My nomination is Avianca. I had a three-leg flight. They let me board the first leg without any problem. On the second, they refused to let me board the aircraft (because they claimed I needed an onward ticket, even though the rules said I didn't, and even though they'd let me on the first leg without one), refused to give me any assistance in buying a second ticket so I could make it to my vacation, ignored my requests for assistance and my asking them to sell me a ticket at the fucking counter, and then when I finally managed to appease the bitch who was blocking me and be allowed on board at the very last moment, they then continued to treat me rudely the entire flight, and the third leg of the trip (different aircraft and different crew) were just as obnoxious the whole time. As far as I can tell, they just wanted to fuck over an American tourist.Just to add to the fun, at the stopover in Colombia, the Customs idiots kept trying to mix my belongings in with other passengers' belongings during a completely pointless X-ray check. Like, I've got all my stuff in a bin (there wasn't much), and the Customs idiot grabs my passport and wallet and puts it in a different tray behind mine, then grabs some of that passenger's stuff and puts it in mine. I attempted to correct it pre-X-ray-machine and he got pissed and undid it. The other passenger had to search yet another bin that he'd moved even more of her stuff into. No reason whatsoever for any of this, shady as fuck, it was almost as if he was trying to set us up for something scammy.Never flying Avianca ever again, and fuck transiting or visiting Colombia.
I never heard of this airline until yesterday when they randomly came up in a Youtube video and now here they are again. I want off Baader-Meinhof’s wild ride.
>>2811748It's possible that they are on a heavy advertising binge for the last couple of months. My trip was recent, and Google was pushing them in the search results then, which is how I ended up on them.
There's only two in Portugal if I'm not wrong and they we're both shit. TAP and SATA
>ColombiaLMAO, you took an ultra budget carrier for Colombia? Like fuck man if you're USA<->Colombia and want to do it cheap at least just do Spirit as the lowest tier of carrier. Not really sure what you expected going for a bottom scraping South Ameircan airline.
>>2811788Avianca is not a budget airline, it's just dogshit.But it's a member of the Star Alliance it's supposed to be a full blown airline with all bells and whistles.I've had a bad flight with them as well. (Not OP)In 2018 so it has been dogshit for quite a while.
>>2811793Speaking of which, for you globetrotting anons which Alliance is the most convenient in terms of benefits & rewards?
>>2811793Anon this is like saying "Days Inn isn't a shitty motel it's on Wyndham Hotels and Resorts!". Please don't be a troll this level of stupidity makes me thing the OP was entirely a (You) problem trying to do a cheap third leg skip.>>2811794OneWorld, but whatever works. Really just go for what airlines you use the most consistently, but in reality shopping for the best flight deal that fits is the way to go. Airline cards are largely a meme unless you're willing to pay them off yearly, don't get an ass of a renewal fee, and throw literally every puchase on them
>>2811809I said Avianca was shit, there's no disagreement there. The thing is, budget or low cost airline denotes a specific type of airline, which costs less but which you buy knowing fully well you are getting a subpar service.Avianca doesn't promise a subpar or budget service, it pretends to be a top tier airline, which offers "deals" and "discounts" but doesn't advertise itself as a budget airline, therefore it's a scam.Ty for the advice on the Alliance question.
>>2811745Some random internal Chinese domestic one forget the name.Pure hell every step of the experience. Most of it was the passengers, was every meme about Chinese people bundled into one. The pushing, yelling, spitting inside, most people got up from their seats and started taking out luggage about 15 seconds before we were about to land, hostesses screaming in moonrunes at everyone to sit down, absolutely no one listening to them.Utter chaos, never again.Catching long distance high speed trains was pure bliss though.
>>2811745I've flown Avianca a few times, never had a problemMy least favorite is American Airlines
Obviously it largely depends on what your homebase is. I have StarAlliance Gold and OneWorld Emerald and that covers 95% of my flight needs. Pretty much every flight, I can use priority lanes and the lounge.
