Reviewing 32 Flights Over 2 Years In 1 Post
It’s been a reallllyyyyy long time, folks. I’ve taken some time off recently and it has been really nice, but I never lost my love for this place, and I am so happy to see a lot of old and new folks coming along. For those who don’t know me, I was the guy ~2 years ago who would constantly refresh @Ishrion’s Twitter still calling it that page waiting for a new route announcement and then typing up an article here as fast as humanly possible to break the news to y’all.
Anyways, to the point. I’ve flown like a lot over the past year or two, and I wanted to give my little bit on each of the flights I have taken. After counting, I took 32 flights, and there is no way I am going to do all of them so I’m gonna go airline by airline here. So I guess this is like a 32 in 1 flight review of a bunch of airlines. I will leave a list of all the flights/registrations/aircraft and all of that fun stuff below at the bottom.
JetBlue Airways
So JetBlue is, subjectively, my favorite airline. Something about their crew and ambiance onboard makes me feel welcomed and comfortable.
One specific instance was flight 1146, from Fort Lauderdale to Richmond. Long story short, I was supposed to fly Delta from FLL-ATL-CHO, but my first leg didn’t exactly work out, (see more about my Delta experience in the Delta section), so we needed to pivot. 2 hours before the flight, we walked up to the desk, and a super helpful agent was able to grab the last 4 tickets on this flight. Just the culture and willingness to help in these situations makes them an airline I love coming back to.
Furthermore, I just love the cabins onboard. It feels comfortable and I love the free snacks, drinks, WiFi, and screens. One thing, though, is that there is an ad on the screen before you play literally anything. And it’s not just one, but like a 2 minute sequence that you can’t even exit out of. I still enjoy their selections on the IFE, just be sure what you want to watch before you click the button.
I also had the opportunity to fly their Mint product. I’ve flown it thrice now (JFK-LHR, LHR-JFK, FLL-SFO), and I can genuinely say that it is amazing. The privacy the door provides along with the excellent meals onboard allowed this to be a great product. I’m usually not a big breakfast person, but a huge shoutout to JetBlue for actually making breakfast good on a plane, which is hard to do (photo 1 from JetBlue 577 FLL-SFO, photo 2 from JetBlue 20 LHR-JFK). If you ever have the chance to order this… please get the lasagna. You wont regret it.
Allegiant Air
So this day was kind of crazy. For context, I have only ever flown them once; this flight G4311 from FLL-BNA. Pulling up to FLL, the entire curb was filled with people (see the photo below; pretend like this is all filled with people, four laps around, all the way down).
I had assumed everyone was waiting for like United curbside or something… but no… it was the TSA line. I had given plennntttyyyy of time, but this… looked to be at least an hour. First, though, we had to go to the Allegiant desk to check the bags… which had a 45 minute line of its own. Luckily, we heard over the PA “anyone going to Nashville please come to the front.” A sigh of relief.
Getting into the line was not much better, though we did get through with just minutes to spare. A huge relief considering they only flew FLL-BNA 3x weekly (though technically other airlines had options too). Allegiant was pretty helpful throughout the process though. After boarding, we found our row, which was… basic. I don’t have a picture of the interior but I put one from google below. Basically, it was a chair. If I wanted anything, I could buy it. For like 7 bucks. Was it overpriced? Yes.
By the way: I actually like the little orange accents on the seats. Kind of looks like JetBlue even more space accents. This also may make me lose all credibility… but I like the Allegiant livery.
Source sanspotter.com
(Source: x.com)
One thing about Allegiant is they do not have WiFi. One of the simplest joys in life is being able to indulge in my phone and what it has to offer. Not on Allegiant. To the Allegiant execs who are not reading this… please put WiFi on your brand new 737s. I’ll even pay for it… but please offer it.
After landing in BNA, we were spit out into the satellite terminal. It was brand new, but it honestly looked like they built it in 20 minutes just to try to expand their gate space since the main terminal seems to be very full. (Speaking about the main terminal… please upgrade concourse A… that place was scary).
So overall… Allegiant. They were as advertised. It was a chair with nothing. No power, no WiFi, no food, no frills. Although, I would fly them again (albeit the price is right and the time is good).
Spirit Airlines
So Spirit is an interesting carrier for me and I’ll try to explain why. Basically, I kind of like them. Here’s why. But first, the elephant in the room: they are bankrupt. But, I have flown them since their bankruptcy (as in 3 days ago), and I saw no noticeable disruptions in their service. I’ve flown Spirit in all three “classes” (if you call it that), so I’ll go over my experience in each.
