last week - KLM to the Netherlands, United back home
why why why?
+$67 for more legroom (coach plus fee) from Netherlands to Minneapolis
+$75 to rebook Minneapolis to SF on an earlier flight
+$8 if i wanted a 'meal" on the US flight
why why why didn’t I book KLM both ways
at least no bed bugs. - - i wonder what that fee is?
I’m coming up to 2 million lifetime miles on various airlines and I’d put BA squarely in the middle of the pack, with better than average advertising and reputation. They are not a patch on any of the Asian airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Air NZ, etc. and have a very bad reputation among many of us who fly a lot.
I haven’t flown with them for years after being ripped off two years in a row by them (refusing to honor connections from delayed flights on the same ticket and forcing me to buy new tickets at vastly inflated cost). I remember their in-flight experience was OK, but it’s the rest of their staff - particularly the outsourced agents in India - that are horrible.
As a frequent flier I can assure everyone that the temporarily embarrassed airline doesn’t give half a fart about their customers’ welfare.
“Check it out, I got a round-trip ticket for $200!”
“Including checked baggage?”
“Well, no…”
“How many bruises?”
“Only three!”
“Wow, that is a good deal.”
So air travel has boiled down to frat party dares for money?
“$100 and you can kick me in the balls!”
Fast approaching.
I’m so grateful there were no issues when I flew to HI this past summer.
Horror stories like these make me reluctant to fly unless absolutely necessary.
I wouldn’t be so sure. Flight attendants are underpaid, overworked and treated only slightly better than passengers by their employers. It’s entirely possible the crew simply didn’t care.
If I could avoid flying I would.
You have vastly more experience than I do, so hopefully your opinion will weigh more! The only non-US airline I’ve flown is British Air.
Most of my experience has been with the US carriers, the only non-US one has been KLM last year when going to Sweden for vacation and they were excellent. The seats i didn’t find comfortable but my overall impression was quite positive.
Well that explains it - you would be right to say that BA are better than any US-based airline (unless you are traveling in first or business transcontinental). But that unfortunately is an extremely low bar - it’s hard to get worse service and experience anywhere in the world compared to domestic US airlines. You have to look at legacy ex-communist airlines (and sometimes Air Canada) to meet that ow bar, and even Aeroflot has upped their game recently.
But, I’d encourage you to look at other European or Asian airlines if you need to travel overseas again (and I hope you do). If you are traveling BA, just be very, very careful on any connections and transfers.
I was going to be snarky, but I lack the energy right now: the company name is British Airways.
yes! Sing Air is the BOMB damn diggity. 
The big ones maybe. I prefer Hawaiian to BA, and have mainly had good experiences flying Alaskan.
BA lost my wife and son once; I spent a full day frantically driving back and forth between Humberside and Manchester airports trying to find them, as BA was unable or unwilling to give me accurate information as to where they might be.
Holy cow, you must’ve gone bezerk.
The old bedbugs are biting my baby ruse to scam an upgrade. I’ve seen it a million times. I
was known to use it myself before the airlines got wise to it.
Damn it man, quit ruining the scam for the rest of us!
Stealing that image; thanks.
Oh you got bitten by bedbugs on our flight?
Here. Go home to your house for free.
We’re sure those bedbugs didn’t hide anywhere on your person or lay any eggs on you, so you should be completely confident going back to your house with no bedbug problem whatsoever.
