kyushuman
Jul 18, 05, 2:13 am
I checked in for my flights on June 23rd, and asked if they were looking for volunteers. The woman asked the lead GA, and he told her they probably weren’t, but to start a list anyway.
So, I was first on the list. By the time they were boarding, things were getting crazy, with LOTS of standby pax as well as confirmed pax with no seat assignment standing near the counters.
Then they announced, “Mr. Kyushuman and Mr. X are the only two volunteers we need today. All the other volunteers please board the flight.” But I hadn’t even talked about what I’d get. With their not being desperate for more volunteers (there were others), I didn’t expect them to be too generous, though I did expect the usual $750 VDB, and I got it. But unlike in February, when I was re-booked into World Business Class for my trip to Istanbul when I volunteered, I was put back in coach the next day. I asked politely about the possibility and she simply said, “no”. Also, there were no exit row or bulkhead seats available, so I took a window seat for MSP-NRT, and then 10C, a bulkhead aisle, for NRT-BKK.
I live in MSP most of the year, and have a house there, but I didn’t really feel like going all the way back home with my bags, so I took a hotel voucher with meals. BIG mistake. I’ll get to that in a minute.
First, just after the 744 with 403 pax was pulled from the gate using the tow, someone yelled, “Mr. Kyushuman’s bag got loaded on the plane!”. So the lead GA, very angry with the baggage handlers, called the control tower and said they had to tow the 744 back in to the gate. It took about 15 minutes, but sure enough, as the 744 pulled away again, a woman was rolling MY lonely silver bag across the tarmac! I guess they are serious about the bag-matching system, huh?
Anyway, so I got my bag on Carousel #6, and the “fun” (or something with an ‘f”) began.....I waited outside, in 97-degree heat, for 90 minutes for the Park Inn Bloomington’s shuttle bus. I would have just paid for a taxi, but we kept calling and they kept apologizing, promising it in like 10 minutes, 5 minutes. Several other shuttles made many stops, but not ours. The 4th time I called, he said (I’m not joking about this) “Well, you know, it doesn’t SAY “Park Inn”. It says “Ramada Thunderbird” on the side. Huh?? Yes, they use another hotel’s shuttle.
OK, so it comes by and we get in, ready for some air conditio......oops! Sorry, the air is broken, so we’ll just have those tiny windows at the top of the regular windows open. And how many people on the bus? Of course, we take the last 2 seats out of 30! It’s packed, at least 90-100 degrees inside, with little wind, in traffic, when....IT BREAKS DOWN. So there we are, now sitting at the side of the road, in 97-degree heat. When we finally get to the hotel, almost 3 hours since I picked up the bag, there was a meek apology, but nothing else. I headed up to my room to crank the air contion......oops! Sorry sir, it doesn’t work to well in this room. And we’re sold out tonight.
So I call NWA’s customer care line to tell them to NEVER contract with this hotel again, and (honestly) I get, “Well, it’s a complimentary room, sir, you’re welcome to pay out of your own pocket for a hotel you like.” She said the word “complimentary” at least 4 times. Yuck.
So I call my friend to beg him to come and pick me up and take me home. Luckily, he was free, so I took him out for dinner too. It ended up being a nice night.
Next day, I went back to the airport, and they were looking for volunteers again, but I don’t think they needed them because 5 of the standbys who didn’t get on the previous day made it onto the flight. I was really hoping for an op-up, since I’m Platinum, but no dice.
NW 19
June 24, 2005
MSP-NRT
Sched. Dep.15:05 Actual 15:00
Sched. Arr. 17:05 +1, Actual 16:45 +1
Seat 23K, economy class window seat
Service was actually excellent on this flight. The FA assigned to our section was chatty, always smiling, and very gregarious. She commented at least 3 times on how both myself and the (very hot and flirty--with me!) Japanese guy sitting next to me always smiled, and how she always smiles too. So everyone was happy!
Drinks service began, and alcohol is still free on NWA flights overseas. So I had a white wine, as well as one with the dinner. I had Asian Glazed Chicken, which was kind of a sweet and sour thing, edible, served with rice, as well as a salad, cake, and an appetizer of shrimp, and a roll.
