Trip Reports - Legend Airlines DAL-IAD-DAL

Hi,

I can sum up my first experience on this new airline in one word: Wow http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

For those who aren't familiar with the Legend name, check out Shadow's trip report titled "LAX-DAL-LAX on LC (Legend Airlines)".

My opinions almost exactly mirror (shadow? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/tongue.gif ) those which shadow expressed. As an elite FF with CO & AA I fly First Class (upgrades) frequently on CO and NW (and in the past, AA). Being a "middle of the road" type guy, and knowing I was going to write this report after the trip, I tried hard to look for negative things. I really had to "nit pick". I would find something and think "on Continental First Class they do it like this..." and then had to slap myself back to reality:
This wasn't a coach ticket upgraded to First because I played the elite game (battle) to earn an upgrade. This was a coach ticket being flown in "coach". The only game needed to get a free upgrade was to just simply purchase a ticket.

The Dallas Love Field "Legend Executive Terminal":
Very nice and relaxed. Huge parking garage right next to the terminal (& accept's credit cards for parking fees which the main Love terminal doesn't). No electric carts trying to run people over !!! 6 gates with decor and furniture which looks more like that of an airline club lounge vs a coach seating area. Complimentary soft drinks/water (self serve) at the gate. Some computer terminals for free internet access at each gate along with work stations to plug-in your own laptop.
For those of you who live in Dallas and have heard that LC built their own terminal, let me claify something: they didn't do the standard airline thing and add an extension to the existing terminal. They literally bulit a new terminal on the otherside of the airport on Lemmon Avenue. It is away from the crowded conditions of the "regular" terminal. If you are familiar with the old Love Field, it is right next to the big blue hanger which was Braniff's (now Dal-Fort Aviation) old maintenance base. And my biggest complaint with LC's operation (extremely minor) is that the terminal is too close to the hangar; on arrival, LC's aircraft have to stop on the ramp and wait for a tug to hook up and tow them into the gate. So close yet so far.

The aircraft:
On 2nd thought, I'm gonna breck this section up...

The seats:
A better name for this section would be "the chairs". Very overstuffed and very comfortable. The width of the seat was maybe an inch narrower than a typical domestic First class seat (but this is coach !!) but the seat pitch was tremendous. These chairs have extendable legrests (find that on someoe else's domestic First class) and even with the legrest extendented I could get out of my window seat with no problem. To be fair...no one was ever seated ahead of me with their seatback reclined. I think I could handle my legrest or their seatback,but might have to work a little if I had both to deal with (just stow my own legrest ... duh).
Ok, to think real hard about my complaints with the chairs:
They were so thickly padded that the winged headrest wouldn't bend enough to hold mi big head during a nap.
The color of the leather (soft leather) was like the big ugly western chair which my uncle had back in the '50s. Dark reddish brown. If they had used the beige used on the plane's outside paint scheme, the cabin would've been lighter/brighter (not to imply that it felt closed in just my own personal preference in decor).
A short person probably wouldn't like the chair as much without having some pillows behind them (the seat is too deep for short legs).

The Service:
Legendary ! Always with a smile and no AAttitude. There were a few "rough spots" which is probably due to most folks being new at what they were doing. One thing I'd like to point out is that this was my overall impression of the service even though on the outbound trip, the F/A knocked my glass of (red) wine into the lap of my (almost white) pants when she set my dinner tray down (and...being that this was just a weekend trip... the only pair I had with me). She was very sincerely apologetic and was scared at first. After I said "it was ok ... could happen to anyone" she relaxed and then said she'd be right back. She immediatley returned with half a dozen washcloths, a cup and a can of club soda. (I won't make a separate report on the lavatories but they seemed to be a little larger than average). We were both able to laugh at the incident later on. (I've had this happen on AA also and the F/A's attitude was along the lines of "oops, sorry, but don't get angry cuz this happens all the time and I'll return with some club soda when I get a chance"). Oh, the club soda works wonders, at least on wine http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
Delta handles the LC ticket counter and gate at IAD. I arrived IAD several hours ahead of flight time and no one was at the counter. But a DL agent quickly came running down to check on me (from her own check-in position which was a good ways up). She didn't know how to check in an LC passenger but I did appreciate her coming down to tell me that & to return around 2pm.

