . . how about a root beer?”, knowing full well that they didn’t carry root beer.
  
  “We don’t have root beer! All we have are Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Ginger Ale – ”
  
  “I’ll have a ginger ale.”
  
  So, she took the can and plopped it down in front of me and pushed the cart behind me. No cup with ice, didn’t bother to open it. Just treated me like trash.
  
  So, I got an idea. I decided NOT to open the can. I stuck it under my seat, and took a nap.
  
  After the plane landed, as I was disembarking, I was pulling my computer bag behind me, with the closed can of ginger ale on top of it. When I reached the flight crew telling everyone “buh-bye!” and had to turn left to exit the plane, I stopped and opened the can of ginger ale right in front of them.
  
  As expected, the contents totally exploded.
  
  Ginger ale sprayed everywhere – all over the bitchy stewardesses, and even into the face of the asshole pilot who had barked at me earlier. In fact, the spray even hit the control panel of the airplane. How did I know that?
  
  Because when I was being detained in the SLC Airport for two hours after the flight, and the crew was talking to the police, they began accusing me of vandalizing the bathroom, sticking my leg into the aisle attempting to trip the flight crew, constantly harassing them (including ringing the attendant button repeatedly throughout the entire flight), and then, of course, the pilot claimed that I had doused the control panel with ginger ale, on purpose.
  
  At that time, the only cops who were there were the lower-level thugs. They were yelling in my face, calling me a terrorist, and telling me that I was going to be arrested as a terrorist, and charged with a terrorist act. I swear this is a true story. I just smiled and said, “Gee, that’s really great. My attorney will get a kick out of that one, and so will the press. In fact, imagine the press reporting this: that a regular citizen terrorized an airplane and its crew with a can of soda provided to him BY the flight crew. Everyone will wonder why the airlines are passing out weapons of mass destruction to their passengers during flights. That will effectively end all beverage service on all future domestic U.S. flights, and cans of soda will become as hazardous as box cutters. Your legal theories are beginning to make more and more sense now, aren’t they?”
  
  When the police captain showed up and interviewed me, I explained in far less sarcastic terms the same things I had already explained to the inferior thugs who were holding me. After hearing my side of the story, about how I was just taking a drink from a can of soda the flight crew gave me, the captain told his officers that I had not committed any crime and that I could go. I mean, come on guys! I got thirsty, and opened the can of soda they gave me on the airplane. It wasn’t MY fault that it had been bottled in DFW at 430 feet above sea level, and that when I opened it in SLC at 4,200 feet above sea level, it exploded. That stupid flight attendant should have never handed me a closed can of soda, don’t you think?
  
  That was the sweetest revenge I have ever gotten against a surly, nasty flight crew. I wish I could do that every time. The two women on that crew, both of whom had scolded me and were exceedingly rude to me, were both drenched in ginger ale, with its sticky gooeyness all over their faces, and in their hair, and they hung around the cops and me for two hours, hoping to see me hauled off in handcuffs. Instead, I got back to my dad’s house, laughing hysterically for most of the rest of the night.
  
  Sticky, sticky, sticky. Oh well.
  
  But you know, I was so damned thirsty . . . .
  Reply
mike — October 1st, 2009, 4:17 pm

I fly over 100K per year mostly within the usa. I’ve had pretty good luck on United. Delta really does blow. I’d put southwest on the suck list
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Faye — October 1st, 2009, 5:24 pm

Would you mind if I made a point or two about how I received this post? I understand it’s important to be clear about the need for change in any frustrating situation. However, on a wider note about positivity, I wonder if the forum space could have been more constructively employed to identify options for change?

I don’t think people are knowingly ‘fools’ (I don’t have any data to back that up by the way), but they often don’t realise the impact their behaviour is having on others, personally or professionally. Sometimes it takes others to point it out or pull them up on it and relay it in a way that is forward-looking. Without sounding too trite, some things we have choices in, some we don’t. Some people can’t afford to fly. Some kids can’t even afford pens. We’re actually quite lucky that we even have that option. Perhaps you could have given us an example of how you responded to,“I see you. I’ll get your water when I have a minute. Jesus Christ”at the time it happened?

As the flight attendant proved, aggression isn’t really that sexy. Taming the strength and power of a challenging situation and converting it to a fruitful purpose is a beautiful art. I think your post about Dr King highlighted that, as did your video on the Japanese art of yabusame. I really respect the way your mind works and the way you write, but this post left me feeling a bit confused. I don’t know much about data, but I find Twitter fun. Having said that, I’m not sure my tweets always reflect the reality or depth of my real sentiments. And random words do not always reveal the tone or intention behind a sentence. I don’t know if that’s true for anyone else? ‘Shit hot’ or ‘badass’ for example, (excuse my French) could be perceived as a positive. Equally, not everybody is as vocal – so silence can mask a thousand sentiments which cannot be translated into beautiful graphs or data.

Anyway, mustn’t ‘delay’ you… Take care and keep up the amazing work. Really looking forward to the new book. Faye

P.S. I’m curious to know how ‘surprise’ and ‘passion’ are negative sentiment words, ‘seriously’?
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Rissa — October 1st, 2009, 5:55 pm

The kick at the end made it worth reading.

I agree with the poll results – Southwest, for as much flying as I do, is INCREDIBLE in comparison to Northwest and Delta.
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Avi — October 1st, 2009, 5:58 pm

When I flew Southwest they let people in wheelchairs, and mothers with children 5 or under board first. When I flew Airtran, first class buisness people boarded first. It was a very subtle hint to me that Airtran was not as good. Also, while boarding Airtran, I looked at the first class seats. It’s the exact same thing. But there were two seats per row instead of three. So you pay a ton of extra money for a little bit of leg room? Whatever.
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Randy Webster — October 1st, 2009, 7:53 pm

Tim,

I have been experiencing this a lot. Especially on Northwest (delta).. Not sure what going on.. Maybe their in a zombie trance, ( not really concise of what’s going on.) I call it auto pilot through life… Sometimes we need a wake up call from someone else to snap us out of our looping of a bad situation…Maybe this blog will help!!! Thank you for standing up and sharing this with us…

Randy
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jsawvel — October 1st, 2009, 7:57 pm

OMG, I would have loved to write this article. By far, the worst airline in the United States is Spirit Airlines. And the best, which is not actually in the United States is either Singapore or Tahiti Nui, I can’t remember which, but one of them was totally awesome, I mean native dress, beautiful women, wine, brandy, entertainment, you name it.
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addicted — October 1st, 2009, 8:11 pm

This is so flawed…

Airlines are losing points for having larger numbers of people flying, more than anything else.