Midflight a small sandwich was served with drinks, and about an hour before landing, a full breakfast was served, a choice of Fried Rice with pork or Cheese Omelet. I had the rice, and it was decent if a bit greasy. Served with fruit. I also had some fruit and cookies left over from the $20 in vouchers I got for volunteering. You can’t use it on most packaged foods at the airport, only prepared foods, so I got some fruit, cookies, baked goods, etc, to snack on inflight. Not too much, though, since $20 doesn’t buy you THAT much at the airport.
A very smooth flights, no complaints, though a packed 744 is not exactly the most fun place to be. Not too many noisy kids, but 23A is near the galley, so it wasn’t the most restful place to be. I recommend somewhere between about rows 26-60, away from the galleys.
Upon arrival at NRT, you have to go back through security (I still don’t understand why, after about 60 trips via NRT), but it’s usually very fast and friendly, and today was no exception.
I went to the NRT WorldClub on the upstairs level (there is a smaller one on the level near some gates, but it’s not as nice, in my opinion). Has a decent snack selection, but nothing hot--just crackers, cookies, sweets, cheese. Considering they don’t spend any money on food, they make it up in the liquor department, with Japanese beer on tap, and serve-yourself cappucino machine, and mid-to-top shelf alcohol. No more magazines, but a decent selection of newspapers, including the IHT, FT, WSJ, and Japan Times, plus Japanese titles too. Wi-Fi is available for 500 yen (about $4.70) per day, so I used it for about 90 minutes. Boarding was called about 55 minutes before flight time, so I made my way down to gate 21 and saw the new A332 waiting.
They had just called Business Class and Elite members, and it looked like the entire boarding area came forward! I really had thought my only chance at an op-up as a Plat was on the MSP-NRT portion, since this NRT-BKK flight had been showing J1C1Z0Y7M7etc for days, while MSP-NRT was J9C9Y0. It looked like Biz was oversold on the BKK portion, not Y. Plus, seeing how many Elites were boarding with Biz, I gave up hope and handed my BP over.
Of course, when it was put into the ticket reader, it spit mine out, and the machine said, “PNR unknown”. The woman handed me a new BP and said, “It’s only one row in front of where you were sitting, but I think you’re going to like this seat MUCH better.” And she was right! My original BP was for 10C, the first row of Y, and she handed me 6C, the last row of C Class. Yay!
NW 27
NRT-BKK
June 25, 2005
Sched. Dep. 19:25, Actual 19:20
Sched. Arr. 23:45, Actual 23:30
Seat 6C
Life is good in WBC, especially when I get my first Op-Up in about 4 years on NWA. It’s funny, when I read on FT, about people getting Op-Ups about 1 in 4 times they fly Internationally. I fly about 12 Transoceanic flights a year on NW, and have gotten a total of ONE Op-Up in about 48 int’l flight segments: SIN-NRT, on New Year’s Day 2002. That’s it. Of course, if I pay for coach, I can’t expect anything other than coach, but now, unfortunately, this experience will keep my hopes up!
In the past few years, I’ve been taking advantage of NW’s Z fare sales to Europe and Asia around the holidays, because sometimes it’s only a few hundred more bucks to fly in paid Z than in discount Y at peak times (like at Xmas).
Service began with offerings of newspapers and menus, slippers, the red triangle amenity kit, blankets, and headphones. Pre-flight drinks included beer, champagne, OJ, and water. Meals were ordered before take off as well.
After take-off, a round of drinks was served with a bowl of walnuts and cashews (served cold, though, why?). Then came the meal, which was off the cart and served all in one time--no separate courses, which on this flight is probably good, since most people like to sleep after the long flights USA to NRT.
Service was good, though I found that WBC FAs sat in the galley waiting for us to come to them for drinks, while I saw Y FAs pass by with water at least 6 times in the 6-hour flight. There was also a snack basket available in the front galley, which had fruit, rice balls, chips, and chocolates.
Upon arrival into BKK, I heard my name echoing throughout the airpot....”Mr Kyushuman, please report to the NWA baggage counter.” Yes, my bag was not loaded in MSP, so it would arrive the next night. “But I’m going to Laos tomorrow morning.” I ended up leaving the airport with 2000 Thai Baht (equivalent to US$50), all of my toiletries (which I’d packed in a carry-on) but absolutely no clothes other than the dress clothes I was wearing for my jungle hikes.....eek! .....and since it was after midnight, no chance to buy any before our departure at 11:30am for Luang Prabang in the morning. Luckily, my friend loaned me socks, undies, shoes, and shorts (we’re the same size!), and I used those for the next 4 days, buying some cheap t-shirts, etc, along the way. To be honest, I’m not sure what I would have done without my friend’s stuff, since I didn’t see many clothes in Luang Prabang that would have fit me--especially shorts and shoes! Yikes.