The food:
Ohhhh. Complimenary soft drinks champange and wine and stardard charge (4$ ?) for cocktails. The wines were low gade but remember, this is coach (there were poured from real sized bottles and not handed over in indiviual sized bottles.
Nuts (not warmed) were served with pre-dinner drinks; had the differently delicious coated pecans outbound (very sticky, they would be more so if they had been warmed) and mixed nuts on the return trip.
Cloth napkins, china, real glasses. The whole meal is served in one course but is nicely presented. 2 choices offered on each trip.
Outbound. Lunch. Choice of Grilled Salmon or Chicken Piccata. I had the Salmon. It was cooked perfectly and had a pappercorn seasoning. Accompanied with a rice pilaf which had quite a variety of veggies mixed in. A bowl of fruit (cantelope, honey dew, stawberries and grapefruit) and piece of chocolate for dessert.
Inbound. Dinner. Choice of Lobster Salad or Breast of Chicken on a bed of Greens. I thought it was strange that both offerings were "cold plates" on a dinner flight; maybe we were actually catered for lunch (4:15pm departure). I had the lobster and it was great. Also included a garden salad (iceberg w/cucumber and zuchini slices) and macaroni salad (not like Grandma's mac salad, another flavorful blend of veggies and seasonings included). A shrimp cocktail was also on the dinner plate along with a ratkin of Thousand Island dressing. Since there was no cocktail sauce I assumed the dressing was for the shrimp. There was a small glass bottle with a label printed in Italian but could figure out that it was olive oil with lemon extract so I assumed this was for the garden salad. The lemon flavor was very interesting but overall it needed some seasoning to add something else to the salad. Maybethe olive oil/lemon was for the lobster sald but the lobster excellent as it was. Dessert was a cake with cream middle and "fruit tart" topping with some raspberries and blueberries on the side. Also a small box of chocolate truffles.

Inflight entertainment:
Each seat back has a 4 inch personal video screen connected to a 24 channel DirectTV satellite system. With that many channels, I think they could've had more variety in the programming. Too mch emphasis on business, sports and news. Even when I'm travelling on business, I prefer "lighter" entertainment. The push bitton controls are convieniently located but sometimes required 2 or 3 hard pushes to change channel/volume/brightness. No problem seeing the screen even though my flights were both daylight and I never lwered my shade.

It's after 1am (time to play the upgare game on this week's CO trip to FLL) so I need to go. I could continue because I was honestly very impressed with LC. I hope they can get a hold on the market and start expanding to more cities. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

I have to echo your "wow" comment regarding Legend.

It's interesting to note that while both Southwest and Legend receive kudos (albeit at different ends of the passenger spectrum), American continues to shoot themselves in the foot regarding Love Field.

Sounds like Legend has it together.

It sounds ever so similar to Air Atlanta, an outfit that flew 727-100s from ATL to a handful of cities in the mid 80s.

No inflight entertainment to speak of, but then again we are talking about 15 years ago.

Seating was five-abreast, all one class (88 total), cloth seats. A meal was served on the majority, if not all, flights, and the food was great! Cloth napkins, real china, and dinnerware were used. Believe the wine was complimentary with the meal.

Didn't have their own terminal, but enclosed the south portion of Concourse D @ ATL and turned it into a business-class lounge of sorts. Newspapers, drinks, snacks, telephones, and plenty of comfortable seating inside the tinted glass 4-gate area.

After check-in at the main terminal, passengers would go through a separate security checkpoint (for Air Atlanta passengers only), and board a complimentary shuttle to their lounge in Concourse D.

Roll-on service was provided for passengers toting hanging garment bags. You could hang it on the roll-on prior to boarding the a/c and it would be right there waiting for you at the gate upon arrival at your destination.

The service was top-notch, IMHO. Of course I could be a little biased, as the founder of the company is a super-close friend of my dads. Seriously, if it was a lousy product, I would admit to that. But it was great!

Unfortunately, think that they began service at the wrong time and that some bad decisions were made while they were in business. If it had been ten years later, think the product would have been wildly popular and successful.