Comparing positive to negative ratios is also irrelevant, since people are far more likely to tweet about a negative experience than an awesome positive experience.

I realized this thing was retardedly off when Air France only just made it in the top 10..
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Curtis — October 1st, 2009, 8:55 pm

I’ve heard GREAT things about Virgin but never flown with them. Looking forward to it though.

When flying international my BEST experience has been with EVA Airlines.

http://www.evaair.com.tw/

They give AMAZING FIRST CLASS service to everyone. Smiling, fast, helpful…
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Christina — October 2nd, 2009, 12:01 am

I live in San Francisco and happen to travel often to Seattle, Las Vegas and Los Angeles – all Virgin America routes. Virgin America is by far the best US airline right now. Their coach seating is not as generous as Southwest (which along with American has the most inches per coach seat on most planes) but the individual TVs, low lighting, leather seats and nice flight attendants make up for it. Also, their upgrades to first class are cheap. I fly American when I have to go other places and can deal with them. The only other domestic airline I’ll fly is Alaska (to Portland, for example) – they’re okay. I’ve had terrible experiences with Northwest and Delta before they merged. Also, America West – which became part of US Airways.
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RH Blanchfield — October 2nd, 2009, 12:02 am

I’m an American that lives in Europe, but I refuse to fly most of the carriers thanks to the lack of customer service on….DELTA!

The food was horrible, the staff was cranky, and the seats were too small even for someone with a slender build like myself.

I recommend Air France, Lufthansa, and ANA personally.
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Viraj — October 2nd, 2009, 1:22 am

As a frequent traveller in both Asia and the US, I really feel sorry for the awful service you all receive in the US. I believe that the big difference is that it many parts of the world, airline stewardess is still a glamorous job but in the US it is marginally more prestigious than working at McDonalds.

On the other hands, when you do reach your destination, the service at US hotels is truly fantastic. Few hotels in Europe give you the service of a regular residence inn.
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Yavor — October 2nd, 2009, 2:10 am

Drop those fools Tim! That’s the way to do it lol…

Seriously – it’s a good thing that you are using your gravity to change this type of service for the better.
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Frank — October 2nd, 2009, 2:51 am

In reference to 4HWW

@Megan Donovan
You rock as well. May I have your telephone number.
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- Tim Ferriss — October 3rd, 2009, 2:24 am
  
  Usually I wouldn’t say, but — agreed. Nice pics on the site, Megan
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Tony S. — October 2nd, 2009, 3:13 am

Hey Tim,

Thanks for the great blog, and this post about airlines. It reminded me, I was wondering if you flew through Dulles a little over a month ago?

I saw someone who looked like you, but he hopped on the shuttle as I was standing there trying to figure out if it was you. I almost gave chase so I could meet you, or at the very least have a funny story about approaching some stranger out of the blue, but I was in a bit of hurry so didn’t.

Take care,
Tony
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Bob F — October 2nd, 2009, 5:48 am

Check out the award winning airlines for 2009 (Asian airlines did very well).
http://www.worldairlineawards.com/

The methodology for determining winners from what I can see seems reasonable as well. Also they have reviews on all airlines. Delta got three stars.
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D. Tilton — October 2nd, 2009, 5:51 am

Most memorable flight this year? American Airlines from LA to Kaua’i with an upgrade to first class. Between the amazing food (filet mignon cooked to perfection) and drink, including the best chocolate ice cream sundae I’ve had in a long time, it was a sweet five and a half hours. The flight attendants were so solicitous that I believe they would have given me a foot massage had I asked for it.

The problem is flying in coach on any airline. Too many people, too little space, too few resources. Welcome to the realities of today’s economy. Upgrade to first class as often as possible.
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Amanda B — October 2nd, 2009, 7:12 am

I would agree with the NWA/Delta being worst. I travel frequently for my job, and unfortunately price and time often dictate the airline. I have complained to them several times. They bumped me off of a connecting flight because they over booked by 5 people, (even though I had a seat assignment) leaving me stranded in an airport for 8 hours. They also called me as a standby passenger, seated me on the plane, and then came back and asked me to leave the plane-without explanation (they double booked my seat). I complained and at least got travel vouchers-but do I really want to fly with them again, even if it is free?
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Darya — October 2nd, 2009, 8:53 am

This is the funniest blog post in the history of the universe. That Bruce Lee ending really made my week.

Since you had a question mark next to Air France I will tell you that they are sucky enough to breach international borders of suckiness and make a worst US airlines list. In a fairly straight forward trip from SF to Italy via Paris, they managed to lose half my luggage, never found it and NEVER COMPENSATED ME FOR IT. Since this was a year long visit, there was some pretty important stuff in that bag. I’d like to Bruce Lee their asses.

Also my BFF is in the process of abandoning Jet Blue (it’s not as easy as it sounds). He has a dozen “free” flights but can never use them because of their weird rules that are not applicable to their latest free flight rules. Way to alienate loyal customers, JB.

Welcome back to SF
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- Tim Ferriss — October 3rd, 2009, 2:13 am
  
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Daniel Carney — October 2nd, 2009, 11:49 am

I’ve been saying for a while that airlines are getting ruder….although, in my experience, it tends to be the US domestic flights that are the worst. I flew to New Zealand twice last year on Air New Zealand, from the US, and the service was outstanding!

I think the rudeness is because air-travel is not what it used to be. Every man and his dog flies everywhere these days. Air travel used to be for those that could afford it, hence, less people travelling and the steward & stewardess jobs were higher class. Now – it’s like hopping on a bus…you can wear whatever you like and the staff in the skies are plucked from anywhere…..Their pay is probably crap and the patrons are not the excited, nicely dressed people they once were…..this was bound to happen….

