Devil's Advocate
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In the past year I've flown Alaska, American, Delta, Southwest, and United. These are my thoughts on those experiences.
Alaska: Alaska Premium Class is fine but the main problem is that Alaska only fly to Seattle from my home airport. You can also get to Portland from AUS but that airport is two excruciating hours of stop-and-go traffic away and really overcrowded. They also killed Virgin America, which annoyed me, but that airline never flew to my home airport either so maybe it's not such a big loss in that regard. Although Alaska is highly regarded in the soft service rating I've found them to be similar to other US airlines.
American: The updated Main Cabin Extra service is slowly winning me over. I'm not normally a fan of regional jets but with MCE on the current CR7 layout you can get plenty of legroom and only one immediate neighbor. That's a very simple and easy decision for me. Intrastate connecting flights are a bit more claustrophobic but they only last fifty minutes so no biggie. I also find DFW to be a better airport than IAH so they have that benefit as well. The main areas where AA has disappointed me in the past revolve around lackluster staff performance, dingy airport furnishings, and sudden/premature service abandonment. Hopefully they stick with the current setup since it works well for my current needs, but they've left me high and dry before (MRTC).
Delta: Comfort Plus is a reasonable option for domestic/regional flights, and it's super easy to buy with it's own booking code, although it's typically priced well above American's similarly tiered MCE service. Their nonstop options are more varied and widespread than they used to be (for where I live anyway). Comfort Plus is not so great for transatlantic/transpacific flights. Buying two CP seats on the outer walls of a moderately sized intercontinental aircraft (767/787/A330) would probably work well but you're nearing business class fares at that point. In the past Delta's marriage to ATL made them logistically unsuitable for many of my trips, and they're still impractical for nearby city pairs, but their network seems to be growing over time. The last time I thought Delta was screwing with me I abandoned them for more than a decade. I feel better about them now, but I haven't forgotten how I felt about them back then.
Southwest: Although I prefer Southwest's much simpler baggage fees and rebooking rules their "modernized" seat pitch adjustments have ruined a great product and I'm just about done with them. After they shoved the seats into petite sized rows to make room for even more passengers it has become a major pain to fly them. Under the current Southwest booking and boarding model there is simply no way to guarantee a seat with legroom suitable for a taller adult and that is going to remove them from future consideration of all but the shortest trips.
United: I previously said I would never fly UA again and for the most part that remains true. I did use up some otherwise forfeited monkey points on a single positioning flight in 2018. If we set aside my issues with UA's corporate culture the primary problem is that their E+ product is outdated, overpriced, and underwhelming relative to their competition. As of a few weeks ago that was still as true today as it's ever been. Nonetheless their planes are always packed to the walls (in my experience) so I guess they don't feel terribly motivated to do much in the way of timely improvements. On my most recent UA trip the staff seemed to be going out of their way to thank me for some sort of obscure status level that either doesn't exist or doesn't mean anything. It was awkward but harmless.
Allegiant: Not considered due to reputation and lack of tall passenger seating.
Frontier: No longer considered due to reputation and lack of tall passenger seating option.
Spirit: Not considered due to reputation and lack of tall passenger seating option (being removed).
Those are my thoughts anyway. How about the rest of you?
Alaska: Alaska Premium Class is fine but the main problem is that Alaska only fly to Seattle from my home airport. You can also get to Portland from AUS but that airport is two excruciating hours of stop-and-go traffic away and really overcrowded. They also killed Virgin America, which annoyed me, but that airline never flew to my home airport either so maybe it's not such a big loss in that regard. Although Alaska is highly regarded in the soft service rating I've found them to be similar to other US airlines.
American: The updated Main Cabin Extra service is slowly winning me over. I'm not normally a fan of regional jets but with MCE on the current CR7 layout you can get plenty of legroom and only one immediate neighbor. That's a very simple and easy decision for me. Intrastate connecting flights are a bit more claustrophobic but they only last fifty minutes so no biggie. I also find DFW to be a better airport than IAH so they have that benefit as well. The main areas where AA has disappointed me in the past revolve around lackluster staff performance, dingy airport furnishings, and sudden/premature service abandonment. Hopefully they stick with the current setup since it works well for my current needs, but they've left me high and dry before (MRTC).
Delta: Comfort Plus is a reasonable option for domestic/regional flights, and it's super easy to buy with it's own booking code, although it's typically priced well above American's similarly tiered MCE service. Their nonstop options are more varied and widespread than they used to be (for where I live anyway). Comfort Plus is not so great for transatlantic/transpacific flights. Buying two CP seats on the outer walls of a moderately sized intercontinental aircraft (767/787/A330) would probably work well but you're nearing business class fares at that point. In the past Delta's marriage to ATL made them logistically unsuitable for many of my trips, and they're still impractical for nearby city pairs, but their network seems to be growing over time. The last time I thought Delta was screwing with me I abandoned them for more than a decade. I feel better about them now, but I haven't forgotten how I felt about them back then.
Southwest: Although I prefer Southwest's much simpler baggage fees and rebooking rules their "modernized" seat pitch adjustments have ruined a great product and I'm just about done with them. After they shoved the seats into petite sized rows to make room for even more passengers it has become a major pain to fly them. Under the current Southwest booking and boarding model there is simply no way to guarantee a seat with legroom suitable for a taller adult and that is going to remove them from future consideration of all but the shortest trips.
United: I previously said I would never fly UA again and for the most part that remains true. I did use up some otherwise forfeited monkey points on a single positioning flight in 2018. If we set aside my issues with UA's corporate culture the primary problem is that their E+ product is outdated, overpriced, and underwhelming relative to their competition. As of a few weeks ago that was still as true today as it's ever been. Nonetheless their planes are always packed to the walls (in my experience) so I guess they don't feel terribly motivated to do much in the way of timely improvements. On my most recent UA trip the staff seemed to be going out of their way to thank me for some sort of obscure status level that either doesn't exist or doesn't mean anything. It was awkward but harmless.
Allegiant: Not considered due to reputation and lack of tall passenger seating.
Frontier: No longer considered due to reputation and lack of tall passenger seating option.
Spirit: Not considered due to reputation and lack of tall passenger seating option (being removed).
Those are my thoughts anyway. How about the rest of you?
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