That's right "Star*Up", not start up, Star*Up, like, look up! It's a Star! So obscure even the people at Lima airport couldn't tell us where the gate was, Star*Up tops the list of both most decreipt and most novel airlines I know of.

As far as I know, Star Up operats a single Antonov-24, the workhorse of old-school Soviet Aviation, between Lima and Cuzco once a day depending on...well depending on one thing or another. This baby got us airborne alright, a classic, knuckle-biting ride over the Andes. Made me recal images from "Alive". The stench of exhaust in the cabin, luggage falling out of the bins, nuts and bolts (i'm not making this up) rolling around on the floor... but you know, not altogether a bad experience. I mean if your time is up, bah boom! Do it in style. Do it with drama over the Andes!

Highly recomended.

P.S. The Antonov-24 may be an ugly bastard, but it's one of the toughest planes ever made, able to withstand siberian winters, artilery fire, and runs on Vodka.

Sometimes travelers get the romantic notion that it would be somehow desireable to fly the national airline of the country that they are visiting. Maybe that's OK if you take Air France to Paris or Thai Airways to Bangkok. But it is not OK if you are thinking of taking LOT to Warsaw or Krakow or other points Polish.

To its credit, LOT flies mostly Boeing jets, generally more spacious than their Airbus counterparts. However, LOT manages to cram the maximum number of seats per plane that is possible. That means that even if you are in business class (with the same pitch, or inches between seats, as in economy), your trip is going to be largely an exercise in learning to live in a seated fetal position.

But for most people, getting there relatively on-time is all that matters--comfort is a definate second. If you fall into that group, then this is certainly not the airline for you. Even on flights from their Warsaw hub where they keep the largest number of planes, crews, spare parts, etc., you can never be assured of leaving even within a couple of hours of the departure time.

These factors combined with a bureaucratic efficiency comparable only to the Department of Motor Vehicles in Washington, DC and you have set up a perfectly dreadful day.

Four inches.

It is the length of a cell phone. It is two chapsticks end-to-end. It is a little bit more than the width of the widest part of a tie and a little bit less than the width of a Polaroid picture. It is not only the only reason to fly American Airlines, but also a reason so compelling so as to make American the airline of choice for many frequent fliers. The four inches that make American the best of the major US airlines can be found in the extra space between your knees and the seat of the guy leaning all the way back in front of you in coach.

While you may not miss that four inches on a quick jaunt between New York and Washington, on a flight of any length, it is the difference between getting there and getting there with your knees and legs intact.

In many ways, American is about the worst airline one could imagine. It is constantly teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, having never maintained profitability over a significant period of time. It is operated by gate agents who cringe at sharing the most basic flight information, flight attendants who are (on a good day) surly and worried about keeping their jobs, and pilots whose avarice is almost soley responsible for both the fiscal crises plaguing the industry and the creepingly higher fares. Moreover, the business and first class services are but shadows of what one can expect for the same price -- especially across the Atlantic -- on airlines like BA or Virgin.

But for most travelers, those four inches make all the difference.

Oh...did I mention that almost all seats have power ports so that you could work on that spreadsheet or watch the entire first season of the West Wing on DVD.

Everything about the EasyEmpire screams "cheap". Yeah the prices are usually low, but so is the quality of service, the cleanliness, the attitude, and the class. Plus they will nickel & dime you any chance they get.

One of the great myths about travel from London is that EasyJet will get you anywhere for next to nothing. Well, if you book 5 months in advance and are willing to leave Wednesday at 6am and return Friday at 6am, then yes, you can get some amazing deals, but usually EasyJet is about the same price as a regular airline, and the difference is often not worth it.

You must endure cattle-call seating (like Southwest Airlines in the US), a tacky orange color scheme, surly passengers, and the annoying "EasyCart" food and beverage service (by no means cheap).

Recent experience: Having paid £45 to fly from London to Barcelona and back I was ready to tolerate the mangy experience for the fabulous price. Unfortunately, my extra luggage cost £64... ONE WAY. Let's see... that almost quadruples the price of my ticket. I knew I might have to pay a bit for the excess, but £4 per kilo??? That's insane.

Bottom line is EasyJet is something to tolerate, not celebrate. If the price on a real airline is within £20 or so, fly them instead, it's worth it. And for god's sake minimize your luggage or you're really screwed.