But funny enough, my bag hadn’t been loaded in MSP??Strange, since the day before NWA pulled a fully loaded 744 back to the gate to pull the same bag OFF the plane when I wasn’t on it. Now, when I WAS on the plane, it didn’t accompany me. So much for positive bag matching! This was the 4th time in my last 5 International NWA trips that my bag has been lost. I know their lost baggage percentage is less than 5%, right? Well, they’ve lost my bags on 40% of my trips in the last year. And 3 of them were in either paid WBC or a WBC award ticket, and ALL FOUR had “Priority” tags on them!
I am a Plat who always checks in with time to spare. I don’t get it. Last year MNL-NRT-SEA-MSP, TXL-AMS-MSP, HKG-NRT-LAX-MSP, and now this, all with a lost bag.... The difference was that on those other flights, I was returning home, so it wasn’t all that inconvenient to just use other clothes, etc. This was my first experience with a lost bag leaving the US.
I wonder how it happened? It had been tagged as “priority”, but only VERY stubbornly by the MSP check-in agent at the WBC/Elite check-in. He said they weren’t supposed to do it!? I think about 75% of the times I’ve flown internationally, it’s been tagged Priority. Is this a new rule? Anyway, he looked VERY annoyed, and said, “Whatever makes you happy,” in an extremely sarcastic voice. I didn’t demand it, I had just said, that usually they put it on for me without my asking.
So I got the bag at BKK airport (before immigration, since I was returning from Laos), and that was quite easy. I also didn’t have to drag the heavy bag all over Laos, so all in all it wasn’t bad.
So all in all, a quite nice trip--marred by lost bags, rude check-in clerk, and no personal IFE on the 744, but helped greatly by decent food, an Op-Up on a 6-hour flight, and very friendly FAs MSP-NRT.
Final Grade for NW Y: 6/10. To be honest, with newer aircraft and such a good int’l route system, NW is close to being good.
So, I was first on the list. By the time they were boarding, things were getting crazy, with LOTS of standby pax as well as confirmed pax with no seat assignment standing near the counters.
Then they announced, “Mr. Kyushuman and Mr. X are the only two volunteers we need today. All the other volunteers please board the flight.” But I hadn’t even talked about what I’d get. With their not being desperate for more volunteers (there were others), I didn’t expect them to be too generous, though I did expect the usual $750 VDB, and I got it. But unlike in February, when I was re-booked into World Business Class for my trip to Istanbul when I volunteered, I was put back in coach the next day. I asked politely about the possibility and she simply said, “no”. Also, there were no exit row or bulkhead seats available, so I took a window seat for MSP-NRT, and then 10C, a bulkhead aisle, for NRT-BKK.
I live in MSP most of the year, and have a house there, but I didn’t really feel like going all the way back home with my bags, so I took a hotel voucher with meals. BIG mistake. I’ll get to that in a minute.
First, just after the 744 with 403 pax was pulled from the gate using the tow, someone yelled, “Mr. Kyushuman’s bag got loaded on the plane!”. So the lead GA, very angry with the baggage handlers, called the control tower and said they had to tow the 744 back in to the gate. It took about 15 minutes, but sure enough, as the 744 pulled away again, a woman was rolling MY lonely silver bag across the tarmac! I guess they are serious about the bag-matching system, huh?
Anyway, so I got my bag on Carousel #6, and the “fun” (or something with an ‘f”) began.....I waited outside, in 97-degree heat, for 90 minutes for the Park Inn Bloomington’s shuttle bus. I would have just paid for a taxi, but we kept calling and they kept apologizing, promising it in like 10 minutes, 5 minutes. Several other shuttles made many stops, but not ours. The 4th time I called, he said (I’m not joking about this) “Well, you know, it doesn’t SAY “Park Inn”. It says “Ramada Thunderbird” on the side. Huh?? Yes, they use another hotel’s shuttle.