The worst long haul I've had was flying TAP to Brazil for 12 hours. And this was in business class. Old livery, food was ok, service was bad. I've heard their Brazilian counterpart TAM is even worse.
OP >>2811745 back again.I forgot to mention, when I bought the ticket two weeks before the flight, it was a giant clusterfuck because Avianca's website wouldn't take my credit card after repeated tries. I had to call their customer service, they told me they'd fixed it, it still didn't work, I contacted them online and they sent me to a completely different website to pay for it. In other words, it's such a common problem for them that they built a second Avianca website as a fix.Just to note, their main website uses the exact same credit-card verification/billing service as United, which worked the first time no problem when I bought a return ticket.
For me it would have to be either Air Canada or China Airlines.
>>2811745American Airlines. Flight from Chicago to Helsinki. Dirty, old hag stewardesses, old. It felt like a bus
>>2812449>American Airlines flight from Tokyo to Detroit>Within the first hour, the electrical system for all passengers breaks. No TV/movies, no lights for the entire flight.>"Sorry 'bout that, everyone! Please go to this website for a $50 discount on any American Airlines flight!"This was around 2015 and I haven't flown again with them since.
>>2811745Aeroflot
>>2811745Air France were shit
>>2811745I had a depressing business class flight on British Airways a while back—although my trip out was fine, even comfortable, my return was on a much older and grubbier plane—I noticed about an hour into my LHR-SFO leg that my seat stank ever so faintly of vomit, and couldn’t ignore it afterwards. And transiting at Heathrow kind of sucks, although I’ve always found it okay as an arrival or departure point—some of the rudest and most invasive security I’ve ever experienced in a major developed-country airport.And I had a bad experience on a Vietnam Airlines (Airways?) flight during which we had to turn around and land VERY roughly back at Hanoi after a couple of hours in the air because of some mechanical issues, leaving me stranded overnight at a bad hotel in some distant suburb, with no Vietnamese visa and my passport under lock and key at immigration, with a bizarre airline-assigned roommate who may have been involved in human trafficking… I asked the front desk if I could just pay for a private room, and they just refused to let me, simply saying “Oh, no, sir, this is a very expensive hotel.” So I haven’t flown Vietnam since, but I don’t think that particular adventure was typical of the airline.Other than those, it was probably TACA, which I don’t think even exists anymore, but which used to be the Salvadoran national airline… it used to be nicknamed “Take a Chance Airlines.” It was actually fairly inoffensive, but the departure was very late, ground staff were rude, and attempts at crowd control were less than notional. The flight left me feeling like I’d just taken the sort of overnight bus that has live chickens on board. I also thought they lost my bag, but it turned out to have been taken home by another passenger by mistake, which wasn’t the airline’s fault. And I got it back.
>>2811745A departure ticket is mandatory for foreigners visiting Colombia. You're the asshole here for ignoring the immigration rules and creating a headache at the gate. South Americans don't have an emotional filter like White Americans do. If they're annoyed with you, you're gonna know it.
>>2812590He was in transit, retard.
>>2812629LIKE I SAIDIf you're entering Colombia as a foreigner, you are required to present a departure ticket leaving the country. A domestic connection to Medellin or Leticia does NOT meet this requirement. Both you and OP need to stop playing stupid about this.
>>2812632He wasn't staying in Colombia what part of this you don't understand dumbfuck? Immigration requirements only apply when you leave the airport
>>2812590You truly are a moron. I had a boarding pass from Miami to Bogota, and another boarding pass from Bogota to Buenos Aires. My total time in the shithole known as Colombia was three hours, most of which was spent sitting and waiting for the third leg of my flight to announce boarding.
>>2812440>China AirlinesThe Taiwanese one or the Chinese one?
>>2812459When? Did you use Aeroflot during the SMO period? They have no spare parts shit scares me.
