onepassaddict
Nov 29, 04, 1:38 am
It’s the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and I’m getting ready to make the annual trip home to see my parents and sister in Maryland, a trip I’ve been making almost yearly since I came to California to attend college thirteen years ago. Despite the usual predictions for madness and mayhem at the airport, my girlfriend drops me off at 10:05 am to find a relatively tranquil US Airways check-in area. Check in at USAirways is a breeze, the agent processes me quickly, confirming my upgrade CLT-BWI (using a paper Space Positive Upgrade), letting me know things look iffy for the SFO-CLT upgrade and inputting my United MP# (almost to 1P!). Security is a three-minute affair and I’m at the gate well over an hour before departure. The concourse is very empty, a symptom I believe of US’s cutbacks in service here.
SFO - CLT in Y
About 20 minutes prior to boarding, I’m told 1st class has checked in full and I steel myself for one of the longest rides in 31 pitch economy I’ve had in a while. After boarding early, I settle into a seat near the back of the plane. I always knew it to be true, but today it’s staring me in the face why I rack up miles on United: because the extra 4 inches or so in Economy Plus DO make all the difference. I’m a pretty fidgety flier, I often reach to my bag, change items I read, walk the aisles and generally move around a lot and 31 inch seat pinch is for the birds!
My seatmate today is a very bohemian but friendly Stanford-sophomore (my alma mater, go Cardinal!) guy with painted fingernails and toenails and a skirt like contraption covering his lower body. Nice enough fellow, but I’m quickly grossed out when he removes his Birkenstocks, puts his bare feet in the magazine holder and against the side of my tray. I’m all for getting as comfortable as possible in the air and remove my slip on shoes on every flight, but bare feet?? Unacceptable in close quarters. Later in the flight, when he sneezes into one of the blankets twice, I resolve never to use an unwrapped blanket again.
As for the service, it’s as minimal as I expected, had to practically beg for a can of diet coke (I’m a 6+ can a day guy) and the only food was the $10 buy-on-board (I passed, as did most). After having not flown US for years, my expectations based on trip reports here were confirmed – until that is, I took my next flight.
CLT-BWI in F
Switched planes in CLT, grabbed a quick bite at CPK (Asian chicken salad – delicious!) and hopped the next flight to BWI. Plopped in row 1 and was immediately asked for my pre-departure drink order. Not the “water or orange juice?” I’ve become accustomed to on NW and UA, but an open ended solicitation. Next thing I knew, I was sipping a Heineken and life was not so bad. Enjoyed another Heineken after takeoff as I checked out the mid-Atlantic night lights and thought to myself how gracious the service was, considering the FAs don’t know if this carrier will liquidate in the near future.
BWI- CLT in F
The day before the westbound return journey, my upgrade was confirmed for all legs. Arrived at BWI Saturday afternoon 80 minutes prior to departure. Checking in at BWI wasn’t the smoothest. The person ahead of me in the FC line had some nonstandard request that occupied 2 agents for 10 minutes and no one else motioned for me to come up, all the while checking in coach passengers. I flagged down an agent and he began to process me. Unlike the agent in SFO, this agent tried to convince me I couldn’t upgrade with a US space positive and earn MP miles. Producing my outbound FC boarding pass with my MP number on it helped him get the picture and I was checked in after some consternation on his part. Security was a breeze (always a crapshoot at BWI).
My Thanksgiving MO is now to take a Saturday afternoon flight out to (1) avoid the chaos of the Sunday after Thanksgiving, (2) get a full weekend day to relax and (3) because 3 days is the optimal amount of time to recreate childhood! Don’t get me wrong, I love visiting my family, but it’s a 24/7 affair. It would be great to live nearby and spread the time out over a dinner every week, but being 2500 miles away, it’s compressed 3 day periods 4 or 5 times a year. Oh well, it was my choice to stay in CA, so I shouldn’t complain!
Boarding on the BWI-CLT flight was efficient, though I found it odd that US does not have electronic BP scanners of any kind, but rather processes boarding manually. Again, another pre-departure drink, this time a Finlandia and tonic, nice way to get ready for a pleasurable FC coast-to-coast run. As an aside, I love doing a transcon in FC, even look forward to it. I blast through a bunch of newspapers and magazines I usually don’t have time for, and appreciate being out of touch for 5 of 6 uninterrupted hours. No cell phone, no Blackberry, just me and my reading material. Today’s reading list includes the Economist, Sunday Washington Post, Barron’s, Washingtonian Magazine and the Sophisticated Traveler Magazine from the Sunday NYT a few weeks ago. Ah, life is good. The short flight to CLT is uneventful and quick.