OK, so it comes by and we get in, ready for some air conditio......oops! Sorry, the air is broken, so we’ll just have those tiny windows at the top of the regular windows open. And how many people on the bus? Of course, we take the last 2 seats out of 30! It’s packed, at least 90-100 degrees inside, with little wind, in traffic, when....IT BREAKS DOWN. So there we are, now sitting at the side of the road, in 97-degree heat. When we finally get to the hotel, almost 3 hours since I picked up the bag, there was a meek apology, but nothing else. I headed up to my room to crank the air contion......oops! Sorry sir, it doesn’t work to well in this room. And we’re sold out tonight.
So I call NWA’s customer care line to tell them to NEVER contract with this hotel again, and (honestly) I get, “Well, it’s a complimentary room, sir, you’re welcome to pay out of your own pocket for a hotel you like.” She said the word “complimentary” at least 4 times. Yuck.
So I call my friend to beg him to come and pick me up and take me home. Luckily, he was free, so I took him out for dinner too. It ended up being a nice night.
Next day, I went back to the airport, and they were looking for volunteers again, but I don’t think they needed them because 5 of the standbys who didn’t get on the previous day made it onto the flight. I was really hoping for an op-up, since I’m Platinum, but no dice.
NW 19
June 24, 2005
MSP-NRT
Sched. Dep.15:05 Actual 15:00
Sched. Arr. 17:05 +1, Actual 16:45 +1
Seat 23K, economy class window seat
Service was actually excellent on this flight. The FA assigned to our section was chatty, always smiling, and very gregarious. She commented at least 3 times on how both myself and the (very hot and flirty--with me!) Japanese guy sitting next to me always smiled, and how she always smiles too. So everyone was happy!
Drinks service began, and alcohol is still free on NWA flights overseas. So I had a white wine, as well as one with the dinner. I had Asian Glazed Chicken, which was kind of a sweet and sour thing, edible, served with rice, as well as a salad, cake, and an appetizer of shrimp, and a roll.
Midflight a small sandwich was served with drinks, and about an hour before landing, a full breakfast was served, a choice of Fried Rice with pork or Cheese Omelet. I had the rice, and it was decent if a bit greasy. Served with fruit. I also had some fruit and cookies left over from the $20 in vouchers I got for volunteering. You can’t use it on most packaged foods at the airport, only prepared foods, so I got some fruit, cookies, baked goods, etc, to snack on inflight. Not too much, though, since $20 doesn’t buy you THAT much at the airport.
A very smooth flights, no complaints, though a packed 744 is not exactly the most fun place to be. Not too many noisy kids, but 23A is near the galley, so it wasn’t the most restful place to be. I recommend somewhere between about rows 26-60, away from the galleys.
Upon arrival at NRT, you have to go back through security (I still don’t understand why, after about 60 trips via NRT), but it’s usually very fast and friendly, and today was no exception.
I went to the NRT WorldClub on the upstairs level (there is a smaller one on the level near some gates, but it’s not as nice, in my opinion). Has a decent snack selection, but nothing hot--just crackers, cookies, sweets, cheese. Considering they don’t spend any money on food, they make it up in the liquor department, with Japanese beer on tap, and serve-yourself cappucino machine, and mid-to-top shelf alcohol. No more magazines, but a decent selection of newspapers, including the IHT, FT, WSJ, and Japan Times, plus Japanese titles too. Wi-Fi is available for 500 yen (about $4.70) per day, so I used it for about 90 minutes. Boarding was called about 55 minutes before flight time, so I made my way down to gate 21 and saw the new A332 waiting.
They had just called Business Class and Elite members, and it looked like the entire boarding area came forward! I really had thought my only chance at an op-up as a Plat was on the MSP-NRT portion, since this NRT-BKK flight had been showing J1C1Z0Y7M7etc for days, while MSP-NRT was J9C9Y0. It looked like Biz was oversold on the BKK portion, not Y. Plus, seeing how many Elites were boarding with Biz, I gave up hope and handed my BP over.
Of course, when it was put into the ticket reader, it spit mine out, and the machine said, “PNR unknown”. The woman handed me a new BP and said, “It’s only one row in front of where you were sitting, but I think you’re going to like this seat MUCH better.” And she was right! My original BP was for 10C, the first row of Y, and she handed me 6C, the last row of C Class. Yay!
