Which is the best airline?

As British expats living in the USA, we do a lot of flying and in looking for flights for our 2008 trips back to the UK, the key factor is, of course, the price. But where the prices are similar, we already have strong feelings about our preferred airlines. At the bottom of the pile, we would put US Airways and at the top would be Virgin Atlantic, hands down. Somewhere in between would be American Airlines, which is so-so. We travelled on Virgin for the first time in the summer and it was head and shoulders above US Airways or American Airlines, which had been our usual carriers to that point. Friendly British staff, comfortable seats, good food, good entertainment. It turns out that our experience maps onto the results of the recent Zagat survey, which rates US Airways very low, American not much higher, but Virgin very much towards the top. Passengers rate the airlines on Comfort, Food, Service and Website. The report is here:

The Zagat/TODAY Airline Survey

If you are a regular flier, it is interesting reading.