America's Meanest Airlines

Wow. Those are some suprising facts.

How does this make them the MEANEST airline?

Surprising. Ive flown with US, and Delta numerous times. and i have absolutely no complaints!

United should be first place on this list, and Alaska shouldn't even be on the list!

My wife returned from Rome last May.... her bag was 6 pounds overweight, which she offered to fix by moving a few articles to her carry-on, which they refused saying it was a security issue, and then proceeded to charge her $197.50 in overweight fees. I ended up giving 134,000 frequent flyer miles to Make a Wish and then cancelled my FF account. I will no longer fly Delta for any reason.

Oh, and I am now with Alaska and in the last 6 flights, we were early each time, service was superb and bags were available very quickly.

That's why we took Amtrk !

I take these surveys with grain of salt. I always wonder how many of the respondents are members of the "entitled" generation who'd complain openly over a free meal at their grandmother's house. I've flown many airlines, and though things might not have been perfect, I've had no complaints.

Cracked bulkheads, tailcones failing off, pilots asleep in the cockpits, pisspoor attitudes by all at the AP's - yes - it's safer on the ground. No air space redesign here!

Comment about Upshuck's experience. The last time I flew on Delta out of LAX, passengers were doing exactly as his wife wanted to do and it was allowed. Of course, the line did not move until all these passengers took care of their overweight that way! When that happens, the airline should ask the passenger to step aside, fix their bags and then go back to the counter, so other pasengers can do their checking in without having to wait.

I have been a loyal Delta customer for many years and I have not had any bad experiences. Airlines have rules for a reason. If you abide by them from the begining you should have no problems. People think rules are made to be broken. They are not.

Honest to goodnesss...it's very fashionable to find something wrong about something; it shows you have the power and the wisdom to judge and need to show and share with the rest of us for our own good. It's all about choices people. If you don't like something about something, just switch. It's time for a change...but, it might take a while.

To those of you that still insist on "flying" with Delta, I say good luck. I guess I won't see you there...

Could not agree more, in the last year put off plane due to what? no pilot delayed one day, rude call center employees, no help- no care. If I never fly Delta again it would not bother me

Could it be that front-line agents reflect how they themselves are treated by their own superiors and management?

The reason I hate Delta is because they don't listen to consumers. They were one of the last major carriers to start charging $25 per checked bag. I wrote them via the online website and challenged them to be different. In fact, I dared them to start an ad campaign and say "we're the only major carrier who won't charge extra for your luggage." I got a canned reply that said, "blah blah blah blah blah, we follow industry trends, and we are not the only ones with this new policy...blah blah blah blah blah."

Then a few weeks later, I start seeing (HYSTERICAL!!!) commercials from Southwest Airlines about how they don't charge for bags. And I'm now a Southwest customer for life!! Good job Delta, you idiots!

I am on 4 flights each and every week of the year, and I have NEVER had a problem with United or American (I'm 1K with United, Exec Platinum with American). I can say with complete certainty that USAirways should be number 1 through 10 on this list. From the gate agents to the flight attendants....the rudest and least compassionate in the industry.

If you think Delta is mean to the customers, you ought to read about how it treated it's retired pilots during bankruptcy! Wonder how such an airline can be profitable? It doesn't live up to its contractual obligations preferring bankruptcy court instead.

The treatment of the passengers is a direct reflection of management. Delta doesn't treat anyone nicely....not the passengers, not its employees/retirees, or its stockholders. The management team and board of directors do very well, however.

If you pay to check your bag and your laptop gets stolen, guess what? Delta won't even take a loss report....read the fine print. They aren't responsible.

Buy a ticket on Delta and Comair kills you in Lexington, Ky? Guess what? Delta tells the court it is not responsible for its code-share airline.

Are you seeing a pattern?

Unfortunately, passengers are forced to fly certain airlines on certain routes. While many of th employees are dedicated professionals, the company's moral character resembles slime. Mean slime.

The money is siphoned off through an elaborate equipment leasing scheme. The airline, once profitable for years and years under honest management, now pretends to be on the verge of bankruptcy to avoid sharing the money with stockholders, or employees.