NW 27
NRT-BKK
June 25, 2005
Sched. Dep. 19:25, Actual 19:20
Sched. Arr. 23:45, Actual 23:30
Seat 6C
Life is good in WBC, especially when I get my first Op-Up in about 4 years on NWA. It’s funny, when I read on FT, about people getting Op-Ups about 1 in 4 times they fly Internationally. I fly about 12 Transoceanic flights a year on NW, and have gotten a total of ONE Op-Up in about 48 int’l flight segments: SIN-NRT, on New Year’s Day 2002. That’s it. Of course, if I pay for coach, I can’t expect anything other than coach, but now, unfortunately, this experience will keep my hopes up!
In the past few years, I’ve been taking advantage of NW’s Z fare sales to Europe and Asia around the holidays, because sometimes it’s only a few hundred more bucks to fly in paid Z than in discount Y at peak times (like at Xmas).
Service began with offerings of newspapers and menus, slippers, the red triangle amenity kit, blankets, and headphones. Pre-flight drinks included beer, champagne, OJ, and water. Meals were ordered before take off as well.
After take-off, a round of drinks was served with a bowl of walnuts and cashews (served cold, though, why?). Then came the meal, which was off the cart and served all in one time--no separate courses, which on this flight is probably good, since most people like to sleep after the long flights USA to NRT.
Service was good, though I found that WBC FAs sat in the galley waiting for us to come to them for drinks, while I saw Y FAs pass by with water at least 6 times in the 6-hour flight. There was also a snack basket available in the front galley, which had fruit, rice balls, chips, and chocolates.
Upon arrival into BKK, I heard my name echoing throughout the airpot....”Mr Kyushuman, please report to the NWA baggage counter.” Yes, my bag was not loaded in MSP, so it would arrive the next night. “But I’m going to Laos tomorrow morning.” I ended up leaving the airport with 2000 Thai Baht (equivalent to US$50), all of my toiletries (which I’d packed in a carry-on) but absolutely no clothes other than the dress clothes I was wearing for my jungle hikes.....eek! .....and since it was after midnight, no chance to buy any before our departure at 11:30am for Luang Prabang in the morning. Luckily, my friend loaned me socks, undies, shoes, and shorts (we’re the same size!), and I used those for the next 4 days, buying some cheap t-shirts, etc, along the way. To be honest, I’m not sure what I would have done without my friend’s stuff, since I didn’t see many clothes in Luang Prabang that would have fit me--especially shorts and shoes! Yikes.
But funny enough, my bag hadn’t been loaded in MSP??Strange, since the day before NWA pulled a fully loaded 744 back to the gate to pull the same bag OFF the plane when I wasn’t on it. Now, when I WAS on the plane, it didn’t accompany me. So much for positive bag matching! This was the 4th time in my last 5 International NWA trips that my bag has been lost. I know their lost baggage percentage is less than 5%, right? Well, they’ve lost my bags on 40% of my trips in the last year. And 3 of them were in either paid WBC or a WBC award ticket, and ALL FOUR had “Priority” tags on them!
I am a Plat who always checks in with time to spare. I don’t get it. Last year MNL-NRT-SEA-MSP, TXL-AMS-MSP, HKG-NRT-LAX-MSP, and now this, all with a lost bag.... The difference was that on those other flights, I was returning home, so it wasn’t all that inconvenient to just use other clothes, etc. This was my first experience with a lost bag leaving the US.
I wonder how it happened? It had been tagged as “priority”, but only VERY stubbornly by the MSP check-in agent at the WBC/Elite check-in. He said they weren’t supposed to do it!? I think about 75% of the times I’ve flown internationally, it’s been tagged Priority. Is this a new rule? Anyway, he looked VERY annoyed, and said, “Whatever makes you happy,” in an extremely sarcastic voice. I didn’t demand it, I had just said, that usually they put it on for me without my asking.
So I got the bag at BKK airport (before immigration, since I was returning from Laos), and that was quite easy. I also didn’t have to drag the heavy bag all over Laos, so all in all it wasn’t bad.
So all in all, a quite nice trip--marred by lost bags, rude check-in clerk, and no personal IFE on the 744, but helped greatly by decent food, an Op-Up on a 6-hour flight, and very friendly FAs MSP-NRT.
Final Grade for NW Y: 6/10. To be honest, with newer aircraft and such a good int’l route system, NW is close to being good.