Favorite airline

[knutm1980]

Doha itself is absolutely lovely now though and when the time comes I will beg, steal, borrow and slaughter for tickets to the 2022 world cup there..so a little time to prepare

Really? I was there in December 2010 and possibly the most boring place on earth. I did enjoy some succulent baby camel in the souk though..but the rest of the city..ugh. Know some people working there, if it wasn't for the money, they'd be gone. Heard some horror stories about football games there..authorities filling up stadiums with labourers to make it seem full.  Much prefer Bahrain..although I left before the troubles luckily. Not so built up, a bit dirtier and grittier, but quite entertaining and some real seedy bars and a relatively decent local music scene. Bahraini's seemed like the friendliest in the gulf too..never experienced generosity like I did there..strangers inviting you home for dinner and serving up a feast. Also more history and culture to experience. But each to their own.

But the projects in Doha are quite radical..though they never admit to it, clearly trying to replicate Dubai..but the Qatari's seemed alot more conservative than Emirati's.

[NovemberCharlie]

Well:

Q1: My favorite airline is KLM. By far
Q2: My first ever flight was in 1999 Amsterdam to Dar-Es-Salaam on a KLM 767-300ER
Q3: I was born in 1994
Q5: I think I haven't flown with enough airlines to judge about this.

Regards,

NC

[Tujue]

1. Based on service, it's Turkish Airlines and Dutchbird (bankrupt in 2005)
2. My first flight use to be early 1990s, I only know it was an Istanbul Airlines 727-200Adv (from a very old picture)
3: 12-12-1989
4: Fly Air (bankrupt); the only time I felt uncomfortable in a plane

[NovemberCharlie]

1. Based on service, it's Turkish Airlines and Dutchbird (bankrupt in 2005)

Loved the Dutchbird livery!

[Tujue]

Loved the Dutchbird livery!

Yes indeed (of course, since it is "made in Holland"), the Dutchbird plane was a very warm welcomed change of aircraft for me (and I bet for most of the passengers too)

[lunchbox]

My favorite airline would have to be Continental, before they merged of course.  I will have to give my props to AirTran.  My wife and I flew to the Bahamas last year with them, and it was a very pleasant experience.

I think my first flight was in the late 80's, can't remember which airline though.  I do remember flying Continental and Southwest a lot as a child.

5-18-86

I think the worst airline I've flown on was Delta, nothing but delays.  Northwest came in at second as they couldn't decide what airport to fly into. I flew once from IAH to LGA via DTW, and they couldn't decide if they wanted to route through MSP, MEM, or DTW, we didn't find out until we got to the airport lol 

[ucfknightryan]

1.  My favorite airline would have to be AirTran.  I'm going to miss my hometown airline when the merger with SWA finishes.  The cheap upgrades to business class are so nice

2. I don't know exactly when, probably 1983 or 1984 as it was before my memories begin.

3. I was born in December, 1982

4. My least favorite airline....hmmm...I'm gonna have to go with American Airlines, because MD-80s suck, and ORD sucks, and the combination of the two is unforgivable.

-Ryan

[JumboShrimp]

Sorry to rain on this particular parade (thread), but I don't think the differences between major airlines are really huge.  I was partial to the stewardesses on Singapore Airlines, that was about it.  I fall asleep when the aircraft takes off and I only wake up when there is some cart activity around me to get a drink, or when the aircraft lands....

I pick an airline based on the alliance (Star alliance), so that I have the best choices where to use my frequent flyer miles.  That decides the US airline (United, now Continental as well).  That decide the mileage credit card to get for business (United MileagePlus card).  Nw to make things even better, there is a Chase Ink Bold card that gives you 5x miles on purchases of certain products for first $50,000 spent.  So I will have 250,000 miles on first $50,000 spent plus regular miles for anything over that.

250,000 miles gives me a free flight from the US to Europe for a family of 4...

[brique]

Airlines are all a bit faceless and alike nowadays to me but I always enjoyed flying with SAS, nothing ever seemed to be too much trouble, even when the trouble was my fault, not theirs... ahem, gotta love them when they hold the plane while you run across the tarmac cos you caught the wrong bus and got lost on the way there... ahem...

