Which Airline Should I Fly To My Destination?

As a frequent business traveler, one of the most common questions I am asked, is which airline should I choose?  Which one is the best?

This is an enormous question and really depends upon your own personal interests.  Are you interested in just getting to your destination and comfort doesn't really matter?  Do you want to maximize your frequent flier miles?  Do you want the cheapest flight?  Do you want to check baggage or no?  Do you want First/Business Class, Economy Plus, or Economy?  Since there are so many choices to make, I will explain how and why I chose my preferred airline.

About a decade ago, I used to fly Delta Airlines almost exclusively and had over a quarter million frequent flier miles with them.  I stopped flying Delta when the majority of their planes flown domestically were all Canadair Regional Jets.  They're affectionately referred to as, "Puddle Jumpers", because they were often used for short hops of an hour or less.  Not anymore.  Delta started putting these into regular service for flights of more than 2-3 hours around 2004-2005.  There's nothing whatsoever wrong with these smaller aircraft, but I'm a big guy (6'1", 250 lbs), so my preference was to fly the bigger jets (MD-80, 737, 757, A320, etc.).  A guy of my size has some difficulty sitting in the tiny seats of a Canadair Regional Jet, or an Embraer 145.  G-d forbid you have to go to the bathroom aboard one of these planes too.  The lavatories are so small that a person of my size has to fold himself like an origami crane just to get into the bathroom, and if you have a 2-hour flight, it's difficult NOT to have to use the restroom sooner or later.

So, if you haven't discerned it yet, my preference for flights is for comfort.  Lately, I'm flying back and forth to Winnipeg MB, Canada on a weekly basis for work.  Unfortunately, the only International flights going into Winnipeg are the small jets, so I don't have much choice.  I have flown both United's Embraer 145 into Winnipeg as well as Delta's CRJ 700's and 900's.  Only Delta has established a First/Business class on their CRJ 700 and 900's and if you can afford that fare, or be upgraded, the seating is quite comfortable.  If you take United, you're going to be out of luck.  It's all economy or economy plus on the Embraer 145.

So, what is economy plus?  Depending upon the airline, with economy plus seating, you're granted an extra 3-4 inches of legroom in the forward economy cabin.  For tall guys like myself, this can make all the difference in the world!  Also depending on the airline, economy plus sometimes grants you early boarding with group 1 (right after 1st class and priority/loyalty program customers).

Beware!  Airlines these days are charging approximately $25 for checked luggage, so everyone is carrying as much as they can on board the plane in carry on bags.  For the bigger jets, this isn't usually an issue, but for the smaller ones, you may not have room enough for anything bigger than a computer bag.  I've even flown on some smaller jets where a computer bag is still too big!  In such cases, the airline will encourage (read that as "require") you to gate check your bag(s).  Gate checking a bag means that you are given a bag tag for your luggage and you leave the bag in the jetway, just outside the plane door before you get onto the plane.  It's loaded into the plane and returned to you upon arrival at your destination...also in the jetway, just outside the plane's doorway.  Stand by and they bring it up to you.  Again, beware that if you're forced to check a bag containing your computer, remove it and carry it aboard before allowing them to load it as baggage.  You cannot image the number of cracked screen complaints the airlines get as a result of these forced baggage checks.

What other criteria could you use for choosing your preferred airline?  Do you have a credit card with that airline that grants you additional frequent flier miles?  Do you have a bank of miles with an airline where you want to bank more miles?  Do you just plain like the people on that airline?  

Everyone has a story about why they hate the service of a particular airline and that's why they'll never fly them.  For the most part, after decades of flying, I haven't seen much difference between airlines.  Seven years ago, I was gold with Delta Airlines, two years ago, I was flying American Airlines almost exclusively and established a gold level of membership with them.  I've found them to be very good for my vacation trips to Maui, Hawai'i.  I've flown SouthWest Airlines to Vegas, Delta to Florida, and United to Colorado.  Flight attendants, gate agents, baggage handlers, pilots, and air travelers are all under increased traveling stress these days and everyone deals with it differently, but all things considered, there's not much difference in service between airlines.  Do you run into a grumpy gate agent, a frantic flight attendant?  Do they lose your baggage on occasion?  Sure.  They all do.  Should they try to be better?  Certainly!  In the long run though, every business traveler has come to expect these things as small inconveniences that we all have to deal with.  Getting upset only provides entertainment for the other passengers.

A little trick and a caveat here...
Like so many of us, my company will only pay for me to fly the cheapest airfare, which is economy.  Once my airfare has been booked, I can go to the airline website and find my reservation.  At the same time, I can usually upgrade my flight to at least economy plus, if not to first class...for a fee.  Of course, this fee is paid by me, since my company won't pay the higher fare, but as I said before, comfort for me, is worth the extra dollars.  I might pay an extra $130 to upgrade to 1st class or $20-$40 for an upgrade to economy plus.  If it's not available online, you can always wait until the day of your flight and check in at one of the kiosks in the airport.  If an upgrade is available, then the kiosk will offer it to you.  It can sometimes be quite a good deal.  If you're paying $300 for your flight, a regular 1st class ticket might be $800 or more.  If you get a 1st class upgrade at the kiosk, it's often adding only $130.  I mentioned a caveat.....I have found through experience, that airlines will almost always offer you the upgrade to 1st class on your outbound ticket from your home airport as well as any connection following that flight.  However, your return flight may have seats available for 1st class, but you will NOT be offered the paid upgrade for your return flights.  You're likely to get whatever seat you have.  You can, however upgrade to economy plus, if desired on those return flights.  I don't know why and I have asked ticket and gate agents and they don't know why this is the case either, but it just is.

So, once you do get on board, where do you want to sit?  If you're susceptible to motion sickness, the best seats are over the wings, or near the wings, where the up/down motion is less pronounced.  You may not have a nice view out the window, but you won't feel as ill from the movement either.  Keeping a view out the window is also another good method of stopping motion sickness as well.  It's distracting and at the same time provides you with a horizon to focus on.  The horizon helps your brain to receive more feedback that you're in a stable position, even though your ears are telling you otherwise.

If you don't get airsick, where is the best seat?  A lot of people choose a bulkhead row for "legroom", but I find that the bulkhead provides a flat wall that keeps you from stretching out more than you would if you could put your feet under the chair in front of you in a regular row.  On some CRJ jets, there is no bulkhead in front of you.  Instead it's just a curtain and the first class seats are in front of you.  These are ideal seats for legroom.  Some folks prefer the exit rows over the wings and on some planes they do provide more legroom, but be aware that while you'll get more legroom, your seats will not recline.  This feature is intentional so that seats left in the recline position during an emergency won't impede the progress of people trying to exit over the wings.

Want to find out more about airline comfort and how to choose the best seats for the aircraft you'll be flying?  Check out http://www.seatguru.com where you can look at each individual seat on board your plane and choose the best one for your personal preference.