If the economy keeps tanking – people will fly less, airline staff will lose their jobs, flying will once again become for those that can afford it, and the people working in the air will HAVE to be polite for fear of losing their job!
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Guy Ellis — October 2nd, 2009, 12:43 pm

The problem with airlines is that they aren’t fairly charging passengers for their variable costs. i.e. fuel. Thin passengers with light bags are subsidizing fat passengers with heavy bags who are getting a free ride. One that inequality has been addressed the airlines will be able to be more profitable by apportioning fuel costs to those that use it. See my blog post Fat in Flight.
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dude — October 2nd, 2009, 5:45 pm

Wanted to add my $0.01 on Delta. I flew Delta internationally recently and 3 out of the last 3 times my checked luggage was late. I will continue flying Delta though because they are cheapest out of SLC.
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Chuck D. — October 2nd, 2009, 6:03 pm

Have flown Delta recently, and the service was good and flights on time. The seats are kinda small though. But the fees!? Oh lawd! Just the $15 to check 1 (!) bag was bad enough to make me think twice about using them. Imagine having to travel alot and paying that amount over and over again even if it’s a quick round trip? No thanks! Bruce Lee Head Kick FTW!
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Ralph Nesbitt — October 2nd, 2009, 9:23 pm

I used to work for an airline. Flying public isn’t what it used to be either. Most flyers now are former Greyhound customers, because flying has become relatively cheap. You can’t expect lobster and champagne at Greyhound prices! If airfares were where they should be, maybe you could have all that again. Times have changed. Also, it would be fun to know what businesses all the commenters are in. I’ll bet I could rip most of you apart and talk about how bad your industries are, or about how bad your service is.
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Dynasty — October 2nd, 2009, 11:08 pm

Incredible, BizTechDay looks solid. The list of speakers is cool. I’ll definitely join in on the fun. I’m signing up. Wonder if your pal Ramit is showing up as well. Anyhow, I look forward to that and a great time in SF.
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Michael — October 3rd, 2009, 2:52 am

Yep, nice pics Megan.
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Jez Liberty [business removed] — October 3rd, 2009, 3:30 am

Hi Tim,

A question not directly related to that post (which I really enjoyed btw… Those charts are fab and the data greatly interesting/intriguing) but did you develop your “Most Popular” widget in-house (well… outsourced I guess or is it a wordpress plugin. I think it’s the best I have seen on the web for looks, effectiveness, etc.

Thanks
Jez
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Levi — October 3rd, 2009, 1:35 pm

It’s times like this where I love showing people this Louis CK bit on Conan. Perspective is a wonderful thing:

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Nick Hogan — October 4th, 2009, 4:38 am

Tim I agree 100 percent. I fly very little any more. I would like to give a big shout out to the tall blonde stewardess who was so rude to me two weeks ago on Airtran. Indy to Orlando has never been so unpleasant. If you don’t want us to listen to the free xm radio then don’t give the head phones. I think she embarrassed herself. Rude has no place in this business but she had a corner on it. I bet she rides a broom. No more Airtran.
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SRS — October 4th, 2009, 1:59 pm

To add a positive anecdote, I recently flew on Delta from the US to Argentina with no problems whatsoever.

Tim, any updates on RAs for the superhuman book? Thanks.
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Tisha Morris — October 4th, 2009, 4:51 pm

For the record, I just flew roundtrip Atlanta to Lima on Delta and had a great experience.
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David — October 4th, 2009, 5:02 pm

I am not surprised at all to see that Northwest made the list. We flew back from Arizona to Minnesota and were stuck on the Tarmac in Denver for 4.5 hours, we complained and received a $150 voucher the next time we flew….with Northwest of course.

We looked on the bright side, took the vouchers, flew Northwest to Hawaii and they lost our bags.

I decided that would be the last time I would ever fly with NWA. I only wish we (U.S.) had reputable airlines like easyjet and ryanair like they do in the U.K.
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Caleb — October 4th, 2009, 8:56 pm

Good to know Don’t really use planes that much for work before but might just. Will definitely inform HR and Accounting about this

Any thoughts on JetBlue? Service? Punctuality?
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Natasha — October 5th, 2009, 12:21 am

I generally fly Northwest, as it tends to be the cheapest for the flights I need. Haven’t had a significant problem, and Delta even put me up in a hotel the one time I had a delay because of weather coming home from school. All of my friends flying other airlines were sleeping on airport chairs when I left the next morning.

Even if Delta/Northwest were suckier, I’d keep flying them because they’re the cheapest, and I can’t afford to drop the extra cash. But I’m a student, not part of the workforce yet.
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James — October 5th, 2009, 4:56 am

Nice post Tim.

Bruce Lee Rocks!
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Charles — October 5th, 2009, 6:03 am

Inacceptable. Mais il faut bien le dire, c’est seulement parce que je suis chauvin.

Breach international borders of suckiness??

Ouch Darya.

Nice boot to the head though
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Matt C — October 5th, 2009, 9:39 am

One interesting question about Southwest interesting status as an outlier as a good airline — it seems to me that most people who fly SW (at least out of the Boston area) are flying for a vacation, whereas most people who fly the other large airlines are flying for business. As someone who flys a bunch, I can say that I’m in a much better mood when it is for vacation, than when it is for business. My guess is most people feel the same way, and that one’s mood may affect one’s perception of service.

So “vacation airlines” may well benefit from people being willing to tolerate more, simply because they are in a good mood. Therefore, they are rated higher.

Just a theory, anyone else have any thoughts on this?
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Greg — October 5th, 2009, 11:45 am

I would have listed Delta among the better airlines but for my experience this weekend (JFK->SFO rt). I spoke to a gate ticketing agent as she was closing down her terminal from an earlier flight, and she confided that Delta is now routinely overbooking basically every flight (they call it “overselling” for some reason), and not just on high traffic weekend routes. Next time I will fly on an airline that actually tries to reserve my seat when I pay them for a ticket.

When I got my “boarding pass”/”seat request” and checked my bag in at SFO (for $20 each way), I commented that at least my bag was going to get a seat even if I didn’t. The agent behind the counter thought I was making a joke and laughed at me. This is apparently par for the course and there was no sympathy or apologies in evidence from any corner.