Earliest commercial flight was Heathrow to Belfast, about 1967-8, with BEA on an extremely noisy Brittania, like being inside a cement mixer when it took off but I loved it ...but as a kid, we would always go to the open day at Hatfield, which was the de Havilland plant, but by then it was Hawker-Siddeley, then later BAe, where we would be given free rides on whatever aircraft was doing circuits and bumps, sadly, dont recall exact types but I was only little then...

born 1957

Airline I dislike most... mmm... RyanAir by a long way : okay, headline price is cheap, and frequency is good and so I'll put up with a bit of discomfort for that... but its the long tally of extra charges/fees that slowly accumulate until you end up paying what would be std fare on a mainstream carrier but still get low-cost service, that and the cynical naming policy of its destination airports which end up being somewhere else entirely and far far away from where you thought you were going... meh, you've all heard the horror stories so leave it there...

EDIT: I would also like to suggest another category : your favourite 'historic' airline : one gone but fondly remembered : mine would be the lovably eccentric British United Air Ferries, which ran scheduled car ferry services to Europe using Bristol Superfreighters and such. Yep, a car ferry service. If you want a glimpse of what it was like, the Bond movie 'Goldfinger' has a scene showing his Roller being unloaded from one of their planes.

[stevecree]

Q: What is your favorite airline of all time?

Virgin Atlantic - my usual host for my regular MAN - MCO trips

Q: When did you start flying ?

First flight was when I was 18 months old on a Dan Air BAC1-11 from MAN - ALC

Q:When were you born ?

Too long ago...in the days when 1-11's, 732's, DC8's and 707's were still common sights !

Q: What is your least favorite airline ?

Ryanair  

[slither360]

Q: What is your favorite airline of all time?
Q: When did you start flying?
Q: What is your least favorite airline

1) Air India
2) 1997
3) Pakistan International Airlines (long story, but yes I have flown with them - never again!)

[mtnlion]

Q: What is your favorite airline of all time?
Q: When did you start flying?
Q:When were you born
Q: What is your least favorite airline

1. Maybe ANA, but my only flight with them was on B787. Thai Airways has also always been a pleasant flight provider. From Europe it would be Finnair.
2. 1991 Finnair from Helsinki to Beijing on DC10
3. 1991
4. Possibly Air Baltic from all of the airlines I've flown, but Ryanair from those that I haven't flown.

[mgamb094]

Q: What is your favorite airline of all time?
Q: When did you start flying?
Q:When were you born
Q: What is your least favorite airline

1. Maybe ANA, but my only flight with them was on B787. Thai Airways has also always been a pleasant flight provider. From Europe it would be Finnair.
2. 1991 Finnair from Helsinki to Beijing on DC10
3. 1991
4. Possibly Air Baltic from all of the airlines I've flown, but Ryanair from those that I haven't flown.

What did you think of the B787? I will be on one next month and I just wondering if the hype is true.

[mtnlion]

It was a nice experience but honestly the biggest difference I noticed was the windows. The flight was short domestic hop so maybe in longer flight passengers notice the much hyped air pressure difference etc. The engines were surprisingly loud, definitely louder than the A380.

[broadbander]

Q: What is your favorite airline of all time?
A: SAS is my favourite "legacy" - I flew with them several times MAN-CPH-SEA before they ceased flying to SEA. Of the low costs, Air Asia impressed me the most. Of the charter carriers, Flying Colours Airline (now Thomas Cook) was the best I've flown with.
Q: When did you start flying?
A: 1987, Britannia Airways B762 from Manchester to Corfu.
Q: When were you born
1980
Q: What is your least favorite airline
Trying to decide between Transwede (MAN-GRO in 1995/1996) and Delta (SEA-AMS in 2010). Each had similarly poor levels of service and surly crew. The Delta B763 was in better condition than the Transwede MD87, but I expected more of Delta than I did of Transwede.

[Jona L.]

The Delta B763 was in better condition than the Transwede MD87, but I expected more of Delta than I did of Transwede.

We recently had a DL 763 standing around in DUS at their gate (C05) over 1h longer because they had technical issues (took 20 minutes to solve, but took the pilots 40 minutes to accept flying the plane, because not all issues were fixed, as my colleague who was Ramping the plane told me).

Blocked the gate for my AerLingus A320, which was On-Blocks 12 minutes late due to them!!

[knutm1980]

EDIT: I would also like to suggest another category : your favourite 'historic' airline : one gone but fondly remembered : mine would be the lovably eccentric British United Air Ferries, which ran scheduled car ferry services to Europe using Bristol Superfreighters and such. Yep, a car ferry service. If you want a glimpse of what it was like, the Bond movie 'Goldfinger' has a scene showing his Roller being unloaded from one of their planes.

Good call, although I can't really provide much of an answer. Perhaps the old SAA or Varig, but being born in '80..I don't really consider myself to have grown old enough yet to consider much of my life experience to fall into this category.

