Reliable Airlines (if there is such a thing!)

I've always had good experiences with BMI.

Continental are utterly terrible imho.  Shabby planes, crap food and entertainment and often rude stewards and staff.  No thanks.

Air travel is basically a nasty experience - approach with caution and lower your expectations, and you won't be disappointed!!

Having said that, in my experience flying to Washington:

Virgin and BMI are always good
BA is OK (sometimes very good - nice planes and good inflight entertainment)
United is OK (sometimes bad)

We once flew KLM via Amsterdam - very old plane, not recommended!

Heathrow is ALWAYS AWFUL.

I use Virgin, they are very good, timely, good food, good entertainment and a good choice of flight times, even if their cabin crew is a tad snooty.
I flew with BA only once and they were quite good as well.

My favorite is Virgin, but I've had good experiences with United and American as well.

The few times I have flown with American their stewards and stewardess are sooooo rude!!!!

and the food was utterly CRAP!

I used to just ***love*** flying BMI into Washington Dulles.  Sadly, they discontinued that route.   I would still fly BMI if they did, but unfortunately Newark and Chicago are not really places that I need to go (talking about non-stop flights out of Manchester).

For a direct flight out of Manchester to Atlanta (good base hub point for the places I travel), I'm afraid it's always Delta - which is just ok.  I've never had any major problems with their flights, but I know some folks don't like Delta for its lack of amenities in standard coach class on the transatlantic flights.  Still, I'm afraid that I choose in favor of schedule, logistics & price.  (Plus I have managed to score a seat in Business Class a time or two on Delta & that was alright!)

We fly mostly with KLM. I hate flying through Heathrow and much prefer Amsterdam. They are in the process of upgrading their fleet (AMS - SFO) in the summer is usually the big nice 777 but in the winter it's a bit more of a gamble.

I HATE American - I've had terrible experiences with them, horrendous delays, rude staff, lost luggage.

My in-laws have now just boycotted flyglobespan - and switched to fly with Continental when they go back to the states. Flyglobespan's planes were always breaking down one time it took my father-in-law 6 days to get back to Scotland from Florida. They won't put him on a different carrier and couldn't fix the broken down plane in Florida. His flight had to wait until they could send another plane from somewhere else to finally fly back to Scotland. It was a nightmare.

GRRRRRRRR BA is now cancelling their direct service from Gatwick to Houston...looks like I will have to go from Heathrow......bummer!

I have loads of horror stories about Continental, including one trip where the flight attendant forgot to switch off the intercom before making racist remarks about a passenger. Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish.

My preferred way to get to the UK from the US is Florida to Gatwick via Virgin Atlantic (since I have to get a connecting flight to an international airport from my hometown anyway). Florida because it seems that weather delays are rarer, especially in the winter, and you get loads of families going to and from holiday, which actually makes for pleasant atmosphere on the plane.  Gatwick because, well, it's not Heathrow.

Well our luggage didn't make it to Dallas..the snotty man there said we should have presented ourselves to the BA ticket desk.. I said why we haven't ever had to before. Our luggage had been interlined all the way thru to Tulsa. Anyways we didn't get our bags for 48hrs...... 

The same thing happened to me! I flew to the UK in March, and didn't have to recheck in anywhere, but when I flew in April they made a very big deal about presenting myself at the international gate before the flight. This was on Virgin, though, and I had nicer folks to help.

I flew with BMI last time and loved it!  My fiance has used BMI in the past as well and was satisfied.

BMI is always a cheaper price. 

I even flew with my small harp (not small enough to carry on) and had to check it with luggage.  (It was well padded and cased) It made it to Manchester with the rest of my luggage on time and unscathed--and that was with a connection in Chicago. (when flying from Philadelphia to Manchester you fly United and change in Chicago to BMI.)

The plane seemed very clean and new and I was very comfortable (I am only 5'2" though).

I mostly fly United and have never had an issue with them.  I've flown BMI as well and was happy with their service.

Air travel is basically a nasty experience - approach with caution and lower your expectations, and you won't be disappointed!!

Well said!   

I've had good, bad, and sometimes downright ugly experiences with pretty much every airline I've ever flown (Delta, Continental, US Air, United, American, Jet Blue, Song, Southwest, America West, BA, Virgin, BMI, Aer Lingus, Ryanair, EasyJet, Air France....) - I haven't ruled any of them out yet, because I've yet to find the perfect airline and I'm not rich enough to be that choosy!

That said, I tend to fly Virgin or BA on UK-US journeys, largely because I have FF miles on Virgin and BA is one of two options to fly direct from London to Atlanta.  I'm flying home on Wednesday on Continental, though, so wish me luck.