For those of you like me who prefer to check your overhead-compatible rollerboards (to avoid the laptop/fluids dance at security), you can avoid Delta’s $20 fee if you wrangle the bag through security and check it at the gate. There won’t be enough overhead space for your bag in the cabin anyway. This will slow everybody down, but Delta apparently prefers that you do it this way (perhaps their planes fly better when they are top-heavy).
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James — October 5th, 2009, 3:35 pm

Hey Tim,

I know this off topic, but it would be easier to respond to people on the blog if your comment section was threaded.

On Topic – I’ve taken First Class International flights on Delta and they don’t even serve meals! Just peanuts and chips.
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GMC Jr. — October 6th, 2009, 9:28 am

Tim,
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GMC Jr. — October 6th, 2009, 9:34 am

Tim,
Let’s try this again. I think AirTran should be rated worse than they are, from my experience with them, but like Delta they share 2 things, they are both based in Atlanta (no offense to the city) but with the size and the weather that seems to delay flights, maybe it’s time to make a 2nd hub for the area. Memphis works good for FedEx, Delta, maybe you should hub more out of there, and the 2nd thing is AirTran buys Delta’s “Older” planes. So maybe they should be called Delta Jr. ?

GMC Jr.
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Tricia — October 6th, 2009, 8:04 pm

This is most accurate rating list I have ever seen! I had my worst flight experience ever with Delta. I got stuck in Atlanta for two days and Delta had such horrible service that I ended up finally spending $850 to hop the next airtran flight. I did know if I was ever going to get home. US Airways should definetly be 2nd worst. Their planes are such pieces of junk. I have lost track of the number of times my flights have been delayed on US Airways due to mechanical issues. I am a MVP Gold with Alaska Air and I love them. in my opinion, they have the best customer service. I also love Southwest & Jet Blue. I especially love the Jet Blue terminal at JFK.
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Patrick — October 7th, 2009, 1:22 pm

Once I flew an airline called Spirit Air. It’s a long story, but to make it short we were flying to Atlanta from Orlando, and the plane that was supposed to take us there had not yet arrived. Normally, this would result in recompensation for all the passengers(most of them were connecting through atl and were going to miss their next flight to mexico). So Spirit air decides to use a loophole and say that the weather is bad in atlanta and thus that will be the reason for the delay even though that point is moot since we had no plane to take us there anyway. However, there is a rule that if a delay is due to weather they do not have to reimburse passengers for missed flights. To make matters even worse, I called someone in atlanta and they confirmed that it was sunny skies all day. Basically, spirit airlines are a bunch of a nefarious liars.
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John Fawkes — October 8th, 2009, 12:50 pm

Just saw this video in my consumer behavior class, and it made me think of this blog post. This video was not commissioned by a rival airline; it is in fact a true story, and making it is one of the most awesome acts of revenge I have ever seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

“United Breaks Guitars”
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Martin — October 14th, 2009, 11:04 am

Surprised there wasn’t more love for Virgin America. I suppose they aren’t big enough yet to have been used by most people. They are awesome!
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peter — October 14th, 2009, 8:45 pm

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Delta-Hacking-Passenger-Lawsuit-Laptop,news-4862.html
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Johnny Jen — October 17th, 2009, 7:17 pm

I’ve traveled a lot the last few years and always refuse to fly American, Continental, U.S., United, and honestly, anything that sounds like it would be Domestic American. Just like buying a Ford Escort in the 80′s and 90′s you’d have to be ignorant or stupid to fly “traditional domestic” when there are much better airlines such as Virgin America and Jet-Blue out now.
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Stephan J. — October 17th, 2009, 8:20 pm

Cool article (as always). The final Bruce Lee clip says it all!!

Too bad Canada was not included here. Air Canada would have won hands down – grumpy employees, delayed flights… Still use it as there are not that many options out here.
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Win — October 18th, 2009, 2:55 am

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wordlover — October 20th, 2009, 7:53 am

I am a 500-lb man. Where is my smiley?
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Paul — October 20th, 2009, 12:41 pm

I want to stick up for the 7th worst airline on the list- Southwest Airlines. I’ve seen the television show- I know about lost bags and other issues that can happen on ANY airline. I’ve personally never had an issue- but beyond personal experience Southwest Airlines has the remarkable combination of the best safety record in the industry, and the best on-time record in the industry.

There are also several other reasons I like Southwest that I’m sure actually get them a poor rating from some people- but these people are exactly the kind of people I don’t like to fly with anyway, and as far as I’m concerned- I’m glad Southwest does a good job alienating them:

1. Fat people. Southwest caused a ruckus in the industry with their policy of charging fatsos for two seats. As far as I’m concerned- great. I don’t want to be sold a seat next to a 400 pound gelatenous blob that is spilling over into my seat.

2. Late people. If you’re late, paging you to a Southwest flight is just for show. If you’re within sight of the gate, they *** might *** wait for you, but they’re notorious for slamming the door and pushing back without late people. Good. Get your a** there on time, or get left behind. Why should the rest of us have to wait because you couldn’t do what we managed to do.

And with regard to late- if you DO actually make it on the plane and you’re fumbling about with your stuff and won’t just SIT DOWN, you will be ridiculed mercilessly by the Southwest crew and told bluntly to stow your stuff, sit down, and buckle up. They’re not shy about telling everyone on the plane over the speaker- we’re all waiting for YOU. If you’re offended by this- got news for you– they’re just saying what the rest of us are thinking.

3. First-come, first-served seating that encourages ONLINE registration. Saves the rest of us time. Sorry if you can’t figure it out, but it ain’t about you. It’s about all of us.

All-in-all, the way I see it– Southwest Airlines are geniuses. Their policies have a “weeding out” effect. What they do is essentially group those of us with common sense together while saddling their competition with the dopes. If it’s not deliberate, I’d actually be surprised.
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Jarkko — October 21st, 2009, 7:54 pm

Nice and funny article. I have a little experience about US airlines but more from European ones.
If there is a list from euro airlines, reasons would be same as in US but I have to say that if the airlines would focus on making money with a long term, that kind of customer service will out of question. In short terms, yes, savings are huge but in long term, big airlines are just giving their position away to budget airlines.
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Mike — October 24th, 2009, 1:56 pm

I’ve flown on United, Delta, Alaska/Horizon, and a few Foreign Airlines. While I can say that the Foreign Airlines (Lufthansa, British) I thought were the best, Alaska/Horizon has been my best domestic experience. United I won’t stick up for, because they really are as bad as you’ve heard. Somehow however when you are basing your statistics on twitter you aren’t likely to have the best information. People complain about everything everywhere. In some cases it is warranted in other cases it is not. Delta had good service, but that was years ago, I only flew Delta once. How Alaska or Southwest would be worst at anything I don’t know. (I’ve never flown Southwest, but everyone who I know who has loved it.)
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Michael R. — October 30th, 2009, 3:29 pm

The thing is, within the US anyway, we don’t even have many realistic choices. I live in Dallas, a fairly major hub and home to AA and Southwest. Lately AA has significantly more expensive than the other airlines, and Southwest is only good for very specific destinations. Ditto AirTran. We don’t have JetBlue.