Economy: ok, like, it hurts your back. Get over it. You chose Spirit Airlines. You chose to be locked in a metal can for 4 hours with 28 inches of space. But seriously… it’s not that bad. Yes, it is true that your back hurts and it isn’t the best seat. But come on; I found a flight from FLL-RIC for $39. And you can’t beat that. The space in economy on Spirit isn’t great, but I tend to find their crews to be the opposite. They are usually perky and willing to just have a chat. On my flight 3 days ago from EWR-FLL (I’ll go more into that experience in the next section), my mom was chatting with the flight attendant about her shoes. Something about them being good for your back or something.
Regardless, they all have been great and I find them to be just as professional as any other airline. In economy, there are a good number of purchase options at (dare I say it) an actually reasonable price. I’m not totally convinced M&M’s are worth $4, but I feel like that’s not too bad for being on a plane. By the way, if you want pictures of this seat, look at the Allegiant seat and remove the orange. It’s the same thing. Though, they have been upgrading to a seat that has an actual tray table (very slowly, though).
Go Comfy: this is their newest class of service that most people don’t really know about. Basically, it’s European style business on Spirit. The middle seat is blocked off by “tray”, who Spirit advertises as a “chill” seatmate.
(Source: Spirit Instagram)
I recently flew from EWR-FLL on Spirit 372 on the A319, and I can confirm that it was a great flight. We paid about half of what we would have paid flying United, and got included: a blocked middle seat, a checked and carry on bag, group 2 boarding, and free snacks. It was honestly a great flight on Spirit. The one thing is that the A319s do not have WiFi. However, those are being retired next week (glad I got to fly on one Monday), so there isn’t much of a concern here in terms of WiFi availability, as it is offered on the rest of the fleet for a somewhat large $12.
Big Front Seat: the Spirit big front seat (BFS) is basically the Spirit version of domestic first class, and as surprising as it sounds, it’s an awesome value. I’ve seen it as low as $120 on some flights, which makes it a steal considering you get free snacks, group 1 boarding, a checked and carry on bag, free WiFi (except on the A319), and a much larger seat.
In my experience, it has always been a solid product, and is competitive with many other first class flights I’ve taken. The one caveat is that there are no power ports, which is kinda a big deal especially on long transcon runs (think LAX-BWI or FLL-LAX, both of which are operated by Spirit). However, as I said before, I like the service on Spirit and find them to be a great option for when prices on other airlines are hefty.
United Airlines
So… United. I have (for a long time) been a bit of a critic when it comes to this airline. I don’t know. It just feels like they want to be so many different airlines at once, and it hadn’t really come together until more recently. For a while, they tried to compete in product with Spirit while touting themselves as a legacy airline with service similar to someone like Delta, justifying them to charge high fares, while at the same time offering basic economy fares at rock bottom prices. It just never really made sense to me.
However, that all changed with the wide scale introduction of their 737 MAX 8, which all feature United’s latest interior. With this, it is clear that they are trying to take a stand against JetBlue and Delta with their bright IFE and vivid mood lighting.
But, I also took a flight with them in their A319, which featured a much older interior, with none of that. I understand that they are in a transition right now, but it is kind of interesting to see a carrier in such an “identity crisis”. I believe they are heading in the right direction in terms of passenger experience, but I also understand that it is going to take time.
Anyways, on to the review. My A319 flight from IAD-FLL was ok. It was classic United, with the common stroopwafel as well as a bare seat back (as in no IFE). It was decent. The legroom was a bit tight, but not unbearable. There really wasn’t much to comment on for this flight to be honest, as it was just an average United experience.
My flight from FLL-EWR on the 737 MAX 8, though, was a great flight. I was very impressed with the new United interior, and the new IFE looks amazing. The UI is clean and easy to navigate. The flight attendants were nice, and it was a huge contrast to my aforementioned A319 experience. If I had to be picky, I’d say the legroom could be improved a bit, to be on par with something like JetBlue, but it was still a pretty large step up from where United was.
A quick comment on United Express: their E175 I flew in First Class. I had mentioned to the FA that I liked stroopwafels, so, when she was done with the service, she came and gave me the entire bag of them, which was so awesome of her. The flight was great (this was BNA-ORD). Furthermore, their E145 in economy (from CHO-IAD), although it was a 17 minute flight, was actually really comfortable. I found the seats to be more passed than mainline jets, and the legroom also felt to be more. Google says it isn’t, but try it for yourself.