[socceroos28]

Qantas rules

[foxbox]

@ Doha. I second your feelings. Been there twice for connecting flights to/from Dubai with Qatar Airways.
Nothing to do in the airport itself, less to do than in Brisbane. Their free wireless sucked, that is, when it worked. Only ONE restaurant, and the food was nothing to write about.

Anyway...

Q: What is your favorite airline of all time?
A: Etihad, flew with one of their A330's from Singapore to Brisbane. Their service was fantastic and plenty of space.

Q: When did you start flying?
A: 1998, a chartered Premiair flight - a DC10 if i remember correctly.

Q: When were you born
A: 1988, in Denmark.

Q: What is your least favorite airline
A: Virgin Blue, flew with one of their B737's between Brisbane and Christchurch. Horribel service, no space and old annoying crew.

[Troxartas86]

Q1. My favorite airline to fly was always Continental. Even as everyone else in America started going to low cost models, nickle and diming passengers however they could, Continental still seemed to believe in classic service. I think they were the last to ever offer me something resembling a complimentary meal. I flew my first post-merger flight with United a couple of months ago. Something was definitely missing but it was still a good experience, especially considering that someone was in my seat so I got to sit in "premium economy" instead right across from the door. Had to buy it but the snack box was still better than anything the budget carriers offer.

People will probably call me crazy but I'm also a big fan of Spirit. Since I'm usually flying between Florida and New Jersey, I am most often flying them from Tampa to Atlantic City these days. Usually you get one of just two A-321s they operate on that flight which is comfortable enough for short haul. The staff is always friendly, you don't need to pay the carry-on fee, microwaved cup noodles passes for awesome airline food these days and whenever they've screwed up, I always get a meal voucher and at least $100 towards my next ticket. I just flew on one of their newest A-320s and while the seats infamously don't recline on those, I don't sleep on planes anyway and it wasn't uncomfortable. I also enjoyed how talkative the captain was on my last flight, giving frequent updates of what was going on and even providing a lengthy travelogue about the history of Florida and Tampa at the halfway point. I think he's flown me at least once before and I'm probably going to remember his name from now on.

Q2. I probably first flew as a baby but my first memories are flying 727s to Florida and something gigantic to California on two occasions. One of those flights was with United in the old days so they gave me pilot wings to pin to my shirt, showed me the cockpit mid-flight and even gave me a nice toy 747 to keep.

Q3. September 16, 1986. In New Jersey.

Q4. US Airways. I don't mind the planes, I don't mind the crews (one guy actually gave a hilarious apology over the gate intercom before boarding once about how if the plane was full of trash, we should blame the disembarking passengers from the city they just flew in from) and I'm fine with the amenities such as they are. However, their customer service in a crisis will leave them forever on my black list. They let hundreds of passengers fly from Tampa to Philadelphia without informing them that their connecting flights were most likely already cancelled at the other end. About three agents were left to deal with all of us and it took about three hours on line before I was able to even attempt to speak with one of them. (in the mean time I watched rats crawling around in the open under the waiting area seats but that's on the filthy airport, not the airline) All they were giving anyone was $10 vouchers for dinner and breakfast, keeping in mind that it was late at night so most places to get dinner were already closed. I lucked out and managed to get a sandwich right before the doors closed.

Since I had somewhere to be the next day, specifically a wedding where the rest of my family had already arrived, I had to change my final destination to an even closer airport with a better timed flight very early the next morning. I go to the baggage office which is now over-flowing with the luggage of my fellow stranded passengers but under no circumstances were we allowed to claim our bags. I could see my own bag and explained that I was now going to a different city but without the least bit of sympathy or apology, they informed me that policy dictated my bag go to where it was originally intended whether I was going to be on the flight or not. I had to buy new clothes at my own expense and have the bag shipped back to Florida after it was needlessly flown to the wrong city.

Meanwhile it's now after midnight and I'm stuck in an unfamiliar city with nowhere to go. I managed to grab the very last room in one of the few hotels still running shuttles at 2AM, again all at my own expense. I had not budgeted for a hotel stay so my credit card was declined but thankfully the clerk gave me the room anyway in the end by forcing an overdraft with my permission saying he could not in good conscience let me wander around Philly alone at 3AM.

I'm normally very patient and understanding towards airlines but US Air never even apologized for the inconvenience and their agents were rude and completely unsympathetic to all the people they stranded that day. They basically just wanted to get rid of us and go home.