Normally, what you expect on your flight and airlines is an on-time flight and cheap tickets. That is what most people want the most from their airline. While cheap tickets can be a great deal, sometimes you do simply get what you pay for. Every airline has a fair portion of flights running late, largely due to delays in the major hubs. You should consider these factors, but you should also consider what kind frequent flier benefits and upgrade ticket offers an airline makes available.
Be wary of cut rate airlines and other low cost carriers. Be sure to investigate their reputation and check consumer reviews of those low fare flight airlines. The shady carriers will have a mountain of bad reviews and masses of dissatisfied customers venting about their experience. A company that receives decent or very little feedback is likely to be a good carrier. People are much more likely to complain about poor experiences than to relate acceptable or good experiences.
On a similar note, do your research on the airlines and see who has the lowest rate of delayed and canceled flights. Most national aviation associations keep these kinds of statistics and make them available to the public. A lot of information sources only provide the delay stats, but it is important to know both. A sign of a carrier to avoid is a relatively high rate of cancellations with a low delay rate. After all, wouldn't you rather be delayed a couple of hours than have your flight canceled entirely? Also, pay attention to what major hubs the airline services. The more major hubs they connect with, the more lenient you need to be in judging their delay rates. The hub airports are just very busy and delays are inevitable when servicing so many flight airlines.
You should take a view in what kind of regular specials the airline offers. They are fairly similar throughout the industry, but each airline does offer its own unique specials and membership benefits. You should ask for information about the frequent fliers club and sign up for email notification of sales and special offers. Some airlines offer more vacation specials, while other may more frequent offer flight upgrades. Some carriers offer more bonus miles for frequent fliers, while others charge less in miles for tickets and upgrades. Choose the carrier that offers the benefits that are best for you.
There is a lot of competition between flight airlines and making an educated choice about your carrier can make your flight experiences much more pleasurable and rewarding. |