Air 2000 (defunct)We got 'extra legroom' seats (luckily not paid for as family worked there). These seats put you in front of a wall which actually meant you had less effective legroom as the wall was where you'd normally put your feet under the chair in front.The airline also had a plane notorious for dropping mid flight. They couldn't find anything wrong with it mechanically but it just kept happening with this one plane .
>>2814365>We got 'extra legroom' seats (luckily not paid for as family worked there). These seats put you in front of a wall which actually meant you had less effective legroom as the wall was where you'd normally put your feet under the chair in front.United had seats listing as "non-reclining" for some reason. They weren't broken, that was just how they were designed.
>>2811794It depends on which airline has more flights from your local airport. Mine used to be Oneworld, but it seems to be shifting to Skyteam.
>>2812518Air France is pretty hit or miss IMO.Their Boeing are way better than their Airbus, but that's only one fraction of the whole service. You still can get a bad crew in your plane.
>>2812537>>2811745>TACAThey were bought by Avianca. Never flew with them as an independent airline. I flew when they were trying too hard in being the last full service airline when the model was being phased out on other airlines, about 10 years ago. The biggest problem was that the airport in central America looked pretty much like a bus station.Now it seems they are a middle to low cost airline that LARPs as a full service airline, and they seem to be responsible for killing a low cost airline that was about to take their leading position in Colombia.
The worst airline I have even flown with is easily Aerolineas Argentinas. The second worst would probably be Scoot from Singapore.
wasnt really a fan of british airwaysmy worst experience was with easyjet... 3 flights cancelled in 4 days and a whole lot of nonsense just to get some money back. i dont believe they are really noticably different to the other low cost european airlines and i dont really care for a couple of hours flight when it costs like £20 or whatever, but for easyjet now i will only fly with them on return flights so if they cancel they have all of the cost of extending my trip and im not stressing and pissing around just trying to get out of the uk again
All of the airlines ITT are normie-tier.I was expecting more weird shit from you /trv/.Like someone who travelled on Air Koryo, Zimbabwe Airlines or some other sanctioned airline or one of those obscure African airlines.
those posts are retarded, for every negative review you will find 5 people that have nothing bad to say. Doubt most people flown on more than 5-6 different airlines here. Gonna say, I had a bad experience with singapore airline during covid, i thought the staff was incredibly rude and not caring, and the food was bad. Is singapore airline the worst airline ? def notI've flown with air france the most and as the other anon said it's very very hit or miss.that said i never flown with air india but wouldn't suprise me if they were literal shit
>>2819507>Air KoryoBeen there, done that. Nothing special to say about them, just like Cubana. Old russian jets, dated cabin with old seats and edible commie tier food. Completely unremarkable beside the maymays.
>>2819483Aerolineas is a wildcard, you can have a really good flight or a crappy one. The long haul internationals are generally good, the domestic or short haul South American internationals are the hit or miss. But I wouldn't rate it as the worst.Best Latin American airline is probably Copa Airlines or LATAM (but it was better when it was just called LAN. LAN merged with TAM and it lowered the quality somewhat). Still they are the most consistent in terms of quality.Worst (of the main ones) is probably Gol, which in my experience was consistently bad. Not counting obscure airlines.
>>2819510>Doubt most people flown on more than 5-6 different airlines here.United, American, Piedmont, SWA, US Air, Delta, British Airways, KLM, Malaysia Airlines, China Airlines, EVA, Iran Air, Avianca (I'm OP BTW), probably a few more when I was a kid (or a forgetful adult) like TWA and Pan Am.>>2816248>Their Boeing are way better than their AirbusThat's always the case.
>>2819565>obscure airlines.I've had great experiences in obscure airlines. The biggest problems were the websites.I remember I had an upgrade in TAME (defunct). The second leg was meh to bad, but far from the worst experience overall. When they say low cost or ultra low cost you at least expect nothing fancy. So I wouldn't be surprised if GOL is actually shit.LATAM used to be better, but it's nothing you really would miss in other flights. COPA the problem is Panama.>>2819572I still prefer Airbus in narrow bodies.