CLT-SFO in F
I arrive in the B concourse at CLT and walk over to the C concourse. Hearing that meal service, even in FC, is bad on US, I am tempted to try out
the BBQ joint in the airport, but decided to hold off. (Anyone ever tried that place? As good as the MEM spots?) It is then that I receive some of the best service I can remember from an airline. I go to the gate for the CLT-SFO flight and ask the gate agent if there is a meal service. She checks and says there is. I throw out “Do you know what the meal choices are” and she says “I actually don’t but why don’t I go down the jetway and ask the crew.” I am stunned. She comes back and tells me it’s shrimp, chicken or cold chicken salad, then checks out my boarding pass and tells me I should have a good choice since I’m near the front of the cabin. Great service!
I board shortly thereafter, am again offered the pre-departure drink (go for OJ) and settle into my seat. I haven’t been on FC in an A321 before and I like it a great deal. 38 inch seat pitch, same as UA, but the seat width is better and the console between seats is also wider, so both passengers can comfortably place a can and a cup on the console. I wish it had the footrest like NW, but again, I can’t complain on a cheapo fare and Space Positive upgrade.
The service on this flight was nothing short of excellent. Water bottles were issued before departure. A blond southern FA in her 40s constantly prowled the aisles asking if anyone needed anything and keeping glasses full (well, plastic cups actually). Wines were Sebastiani Merlot and Stone Hill Chardonnay (OK). Dinner was not the best, but suitable. It was (no menu provided):
Salad: green salad with olive oil and vinegar dressing
Choice of Bread: Sourdough roll, tomato and basil breadstick (a bit stale) and wheat and white sliced bread
Main course: Chicken breast with mashed potatoes, zucchini and squash OR shrimp scampi OR cold grilled chicken salad.
Dessert: Chocolate cake
I had the grilled chicken and can best describe it as the quality of a Hungry-Man frozen dinner. Everything tasted like it had come from a freezer, but with the ketchup pockets I picked up in CLT, wasn’t so bad.
Movie was “Manchurian Candidate”, an OK thriller. On approach to SFO, I had a couple Jack and Cokes to begin the Saturday night partying that would ramp up shortly upon arrival at my friend’s birthday party at Tokyo-a-go-go Sushi in the Mission.
All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by US. The coach products is poor (bad seat pitch, no food, pay for movie), and more what you’d expect from SW than a legacy carrier, but the FC product was surprisingly good. What made it was not the quality of the food or drink, but the service and dedication of the FAs I had. US is now on very shaky ground financially and may not be with us in a few months, but I encountered several people on my travels with them who showed dedication to quality service and made my flying experience a pleasant one, which is more than I can say for many crews. I wish them the best and hope they can find a place for themselves in the ever-evolving, brutally competitive airline industry.
SFO - CLT in Y
About 20 minutes prior to boarding, I’m told 1st class has checked in full and I steel myself for one of the longest rides in 31 pitch economy I’ve had in a while. After boarding early, I settle into a seat near the back of the plane. I always knew it to be true, but today it’s staring me in the face why I rack up miles on United: because the extra 4 inches or so in Economy Plus DO make all the difference. I’m a pretty fidgety flier, I often reach to my bag, change items I read, walk the aisles and generally move around a lot and 31 inch seat pinch is for the birds!
My seatmate today is a very bohemian but friendly Stanford-sophomore (my alma mater, go Cardinal!) guy with painted fingernails and toenails and a skirt like contraption covering his lower body. Nice enough fellow, but I’m quickly grossed out when he removes his Birkenstocks, puts his bare feet in the magazine holder and against the side of my tray. I’m all for getting as comfortable as possible in the air and remove my slip on shoes on every flight, but bare feet?? Unacceptable in close quarters. Later in the flight, when he sneezes into one of the blankets twice, I resolve never to use an unwrapped blanket again.
As for the service, it’s as minimal as I expected, had to practically beg for a can of diet coke (I’m a 6+ can a day guy) and the only food was the $10 buy-on-board (I passed, as did most). After having not flown US for years, my expectations based on trip reports here were confirmed – until that is, I took my next flight.
CLT-BWI in F
Switched planes in CLT, grabbed a quick bite at CPK (Asian chicken salad – delicious!) and hopped the next flight to BWI. Plopped in row 1 and was immediately asked for my pre-departure drink order. Not the “water or orange juice?” I’ve become accustomed to on NW and UA, but an open ended solicitation. Next thing I knew, I was sipping a Heineken and life was not so bad. Enjoyed another Heineken after takeoff as I checked out the mid-Atlantic night lights and thought to myself how gracious the service was, considering the FAs don’t know if this carrier will liquidate in the near future.
