What is your least favorite airline?

For years I lived in Dallas/Ft.. Worth and, of course, flew American. It was always my least favorite airline even in those years. I found the attendants usually rude, the communication on flight delays to be very poor, their phone centers to be either rude or clueless, etc., etc. While Delta may not be my favorite, it is the most convenient for where I live now and I much prefer it to American.
Just one persons opinion, but based on decades of experience.

Geography--that is, where you live--is going to drive many of the responses. I mainly fly on two airlines--Delta principally and Southwest occasionally. On international flights, I use Delta SkyMiles so I always fly Delta. I have not flown American and United in years (I found the service on United poor after it acquired Continental in 2010, but again it has been years since I have flown United). For domestic flights, I want to try Alaska.

I like Delta and have been flying it for decades. I also like KLM, but I am not so enamored of Air France after they had to turn our plane around mid-flight, head back to Paris, but then just dropped us off outside with no explanation or instructions. We had to wander the airport for almost 30 minutes before we finally got some help.

I haven't flown American or United in decades, so I can't speak for how they are now. I don't particularly like Southwest, but have not flown with them since the big changeover, so maybe it's gotten better.

RJ, I am interested in flying Alaska Airlines as well, but it would have to be an appropriate destination, as I don't want to fly from MSP to Seattle and then head back east again.

I have only ever flown United and I have never had a bad flight. With that in mind I cannot say that I have a least favorite airline, nor do I put much stock into these sorts of surveys as my general opinion is that most people have unreasonable expectations.

I'd rather walk but it takes too long.

I've found happiness on Hawaiian but that may have been due to fact that I was flying to Hawaii so, yeah, never mind... sorry.

I'm a big fan of good customer service and predictability so I have a rather tenuous and temperamental relationship with the whole lot of them!

Happy travels.

My least favorite one is the carrier which most recently operated a flight that was delayed, canceled, etc.

The last two times that I have flown BA, my flight has been delayed so at the moment they aren’t my favorite. It won’t stop me from booking a flight with them if they offer the best route/departure time/price combination.

If you are flying economy, I think all of the major carriers in the U.S. and Europe are much of a muchness. Choice is often limited based on your departure airport. I live near a United hub so I mostly fly United; fortunately, I’ve never had a bad experience with them. I don’t think I’ve had a really great experience with any airline. I have pretty low expectations. I mostly just want the airline to get me and my luggage to my destination safely and on time.

My least favorite to travel internationally is American. There’s been too many times that I’ve spent alot time figuring out what I consider the right flight with departure, connection and arrival times at the best price only to have American turn it into the flight from hell at the last moment. We fly United quite frequently because we choose to go out of San Francisco and it is a United hub. I don’t have any major complaints about them. And we fly frequently between Bend and San Francisco which is usually done on either Alaska or United, Delta is just way too expensive for this one hour flight.

My least favorite is Delta. Too many screw ups on their end on several trips. We are somewhat stuck with them as we still have over 300k miles sitting in our accounts there. Once we are on the plane though, no complaints. Just the cancelled flights, dropping a person off a reservations numerous times, changing our itinerary so much it does not even remotely look like what we had booked, being downgraded for seats, etc.

Alaska and Icelandair are our two preferred carriers.

I have flown American and predecessors for 20+ years going back to USAIR and TWA. Delta is sort of bland, United I use to accumulate LH MILES & MORE. Loath Ryanair, Frontier and such. Best customer service experiences I’ve had were LH and Qatar. Oddest experience TAROM on a Russian IL-62. Fourty years ago AIR FRANCE and Concorde….a trip for the ages after 6 months in a classified location. USAFR for my first and last ride in a piston engine airliner, the C-118 (aka DC-6) Loyalty programs get me better seats, free flights and such but they don’t solve the sometimes unpleasantry of flying.

Geography--that is, where you live--is going to drive many of the responses.

I agree. No airline is perfect and the one that you fly the most is going to colour your decision because you've had the most experiences with it. My natural choice would be British Airways because that is by far the airline that I've flown the most and consequently had the most negative experiences with.

One of my worst flights was with Ryanair from Riga to Gdansk due to the most unbelievably tortuous seat and the duty free sales presentation in three languages that almost lasted as long as the flight.

Then there was the flight from Charlotte to Hilton Head Island in a twin prop with a leaking roof and what felt like a fuselage that was going to disintegrate at any given moment (I don't recall the airline).

My current favourite is Turkish Airlines.

My least favorite is Delta. Too many screw ups on their end on several trips. ... Once we are on the plane though, no complaints. Just the cancelled flights, dropping a person off a reservations numerous times, changing our itinerary so much it does not even remotely look like what we had booked, being downgraded for seats, etc.

mikliz, I'm wondering if it's your location. I've been flying Delta for over 50 years and have had very few cancellations and only a couple of minor changes to flights. But I've almost always flown out of a hub (first Cincinnati and then Minneapolis) so that could have something to do with it.

I've flown many different airlines in my years of travel. The past 25 years I've flown only American. I do have a "low ranking" American Airline credit card and am a member of their frequent traveler program. I don't fly enough to have status. However, I have been pleasantly surprised by how helpful customer service agents are on the telephone. I don't book online.

The gate agents have always been helpful and kind, with one exception several years ago. When I checked in at Zurich last May I was using a cane and wore a back brace. The agent wanted to get me a chair to sit on while I waited in line. Can't complain about that. I did not accept her offer as I had no need to sit at that point. But it was a kind gesture.

There have been times when I felt the connecting time was too short. For example, a trip we had to cancel the autumn had a one hour connecting time in Charlotte. Although I think that connecting time is "legal", if the incoming flight is late it's not. An I had been following the history of the incoming flight and it was often late. (This is part of the need to fly from a smaller regional airport. I can and have taken an earlier flight which meant spending several hours in the Charlotte airport. This is not really American's fault, just the way it is sometimes when flying from a regional airport.)

The flight attendants have always been friendly. Before flying exclusively American, I've experienced some pretty snarly attendants. Not snarly at me but snarly at others. Especially when TWA was in turmoil decades ago.

Hope I don't jinx myself with the next sentence. American has never lost my luggage. Thus far I always travel with one checked piece, a 24" x 15" backpack.

Growing up as a daughter of a United customer service agent at a small airport, I learned to be polite and courteous when interacting with any airline employee. It's the right thing to do and it can be helpful when the day goes south. I am not accusing anyone of being rude. Just sayin'.

So I'll be sticking with American for the time being. Unless I decide to go some place they don't fly. Ha ha.

Happy travels and travel planning everyone!

Traveler Girl

I suppose my favorite is Delta/KLM/AF simply because it's what I fly the most. My second favorite would be Alaska Airlines. As for least favorite...I guess I prefer not to fly Spirit. They don't have a great track record.
The rudest flight crew I've ever had was on Lufthansa but as a general airline they are fine.

My least favorite is the most expensive one.