America West FlightFund (Discontinued Program) - Noteworthy in-flight service

I took a couple of HP long-hauls this week and was struck by the excellent service I received in first class. In both cases, the FA's were very professional, on top of the service through the entire (5+ hour) flights and a lot of fun.

I have to say that, overall, the service levels I've experienced in-flight over the past year have been first-rate. This is the first year in memory that I've run out of Above and Beyond certificates at this point in the year. I only give them out when I experience a level of service that really strikes me as extraordinary.

We've had a lot of negative comments here recently about HP and its service. I thought it was worth noting how great the employees also can be.

What a difference it makes when you're loyal to a company and you get treated by individuals who appear to truly appreciate your business.

I was thinking the same thing recently but mine were on shorter flights.

Flew SMF-PHX on Thursday night and the service was excellent. It was on the newer 737-300 with the updated call buttons/lighting panels.

One full drink service in Y and then they came through with a second offering and we were given the full can without asking.

We arrived 25 minutes early in PHX. Gate was occupied but the captain got the gate changed and we were in 15 minutes early.

What a great flight!

It seems that all the negative comments are based on inexperienced flyers that had a bad experience in the past with AWA.

I guess it can't be that bad at AWA as I was in coach as F was checked-in full. Come to think of it, Y was almost full too.

A quick note on the HP website about your experience and the flight number/date should end up as an "atta girl" in your flight attendant's personnel file...and will absolutely make her day!

I was thinking the same thing recently but mine were on shorter flights.

Flew SMF-PHX on Thursday night and the service was excellent. It was on the newer 737-300 with the updated call buttons/lighting panels.

One full drink service in Y and then they came through with a second offering and we were given the full can without asking.

We arrived 25 minutes early in PHX. Gate was occupied but the captain got the gate changed and we were in 15 minutes early.

What a great flight!

It seems that all the negative comments are based on inexperienced flyers that had a bad experience in the past with AWA.

I guess it can't be that bad at AWA as I was in coach as F was checked-in full. Come to think of it, Y was almost full too.

HP is inconsistent at best and totally incompetent at worst. Quite honestly, I have had some of my worst airline experiences on HP (followed closely by DL).

Two weeks ago, I flew HP on business from SAT-PHX-SAT. The outbound flight was cancelled and I had to fly CO to IAH and then HP to PHX (after arguing with agent that I couldn't wait until the next day). The bumbling HP agent had no idea what she was doing and managed to totally mess up my reservation. I arrived in PHX three hours later than expected.

The return flight (after I had to argue with the check-in agent that I actually had purchased a round trip ticket because of the previous day's stupid agent) was delayed for 2 hours.

By the way, I am in no way an inexperienced traveler. I fly in excess of 25K miles per year, am a former AA employee, have a degree in Transportation with an emphasis on Airline Management.

25k--WOW! You must be one of those people that complain when the fares go up over $200.00rt and then find a need to rip the airline and their employees when your flight is 10 minutes late or you dont get enough ice in your cup. Give me a freakin break! :mad:
First off, agents are not "stupid" or "bumbling". Yes, they may be extremly busy trying to reacommodate people, so step off and let them do their job. Maybe if you would try a different approach, you may not have had to explain to the next agent that you bought a rt ticket. If you fly so much (25k, remember? oh yeah, and a degree!!!) you should realize that once your itinerary shows you didn't take your outbound flight, the remainder will cancel. Simple to fix and sounds like they did.
To wrap up, just chill and take things as they come. Fares have come way down and you get what you pay for!

I am glad to see that HP is providing some really great service expierences to many of you. I'll agree with formeraa though- HP's service is just inconsistent. I'll have a great flight one time, and then I get a grumpy FA the next one and I'll want to take back all the good feelings I have toward HP.