BWI- CLT in F
The day before the westbound return journey, my upgrade was confirmed for all legs. Arrived at BWI Saturday afternoon 80 minutes prior to departure. Checking in at BWI wasn’t the smoothest. The person ahead of me in the FC line had some nonstandard request that occupied 2 agents for 10 minutes and no one else motioned for me to come up, all the while checking in coach passengers. I flagged down an agent and he began to process me. Unlike the agent in SFO, this agent tried to convince me I couldn’t upgrade with a US space positive and earn MP miles. Producing my outbound FC boarding pass with my MP number on it helped him get the picture and I was checked in after some consternation on his part. Security was a breeze (always a crapshoot at BWI).
My Thanksgiving MO is now to take a Saturday afternoon flight out to (1) avoid the chaos of the Sunday after Thanksgiving, (2) get a full weekend day to relax and (3) because 3 days is the optimal amount of time to recreate childhood! Don’t get me wrong, I love visiting my family, but it’s a 24/7 affair. It would be great to live nearby and spread the time out over a dinner every week, but being 2500 miles away, it’s compressed 3 day periods 4 or 5 times a year. Oh well, it was my choice to stay in CA, so I shouldn’t complain!
Boarding on the BWI-CLT flight was efficient, though I found it odd that US does not have electronic BP scanners of any kind, but rather processes boarding manually. Again, another pre-departure drink, this time a Finlandia and tonic, nice way to get ready for a pleasurable FC coast-to-coast run. As an aside, I love doing a transcon in FC, even look forward to it. I blast through a bunch of newspapers and magazines I usually don’t have time for, and appreciate being out of touch for 5 of 6 uninterrupted hours. No cell phone, no Blackberry, just me and my reading material. Today’s reading list includes the Economist, Sunday Washington Post, Barron’s, Washingtonian Magazine and the Sophisticated Traveler Magazine from the Sunday NYT a few weeks ago. Ah, life is good. The short flight to CLT is uneventful and quick.
CLT-SFO in F
I arrive in the B concourse at CLT and walk over to the C concourse. Hearing that meal service, even in FC, is bad on US, I am tempted to try out
the BBQ joint in the airport, but decided to hold off. (Anyone ever tried that place? As good as the MEM spots?) It is then that I receive some of the best service I can remember from an airline. I go to the gate for the CLT-SFO flight and ask the gate agent if there is a meal service. She checks and says there is. I throw out “Do you know what the meal choices are” and she says “I actually don’t but why don’t I go down the jetway and ask the crew.” I am stunned. She comes back and tells me it’s shrimp, chicken or cold chicken salad, then checks out my boarding pass and tells me I should have a good choice since I’m near the front of the cabin. Great service!
I board shortly thereafter, am again offered the pre-departure drink (go for OJ) and settle into my seat. I haven’t been on FC in an A321 before and I like it a great deal. 38 inch seat pitch, same as UA, but the seat width is better and the console between seats is also wider, so both passengers can comfortably place a can and a cup on the console. I wish it had the footrest like NW, but again, I can’t complain on a cheapo fare and Space Positive upgrade.
The service on this flight was nothing short of excellent. Water bottles were issued before departure. A blond southern FA in her 40s constantly prowled the aisles asking if anyone needed anything and keeping glasses full (well, plastic cups actually). Wines were Sebastiani Merlot and Stone Hill Chardonnay (OK). Dinner was not the best, but suitable. It was (no menu provided):
Salad: green salad with olive oil and vinegar dressing
Choice of Bread: Sourdough roll, tomato and basil breadstick (a bit stale) and wheat and white sliced bread
Main course: Chicken breast with mashed potatoes, zucchini and squash OR shrimp scampi OR cold grilled chicken salad.
Dessert: Chocolate cake
I had the grilled chicken and can best describe it as the quality of a Hungry-Man frozen dinner. Everything tasted like it had come from a freezer, but with the ketchup pockets I picked up in CLT, wasn’t so bad.
Movie was “Manchurian Candidate”, an OK thriller. On approach to SFO, I had a couple Jack and Cokes to begin the Saturday night partying that would ramp up shortly upon arrival at my friend’s birthday party at Tokyo-a-go-go Sushi in the Mission.
All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by US. The coach products is poor (bad seat pitch, no food, pay for movie), and more what you’d expect from SW than a legacy carrier, but the FC product was surprisingly good. What made it was not the quality of the food or drink, but the service and dedication of the FAs I had. US is now on very shaky ground financially and may not be with us in a few months, but I encountered several people on my travels with them who showed dedication to quality service and made my flying experience a pleasant one, which is more than I can say for many crews. I wish them the best and hope they can find a place for themselves in the ever-evolving, brutally competitive airline industry.