What's your current favourite TAL carrier?
Huge explosion in TAL routes, lots of new aircraft types on them and options for the discerning flyer to go for; from middle aged narrow 757s to brand spanking new wide 787s. I've been doing a lot of TAL flying of late, with a lot of connections as well as direct in both cabins. I've found myself surprised at what has and has not impressed.
I won't fly TAL connecting in Europe because I just think USPC is such a major bonus, which does mean missing out on some of the better new aircraft and cabin choices that go to London etc. But you can't beat doing the queue in a controlled way in Dublin at the energetic start of your journey, instead of a pot luck on the far end when you're tired. Arriving domestic makes life so much easier - I walked from my aircraft to a cab in Logan in less than 10 minutes including wait time for the bag and was in the bath in my hotel 40 minutes after landing.
So, of the current broad range of options out of Dublin what do you like and not like?
Aer Lingus has the home field advantage and direct route network. I've only flown their 330s, not including the ex-Qatar one that's been getting rave reviews (:rolleyes:) on its interior; never up the front as I find their pricing a bit too premium (on the above Logan trip, I flew Delta for 1.3k less return than EI was quoting me for the sake of a 40 minute flight to connect in JFK on the way home). Economy they've got the best food in my opinion and otherwise it's fine. The big disadvantage I find is they tend to connect with United, who have given me by far the worst connection experiences of my flying life; so if you need to go anywhere beyond their direct flights it's not my first choice. (Jet Blue, on the other hand, who I booked via EI about two years ago, are among my favourite US domestic carriers generally.)
Their rewards program is, frankly, crap; if you're flying TAL everyone can get into the 51st and Green lounge anyway and I'm not sure there's much benefit to you if most of your flying is north america. Status with the US3 obviously has further reaching consequences for lounges, upgrades, etc.
United as I mention have given me the worst connection experiences of my flying life. They once gave me 24 hours in IAD after they held my connecting plane on the ground for 1:45 while they waited for a non-crew staff member they needed to dead head. Talk about putting the internal over the customer in the most blatant way. Their network is good otherwise. Their crews are hit and miss in a big way - I got onto one flight out of Dublin, another pax asked a crew member to assist because someone else was in her seat; and the FA said "You can speak, can't you? Go talk to her." The look, the tone, the entire attitude was appalling and is symptomatic of what you can get with United.
In economy they're fine (I think the economy product is pretty standard across the US3 and EI, except American's 787 seat but that's a 787 problem). Business class they tend to fly their older product on all aircraft; but because of the advancements with Polaris that are fleetwide I actually find their business class hard product to be the best of the US3. If you request it you can get a mattress topper and an extra gel pillow that make a big difference.
Delta have the friendliest crews, I think. I've found them more customer centric in general than United. All three are developing their apps but Delta is the one that has wowed me the most of late - Auto check in and real time info about bags getting loaded or unloaded is really nice.
Economy, again, fine. Business I've been in 767 and 757 with them lately and the 757 is by far a better product - On the 767 they have this mad no storage setup, it's a pretty wide seat and everyone has aisle access but after that it's crap, the screen is actually smaller than the one they're putting into their new premium economy. The cabin is also pretty densely packed. On the 757 they're flying a 2-2 config, but otherwise the seat is much better, more storage, nicer surfaces, it's obviously been put in more recently; and a decent IFE screen.
The big shout out to Delta has to be their never expiring miles. Really like that setup.
American I've not had to connect on, I've only gone point to point and in the 787 to Chicago. Love that aircraft, hate those seats. The windows are genuinely amazing and the feeling of space when you get onto the aircraft is palpable. The hard product, not so much - Economy, 3-3-3, ohh my goodness what a seat. 17.3 inches is becoming pretty standard, but there's something about the design of the American ones on the 787 that is awful. This is a pretty common complaint to all operators I think, but the whole design is just more confining.
Their business class hard product to be honest didn't impress me all that much. United just spoiled me with their mattress topper, I found the seat to be quite hard. Sleep is what I put a premium on coming home and so that's what I'm going to call out most often. Nice IFE and there's a certain amount of novelty if you get one of the rear facing seats.
Their crews are fine... Certainly no United levels of sass. I obviously need to try their 330 experience.
That's it for my current experience, obviously there's a bunch more - the Icelandic carriers and Norwegian. There's the Canadian airlines too for that end of the woods - I've heard bad things about Rouge but ok things about Air Canada mainline for example.
I think point to point United would get my business up front and Aer Lingus down the back if the routes worked, but on connections Delta is my preferred carrier. (If you happen to be doing internal flights out of sequence though, Jet Blue has to be my favourite domestic).
Of course it's all deeply personal and somewhat experience based. What's your view of the current options available to us?
