FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - DFW-HNL-SIN-ORD on Northwest in F and WBC
Old May 31, 2009, 1:08 pm
  #4  
bschaff1
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: UA MM, QF Plat, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott
Posts: 2,563
I arrived at the NWA counters just around 5:00 AM and before going through the line I got quizzed by one of the security guards on the nature of my trip and packing my bag. The security guard wished me a good trip and said it was a pleasure to speak with me. I wish my encounters with the TSA were always so pleasant.

There wasn't a line to check in, and it was 5:05 AM by the time I checked in. I asked about a lounge pass but the agent said there wouldn't be time for that so I felt saddened I couldn't pre-game for the flight, but understood I would be cutting it close with a lounge and duty free visit. The passport check was quick and I made it over to the duty free where I got a carton of cigarettes for a friend for $18 SGD and had a chance to exchange some currency before making my way to the gate which was ready for boarding right as I arrived.

NWA Flight 20
SIN-NRT
Seat 4B
Airbus A330-200


I made my way onboard and ended up giving up trading seat 5H for 4B so a couple could sit together. I noticed a fellow whom I had sat across the aisle from on the NRT-SIN flight and we discussed the merits of the SIN MR. The load was full in business and steerage looked quite full as well. Push-back was on time and we were off the ground shortly after with an estimated flight time of about 6:30. It took about 30 minutes to turn on the AVOD and breakfast service was done shortly after. Unfortunately there were no menus distributed on this flight and I forgot to take some pictures. I went with some sort of Asian noodle dish with some shrimp, eggs, and curry sauce which I thought was excellent. Breakfast was also accompanied with orange juice, a side of fruit, and two pastries with on that had an apricot in it which was excellent. I stayed up for the entire flight and talked with my seat mate for a good portion of it and watched some movies for the other part. It turns out he was an expat from India working in Singapore heading over to the states for about a month for some work and to visit family and he was well aware of the TEQM promo. About two hours out of NRT, I decided to have a few beers to go along with the snack they were serving, Tigers of course to commemorate my visit to Singapore. Landing was a few minutes ahead of schedule and passing through security for international connections was about a 10 minute wait.

NRT WorldClub
This time I decided to visit the other WorldClub around gate 16. The lounge has the same decor and feel of the other WorldClub, however it is probably a third of the side of the other lounge. I had about 90 minutes to spend at the lounge so I first finished off some work and then did some quality control testing of the Asahi beer machine. I prefer Kirin Ichiban first off when it comes to beer machines at NRT, however I've only seen that in the United and ANA lounges. After some snacks and beers, I made my way over to the gate for me connection.

NWA Flight 28
NRT-SFO
Seat 1A
Airbus A330-200

It turns out I left the lounge about 10 minutes to early and had to wait a few minutes for boarding to begin. As soon as boarding began made my way to the best seat on the plane, 1A. I've never had seat 1A on an international flight, so was especially happy to have the first seat on the plane to myself and also turned out to be luck to avoid a seat mate. Pre-departure sparkling wine was served and push back and take-off were about 5 minutes late. Business class was running about a 90% load factor and coach looked to be about the same. As we were boarding I got to take a picture of the controls and talked with the pilots for a few minutes about the A330-200. They were fans of the A330 and I was glad to see pilots that don't mind showing the plane to the customer.


Within 20 minutes of takeoff the first service began and I had the great dilemma of choosing a wine. I went with a 2002 red that the FA recommended which I found to be excellent. I mentioned to the FA how I found the 2004 Artesa Meritage from my flight over to be rot and she said few passengers liked it, but didn't agree with me that it was a step below Charles Shaw.


The appetizer was served shortly after and consisted of come sort of spring rolls, bankrupt state roll sushi, some chunk of beef that was supposed to be special, and some asparagus.


For dinner I chose the beef tenderloin and found it to be a nice chunk of meat but a little overdone. I understand how difficult it is to prepare a chunk of meet that all customers will appreciate, but think every airline can take a lesson from Air Canada on how to do beef right.


After the dinner I went with some strawberry cheesecake and cheese and crackers. The cheese variety consisted of a slice of swiss and some blue cheese along with Pepperidge Farm crackers. The cheese selection could really use some improvements and should include some gouda, cheddar, and brie at the bare minimum. Water bottles were distributed shortly after and after finishing off my movie I fell asleep for about 5 hours.

Now when I woke up, there was still the empty wine glass sitting on the console as was my empty water bottle that had run out 4+ hours ago. This was unacceptable because over 4+ hours someone should have walked through the cabin and at least picked up the dirty glass and replaced the empty bottle, however none of that had been done. When I'm flying anywhere in business class, I expect the level of service where empty glasses are removed or refilled and the same with bottles. If this had been done in a timely manner, there would be no issue. But leaving a customer without another bottle or glass of water is simply unacceptable IMO and I'm trying to decide whether to complain or not. Any suggestions?

I woke up and watched some more movies until we were about 1.5 hours out of SFO at which point breakfast was served. I would have expected some choices, however fruit, pastries, and yogurt were served along with some cranberry juice and coffee. The fruit was in excellent shape once again and I hate to harp on this point, but I am all too used to getting strawberries past their prime on United whereas NWA has strawberries that are maybe 98% ripe with no defects.

