The 10 best airlines you've never flown
— -- There aren't many airlines nobody has flown — those don't last very long. But quite a few aren't well-known stateside, and others are known only in a small market. Here are our picks.
Alaska Airlines
Home base and hubs: Primary hub Seattle-Tacoma Airport, Seattle; secondary hubs at Portland (Oregon), Los Angeles, and San Jose.
Market area: Blankets the West Coast, Alaska to Mexico, plus Hawaii and 16 important destinations in the Midwest and on the East Coast.
Alliances and partners: No alliances, but has partnerships with 15 lines, including Air France/KLM, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Emirates, Korean Air, LAN Airlines, Qantas, and several smaller lines.
What's special: Bigger than you think: Alaska has outgrown its regional name and now resembles the late, lamented Western Airlines. It is the "smallest big line," operating hub-and-spoke schedules, two classes, and a full-featured frequent-flyer program. It generally earns good marks in traveler surveys for both performance and cabin service.
Downside: Very poor frequent-flyer program for leisure travelers looking to escape the cattle car. Plus, mileage upgrades are limited to full-fare coach tickets, and scoring low-mileage-level first-class seats is virtually impossible.
Porter Airlines
Home base and hubs: Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.
Market area: Large Canadian cities from Thunder Bay to St John's, plus six important business and vacation destinations in the eastern U.S.
Alliances and partners: None.
What's special: Almost all Porter Airlines flights operate to, from, and through Toronto's ultrafriendly, close-in lakefront airport on Toronto Island, just two miles from downtown. Also, its all-coach seating (34-inch pitch) and cabin service have earned it excellent marks in international traveler surveys, and it joins JetBlue Airways as the only North American lines with four-star Skytrax ratings.
Downside: Porter operates entirely with turboprops—which many travelers dislike—and it can't provide preclearance for travelers headed for the U.S., at least not yet.
Allegiant Air
Home base and hubs: No "hubs" in the big-line sense; bases in Bellingham, Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Mesa/Phoenix, Myrtle Beach, Oakland, Sanford/Orlando, and St. Petersburg/Clearwater.
Market area: Flies out-and-back from base cities to dozens of smaller cities and outlying big-city airports throughout the U.S., including border airports catering to Canadians.
Alliances and partners: None.
What's special: Allegiant provides the only low-fare, nonstop flights in mainline airplanes from small communities to 10 of the nation's most important visitor destinations. Although other start-up airlines have copied its business model, none have succeeded. Allegiant plans to offer similar service from small Western communities to Hawaii starting later this year or early next.
Downside: Most routes operate only two or three times a week, often at inconvenient hours; Allegiant charges fees for almost everything beyond a seat, and the big online travel agencies and aggregator airfare search engines do not display its fares and schedules.
Turkish Airlines
Home base and hubs: Istanbul Ataturk Airport.