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Being from Milwaukee I wind up flying Northwest a lot. But I don't have a lot to say about them. They're a pretty standard US airline, much like Delta. Nothing particularly horrible about them, but nothing to write home about.

However, my one and only business class experience was on Northwest (SFO-NRT) and I must say it was phenomenal. Nonstop food, reading material, a little TV set, booze at the snap of your fingers... but then again I have nothing to compare it to.

Drawbacks:

Old planes. Northwest flies DC-9s that are getting close to 35 years old. Imagine driving a car that old. Granted with proper maintenance those planes are probably fine, but they feel old. They look old. Stuff shakes around in them, and they smell of years of cigarettes that will never go away.

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I'm a fan of foreign airlines. I like the feeling you get when you board that you're already in a different country. Therefore my affection for this airline might be a tad bit biased but still...

Top notch airline, brand new planes, very professional. Flies everywhere in Central America and most of South America. Nice video screens and decent regional food. Cool logo too.

Drawbacks: Only major drawback is the strange Latin American idea that people want to wake up at 3am on a red-eye flight to eat dinner. Apparently most of the passengers do. Do not expect sleep.

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Alaska is basically a standard US airline, but it has a certain "pacific northwest" mystique about it that proves branding matters. They also have one of the most generous frequent flyer programs in the industry. I once earned 11,000 miles for flying SFO-SEA in economy.

All in all, Alaska is pretty basic, but the level of service is a definite cut above standard US domestic. As far as I know they usually still serve food, that´s a major bonus these days!

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This airline barely exists. In fact their flights are operated by a charter firm called "Astreus". Still, they offer the only reasonable fares to Iceland, from, well anywhere.

Otherways a standard low fare airline with pay-for meal service, but friendly enough with excellent fares.

Bonus Perk: Astreus, the company which operates Iceland Express' planes boasts among their pilots none other than Bruce Dickenson, lead singer for Iron Maiden. Yep, no kidding. No idea what his schedule is but there's a chance you'll be on a plane operated by heavy metal's ultimate renaissance man, who is also, apparently, a champion fencer.

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Talk about dodgy. I'm not sure these guys are still in business, but last I heard this Peruvian outfit operates a handful of ex-Egypt air 737s and some Fokkers that look like they've been through World War III. They were rumored to be expanding out of the Peruvian domestic market into Chile and possible Miami. Classic bare bones third world outfit. Definitely thrilling when the plane starts vibrating uncontrollably over the Andes, but don't take your girlfriend for a ride.

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It's hard to write an all encompassing review of one of the world's largest airlines in a small space, so I'll stick with the facts:

Massive airline, flies damn near everywhere to and from Britain. As with all European Airlines, the atmosphere and service are noticeable above American carriers. Transatlantic flights are decent, plenty of food, good entertainment, standard lousy seats in economy, but what's new?

The food is hilariously British. Some would call this a drawback, but I find it amusing and enjoyable. I appreciate the fact that Britain's flag carrier offers me tea with milk, cheese and pickle sandwiches, and when in a daring mood some Tikka Masala. It's great.

However, BA still feels stuffy in that old-school British way. Depends on your mood I guess.

Drawbacks:

1) By far the worst frequent flyer program of any major airline in the entire world. I don't even want to go into it. Unless you are on a serious first-class expense account, DO NOT join their program. Join AAdvantage or any other One World airline and earn your points there.

2) Absolutely ghastly flight attendant uniforms. What are they thinking? I did not think it was possible to take a beautiful 20-something girl and turn her into a haggard librarian, but much like ruining steamed vegetables, the British have found a way to do it.

3) Speaking of ghastly design, can't they please get rid of those damn "art" planes? I know Heathrow looks awfully sterile with dozens of identical aircraft parked side by side, but the standard BA design is classic, why mess with it?

4) No more Concorde. Sob. Wish I could have had the chance, but not really their fault.

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The original "low cost" airline, Southwest is nowhere near as bad as EasyJet and scores highly with me across most points.

Southwest is ideal for short flights, especially on the west coast for that Vegas weekend, or a trip up to Seattle. Cheap and simple, and you still get free soda and pretzels, which is perfectly fine. Southwest is almost always on time, even if they do sing annoying songs from time to time.

