I have been a little busy over the last few months but now I’m back! The following blog was written in November 2014

I have been fortunate to travel a lot within the United States. This post, as a matter of fact, is being written during on a flight from Boston, MA to Phoenix, AZ. Considering the variety of airlines I’ve had the opportunity to fly on, I felt it best to rank them.

The airlines that I am ranking are : Virgin America, United, US Airways, Delta, JetBlue and American Airlines. The basis of ranking are all factors in a journey including ease of reservation/cancellation/rebooking, seat comfort, inflight food/beverage service, inflight entertainment, age of fleet and bag handling. Since all of these carriers offer internet on board and all carries in the U.S. in general suffer from delays, they are being excluded from the criteria of comparison.

Another thing I’d like to mention is that I have recently enjoyed free premium seating in the economy cabin and free baggage allowance on American Airlines and US Airways which are One World partners of British Airways, therefore I will be including 2 sets of rankings for clarity; one independent of these privileges and another including ‘premium’ economy and factoring membership perks in for fairness and better understanding.

INDEPENDENT RANKINGS:
1. JetBlue – 1 free-bag, maximum legroom in coach in U.S.,

2. Virgin America – Great seats, inflight service, friendly staff.

3. American Airlines – Close 3rd

4. United

4. Delta – Tied with United

5. US Airways

Rankings with Perks and ‘Premium’ Economy Seats:

1. American Airlines: Splendid legroom

2. Virgin America

3. JetBlue -Great overall experience

3. Delta – Tied with JetBlue, but for great seating option and flexibility

3. United- Also ranked 3rd. I just haven’t traveled frequently enough.

4. US Airways – the good legroom seats don’t recline enough and that can be cumbersome on transcontinental flights.

As you will notice US Airways ended up last in both the rankings. One of the main reasons for this is that in 2014 all other airlines are doing too many things to keep pace with the competition but US Airways continues to be dull and monotonous. Perhaps their recent acquisition by American will help them upping their game.