Flying is an almost universally poor experience these days so price and schedule are the only factors that influence my decision. The exception is during the holidays when winter storms commonly paralyze airports in the north that turn out to also be major hubs… Chicago, Detroit, NY, DC… I always make a point to fly through Atlanta or other southern hub, but that limits my choices even more.

I hope someday they will reform the airline system. In many cases, it’s worth flying over driving, but only just.
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The Blog of Steve Fitzgerald » HOW TO AVOID A DAVE CARROLL — October 31st, 2009, 6:31 pm

[...] Exceed customer expectations. The airline industry has very low service ratings. Customer expectations basically consist of get me to where I want to go in about the time you say [...]
Trish — November 2nd, 2009, 5:30 pm

I bought a ticket on Delta, thinking it would be easier to deal with any problems that might come up if I had only one airline to deal with. Wrong!! As soon as I bought the ticket, I saw they were all codeshare flights…and the nightmare began. Right now I’ve been on the phone with Alaska/Horizon for 30 minutes because I had a message from them saying my flights had changed. Now they are telling me that Delta sold me a flight with an “illegal” connection (45 minutes) and will have to reroute me. If I bought a ticket based on the itinerary, how can they change it? Isn’t that bait-and-switch? How is it legal to hold me to a purchase when I’m not receiving what I paid for? I don’t understand how airlines are allowed to get away with this.
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kbo — November 4th, 2009, 7:42 pm

Interesting. I fly Delta about once a week, and they have always been fantastic. I’ll fly them even if a competitor has a slightly lower price because they do a good job. I think a lot of people have super unrealistic expectations of what kind of service you should be getting on a flight. It isn’t a restaurant for God’s sake – there are hundreds of people on a plane, and sometimes it will take a few minutes to get you a bottle of water.
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Mike — November 6th, 2009, 6:06 am

It’s nice to see jetblue set as one of the better ranked ones, I know for me, delta by far has been the worst, and the tickets are way overpriced for the lackluster service I have received. I’m surprised united was ranked as highly as it was , i always hear complaints from my colleagues about them.
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Jonny Bend — November 17th, 2009, 3:30 pm

The largest airlines with the strongest unions will always have the most complaints. I did not see where you had adjusted for the number of person flights per day but expecting amazing performance from a large company that has to deal with weather, the government, the local airports an millions of unreasonable people every day isn’t easy.
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Suzanne De Cornelia — November 24th, 2009, 6:55 am

B4 dereg of airlines under Reagan–flying was civilized. Now it’s just material for SNL skit.

Just as US economy was civilized B4 dereg of derivatives in ’02 when their total ‘value’ was $9T against $14T GDP. Today, 7-years later, derivative global ‘value’ is $1.14 Quadrillion against $50-60T world economy, and US economy is the world’s laughing stock. Tweet that.
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kenhyde — November 27th, 2009, 8:03 pm

taking a break from the tsunami volunteer work in Thailand, flying back to UK. Young lady asks if I would like a drink, yes please, whisky and water. Clunk clunk went the ice, sorry, whiskey, water , clunk clunk, sorry, only heathens and Americans put ice in whisky, she got it, I got a proper drink in my hand. Whump, bit of turbulence, she went on her ass. I don’t know why other people were screaming, I was screaming because the liquid, that precious negotiated-for-patiently liquid went 3 feet vertically out of the tumbler – spread out and descended randomly. The attendant got up, rushed the trolley to the end of the cabin and strapped herself in…
Was it something I said?.
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Derby — November 30th, 2009, 11:35 am

As someone who routinely flies in and out of Philadelphia (AKA: Philly and/or PHL) I found it hillarious that Philly is not only the only city listed in the graphic of ‘negative sentiment words’ but managed to be included in all it’s glorious forms, Philadelphia, Philly, & PHL!
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PaulG — December 1st, 2009, 5:37 pm

Over the past 20 yrs I have logged many a flight, most good, some bad, the worst flights have been on Delta and United. These two airlines have cancelled, or delayed more flights than I can count. AA has been good to me for the most part, with delays in and out of DFW due to sumertime thunderstorms which can really mess things up. Only really bad experience with AA was a couple of yrs ago when a storm caused 4+ hrs of delay for our flight, but many others where cancelled. Biggest beef was the gate agents really didn’t know anything more than we did and they were becoming defensive because all the stuck passengers were getting pissed off and taking their frustration out on the agents, so who was worse, the airline or the passengers for forgeting their manners, unfortunately it was the passengers.

My favorite airline is Southwest, I know exactly what to expect on each flight, knowing that it will probably leave/arrive on time and with any luck there will be someone with some personality and maybe even a little talent, to make me laugh. I don’t mind paying a little extra to be in the first 15 of the A group and I get a free (OK I did pay for it with the upgrade) beer, whiskey, or tequlia.

I just got back from Kauai flying on Hawaiian and with the exception of the way they run the check-in at LIH, they did very well, serving me and my very demanding wife. She drinks a lot of water and asked to have her 40 oz. canteen filled, one attendant filled it only half way, another asked me to follow her to the galley, where she was more than happy to fill the canteen full, so I guess it really depends on who is serving you.

So the bottom line on flying is, set your expectations really low and if they manage to exceed your expectations, it would have to be called a great flight, if on the other hand they fell below this expectation, next time vote with your wallet and use a different carrier.

