A Review of Sun Country Airlines: From the Perspective of A Professional Airline Pilot

Until recently, I have been a professional airline pilot for a year and a half, based in south Florida, and now a corporate pilot. My wife and family continued to live in Wisconsin while I was away, so I commuted back and forth about once or twice a month for a few days at a time. I have had the opportunity to fly on Continental, Northwest, American, and Sun Country Airlines. I must say that I was most impressed with Sun Country. I always tried to get to Orlando to fly with them back to Minneapolis, then the same way going back to Florida. What impressed me the most about them, was the friendly atmosphere made by the ticketing and gate agents, as well as the aircraft crews. I was always greeted with a smile, and an eagerness to help me in getting home. Some other airlines I have flown on, I usually left feeling like I was a bother, and that their employees acted like they hated their jobs. A lot of the time, I have found that gate agents of other airlines were either rude and unfriendly, not only to me, but to their customers. Not so with Sun Country Airlines.

When flying Sun Country, you can expect to be provided the usual drinks. You'll be happy to see also that if you fly in the morning, you'll be given a breakfast sandwich, and in the afternoon, a cheeseburger. If they have extras, they even give you a second sandwich if you wanted. No, you don't have to pay for it! I find that very cheap to charge for a bag of chips, or some sort of snack. Even in coach, no matter how much you pay for your tickets, it's the LEAST an airline can do. You paid good money for your seat, and you SHOULD be given something to munch on without having to pay for it.

Another thing that I liked, was that on Sun Country, there are no "First Class" seats, and no partition walls in their cabins. Everyone is treated the same. Everyone is treated as if they were first class! The flight attendants are always very friendly and also greet with a smile. The aircraft are of a newer fleet, and are kept nice and clean. They operate year-round to Orlando and St. Petersburg/Tampa, and seasonally to Miami until around April or so. I was very surprised to see the their aircraft were generally only half to three-quarters full all but one time that I've flown with them. I just don't understand why more people aren't flying them.

American Airlines is in my book a close second to Sun Country. At their Minneapolis base, the gate agents there are very friendly and helpful also.
I'm not too concerned with the type or age of the aircraft in an airlines fleet. But what I do look at are an airlines employees. Do they seem happy with what they do? Do they greet with a smile and treat their customers with a smile? How are the flight attendants? It's amazing to me how only a few people can spoil a good thing because they act like they "don't want to be there".

So the next time you travel to Florida to see Mickey Mouse with the kids, or any other destination for that matter, consider flying Sun Country Airlines. I give them two thumbs up, and an "A+", as I am confident that you will too.