Granted, there is a bit of a low class factor when flying Southwest, (just look at the number of "Landry's Seafood Shack" and "You can be a real estate mogul in 9 days" adverts in the magazine), but there's also no pretension, and something about that "to hell with it ya'll, let's make money" attitude is quite refreshing.

Also, Southwest has by far the best frequent flyer program out there in terms of simplicity and the ease of getting a new ticket. Purchase online 4 times regardless of the length of your flight and, bam!, free flight anywhere they go. Combine that with Visa cards and other schemes and two free flights a year is within most people's grasp.

The Drawbacks:

1) The Southwest Airlines cattle-call. I guess their "no assigned seat" system is supposed to save time, but the level to which humanity drops when asked to line up for a Southwest flight is truly stone age. Men push women, women kick men... slight exaggeration, but who needs the stress?

2) The dreaded Southwest Airlines "snack pack" - On transcontinental flights, of which SWA now has several, Southwest has attempted to compensate for their lack of food service by offering a "snack pack". Basically this consisted of some chips and a strange stick of something resembling Spam. It's one of those awful situations where you wouldn't ordinarily touch it but because you're so hungry you eat it anyway.

3) Transcon. Stuck in a 737 for a 5-6 hour flight is simply no fun, especially with the aforementioned snack pack. Also, most Southwest transcon flight stop once, twice, even three times. The only reason to fly this way is when it's free. Fortunately Southwest makes that easy.

4) No more party seats. Ok, they probably caused a few annoyances, but for some reason, Southwest used to have a few rows of seats turned backwards so that 6 seats faced each other. These inevitably became boisterous social hubs where friends were made and toasts were toasted, especially on flights to and from Vegas. It's a pity they were eliminated.

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Say it with me: "Midwest Airlines is by far the nicest airline in the United States".

Despite massive cutbacks in their level of quality, this statement remains true, but barely. The original Midwest Express Airlines featured the kind of food you normally find in domestic first class, on actual china, free wine, a constant stream of hot chocolate chip cookies and most importantly, seats almost as nice as first class, throughout the airplane. And it usually cost about the same as other airlines.

Unfortunately, the current economic climate (and excuse) has caused Midwest to eliminate food for the most part and slap an extra row of seats on some of their flights, making them barely different from any other cattle-class carrier.

Still, customer loyalty is so high in Midwest that people continue to fly them in the hopes that in better economic times, the airline might return to their original "best care in the air". If that doesn't happen, they will quickly trickle down the ranks.

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First and only trip on Delta was taken the other week:

Well, let's just say there's nothing horribly wrong with Delta, but there's certainly nothing great about them either.

Despite being the 3rd largest airline in the states, the atmosphere and attitude were decidedly provincial, unlike that of United and American. I immediately felt like I was on a domestic US flight the moment I got in line even though I was still in London. However, the planes were clean and the service was friendly enough and the flight was on time.

On the transatlantic leg, Delta demonstrated the classic service weaknesses of all US-based airlines: Although the food was decent, the in-flight entertainment was lame as can be. One movie on a screen you couldn't see and a few dumbed down music channels. Business class looked a bit better, but I don't have an expense account.

On the SFO-ATL leg of the journey, Delta offered to sell us lunch or we'd get nothing. They had the gall to congratulate us for being on one of the first flights offering this fabulous new service. Now that's bollocks.

Bottom line: Delta is adequate, nothing great, nothing horrible. Frankly a bit boring, but that's about it. If I weren't trying to score a free flight to Rome with Alitalia, I would have no desire to fly them again.

Flights this is based on: London Gatwick to Cincinnati, onward to SFO. Return flight to Gatwick via Atlanta.

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Attitude goes a long way. Even though Virgin's planes are getting old and the economy seats stink, this is still a top notch airline. Everything about Virgin screams "hip". Not in an annoying way, but in a very sly, cheeky, British way that is the antithesis of BA's stuffiness.

Every seat has it's own little video with a dozen or so channels. The programming is almost always interesting and refreshing. There are video games, and everyone gets a little bag full of goodies when you board.

Drawbacks: Only drawback is their frequent flyer program is not very interchangeable with other airlines (bring back Midwest!). That and I can't afford to fly Upper Class.

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