Delta Air Lines
Ok, so all day I hear the “Delta is amazing” or “Delta is the best” comments. And honestly, I don’t see it. I often have reliability issues with this airline. I understand that they are technically supposed to be one of the more punctual airlines, but I am often delayed.
In the JetBlue section, I briefly mentioned an experience with Delta, where my flight was late enough that I would have missed an over hour long connection in ATL. For an airline like Delta who has a megahub in ATL, with the majority of their passengers actually connecting through the airport, it is vital to have these flights out on time.
However, Delta was amazzzziiinnngggg in their customer service. They refunded us our entire flight to our credit card and offered to help us in any way we needed. Huge shout out to the counter workers at FLL for making it such an easy refund process. I can comment that the service at Delta is usually pretty good, and I’ve never once been disappointed with the onboard on ground service with that airline, despite any setbacks.
One flight I want to point out with this airline was my flight from FLL-RDU on their A320 in economy. I believe our aircraft was 25 or 26 years old at the time, and, while if you looked at the details, you could tell its age, the airplane could have been brand new. I personally like the service in Delta economy. Their snacks are good, IFE in mostly every plane, and free WiFi on some jets. I still don’t love the fact that you have to be a member to get onto their WiFi (it is kind of a convoluted process), but it is free nonetheless.
One thing about Delta is that it “feels” luxurious. Take that any way you want. Not sure exactly how I feel about it. Personally, I enjoy an airline that is willing to have more fun with their customers and have a bit of a “quirky” atmosphere onboard. Delta is just not that airline. They are, though, very consistent in their service and much more formal than airlines like Spirit or JetBlue, which have a bit more unique of an atmosphere onboard. However, this is all down to personal preference.
I think the atmosphere reflects best in their First Class offering, which I recently flew from LGA-FLL on their A321. The food was a really tasty lasagna dish (how much you wanna bet ive broken the record for the most “lasagna” in an IFC post) and really hit the spot.
Overall, despite everything I might be picky about, Delta is a great airline. I always enjoy onboard experiences with them, and I do try to get on a Delta plane if the price is right due to their free WiFi and elevated onboard service. The “Delta Difference” is real, but I wouldn’t say it is unlike something you can find at other airlines, specifically JetBlue and United (on some aircraft).
Southwest Airlines
Oh, Southwest. My flights with Southwest have always been great. I’ve never once had anything to complain about, with both of my recent flights being on time. Southwest is really an average airline in my mind. The best comparison I have to them is the United A319 that I had spoken about earlier.
Southwest does not offer IFE, not even power ports (though supposedly they are coming), so their inflight WiFi is really your go to here. The price was decent, and the speed is good (at least on my MDW-FLL flight).
The standout for this airline are the crews. They are amazing, and is something that will keep me coming back to this airline. I remember in 2018 on a flight from EWR to FLL, the flight attendants asked me to take a selfie with them in their Christmas outfits (since we weee flying on Dec 25). It was just such a fun and “quirky” thing, which I love from an airline.
The last thing about Southwest is the open seating policy. I don’t really feel the need to spend too much time on it, as it is going away soon in exchange for assigned seating, but I’ve never had any issues with it. I do prefer assigned seating, so I see this as a welcome change, but I don’t think it is anything that will change the course of the future of this airline or anything.
Overall I see Southwest as a great option for short and medium flights which is better than Spirit but not quite up to the marks of JetBlue in terms of offerings.
Bahamasair
Ok, so this was a really short flight, flying them round trip from FLL-NAS, which is only about 25 minutes. It is, though, on a 737-700. So Bahamasair doesn’t really offer any service on this flight, but their customer service, believe it or not, was great. We were on a non refundable ticket back in August but had to move the flight due to other circumstances. The airline still gave us our money in credit (which they were not supposed to do with the fare we were on) and allowed us to apply that towards the flight in December. Great customer service and actually surprisingly easy to get a hold of.
Onboard, the seats are as bare as it gets. The legroom actually felt less than Spirit, and the seats are basically the same (with a bit of a bigger tray table), though it wasn’t of any use during the short hop.
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However, the views outside on the way to the Bahamas are some of the most amazing views, and totally made up for the lack of legroom and service. Note that there is no WiFi, but honestly who needs it on the short flights they operate. I believe they once operated a flight to Houston, but that was the extent of their reach. They also had a flight to RDU from FPO at a point as well.
