Not a Big Truck

As promised, in addition to the list of the best airline in America, I feel like I should also come up with a list of candidates for the worst airline in America.  As I did with “best airline” I’d like to not argue that one particular airline is the worst, but rather consider a handful of airlines which may be considered the worst depending on one’s particular preferences and travel patterns. 

That said, there is one airline that makes the strongest case for worst airline in America, so I think USAir deserves special recognition. Where to begin in justifying this?  Let’s start with no free drinks (not even water), and throw in a side of giving the finger to frequent fliers by eliminating elite bonus miles, award co-pays, and notoriously bad service.  While operations are improving from the low hit in Philadelphia last year, it’s no surprise that the merger of the worst and second worse airlines in the country, produced the worst airline in America.

In no particular order, here are the other airlines that I think can make the case for the worst airline in America:

United - While the hard product in flight is strong, the service remains lacking.  While crews can vary in quality, airport personnel are over-worked at best and hostile at worst, and overseas call centers struggle to handle basic transactions.  Reports of expanded Star Alliance award filtering, devaluations to their generally strong Mileage Plus program, and elimination of meals on some trans-Atlantic flights, could reduce their standing further.

Continental - Not a bad airline wheels up to wheels down but when it comes time to redeem those hard earned miles, frequent fliers will find out why it’s called “NonePass” award availability is a well-known joke, international upgrade options are expensive (regardless of status) and SkyTeam clearly got third pick of partners amongst the major alliances (especially noticeable amongst Asian partners).  Recent changes are also worrisome notably capacity controls on non-saver awards, elimination of free same-day standby.  The Switch to Star Alliance will be a nice improvement, assuming consistent award availability and price levels, but the impact of this change remains to be seen.

Northwest - A worst of both worlds airline with the disadvantages of SkyTeam plus an extremely poor domestic product.  Old aircraft, no in-flight entertainment, minimal coach service and poor quality domestic first/international business service.

Southwest - Though operationally strong it’s still the airline of the “cattle call” - no advanced seat assignment - and passengers that seem to find a way to get kicked off the flight more often than on other airlines. Rapid Rewards has started to provide elite benefits (A-List, free companion tickets for 100+ segments), but now restricts award availability and still can’t get you to Canada for free, let alone Cancun or Casablanca

So, now that best and worst lists are out there, I’ll continue to update the blog with aviation-related posts as news breaks.