What Airline?

[kelli]

I dont mind extra security me.   

When we got off the Air France flight in Paris the French police checked everyones passports. They where looking for someone thats for sure. They barely looked at ours. We must not of fit who they where looking for. Made me nervous as to what it was about.  The flight was over though. No problems other then the steward running me over. 

[Clarimonde]

  I hated Air France. The customer service was horrid. We couldn't get an answer as to if they could get me, DH and SD all together as they has us in separate areas of the plane. No one would answer this until DH was about to take us off the plane and I had to get a bit nasty. Like I would allow my 10 yr old step daughter to sit by herself for a 12 hr flight.  I was so mad. I was also 4 months pregnant which didn't help. The seats laid in front laid into your lap. You couldnt see the tv screen and the steward pushed...no rolled the cart over me. I had to climb over it to get back into my seats.  I figured I looked fat to him in my baggy preggie clothes and I was really treated badly I felt.  I will never fly Air France again.

I had a similar thing happen to me Kelli. I was flying with just my daughter who was 2 at the time and Icelandair stuck us in seats that were 10 rows apart. I had been flying for many hours already with a 5 hour layover in Reykjavik and was boarding the flight to Florida when they did this. I kept asking for them to seat me with my daughter and they said they couldn't do anything about it. Finally the stress got me me and  broke down and starting bawling. A nice American man took pity on me and helped me on the plane and told me that we could have his and his wifes seats. I was so pissed off at the cabin crew for making me go through that while traveling with a child.

[cheryls]

Speaking of procedures and I don't mean to hijack this thread but I am wondering something. When we went to Los Angeles in Dec and I was waiting for our bags to come through there was a drug agent lady with her dog whom I didn't see until she walked behind me and instead of touching me (which was probably her intent) she poked me pretty hard, enough so that I went forward. Are they allowed to touch you or just point at you?

[Lotus Freak]

We are flying KLM from Amsterdam. I never thought of Immigration being harder because of the drugs in Amsterdam. Great. Not looking forward to the flight as it is. 12 hrs with a baby on my lap doesnt sound like fun. I just want it to end. Ah well.

I agree about being nervous about flying. I can only comfort myself in thinking that we will be together if anything did happen so my last thoughts wont be that my son will be in care for lack of anyone to take him.    Not much of a comfort but I am really freaked about all the terrorist stuff myself.

The Drugs thing at Amsterdam was like this when I last flew from there - Before boarding the plane and after check in and the normal security etc - each and every passenger for the US was interviewed by an American DEA person and asked if they had partaken of any unusual substances etc and general questions of that kind, reason for visit etc. I have no doubt that at both ends the luggage was given a very thorough search and going over by the "Nice Doggies" teams.

Bonus for this is of course the terrorist stuff is much less likley to be on this route - if that helps lower the freak level for you?

Steve

Steve, just curious as to when this was.  I've flown NW/KLM from Amsterdam to US twice, although it's been a few years.  I didn't notice there being any more scrutiny although that does make since.  The only difference was that one time the immigration officer in the US just questioned how long I was in Amsterdam.

- most recently NW/KLM and I loved their service. They were very pleasant and helpful and we didn't encounter what Steve encountered. We went through customs about as quickly as we do with any other airline.
- I've flown Delta, quite pleased with their service
- Continental was ghastly, will not fly with them ever again but that's based on business flights I've had to do with them as well as international flights
- USAir, I've always had great service from them because we tend to fly business and first class with them...inside connections get me an upgrade

[Periwinkle]

I have flown almost every airline out there and I have to say that I love Virgin the best. They have always gone the extra mile to make me and my kids more comfortable and have always had deals going.

I always used usairtours or airline network for booking flights.

Air canada was always really good too but it adds time and immigration which is a hassle but the price and service was excellent.

I have had bad experiences with united but a few good ones as well. Continental has always given me bad service with the kids and I hate to use them.

KLM has been good and northwest has given me a few problems but nothing awful.

I will fly Virgin every time on a 777 or equivalent. I love them!

Delta ahs been good/bad. It all depends.

I was always a special case as my son has the name of one of the names on the list of terrorists and we are always subjet to extra security etc.

 

[Clarimonde]

Well I'm happy to say i finally purchased my tickets. My mother insisted that I should fly direct  since Im travelling with just the little one. This wasn't easy because the only airlines who fly direct into Miami and out of Orlando are British Airways and Virgin. I managed to move my dates around and got a reasonable deal with Virgin. Lousy seats but I'm hoping to get moved at check-in. 