If you are still reading. I am impressed! Thanks for following along, and I’m happy to be back!
| Date | Flight | Airline | Registration | Aircraft Type | Origin | Destination | Distance | Departure Time | Arrival Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-11-25 | NK372 | Spirit | N535NK | A319 | EWR | FLL | 1,068 | 11:05 | 14:10 |
| 2024-11-22 | B6144 | JetBlue | N828JB | A320 | PBI | EWR | 1,027 | 10:00 | 12:47 |
| 2024-09-15 | DL2335 | Delta | N316DN | A321 | LGA | FLL | 1,079 | 10:46 | 13:56 |
| 2024-09-15 | DL5240 | Delta Connection | N183GJ | CRJ-900 | CHO | LGA | 305 | 07:01 | 08:30 |
| 2024-09-12 | NK1218 | Spirit | N630NK | A320 | FLL | RIC | 808 | 06:00 | 08:13 |
| 2024-08-18 | B6278 | JetBlue | N978JB | A321 | SFO | FLL | 2,582 | 22:05 | 06:35 |
| 2024-06-17 | B6577 | JetBlue | N968JT | A321 | FLL | SFO | 2,582 | 09:00 | 11:57 |
| 2024-03-07 | WN992 | Southwest | N8613K | 737-800 | MDW | FLL | 1,170 | 19:55 | 23:50 |
| 2024-03-05 | UA5714 | United Express | N161SY | E175 | BNA | ORD | 410 | 10:07 | 12:04 |
| 2024-03-03 | G4311 | Allegiant | N209NV | A320 | FLL | BNA | 795 | 10:32 | 11:59 |
| 2024-02-04 | B6205 | JetBlue | N807JB | A320 | EWR | FLL | 1,068 | 19:05 | 22:10 |
| 2024-02-03 | UA1537 | United | N27277 | 737 MAX 8 | FLL | EWR | 1,068 | 06:00 | 08:59 |
| 2024-01-27 | DL2436 | Delta | N369DN | A321 | RDU | FLL | 683 | 12:27 | 14:33 |
| 2024-01-25 | DL2436 | Delta | N369NW | A320 | FLL | RDU | 683 | 15:30 | 17:32 |
| 2023-12-29 | B6530 | JetBlue | N599JB | A320 | SAN | FLL | 2,267 | 21:45 | 05:27 |
| 2023-12-25 | B6529 | JetBlue | N554JB | A320 | FLL | SAN | 2,267 | 18:02 | 20:54 |
| 2023-11-11 | DL1229 | Delta | N6712B | 757-200 | ATL | FLL | 583 | 22:25 | 00:19 |
| 2023-11-11 | DL5449 | Delta Connection | N678CA | CRJ-900 | CHO | ATL | 457 | 17:56 | 19:54 |
| 2023-11-09 | NK1736 | Spirit | N617NK | A320 | FLL | RIC | 808 | 16:46 | 19:03 |
| 2023-08-12 | B6371 | JetBlue | N715JB | A320 | LGA | FLL | 1,079 | 13:30 | 16:47 |
| 2023-06-24 | B6272 | JetBlue | N585JB | A320 | FLL | LGA | 1,079 | 09:58 | 13:00 |
| 2023-03-08 | WN2028 | Southwest | N8570W | 737-800 | MSY | FLL | 674 | 19:25 | 22:10 |
| 2023-03-04 | NK657 | Spirit | N952NK | A320 NEO | FLL | MSY | 674 | 08:00 | 09:05 |
| 2022-12-22 | UP207 | Bahamasair | C6-BFZ | 737-700 | NAS | FLL | 182 | 16:00 | 17:05 |
| 2022-12-19 | UP202 | Bahamasair | C6-BFZ | 737-700 | FLL | NAS | 182 | 09:30 | 10:30 |
| 2022-10-09 | UA1809 | United | N898UA | A319 | IAD | FLL | 904 | 09:00 | 11:40 |
| 2022-10-09 | UA4236 | United Express | N12175 | ERJ-145 | CHO | IAD | 77 | 06:36 | 07:28 |
| 2022-10-06 | B61146 | JetBlue | N630JB | A320 | FLL | RIC | 808 | 18:20 | 20:35 |
| 2022-08-13 | B6371 | JetBlue | N607JB | A320 | LGA | FLL | 1,079 | 15:55 | 19:07 |
| 2022-07-27 | B6136 | JetBlue | N627JB | A320 | PHX | JFK | 2,151 | 21:10 | 04:57 |
| 2022-07-19 | B6723 | JetBlue | N946JL | A321 | JFK | LAX | 2,472 | 08:20 | 11:19 |
| 2022-06-25 | B6272 | JetBlue | N634JB | A320 | FLL | LGA | 1,079 | 09:37 | 12:30 |