Landing was about 15 minutes late and I cleared immigration without any issues. Within 15m minutes of landing bags were being unloaded on the belt and a fellow was taking all of the priority tagged belts off the belt and setting them up for customers to quickly grab them which is a very nice touch. Mine wasn't there, but I saw it very soon afterward and the priority tag had been ripped off. When I went through customs I got a few questions, but after explaining the MR there were no problems. My favorite question from the agent was "What city in Singapore did you visit?" I was rather befuddled by that and stated "Singapore, I don't think there are any cities even since it is a 20 by 40 mile island and it's a city-state."

The terminal was a zoo when I walked in with long lines for Delta and Southwest. I walked up to the Delta platinum medallion counter to inquire about checking in for my MSP-ORD flight, but the fellow had a real attitude problem and told me I was at the wrong Delta counter. I walked down the other way and no wonder I couldn't find the other first class counter, it was merged in with the other mass of people waiting in line. I figures there was no point in waiting in any line since I could get my boarding pass in MSP and my bag was checked all the way through.

I then made my way over to the Delta SkyClub where I had about 2 hours to wait. The lounge was up what looked to be a cargo elevator and down a dingy hallway, but the lounge was nice enough looking on the inside with some decent views. Not wanting make the bartenders feel unappreciated, I had a few Heineken Lights while waiting and surfing the internet.


The flight had about a 20 minute delay, so I made my way to the gate and through security about 40 minutes before the revised departure time. While going through the security line I noticed there were some nice Hefty Ziplock bags for free, so I grabbed about 40 or so for use around the house. Plastic bags always seem overpriced except when they're free from the TSA. I then made my way to the gate and the delay had been moved up another 10 minutes, so I had to wait for another 20 minutes and there were some rather seedy looking people in that terminal. However as soon as boarding began I almost ran to the plane to leave the common folk for my first class seat.

NWA Flight 360
SFO-MSP
Seat 2D
Boeing 757-200

Simply put, the plane was old and filthy. I would have to guess that this is one of the very early 757s and wouldn't be surprised if this one will bne hauling FedEx envelopes in a few months.


Pre-departure Heinekens were served and I slept for about an hour and was woken up by them bringing around the snack basket. About 90 minutes into the flight lunch service started which was delayed because of some nasty turbulence. I went with a cobb salad and the one thing that made it look so unappetizing was the filthy plane and very old looking silverware. However, it was decent though small.

We got into MSP only about 10 minutes late despite leaving about 30 minutes late and I made my way to the WorldClub. I grabbed a seat in my favorite area and wandered around looking for some snacks and drinks. In the bar area there was a real prick with one fake leg practically shouting on his cell phone and nobody had the sense to tell him to shut up. I commented to the other fellow at the bar about the prick on his phone and we concurred the guy was a real sphincter. The other fellow at the bar basically filled up a 10 ounce water glass with ice cubes and Dewars which I was impressed by. I have simply never seen anybody pour themselves 7+ ounces of whiskey in a glass to drink on the rocks. I was tempted to try to compete, however I decided on a few modest gin and tonics. I left the lounge about an hour before boarding to grab a burger at the Chili's by the gate for my final flight. Here are some lounge shots of the C concourse lounge. As a whole, it's the standard NWA club with the usual booze and food offerings and some nice decor.



NWA Flight 142
MSP-ORD
Seat 2B
DC9-50

Boarding and departure was on time and there were a few last minute elites moved up front. I was half asleep for this flight but managed to enjoy a gin and tonic while along with some pretzels from the snack basket. We landed at ORD on time and I had my bag within 15 minutes of landing. I took the blue line home and walked the mile from the train and made it back at 11:40 PM after leaving my hotel in Singapore at around 4:30 AM on that same day.

Conclusion
As far as this trip goes, it was my third flight ever on Northwest and as a whole I've come to have a fairly good opinion of it. Since I am predominantly a really heavy UA flyer, I'll offer some comparisons on the different products. I still prefer Mileage Plus over World Perks, so I'll leave the mileage plus portion out.

United Wins
-New business class with lie flat beds
-Arrivals lounges for paid C at some locations.
-Boeing 747 and 777 have a higher cruise speed, 25 minutes less for NRT-SFO or SIN-NRT, lets you leave SIN 90 minutes later and beat the NWA flight by 20m minutes to SFO.
-XM Radio/TV are nice if you want to listen to something while on the ground.
-Star Alliance: better lounge options sometimes and possible better treatment in case of irrops.

Northwest Wins
-Better AVOD controls, none of the 8x max fast-forward speed so it's easy to get back to a spot in a movie.
-Generally nicer crews, no bitter matrons encountered the entire trip. Additionally, nice lounge employees.
-Consistent business class product for the next year until United catches up
-Fruit is consistently fresh and without defects
-Better variety of drinks onboard
-Whatever pre-departure beverage you want, United's offer of orange juice or water is less than what prisoners get.
-Snack box on all flights, it's fantastic to be able to have a banana, apple, pretzels, or whatever else is offered even on a short 250 mile flight.
-Lounges, free internet and self server bar worldwide. Non of this drink chits garbage,
-Bedding: A real nice sized down pillow and warm blanket. Also, both are sealed in plastic
-Amenity kit, contents are about the same, but NWA gives them out on NRT-SIN-NRT, while UA doesn't.
-Easy upgrade to confirm: No problem upgrading on a $1800 ticket. Certainly it's about $500 more than it would cost for an upgradeable ticket on UA, however many routing options with instant confirmation.
-A330 fleet: New and modern fleet with AVOD for all and probably better dispatch reliability. May become a downside though.

The End

Last edited by bschaff1; Jun 2, 2009 at 5:35 pm
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