★★★★★ AeroMexico

+ Laudable customer service

+ Extremely lax carry-on scrutiny

+ No baggage fees (2 carry-on, 1 checked)

+ Meal service includes complimentary Johnny Walker (multiple labels), wine, etc.

+ On time flights, generally

~ Spanish fluency advised, even in US terminals

★★★★☆ Southwest Airlines

+ Excellent customer service

+ No baggage fees (1 carry-on, 2 checked)

- No complimentary meal, let alone booze

★★☆☆☆Taca (S. Am. domestic)

+ Takes off from A, lands in B

- Bumps passengers without notice

- No physical customer-service presence in (at least the) Buenos Aires airport

- Frequent unannounced last-minute gate changes

- Unannounced STOPS in foreign countries (piled onto announced stops)

- No compensation for said bumping

★☆☆☆☆American Airlines

Time-honored status symbol, not an airline

+ Flies A to (almost any) B

- Checked bags: (1) $25 + (2) $35 + (3) $100

- Impersonal personnel

- No seat-request immediately upon taking money for a ticket

- No complementary meal (nor drink-drinks)

- The audacity to sell said meals for $10

- Failure to replenish checkpoint bins during a standardly protracted stint in security

- Borderline totally automated check-in (But what’s the difference? Ref: negative #2)