Being that I work directly with my customers, I know that sometimes no matter what I do, I can not make them happy and they will write a letter to my pointy haired bosses and bitch their asses off about how bad my service was, then there is the majority of my customers who love my work and walk away happy, but never write a letter to let the PHB know how much they appriecate my work and then every once in a while, I have a customer write a letter to the president of our firm and to thank me for everything I have done. I really like this last group of people because they know that a few kind words will go a long way and get them even better service next time.

So, next time you take a flight, remember to thank everyone who helps you, if something is wrong, is it the person or the circumstance that you are upset with and no matter what, remember your manners. Two wrongs never make a right.
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bukka — December 8th, 2009, 9:58 am

This is an amazing letter to Delta, RT from twitzer

http://shorttext.com/1qv1but5x

Dear Delta:

I am a frequent-flyer with Platinum status on Delta. And one of your biggest fans.

I’m also the guy in those UPS Whiteboard commercials on TV. And I’m not just the actor. I’m also am the creative director at the ad agency who creates the advertising for UPS.

On June 18th I flew Delta for the last time. As of now, I cannot imagine ever stepping foot on another Delta airplane.

Because on June 18th, things went wrong. Very, very wrong.

On that morning, my wife and two children (7 year old twins), got up at 4 am in order to catch the first flight from our home in Richmond, VA to Atlanta. It was a business trip mixed in with a family vacation. You see, my parents live in Atlanta and my children hadn’t seen their grandparents for quite some time. As you can imagine, we were all very excited.

The sequence of events that occurred for the next 13 hours, and then resumed again the next day, is almost too hard to explain.

In fact, as type this, my heart is racing once again.

You see, our flight was delayed due to a mechanical problem on our plane. Over the course of the next 13 hours we sat in the terminal at Richmond as flight after flight after flight all departed on time to Atlanta. Except, of course, ours. An entire airplane full of people – all of whom had gotten up early to catch the first flight of the day – watched helplessly as every other plane departed incident-free.

And since our bags were on the plane (we had all already been seated, before we were asked to de-board) we couldn’t even get our luggage off the plane and go home. Also, we kept being told our plane was almost fixed.

I took the initiative at noon to book us on the 5pm flight to Atlanta. I called Delta (five times in fact – you can check) to confirm and re-reconfirm again. I was continually reassured that my family had guaranteed seats on that 5pm flight. I was, in fact, on the phone with you as the Delta employees at the gate refused to give us our seats – on a flight we had already been confirmed on. And I never even heard an “I’m sorry.”

Consequently, I missed a few things in Atlanta: The Direct Marketing Association’s conference – of which I was the guest speaker. It was a paid event and the DMA was understandably shocked, mortified and embarrassed by the situation. They had to offer refunds to all their attendees.

I also missed my Wall Street Journal interview.

I also missed my meeting.

But much worse than all that, was what happened to my family.

I really wish some one could hear the crying and see the stress on my children’s face, as they ask why we couldn’t go see grandma and grandpa. And why we couldn’t just go home. I wish you could have heard the phone calls as all of us cried as we spoke with my parents. As my parents, who were also crying, tried to console their grandchildren. My children kept on asking why the airline was doing this to them. They kept asking what is was they did wrong.

We finally got our bags back after our 7am flight was officially and blessedly canceled.

At 6pm.

We were NEVER even offered as much as food vouchers for breakfast, lunch or dinner – all of which were purchased at the airport, as our flight continued to be pushed back and back. And we were not alone. But at least we could spend the evening in our home.

Again, we never even heard an apology.

The flight the next morning, was of course, delayed. Those passengers, who hadn’t been through what the rest of us had, could not understand our collective stress and tears when our gate was changed and then we were delayed. It was a short delay, one that until now, I wouldn’t have even given a second thought about. But the stress lasted much longer. I had to promise my children that I would not make them fly on an airplane anytime soon. They used to LOVE to fly. They simply cannot understand why things are so unfair.

Since returning on June 21st, I have flown 5 round trip flights to Las Vegas, Atlanta and New York. None of those flights have been on Delta.

I am now prepping my travels for the next three months, which include multiple flights to Los Angeles, St Louis, New York, Orlando, London, Berlin, Singapore and Shanghai.

In fact, I am literally flying MORE than I ever have in my life!

But until I receive some sort of apology, I will continue to adjust my schedule to avoid Delta. My coordinator and travel agent know not to book me on any Delta flights for the time being.

This is a fixable problem. This is about principle? Yes. It’s about my belief in customer service. It’s about working with business partners who respect each other. I really believe that. Which is why, until June 18th, I had been one of your biggest cheerleaders.

In the end, it wasn’t the actual circumstance that has caused me to avoid your airline. It is the complete and utter lack of compassion.

Regrettably,

Andy Azula
UPS Whiteboard Actor
SVP/ Creative Director – The Martin Agency
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Jessie — December 10th, 2009, 4:07 am

I had a bad time with American Airlines. I was moving overseas and brought my dog. It was a long flight, with a long layover in Dallas. There were instructions on the kennel to feed him and give him water.

When I arrived in Europe, I found that they hadn’t given him anything–there was untouched homeland security tape around the kennel, and the poor dog was sick from lack of water. It had been nearly 24 hours of travel, and nobody thought to give him any water!
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Mikey — December 15th, 2009, 12:24 pm

Southwest cleverly does not give you an assigned seat on the plane, but rather an assigned place in the line at the gate. Very clever, and yet, there was still quite a bottleneck in the jetway. The best laid plans of mice and men…

I have had much more frequent opportunities to fly AirTran, which offers (at least in my experience) good customer service, internet access and XM satellite radio, neither of which SW offers (although I think they may offer internet in the future).
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Cameron Benz — December 15th, 2009, 2:16 pm

I used to bartend in a bar at a Marriott and got to hear the complaints of the business travelers frequently. The number one complaint, above all others and not limited to airline complaints, was that Delta was terrible. And that was coming from business travelers. These are people who had platinum status with Marriott or other hotels. I took that as a clue for when I travel.

I still liken travelling on a plane to like being a long bus ride but with wings and without homeless people.

