bocastephen
Jul 7, 03, 3:46 pm
With talk of possible meal service cutbacks at CO and the loss of virtually all the domestic FC meal service at DL, I thought I would write a quick blurb about my dinner experience on NW this past week.
The flight was scheduled at 2.5 hours, and left MIA at 455P. As usual for NW, the service was very good...attentive FAs, organized boarding, pre-departure drinks in FC.
I have enjoyed the FC meal service on NW for some time, as they serve excellent sandwiches and cake on their lunch and dinner departures from Florida. With the service cutbacks of the last year, hot meals had been replaced with the sandwiches, but since they were very filling and tasty, I had no complaints - the soup/sandwich combo on Continental had developed somewhat of a cult following, so at least some of the cutbacks had a positive outcome. Unfortunately for our fellow readers on Delta, the only thing they could look forward to was "Leo's Revenge"...the infamous chicken/pasta salad plate with some "unfortunate" gastric side-effects.
About 20 minutes after take-off, the FAs were in the FC cabin with the next drink orders and a basket of snacks to choose from. The standard Spinzels, pretzels, and almonds were there, along with a newcomer - glazed walnuts. I dont know who does the buying for catering at NW, but boy do they know how to pick snacks. The glazed walnuts were like a sweet candy and very delicious. Before anyone goes grabbing a handful from the basket, they were unfortunately 80 calories a small bag http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif
After the snack and drink service, the FAs rolled out the dinner cart. Unlike DL and CO, NW serves dinner from a cart seat-side, which I think is abit more organized and efficient than having the FA run back and forth to the galley.
I was expecting the standard sandwich, but was surprised when the FA asked me "chicken breast or braised beef?" I took the chicken and the seatmate took the beef. This was one BIG meal!
1) nice size salad bowl with dressing
2) warm roll with butter
3) LARGE entree dish with a larger-than-my-palm sized chicken breast with a tasty wine sauce, vegetables and a stuffing with dried fruit. This was no second-rate airline meal...it was easily a restaurant size portion. The beef looked very nice, and was in a bowl with some vegetables and rice.
4) generous slice of chocolate cake (abit dry, and I prefer NW's cheesecake)
So, right-away I began thinking about why NW has consistently offered better inflight service, while carriers in fairly comparable financial health like DL, offer nothing. Even with no scheduled meal service, NW offers a huge snack basket - containing cookies, fresh fruit, dried fruit, Toblerone bars, Spinzels, nuts, and a few other nice touches.
I know this question has been debated endlessly on various boards, but the one consistent theme of the comments I read concern NW's committment to customer service and offering a solid inflight product to their loyal customers. It seems like they are the only airline these days that "gets it" - attracting and retaining loyal consistent business is the only way to drive revenue growth in our current environment...and recognizing that people will still choose good service and amenities when the price difference is reasonable.
Anyone have other NW domestic experiences to share?
The flight was scheduled at 2.5 hours, and left MIA at 455P. As usual for NW, the service was very good...attentive FAs, organized boarding, pre-departure drinks in FC.
I have enjoyed the FC meal service on NW for some time, as they serve excellent sandwiches and cake on their lunch and dinner departures from Florida. With the service cutbacks of the last year, hot meals had been replaced with the sandwiches, but since they were very filling and tasty, I had no complaints - the soup/sandwich combo on Continental had developed somewhat of a cult following, so at least some of the cutbacks had a positive outcome. Unfortunately for our fellow readers on Delta, the only thing they could look forward to was "Leo's Revenge"...the infamous chicken/pasta salad plate with some "unfortunate" gastric side-effects.
About 20 minutes after take-off, the FAs were in the FC cabin with the next drink orders and a basket of snacks to choose from. The standard Spinzels, pretzels, and almonds were there, along with a newcomer - glazed walnuts. I dont know who does the buying for catering at NW, but boy do they know how to pick snacks. The glazed walnuts were like a sweet candy and very delicious. Before anyone goes grabbing a handful from the basket, they were unfortunately 80 calories a small bag http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif
After the snack and drink service, the FAs rolled out the dinner cart. Unlike DL and CO, NW serves dinner from a cart seat-side, which I think is abit more organized and efficient than having the FA run back and forth to the galley.
I was expecting the standard sandwich, but was surprised when the FA asked me "chicken breast or braised beef?" I took the chicken and the seatmate took the beef. This was one BIG meal!
1) nice size salad bowl with dressing
2) warm roll with butter
3) LARGE entree dish with a larger-than-my-palm sized chicken breast with a tasty wine sauce, vegetables and a stuffing with dried fruit. This was no second-rate airline meal...it was easily a restaurant size portion. The beef looked very nice, and was in a bowl with some vegetables and rice.
4) generous slice of chocolate cake (abit dry, and I prefer NW's cheesecake)
So, right-away I began thinking about why NW has consistently offered better inflight service, while carriers in fairly comparable financial health like DL, offer nothing. Even with no scheduled meal service, NW offers a huge snack basket - containing cookies, fresh fruit, dried fruit, Toblerone bars, Spinzels, nuts, and a few other nice touches.
I know this question has been debated endlessly on various boards, but the one consistent theme of the comments I read concern NW's committment to customer service and offering a solid inflight product to their loyal customers. It seems like they are the only airline these days that "gets it" - attracting and retaining loyal consistent business is the only way to drive revenue growth in our current environment...and recognizing that people will still choose good service and amenities when the price difference is reasonable.
Anyone have other NW domestic experiences to share?