What is the best airline for travelling around USA. Continental...American Airlines...US airways.United etc?

We are travelling to America. What is the safest/best airline? We thought continental would be good. Also what is the 2nd best, 3rd best etc on quality not necessarily on price. We are coming from Australia for a vacation.

Also, what is a good hotel which is not too expensive (4 of us) to stay at in New York in their summer (July?) which is in a good area of NYC (safe upmarket area.)

Thankyou.

Which ever one that can get you safely back on the ground. But I know somebody that flies an airplane for US Air.

An airline is an airline. They're all about the same. United is most expensive, though. Try looking at the low cost airlines like Southwest, Jet blue, etc. They may not always fly where you want to go, or into the major cities (Like Southwest Air), but they'll get you pretty close. Jet blue is cool because every seat is leather, plenty of leg room, and each seat has a satellite tv/radio in the back of it with free headphones.

The quality doesn't really vary greatly with the average economy ticket. The price certainly does, as do the number of connections. Personally, I avoid Southwest...too many unhappy customers I know. JetBlue kicks ass. I was disappointed in Delta (cost too much for what you receive and TED was awful), American was pretty good, as was Continental. More important, look for direct flights. Coming from Australia, even a flight across america will seem like chump change. Having flown from NYC to TAS, I can tell you domestic distances will seem like nothing.
NYC is safe almost everywhere. If you look for trouble, you'll find it easily enough, but it was recently rated the safest big city in America. As for hotels, I really don't stay in them here for obvious reasons but I'm a big fan of Paunile Frommer's New York City. The woman know the city! Check some of the NYC info boards on Frommer's website. ( http://www.frommers.com/cgi-bin/WebX?13@190.Blfna7ahHuT^1@.ee6b36e)
She frequently answers questions personally. Have a GREAT trip. I hope you love your trip to the US as much as I enjoyed Oz. (Been to TAS, Cairnes, Sydney and some places in between, loved it all and hardly scratched the surface)
I hope that helps.