Ive never flown Virgin before. Last time I flew British Airways and it was lousy. The cabin crew never picked up any garbage in the aisles so by the end of the journey we had to wade through a sea of rubbish to get out. I refuse to fly BA now because of the baggage restriction.

Thank you for all your input!

[dubsy]

Meta, I've heard nothing but good about Virgin. You'll be fine.

[Jackyd99]

Good news on the Virgin tickets - I always used them when I flew here from Orlando - love them!

I had a wonderful experience with Air France when I took the boys to the USA in 2005. They were fantastic!  The boys were chuffed to bits that they ushered us to the front of a line of about 500 people at our connection in Paris.  Since I was traveling with children - we got to board first - they even sought us out (we had taken a seat since we didn't want to stand in the huge line!)

The worst experience I have ever had was on an American Airlines flight - the flight steward was so incredibly rude and abrasive it's not even worth rehashing.

[B.Kay]

The worst experience I have ever had was on an American Airlines flight - the flight steward was so incredibly rude and abrasive it's not even worth rehashing.

Maybe you had the same American Airlines flight attendant I did.   

[lplkemc]

The worst experience I have ever had was on an American Airlines flight - the flight steward was so incredibly rude and abrasive it's not even worth rehashing.

Maybe you had the same American Airlines flight attendant I did.  

And me!  The worst part of it is that he sounded and acted just like one of my dad's colleagues.  I cringed the whole time, and he was crappity with kids.

[cheryls]

I have always flown Virgin until this last trip to the states I flew on BA and to be honest, I thought BA was fine. Now the baggage restriction is OTT but that's how they are going to make their huge profits by charging you the customer and the taking on freight and charging the companies for that as well. I flew with a bag that was 22 Kilos on the way there and 27 on the way back and their cut off was 32. I believe it has now been lowered and I just don't know how I could have flown any lighter because I had to bring gifts over there and gifts back. The Virgin crew are really good with kids.

[B.Kay]

I have always flown Virgin until this last trip to the states I flew on BA and to be honest, I thought BA was fine. Now the baggage restriction is OTT but that's how they are going to make their huge profits by charging you the customer and the taking on freight and charging the companies for that as well. I flew with a bag that was 22 Kilos on the way there and 27 on the way back and their cut off was 32. I believe it has now been lowered and I just don't know how I could have flown any lighter because I had to bring gifts over there and gifts back. The Virgin crew are really good with kids.

Yep, it has been lowered - its now 23.     I think it does make it almost impossible to use BA to fly to the US with a family to visit family.

DH flies BA a lot for business, and I think they're ok but I sometimes think that they are a little arrogant and don't realise that they need to attract/keep customers.  The baggage restriction is a case in point.  Another case in point is their frequent flyer program.  It takes tons of miles to go anywhere with it.  And it's not very good at keeping customer loyalty - DH already has enough tier points in less than 6 months of his anniversary year to maintain executive status but they won't adjust his anniversary date so any tier points he gets for the remainder of the year will be lost.  SO he's flying other airlines with which he has miles when it's convenient rather than maintaining loyalty to BA.

Never flown Virgin but I've heard good things about them.

[dubsy]

Never flown Virgin but I've heard good things about them.

They were really good with one of my girlfriends that flew over for my wedding in 2005. She flew in and out from London. On the day she was supposed to leave, they asked if anyone could give up their seat due to overbooking. She gave up her seat and they put her up in a hotel for the night AND gave her a free roundtrip ticket back to the UK (which she used to visit me last year  ). She said she just *loves* them and will try to travel with them whenever possible now.

[Kerri]

Ive always had a good experience with BA as Ive only ever used them in the almost 30 years Ive been flying back and forth to the UK (traveling since I was 6 months old)
I also only book online with them, and found the more I book the cheaper the deals that are emailed to me (ive seen as much as $150 difference between the fares emailed to me and what was publicly posted on ba.com) We're flying back for my birthday in April and its cost us just under £500 for the two of us.

My mum and sister have used Virgin and love them. I would to, but they do not fly from Manchester to NY, so Im out of luck unless I was to add more time to travel and leave out of Heathrow. One day I'll get to fly them (and hopefully using their first class  ) but till then it will probably be BA as they are the cheapest Ive found that fly to JFK direct.

BTW how bad is the luggage restriction? Are you still allowed 2 suitcases per person?

[B.Kay]

Here's the statement from BA on the new bag restrictions.  I was mistaken - I thought it was one checked bag on all flights for economy - but to the US and other longhaul, it's still 2 bags.  That's a lot better.

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/bagchk/public/en_gb#americas