>>2812632why the fuck would any american go to colombia and stay there kek the other way around i get it
>>2819507I’ve flown several less-commonly-flown airlines, but none of them were bad. They included the old Lao airline (back when it was called Lao Aviation), decades ago when both guidebooks and aviation authorities warned against using it for having substandard airport security and aircraft safety standards, and the fleet was just a few Soviet-built prop planes. The old airport in Luang Prabang (since rebuilt by the Thais and Chinese) used to have a guy sitting at a desk in front of an ancient metal detector behind a sign that read PLEASE SHOW ALL WEAPONS. It was fine. The AC dripped on everyone, but they served food (your standard tiny gross Asian sandwich) and miniature bottles of Beer Lao on a 40-minute flight. It was pleasant overall.Also flown on Air Moldova, from Chişinău to Istanbul. Only problem was that the plane was full of loud, drunk Russian-speaking youths, presumably on their way to party in Antalya, who kept getting yelled at by the flight attendants for getting up when the seatbelt sign was on, and for trying to vape in the plane. Flight was fine.And I flew a small domestic Kenyan airline (Air Kenya?) from Nairobi to Lamu that was remarkable because both the pilot and co-pilot were women (one of only three flights I’ve experienced with an all-female flight crew), which presumably makes chuds shit themselves, and because the plane made two stops—first went from NBO to Mombasa, where a few people got off and a few got on, then took off again for Lamu. It was fun and nothing scary occurred.
>>2819888Oh, and I don’t know if it counts as obscure, but shortly before my Air Moldova flight, I went from Moscow to Chişinău on Air Baltic, which was or maybe still is a Latvian LCC. Only problem with that flight was a longish layover in Rīga, which had a podunk little terminal with nothing to see or do, and where the only bar/café that was open charged something like $12 for a forgettable Latvian beer. And of course my credit card got blocked when I was trying to book the ticket, because my bank’s fraud department assumed that no American would ever really want to buy a ticket from Russia to Moldova on a Latvian airline.But none of these were bad flights or upsetting airlines.
Took an Alaskan Airlines flight from Orlando to Seattle in Economy because I didn't know better. 7 hours welded into a tiny torture chair stuffed against the window in a goddamned airborne cattle car. About a hour away from landing, smoke starts coming into the cabin. Evidentially the engines had a whole fucking nervous breakdown. Finally get a rough landing on the runway, everyone is freaked out. The flight attendant gets on the PA with panicked tone in his voice telling everyone to please thank the flight crew for getting us down safely. This is after their not mentioning a word about anything or any problems. Worst goddamn flight of my life.Will never fly Alaska Airlines again unless it's a matter of life or death. Have flown Delta First Class every flight I've taken after and every flight I ever will take just because life is too short to save $100 but have a miserable shitty day on a miserable shitty airline.
>>2811793Star Alliance also includes:>Ethiopian>India>EgyptDid you really think their seal of approval means anything?
>>2811749This. The long post complaining about them is probably advertising (you fucking idiot).
>>2811794Agreed with other anons that the only important thing about an alliance is that it includes the carriers you’re most likely to use most often. For me, that’s been Star Alliance (I’ve flown at least ten of their member airlines, and my home airports have been hubs for two of them). But if I have a more convenient or otherwise better itinerary option with a non-member carrier, I’ll take that. The all-alliance benefits are all going to be pretty similar and not especially easy to achieve unless you’re already the kind of traveler who gets and maintains high status on one or more airlines consistently.
>>2819780>why the fuck would any american go to colombia and stay there kekYou answered your own question:> the fuck pussy and lots of it
How is Aegean airlines and Air Arabia?Have a flight from Portugal to Greece with the former and from Athens to Bangkok with the latter.