US Airways is at the top of my personal list of the worst airlines in the history of airlines. Before that it was America West. I fly American a lot and don't have any real complaints. My favorite airline is Southwest.

I am not surprised

USAir won't come up with so much as a peanut on a two hour flight. Also, they want an extra $5 for all but middle seats. I hadn't flown them in awhile - forgot how miserable they've become

AA flat lied to me twice in a few minutes last year. 1st they told me a mechanical was an act of god so they weren't required to put me on a competing flight. When I called them on that they came back with the lie that there were no seats on the competing flight...another lie. Fortunately I had wife on phone and internet while this BS was going on. I wound up on Continental, which served a memorably good in flight meal.

A less agile passenger would have been totally screwed, which I can't abide, so I've managed to avoid AA ever since.

I was on an AA Eagle plane when it seemed to have some kind of near miss while taxiing - plane made a hard turn - a stew nearly fell over - no word as to why.

I'll now drive several hours to avoid a leg flown by a regional given their safety records compared with majors and low-costs

No surprise about America West...they bought USAir out of bankruptcy. Nice synergies there...hahaha. American and United have both stopped the planes on pushback to load luggage of late-arriving passengers (me, more than once...). If American offered the 'economy plus' seating like United, I would put them both as the top in my book. Because of that, and the unlimited upgrades United offers, they are my number 1 best.

I've flown Delta many times and more than any other airline. Overall, I've had mostly positive experiences. I once had to deal with a very rude and pushy customer service rep with Delta, and more than once I've been directed to the wrong gate and found myself sprinting across an airport, but Delta has been okay for me otherwise. Nothing special, though. I would put American and Continental in the same category. My favorite airline is Frontier. I have always found their customer service people to be very friendly and helpful, their airfare is usually pretty good, and I like their animal themes. I'm not too hard to please on a flight as long as I get there at least close to on time and entirely in one piece.

I've flown Delta many times and more than any other airline. Overall, I've had mostly positive experiences. I once had to deal with a very rude and pushy customer service rep with Delta, and more than once I've been directed to the wrong gate and found myself sprinting across an airport, but Delta has been okay for me otherwise. Nothing special, though. I would put American and Continental in the same category. My favorite airline is Frontier. I have always found their customer service people to be very friendly and helpful, their airfare is usually pretty good, and I like their animal themes. I'm not too hard to please on a flight as long as I get there at least close to on time and entirely in one piece.

My wife and I flew from LAX to SYD on United. We boarded the plane then sat for 2hours at the gate waiting for late arrivals. Our 14 hours sitting on a plane became a 16 hour ordeal. The crew was not attentive, courteous nor helpful. We flew back on Air New Zealand (in 14 hours) with a marvelously courteous and attentive and fun crew. We are sorry that United will be joining Continental in a merger. I trust that Continental will "run" the merged airline. Continental has always been our first choice in air travel.

In 1978 I flew R/T EWR to LAX on United. The cost was a little over $300. In August of this year I flew R/T LAS to BOS on AirTrans for $353. How can that be possible? Yes I did shop for Both flights but the bottom line I went across the country for almost the same cost 32 years apart. That I believe is the root of the airline problem. I do not work for them. I believe the employees are concerned about their very existance. They are not happy campers. Just remember you get what you pay for.

I'm not sure why we complain at all. We can do something about it. Probably most of you are aviators. Perhaps even own your own small aircraft. I'm trying to complete my own little airliner. Hopefully, it will take me the places I need to go. At least in North America. Food Service on my Lancair is whatever we pack and security will never take away my water bottle. My bags always arrive about two feet behind me. The terminal service is always friendly. They are delighted to take my charge card for the fuel purchase.

Given the fact regional carriers like Atlantic Southeast Airlines don't even handle bags, Delta controls that, it is misleading to list them or any other regional airline in this article as one of the worst. Get your facts straight, the regional airline does not exclusively handle your bags. Bags are handled by the mainline carrier or the lowest bidder contract hired by that carrier. True, mainline carriers like Delta do a poor job of taking care of their customers, don't place the regionals who often provide much better service on the bad boy list for something they have no control, place the blame where it belongs, with the main line carrier!