And who the _____ is Megan? lol
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frquent flyer — January 23rd, 2010, 12:42 am

Delta is defently the worst airline in the worls…. the custemor service and the booking system is one of the lowest standard in the entire world.
I have flawn Delta couple of times now and I am now fed up with the incompetent personal they are hiring . Cheap and low class airline…
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Sam — February 5th, 2010, 12:21 pm

Isn’t it curious that best service is provided by airlines of the “third” world countries? When you flying Korean, Thai, Mexican lines you feel “serviced” rather than “dealt with” on Delta, etc.
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Bryan — July 23rd, 2010, 12:58 pm

Two weeks ago the last straw was drawn with Delta when it took me 23 hours to get from Denver to Jackson, MS due to a, “Mechanical”. Yesterday was the worst serious of horrible pass the buck treatment that finally ended today with my decision to never give Delta another penny of my companies money for travel. I hope this gets to someone that will steer clear of this bad airline.

I started my last trip yesterday when I left Orlando and arrived in Atlanta. When I arrived, I searched for help. After standing in a line for 15 minutes, I was given a boarding pass for the following day and a $6 meal voucher. WHAAAAAAAAAAAT! My daughter was flying in to Denver to meet me. She’s 14 and I arranged the flights with a 4 hour window just in case Delta tried to screw me but 12 hours!!! I was told there was a mechanical. I explained to 3 different attendents (lines of 30-40 minutes each). Not one of them had compassion for the fact that my daughter was going to be stranded by herself in Denver at 14. I actually knew that Delta was going to give me the big run-around and give me the short end of the stick after demonstrating that they really don’t give a damn about their customers so I had already called my ex-wife to not board my daughter on the plane. I have to say, Alaska Airlines, most particularly, “Betty” on the phone was the most pleasant person. I wish that Alaska Airlines would buy out Delta and expand bringing their slogan of, “Fly the friendly skies” to the nation and the world.

They finally gave me a hotel voucher for a shXtty Days Inn and $12 worth of meal vouchers equaling $18. Well, I was at the airport so dinner cost me $40. When I got to the hotel, it was disgusting. I should have gotten a different hotel but I really think it’s up to the airline to pay for it not me.

So, I finally got into Denver after arriving at the airport early (6am) this morning. I had to argue with a woman and clearly state to her and everyone around the ticket counter that Delta had left me in a terrible position. I explained that I have choices of who to fly when I fly 2 times a week for business and Delta has lost not only a lot of money from me but I will be doing everything in my power to make it clear to everyone else that they need to make the wise decision and stay clear of this airline. They need to go bankrupt and get out of this business. The CEO needs to have his Xss handed to him on a silver platter and all executives need to be replaced with those needing jobs. As for those customer service agents on the front lines, they can be retrained. Obviously they hate the company they work for and how it’s run, that’s why they don’t care about anyone.

I say, sell Delta to Alaska Airlines, this would be the best move!
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Tom — July 26th, 2010, 1:30 am

The real issue is that the steward/stewardess is not aircrew. They are flying waiters. When we started refering to them as “aircrew” is when the trouble started.

Being in the service industry is tough and the work is frequently unpleasant. That said, I can think of few other legal jobs in the world where you can earn the better part of $70,000 a year with great benefits and have zero actual job skills beyond being friendly and personable.
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Tim Ferriss: The 10 Worst Airlines In The U.S. « The Stand-up Philosopher — August 14th, 2010, 4:56 am

[...] In The U.S. Posted on October 2, 2009 by Eric S. Mueller Tim Ferriss has a post about the 10 worst airlines in the U.S. He created a poll for people to vote on them. U.S. Airways came in at number [...]
Cecile — September 21st, 2010, 8:31 pm

I seldom fly at all, but I just came back from a trip on Alaska airlines. I followed the directions of the reservations staff and brought my husband’s medications and cervical traction device on the plane as carry-ons. Someone else walked out with his traction device and they didn’t care. Some of the employees blamed me because they thought I should have checked them on in regular baggage. One employee told my daughter that just because I was ADVISED to take them as carry-ons, that didn’t mean I had to FOLLOW that advice!!! Perhaps it would have been better to have just had them land in some other state!! Now we are dealing with having to replace a medical device that cost $520 when it was purchased 3 years ago, and now costs $795! I don’t know if Medicare will pay for it a second time. My daughter demanded that the police be called, and a report was taken. I will NEVER fly Alaska or Horizon again.
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Allie — October 30th, 2010, 8:57 am

I have flown Delta many times in the past year and I have always received prompt, courteous service. The seating is comfortable even in the coach area. The flight attendants have always been very friendly, even when the weather has caused problems/delays on international flights . The same cannot be said for American Airlines. I had a horrible experience with them on both the outbound and return part of my round-trip international flight. The seating was very cramped (and I am only 5 ft tall and 110 lbs!). The flight attendants were surly and one was downright rude to everyone on-board, yelling at all of us on the intercom “you had better turn off your electronics and get your seat backs upright!”

I am very surprised that Delta ranked the way it did since I have never had any lost luggage, delays have only been because of bad weather, and the service has always been super friendly.

Now, even if Delta has a higher ticket price I will fly with them. I will never fly with American Airlines again.
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aphrodite — July 5th, 2011, 1:51 pm

On our wedding anniversary, we had flown first class to new york for a week’s stay. Upon our return flight home, I was getting a cold, my nose was stuffed up, and since I couldn’t taste anything, did not eat . I had my eyes closed and was anticipating getting home. All of a sudden, I hear a woman’s voice talking to me, calling me by NAME. I open my eyes and a stewardess is crouching down on her knees, her face very close to mine. She wants to know if I am changing planes after this flight. I say no, why? She says because there is a first class dress code and I was wearing jeans and they are not acceptable and I should not have been allowed on this flight.(She didn’t say it, but my instinct is that had I said I was going on to another flight, she would have tried to stop me) I say, What first class dress code? She wanted to know if anybody stopped me at the gate. I said what? She said I should have been denied boarding. I said the man across from me was wearing jeans and so was a woman in front of him. What are you talking about? She stood up and walked away. I thought she might have been talking to the wrong person, dismissed it as a weird, inappropriate question, and proceeded to disembark the plane. She stood there just smiling at me. I decided to call AA and ask them to explain what the heck that was all about! Upon calling American Airlines to discuss the conversation I had with her, an airlines rep told me what transpired. He said that she thought I was flying free and if so, anyone flying on a free first class ticket has to observe a dress code, of which jeans were not permissible and one can be denied boarding. I wanted to know why she hadn’t checked the passenger manifest for that information, as she knew my name, which most certainly would have told her what I paid for the ticket. He had no answer. He also said that the stewardesses/flight attendants are encouraged to challenge/question customers anytime they felt it was necessary. I said it was poor customer service and rude. He was most apologetic for her behavior and said her supervisor would talk with her. I feel that the flight attendants are stooges for the airlinessince they are encouraged to question customers if they feel it necessary. Needless to say, I told him AA just lost two (and possibly more) customers as we will never fly AA ever again. He didn’t seem to care. By the way, there is no first class dress code for PAYING passengers, only ones with a free ticket. Had she checked the manifest, there would have been no need for this conversation.
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- Olaf — July 8th, 2011, 11:40 pm
  
