This week I did MCI-PIT-Parkersburg,WV (USAir Express)-PIT-MCI. On the outbound MCI-PIT flight (12:10 pm departure, 1h40m flight) service was amazing. Pre-departure drinks offered; post-departure drink orders taken while at gate--drinks brought quickly after take-off; snack basket circulated; hot towels distributed; lunch selections offered (shrimp and pasta [very good] or the ever-present cold chicken breast with tortelini [spelling??? taste???]); drinks refreshed throughout 1 hour 40 minute flight; coffee service and more hot towels prior to landing...all by one incredible FA who was celebrating her 33rd Birthday.

WOW!!!

THEN....

PIT-MCI

Am I cynical or can you almost tell what to expect from the moment you are greeted by the FA?

Going west it is now a 2 hour 20+ minute flight. Yes, there were a few more bodies but the FC FA had help from the back who kept coming up and assisting with the service.

Rushed pre-flight drinks; drink and dinner orders taken on taxi; no hot towels; no snack basket; drink and dinner all on one tray (so much for enjoying my vodka/soda) cold pizza (did not dare mention this to the FA--he was not IN THE ZONE as you might say); no offer of coffee, and a grudging refill of my drink. AND THEN ANOTHER 1.5 hours till touchdown....HELLO! Is this FC or is this Southwest Airlines?

I don't mean to rant, but it is amazing to me the extremes of service that USAirways offers...I don't know what the training manual says, but it seems to all boil down to the attitude of the FA in FC...sometimes they bound past the norm to greatness...and sometimes they struggle with the muck of below-par. (Not unlike what my alterFFego over at AA experiences.)

When they soar, USAirways gets my vote...please don't buy into the United myth!!! And please implement a QA program for FC service...it really is tops when it is done right.

It does happen. My favorite example was my honeymoon flight to MBJ out of PHL back in '99. The crew in F did their job and nothing more - no preflight drink, one or two drinks during the flight. We had to pester them twice for sparkling wine. All this on a 737-300.

However, the return flight to CLT on a 757-200 was dynamite. Service friendly; meal service great. The FAs had to work their butts off to get all of F class served a full meal on a flight which was no more than 2.5 hours in length. The only bummer thing about this flight was that they were late provisioning F class and they boarded Y before F.....