Air Atlanta was an airline for the business passenger a la MidEx or Legend. Had a great team of people who believed in the company and wanted to make it work.

I hope that Legend has a better track record and that they can learn from the stories of those before them such as Air Atlanta. GO LEGEND!!!

Hey AtlMan...how was your trip to Seattle?

Air One in St. Louis did the same thing witn 727s in the early 80s--my dad raved about it, but they couldn't make a go of it with competing with both Ozark and TWA.

I think the DC9 is the perfect aircraft for a souped-up coach because the airline only loses 1/5th of the seating capacity by making it 2 across (as compared with a Boeing/Airbus losing 1/3 of the seating). YX has done pretty well in MKE, and here's hoping that Legend will do well.

I keep eying Legend at Dulles, but what stops me is the lack of direct flights to LAX or SFO http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Thanks for the great report...we are all rootin for airlines like this.

steve, glad to hear your trip was a mirror of mine... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Just curious...what were the loads? Neither of my flights had more then 25 pax. I'd be interested to hear about the experience on one of their 'fuller' flights.

The biggest negative I found, and it was a stretch to call it a negative, was not having any music, only TV.

Hi shadow,

The loads are something I didn't want to have to admit to. They were depressingly low. 21 outbound and 18 inbound. To give some credit, I flew in & out right in the middle of the 3-day holiday weekend; the "calm between the 2 storms" (out Saturday afternoon and back Sunday evening). I assume these flights were "lighter" than others cuz they were the only ones with "T" class seats available; this qualified me for a $198 round trip special fare they had at the end of the month. I think that with a full load, even with the 3rd "variable manning" flt attendant onboard, the only difference in service would be that your finished dinner tray would sit in front of you for awhile. It would have to be another situation that I would need to remind myself that I am in coach and not First.

I agree, music would be very nice. My flights were a little late (30 minutes both ways so I'm also "stretching"). I give credit because it was due to enroute weather (t-storms) but I never heard any explanation or apology. I don't think they understand yet that most of us are willing to accept reasonable delays as simply "the nature of the business" as long as we are kept informed about whats going on. The DL crew in IAD still had the flight posted as "on-time" even thought the inbound flight didn't arrive till 3 minutes till departure. Please don't anyone interpret this as a gripe. Overall I was impressed with the operation, this is just one of those "rough spots" which they will learn with time. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I remember both AirAtlanta and AirOne, though I never flew either. I'm an airline buff and try to keep up with the upstarts and if I'm correct, both these airlines weren't doing too bad. They just ran out of cash too soon. The biggest problem with most new airlines is that they don't start out with adequate financing. It takes a heck of a lot of money just to get certfied and a lot more to keep the operation running safe and realiable. In today's envioronment of Frequent Flyer loyalty, it can take a few years to build up enough market share to pull in a profit.

I've heard that Legend and JetBlue ae more financially backed than the average upstart and therefore have a better chance from the beginning. Unfortunately for Legend, they had to fight legal battles against AA (the city of Ft. Worth and the DFW Airport Board) for 3 years before they could fly from Love.

Midwest Express is (or original was)backed by the Kimberly-Clark Corporation (think Scott paper towels along with numerous other household brand names). The planes actually started as a corporate shuttle; they had scheduled trips between their major business centers. The idea of selling seats to the public was just to offset the costs of the shuttle, but it has grown into quite a successful airline.

IMHO, Legend's biggest problem will be battling with the continued antics of American. And convincing AA's AAdvantage members to forgo mileage on AA to fly LC (the tie-in to Delta's Skymiles was a smart move). For those who truly appreciate long haul service from Love, you need to give LC some business. If Legend were to fail, I would give AA a month before they drop Love.

Bringing thread forward - Enjoy it while they lasted!

Originally posted by steve64:
In today's envioronment of Frequent Flyer loyalty, it can take a few years to build up enough market share to pull in a profit.



In newspaper terms, we call it the USAToday syndrome: Significant barriers to entry, ten years to the black.

But it can be done. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif


[This message has been edited by essxjay (edited 12-06-2000).]