One of my best experiences on HP was earlier this year on the LAS-RNO leg of BWI-LAS-RNO. Me and companion were upgraded and got the 1st row of the 737 (are they seats A and B?) where you face the FAs. Both were nice, and as they served the snack mix, told me that sometimes they too get embarrassed when they see the food that they must serve the F customers. One of the FA's explained how she used to serve the salad, then the steak and potatoes, etc, etc, and now is disappointed with the poor quality of the F food. Both FAs were well informed, and certainly weren't "bumbling" or stupid. They just made the flight a pleasant experience for us. I wish every flight could be like that one! :)

I had the coolest flight attendant today on my flight home from PHX-LAX. Her name was Karen and she was I'm guessing the purser on the flight and I was travelling with my 80 year old mother and as we walked onto the plane (Arizona 757) we were going to be the first pax who would have to check our carry ons because the bins were packed. No biggie really, ya do what ya gotta do. But as we walked on she saw that I was with my mom and she looked in the first class cabin, saw just enough room to put our carry-ons and said "Here, let me take those, I can store them for you". Cool!

So as we were exiting after the flight she was standing at the door and she remembered who we were and she went and got our bags and came back and said "I saw that you had your mother with you as you were getting on board and though it might be helpful to not have to wait in baggage for your bags with her". I was so impressed by that I thanked her up and down, how sweet of her!!

over in airliners.net, we were just talking about this. last tues, i flew prc-phx-las-bur-las-phl, and upgraded on all, and on hp257, the F f/a was phenomenal. with all the complaints most people send in, i went out of my way to their website to the "customer comments" and wrote a thank you to her for her outstanding service to compliment her. she served the meal in courses, not drinks, food, desert all at once. she spaced the service out instead of getting it all done in under 30 min, drinks were always full, offered a fresh pot of coffee about an hour out of philly, and then, upon arrival, shook every F pax hand and thanked them by name for traveling HP. unbelievable!!!

i think half the reason that some hp personnel, or any other airline for that matter, are in the mood that they are is that they deal with people from some of the comments above when pax have a poor trip, and fail to give the airline a second chance sometimes. on every day, on any airline, in any city, on any plane, anywhere, some person is having a poor flight. for the 1 poor flight, we hear about it endlessly like the earth fell off its axis, but rarely, except for this clip, do we ever hear people enjoying themselves, and actually talking about it afterwards and taking the time to compliment employees. props to Az Travels the World and olympicnut, and to all the other whiners, deAAl with it, i don't think my 5 year nephew whines that much!!!

Very well said flyboy7974. You have hit the nail on the head!

Flyboy, I too sent a comment through the HP website about our awesome FA Karen. If ya ever have her on a flight shes great! She's hard to miss too: I'd guess in her 40's (MAYBE early 50's), silver short hair, does herself up nicely with the makeup, has a sort of deep voice (think Peppermint Patty from Peanuts), BEAUTIFUL blue eyes a-la Ellen DeGeneres, and chats it up with the pax. She even chatted with an obvious frequent flyer she knew who was on his way to Australia, giving him a hard time for going away and leaving her to fly without him, it was cute.

So if ya ever have great inflight service from a particular FA, no matter what the airline, get their name and send in a comment to the airlines main headquarters. I'd guess a nice comment would be a welcome change from the moaners I'm sure they read day in and day out :)

My HP experience is primarily EWR/PHX flights four or five R/T a year. I've been able get my CO Platinum comped, so I'm usually in First. I think that the "service" in First is consistently high. What's gone way down hill since 9/11 is what they call quality F/C meals. Last Saturday (3 PM PHX departure), the meal in First was a sliver of garlic bread & a very small chicken caesar salad, followed by a brownie. Three years ago, when HP & CO were partners, I'd fly HP simply because of the superlative meals. No more. I think you'd get a better meal with the $7.00 purchased box in coach.

According to Mr. Parkers Executive Liason who called me two weeks ago, she said customer focus in FC and new procedures would be shortly recognized. One of the things mentioned was a velvet rope to partition FC and coach but I haven't seen it yet, albeit I bet to get the aircraft out of service to add it will likely happen during regular maintenance or at the overhaul.

Cheers to HP for making the right decisions to focus on us, the customer!