Johnny LA - Fly from Seattle to Bellingham? For God’s sake, WHY? With security needs being what they are it’s quicker to DRIVE!
That said, I must admit that I like Alaska as well… especially their policy of selling First Class seats for 50 bucks the day of the flight!
Actually, the trip is from Los Hideous to Bellingham. I have to change planes in Seattle.
I played my last deck of Pan Am cards into rags. I miss Pan Am.
My favorite living Airline would be Aloha.
Everybody else I detest/like equally.
Bearskin - - they divert when you ask them so that you can see things.
Singapore Airlines have got to be the best. If you can ever fly 1st class internationally this is a real treat.
Thai Airways is very good but desperately in need of new equipment on many of their routes. Their service is normally top notch and they are very affordable, although their domestic service is just so-so.
For bad airlines AeroPeru is about the worst I’ve flown on; their plane was falling apart.
For strange airlines, I flew Viasa (sp?) the Venezuelan national airline before they were grounded in the USA for haphazard maintenance. I was sitting in non-smoking. The guy next to me had a smoking seat. When I asked about this they said, “yes, this is right, his seat is smoking yours is non-smoking”. Very strange. They also called you caballero, which was pretty cool. And they kept feeding us the whole way to Caracas (it was Classe Especial). So it was a very mixed experience.
I’ve only flew on them once, and to get to them it’s a tad inconvient because I have to go into JFK, but Jetblue would have to me one of my favorite domestic airlines
Singapore airlines, hands down. Excellent!
All the other airlines I’ve flown with fit into the “OK” category. I mean, how good can a 9 hour economy class flight really GET, right?
The absolute worst I’ve ever flown as Air Alfa, a Turkish carier. The plane even had the late 1960’s flower print upholstery. What a piece of junk. I’m glad I made it out alive, and I promised myself NEVER to fly a crap airline again. They can be snotty, the food can be lousy, the seats can be bad - but the planes HAVE to be in good shape.
British Airways are very good and I have always received pretty good service. I even wrote them a letter of commendation once.
AirFrance are pretty bad and treat Passengers like cattle.
And, no matter how desperate you are, never fly Alitalia. They gave me the worst trip of my life and I have later heard many more horror stories.
Singapore Airways
EVA
Thai Airways
in that order.
Inside the U.S. - Southwest; cheap, fun and safe.
Outside - well, the best is Singapore, but I always enjoyed Union of Burma Airways (or whatever it is now). The idea of shoeless flight attendants in sarongs was always such a hoot. Besides, you never were certain where you would end up landing which always added to the mystery of it all.
This was as opposed to Royal Nepal. With them you were never certain “if” you would end up landing.
And who can forget Scare America (Oh, yeah, that’s Air America).
(minor hijack)
Do so many people fly to Singapore? I thought the rule was that national airlines had to at least pass through their home country at some point on the trip.
I don’t think they have to pass through their hub, really. I’ve flown US cariers from Amsterdam to London, for example. Of course, these planes then went on to their destinations in the US, but still.
Keep in mind that Singapore is a major stopover for a lot of trips from Europe to SE Asia and OZ. Plus, it is a major business destination.
I don’t fly much, but when I do Southwest is my first choice. Their on time record is pretty good and I can usually take advantage of their specials.
My primary reason, though, is that when my wife and I travel she has to bring along her motorized scooter. SWA lets her drive it right up to the door of the plane, then someone from baggage claim collects it. When we get to our destination the scooter is delivered to us at the door of the plane.
The last time we flew on one of the major airlines (United or TWA, I forget) even though I had mentioned the scooter when I made the reservations the person at baggage check-in had no idea what to do about it - first we had to check it there, then we could take it to the plane, finally it was decided that we had to check it there. Then I had to partially disassemble it so I could unplug the battery connections and tape them up. When we got to our destination there was no wheelchair waiting for us, and when I got to baggage claim the scooter was piled in a corner - I had to reassemble it myself. While I was doing this not one person approached my to verify that the scooter was mine.
We haven’t flown since the WTC attack; I hope we don’t have any problem with the new security rules.
I have to agree with a majority of the board - British Air Ways (note the correct spelling 
) is a phenominal airline. I have only flown in their Business Plus section but was amazed that their business-class seats make first-class on any U.S. domestic flight look like a ride in the back of a hay wagon. That may just be the seat configuration on 777’s, who knows? The BA lounge at Heathrow is also a lovely place to spend a few hours, complete with a free bar and plenty of Indian tonic water to go around.
Lufthansa ain’t such a bad ride either. You’ve got to love the real down-stuffed pillows.
Since most of my flights are domestic, I always fly United domestic and consequentially anything Star-Alliance for my int’ls. The people at the 1k desk in my hometown really are a joy to work with on a regular basis. I have lost count of the times that they have bent over backwards to help me out of a jam. It would, however, be foolish of me to dismiss all of UA’s shortcomings (i.e. their major cutbacks on food items, the availability of special menu items such as the happy meal for the kids, hot towels, an extravagant wine selection, etc.) All in all thought, US is the best dom. airline IMHO.
While we’re at it I would appreciate an opportunity to bag on Alaska Airlines with everything I’ve got. Their customer service dept. could take a lesson from UA.
OOPS, my ride is leaving. Adios