WN better than AA on my trip, and it wasn't even close
#16
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2016
Programs: Mileage Plus, Miles and More
Posts: 88
In hub airports (like PHX), the majors very deliberately schedule many flights to depart at exactly the same time. This often exceeds the capacity of gates, baggage, and catering services. Since PHX is not a hub for WN (and they operate on more of a point-to-point model), their departures and arrivals are more staggered than AAs.
The majors pad the schedules because they know that the odds of an "on time" pushback and takeoff are considerably lower when the number of planes they've scheduled to take off > the capacity of clearances and services.
The point I was trying to make in my original post is that WN did deliver a less hassled experience than AA-- and that people sometimes lose sight of the upsides to flying WN. Maybe my trip was a once-in-a-lifetime miracle, but I thought a bit of good was worth posting about.
#17
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Blue Ridge, GA
Posts: 5,501
#18
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,550
My AA experiences at PHX have always been pretty positive as hubs go. Rarely a delay, several lounge options, multiple ways to get through security if one Precheck queue is a little long, and reasonably pleasant ground staff. I can even occasionally get a lowly Gold upgrade to clear there, something that almost *never* happens at ORD or DFW.
No complaints about WN out of PHX, but this is a pretty good AA operation...as AA operations go anyway.
No complaints about WN out of PHX, but this is a pretty good AA operation...as AA operations go anyway.
#19
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: HH Gold, AA Gold
Posts: 10,457
#20
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2016
Programs: Mileage Plus, Miles and More
Posts: 88
The three pre-boarders were at BWI, not PHX. The plane was surprisingly at least 1/3 empty. Some people in the back actually had rows to themselves. I guess miracles do happen.
#21
Join Date: Oct 2001
Programs: LTP, PP
Posts: 8,697
EVERYTHING usually goes much better when the load in under 70%. Although there is the greater risk "your" plane will be swapped out to accommodate another issue, ala me at ISP more times than I would like.
#22
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Redlands, CA
Programs: AS, AA, WN
Posts: 974
I've never had my bags waiting for me upon arrival in PHX...even with priority tags on AA. On WN I've always had to wait at least 30 minutes. The only time the wait for bags is short in PHX is when you're flying into Terminal 2.
#23
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Redlands, CA
Programs: AS, AA, WN
Posts: 974
Why is Mesa Airlines separated from AA? I know they are technically different, but they operate in/out of the AA gates "as" AA. Does Mesa also fly as a "DBA" for another airline in PHX?
#24
Join Date: May 2006
Location: TUS/PDX
Programs: WN CP/A-List, AS MVPG75K
Posts: 5,798
Agreed 100% that AA PHX is a very well run operation. My only complaint here is landing in the morning: a lot of times I'm on flights that are sent to the penalty box and wait...sometimes it's only 10 minutes, and sometimes I've waited as long as 30-40 minutes. Heck, this even happened yesterday at 2p and it was only five minutes.
#25
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: MCI
Programs: CBP Global Entry, WN A-List Preferred, WN Companion Pass
Posts: 2,007
#26
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: ABQ
Programs: Delta Platinum, Southwest A-List
Posts: 1,426
This is really interesting... I used to fly delta exclusively until about six years ago when I switched to AA and then last year I went to DL for about 9 months before starting to fly SW.
Soo here are my observations:
1) WN gate agents are generally not very friendly
2) WN FAs are friendlier than AA ones and probably on par as DL
3) WN ontime performance seems to be suffering right now. Not as bad as AA but definitely worse than DL.
Soo here are my observations:
1) WN gate agents are generally not very friendly
2) WN FAs are friendlier than AA ones and probably on par as DL
3) WN ontime performance seems to be suffering right now. Not as bad as AA but definitely worse than DL.
#27
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Danville, CA, USA;
Programs: UA 1MM, WN CP, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Gold, IC Plat
Posts: 15,712
these results are no shocker. I'd take WN over AA & DL any day. ^ I avoid accumulation of worthless skypesos when I can, and the AA product is not that special unless you pay the add-on fees for preferred seats, etc.
Of course, for a 4-hour transcon I'd lean towards UA or VX, the former because I'd get a free E+ seat and the latter because the economy product is better than WN. But the WN product is great for shorter flights.
In terms of IRROPS I have not found WN to be any better than the others in terms of conveying accurate realtime information. YMMV
Of course, for a 4-hour transcon I'd lean towards UA or VX, the former because I'd get a free E+ seat and the latter because the economy product is better than WN. But the WN product is great for shorter flights.
In terms of IRROPS I have not found WN to be any better than the others in terms of conveying accurate realtime information. YMMV
#28
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 438
It's funny reading the different posts between people who often have good things to say about WN and those that are always negative. Not sure why they post in this forum.
Averaging ~125 legs the last 3-4 years and very rarely is there a problem.
Averaging ~125 legs the last 3-4 years and very rarely is there a problem.
#29
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Peoria
Programs: Southwest, Best Western Gold, La Quinta, Dollar
Posts: 819
#30
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,550
these results are no shocker. I'd take WN over AA & DL any day. ^ I avoid accumulation of worthless skypesos when I can, and the AA product is not that special unless you pay the add-on fees for preferred seats, etc.
Of course, for a 4-hour transcon I'd lean towards UA or VX, the former because I'd get a free E+ seat and the latter because the economy product is better than WN. But the WN product is great for shorter flights.
In terms of IRROPS I have not found WN to be any better than the others in terms of conveying accurate realtime information. YMMV
Of course, for a 4-hour transcon I'd lean towards UA or VX, the former because I'd get a free E+ seat and the latter because the economy product is better than WN. But the WN product is great for shorter flights.
In terms of IRROPS I have not found WN to be any better than the others in terms of conveying accurate realtime information. YMMV
But...I give them props in two areas:
(1) Skypesos have one area of utility: a truly last-minute flight, which even non-elites can book. Since my other main sources of miles would charge me a bunch of bogus fees to book a last-minute award, keeping even a small stash of DL available has saved my butt a couple times in recent years. It's usually 20-25k for Y or 40-45k for F (domestic U.S.), but if it offsets a $500 fare, I'll take it.
(2) Their irrops support on the app is pretty solid. Just a few weeks ago...within 1 minute of a flight publishing a delay that created a misconnect, I had my rebooking done in the app. For a non-elite, I can't imagine anything better. UA tends to auto-rebook quickly, which I loved when I was 1K (in the pre-mobile-app years), but I suspect they auto-rebook in elite order so a non-elite probably gets hosed.