Best Airline to Fly
Today’s Dilemma: what’s the best airline to fly?
Thanksgiving is on the other side of the door as we sit here on this dreary (if you’re in Philadelphia) Tuesday morning. Many of you are probably packing your bags for your flight home tonight, or tomorrow morning. While you’ve surely already purchased your tickets at this point, that doesn’t mean we can’t sit back and reflect on what airline you should have used instead.
Matt: As any Philadelphian will know, we suffer from having to rely on U.S. Scair any time we wish to fly out of our beloved city. Unless you’re flying internationally, it seems your only choice is Scair. Accordingly, I’ve grown accustomed to unreasonably high baggage fees, uncomfortable planes, unattractive flight attendants, delays, questionable landings and a 50/50 chance of finding your bag. If I had the choice, I’d go with JetBlue. I haven’t used them often, but the times I have, I’ve been pleased. You get your own personal tv for free, and the leg room is double that of most other airlines.
Laura: Even though I usually fly American, (the miles I’ve earned keep me coming back for more) I recently found out that they have the worst, most dangerous planes. My roommate and I had an encounter with one of our neighbors, shocking I know, and he works in the airline business leasing planes to airline companies. According to him, whom I now consider a plane expert, United has the safest, newest planes and American Airlines has the oldest, most unsafe planes out there. In fact, the average lifespan of a plane in their fleet is usually more than 30 years. Scary! On a lighter note, the best airline I ever flew was definitely Cathay Pacific, they treated me like royalty it was insanity and I loved it. The problem is they only fly in Asia, such a bummer. Another great airline that actually flies in the U.S. is Virgin America. They have spiffy new planes with screens in every chair, awesome food options, and their staff is actually friendly! I would definitely recommend it over American Airlines any day.
Craig: Growing up in WV, it was never easy to just “catch a quick flight” somewhere to develop the breadth of airline experiences necessary to really contribute to this discussion- mostly because the closest airport was 3 hours away. With that said, over the past few years, most of my airtime has been spent with US Air (or Scare). However, unlike Matt, I haven’t had any traumatic or frustrating experiences to date, though some of their PR could use help. In regards to the best airline to fly, I’ve had the most positive experiences with JetBlue and Virgin America. Both of these airlines seem to really cater to the people and their employees reflect this sentiment. If given the option, I would spend a few extra bucks to be on one of these carriers versus the Deltas, US Airs, and Americans of the industry.