Trip Reports - AA F BOS-STL-HNL-DFW-BOS Let the degredation of service begin

Well, I'm in the middle of writing my thesis, so I will make this an ultra-quick trip report. I decided to release myself of the stress by going to Hawai'i for Spring break.
3/23/03 Bos-stl-hnl

Bos-stl leg was same as usual, LLC crew, MD80 not full in F....breakfast 1 choice ham and cheese croissant with fruit plate...it beats the french toast..... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

STL-HNL......Yes..the new configuration of 767...close to 62 inches of pitch...a lot of room..great improvement..however that was the only service improvement...juice or champagne before takeoff....

Meal:

prosciutto with jicama salad

filet of beef with bok choy and mashed potatoes OR

Salmon supreme (doesn't that sound like a new Burger King sandwich) presented with asian-seasoned rice and french green beans OR

Mango-grilled chicken with jasmine rice and snow peas with red pepper...

Only one red and one white wine....

Ice cream sundae or flan

Okay the degredation of service begins with the meal....I had the beef and it was okay, but the portions are getting truly miniscule...literally the portion was the same size as a coach meal....fours bites of beef and two forks of mashed potatoes....

The salad and ice cream were better and larger than the main dish.....

Then over 2 hours of everybody loves raymond, well no offense, but i hate raymond....if you're gonna give us the international pitch on this flight, why not just give us the dang DVD players as well....

Movie was die another day which I have seen 3 times already..twice on AA....

With a 9 hour block time I was hoping for at least a sandwich or something as a snack....pizza maybe......well the pre-landing snack consisted of cheese and crackers.....a small piece of brie, a tiny sliver of stilton and 3 crackers......The funny thing is the main cabin also got a "snack"...does that mean AA now calls pretzels a snack????

I guess the only thing they weren't stingy with was the booze...man some of my fellow trravelers really put it down in quantity...

The interesting thing is that the booze is much more expensive than the food, so why not just ease back on the amount of alcohol given in F and use that savings to offer a higher quality meal and a decent snack....

Okay enough ranting...stayed at the Hawai'i prince..very nice hotel...excellent staff..well located and always available on Priceline for $80 to $90 per night.....

3/27/03

HNL-dfw-bos

767-300 HNL-DFW

old configuration which only depressed me more as I was already down about leaving Hawai'i....I got to see two separate people talk to the FA in an attempt to finagle an F upgrade on the plane as boarding was occurring...it wasn't happening...although some of the F seats on this flight were definitely non-rev.....
I forgot a menu, but meal service was the same choice of salmon, chicken, and beef..although the sauces and vegetables were different..I had the beef again and it tasted exactly like the beef I had on my last flight....different salad..this time with duck and another ice cream sundae...the salad and ice cream were the highlights as once again the portion of the main course was extremely small..the size of a coach meal..

2 more hours of everybody loves raymond and a movie called,"Kevin of the North" which was an unbearable stupid comedy....

Slept a while...and then took breakfast which was fruit and a muffin....

Again, I enjoy the new 60 inch pitch but AA really needs to do something about service...it really was disappointing...and much worse than when I flew ORD-HNL-ORD in January 2002.

DFW-BOS MD80 again.....same old routine no entertainment...ran out of french toast, so I got the Special K.....

Hawai'i relaxed me and I'm ready to continue my thesis....if only my thesis could be a collection of trip reports I could share more detail with all of you.....

I hope you enjoyed this brif report and pardon the brusqueness of the writing.

I guess it just impresses me there are little things that airlines can do that cost very little to satisfy a FC customer on a long-haul flight and the truth is they don't do it and it changes my whole opinion about the flight....I was very happy about the extra space, but disappointed with the lack of entertainment and the food selection...In truth, I wasn't expecting much and got about what I expected, but why should my expectations be set so low in the first place???

Sorry to hear about all these changes! Unfortunately the Hawaiian flights are always the first to see the cut. It is a mainly leisure routes. Sad to see that AA is following DL footsteps... DL serves only one main meal on the nine hours ATL-HNL flight... I think there should be a second meal on those Hawaii flights... it is nine hours long and they are not cheap...

Thanks for the report!

Carfield

TWAForever,

Can you clarify a point for me? On the two-class service STL-HNL did they provide you with a DVD player to break up the monotony?

Thanks.

Excellent trip report, I enjoyed reading it.

While I've never flown AA to Hawaii, I can tell you that similar measures have been taken over at United. 10 years ago I flew ORD-HNL in FC of a 3 class 747. I recall the meal being presented in a 5 course parade of food including the carving of pieces straight off a rack of lamb and an "after lunch drink cart". It was truely a wonderful 9 hour flight. (I can imagine AA had simialr serivce during this time)

Nowadays, (setting aside the fact that UA doesn't opearate a nonstop ORD-HNL) as you have described, all airlines to Hawaii have had their services drastically reduced.

I guess it's just a sign of the times.

Anyways, thanks for great report.
-Ualisthebst

There are no DVD players to Hawai'i...I wish they had these, but no..just two hours of CBS and one movie.

Thanks for your trip report.

I agree with you, everybody does NOT love Raymond.

Sorry to see the service decline; let's hope it doen't get worse.

Best of luck with your thesis. (What's it about?) I wrote my entire masters thesis on planes. Maybe the scents of jet fuel and coffee are conducive to intellectual pursuits.

Aloha,

Mats.

My thesis should be written on a plane...It is about airline revenue management under "alternative" fare structures.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Carfield:
Sad to see that AA is following DL footsteps... DL serves only one main meal on the nine hours ATL-HNL flight... I think there should be a second meal on those Hawaii flights... it is nine hours long and they are not cheap...</font>

Just 1 meal for 9 hours! I would go crazy. I thought the AC MIA-YVR 6 hour flight was bad with just a tiny 'omelette' served 30 or so minutes into the flight. I was hungry within an hour.

I remember flying STL - OGG (Kahului) in 2002, it was EX-TWA service with 2 movies, and the "CBS eye on American" (bleh!) program. They (AA) should have atleast kept the idea of 2 movies on 9+ hr flights. *sighs*

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by TravelF-100:
I remember flying STL - OGG (Kahului) in 2002, it was EX-TWA service with 2 movies, and the "CBS eye on American" (bleh!) program. They (AA) should have atleast kept the idea of 2 movies on 9+ hr flights. *sighs* </font>

It was still a TWA flight the last time I flew the route, but at that point, they had the personal videos working in F. Only 1 main meal, a slightly upgraded domestic F, if I remember correctly, and a snack prior to landing.