  I work for an airline (rhymes with temperamental), and as an employee we get some free passes to travel first class. SOME of the first class flight attendants don’t like this, as they have to serve us as if we were full fare first class passengers, so they make every attempt to be snotty and as rude as possible. Seems like you got the employee treatment. Don’t feel too bad though, because the legacy airline mgmts are just in how they treat everyone-customer or employee.
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- Eric Groovy — July 11th, 2011, 12:39 am
  
  Interestingly enough, I almost NEVER fly dressed up. But on a few occasions, when I have had to fly to attend important business meetings, and I’ve had to bring a suit, I have always worn the suit while flying in order to avoid having to stuff it in a suitcase, and wrinkle the hell out of it.
  
  So, on two of those occasions, when I was wearing my suit during my flight, I was upgraded to first class, simply because I was a well-dressed guy, and because they had ample room in first class.
  
  That happened to me two different times on American Airlines. It never happened on Delta, though. Then again, it never happened on United or Continental, either. Nor on Southwest, and I like Southwest.
  
  All domestic flying in the U.S. sucks, with the exception of Southwest. Of course, I have never flown Alaska Air, Jet Blue, or some of the other small carriers.
  
  I have flown Delta MANY times to Asia. I have also flown to Asia, and elsewhere internationally, on United, NWA, Continental, and American. American is the best for overseas flights, BY FAR, in my opinion. HOWEVER, that being said, American totally sucks compared to other international carriers, like Korean, Singapore, Malaysian, and Cathay Pacific.
  
  Two months ago, I flew to Asia on Delta, flying on one of the old NWA airplanes. Delta bought NWA and never bothered to do ANYTHING to fix those dilapidated airplanes. I have never flown to Asia on a plane that did not have tv screens built into the headrests, nor with headrests that lacked the head-support adjustable wings. The planes were dirty, with wall panels and other cabin pieces breaking loose all over the place, the bathrooms were filthy and not stocked with paper towels, my armrest was broken, making the 14-hour trip that much more uncomfortable, the video signal on the screen was blurry at best, my headphone jack didn’t work, my wife’s remote didn’t work, so she couldn’t hear anything and could not change channels or turn on her light, etc. The plane was visibly falling apart throughout the cabin. It was totally embarrassing to be an American, on a U.S. plane full of Asians, and having the most out-of-date, dilapidated airplanes on the international airline circuit. Philippines Airlines is rated one of the worst airlines in the world, and their planes are in far better shape, and they are terrible in comparison to other international Asian carriers.
  
  I honestly cannot imagine anyone consistently experiencing good service and a quality flying experience on Delta. Like Tim, my stats are terrible with Delta, and I have flown them dozens of times over the years. It has been one bad experience after another.
  
  They also used to have a terrible web site (and it still may be. It’s been a long time since I last used it.), and until recently, their automated phone system for checking departures and arrivals was absolutely horrific. They have recently fixed it, but before they did, it was the worst of them all, among the big three U.S. carriers. That is one of the areas where AA really shines. Their automated phone system for checking flights is the best of them all.
  
  As disappointing as AA is much of the time, I still think they are the best of the big three U.S. carriers (AA, Delta, United). I am really glad I live in Dallas for that reason. I can get direct flights to almost anywhere in the U.S., as well as to half of the world, and AA is substantially better than Delta and United in virtually every category, and they still suck!
  
  I wish Cathay would open a domestic branch in the U.S. Wouldn’t that be great? Or Malaysian, perhaps. They have fantastic food and great-looking stewardesses. So does Korean. Hmmmmmm . . . . What a great idea. One of those companies should come over here and compete directly with the U.S.’s domestic carriers. That might just shock them into competence. Of course, it is probably illegal for a foreign airline to come here and do that, and if so, that would be TOO BAD. Competition is the great equalizer and corrector of markets and industries. That is the fundamental problem among the U.S. airlines, in my opinion. More competition is clearly needed.
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mike kent — July 24th, 2011, 11:19 am

DELTA! This airline should be out out of business–it is that bad! Most of the employees we have run into, sometimes literally, are the rudest, most ineffective, least intelligent and least prepared to handle any situation we have ever encountered. It is becaue of DELTA that my family decided that since we did not need to fly anywhere, we would not! From now on, if we cannot drive, take a bus or a train to get to a destination, we simply do not go there! I refuse to relive our experiences with DELTA by relaying any sordid stories, but imagine the very worst (hysterical, out of control flight attendants AND pilots!!)–and unimaginably LONG delays. And if they change any information at all, do not rely upon them to announce it or even inform their employees of it!! Grrrrr…whatever you do, do not ask why there is this or that problem. The employees will make sure your trip is a living hell. And if your flight gate has been moved, good luck finding out where they moved it. This happened to us once without being told, and without them telling even their employees. What a disastrous company of fools they are!
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Anna — August 28th, 2011, 6:06 pm

Absolute worst is the UNITED. Why they are not on the top list,
They should the worst. Losing luggage every time, no customer service over the phone really. For whatver milres they give for traveling very expensive flights you you could buy couple of candy, otherwise you will loose miles as well. Pretty expensive. Connect through idiotic Frankfurt airport.
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Josh — August 2nd, 2012, 12:13 pm

DELTA is the Worst! I have had problem after problem with them. The cancellation policy is a joke and now my company purchased a ticket twice. Way to go delta… you lost another customer for life, oh and you left me with no other options but to bend over and take it from you.
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Milton — February 18th, 2013, 2:28 pm

If some one wants to be updated with most recent technologies
then he must be go to see this website and be up to date every day.
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