I started a business trip today and was suprised to find that Midwest Express (YX) had the best fare SFO-DCA that got me in to Washington at a reasonable hour. I had never flown YX and was interested in trying them out as I had read many good things about them. I am about 7,500 miles away from Platinum qualification on CO for next year, and since it looks like it will be a breeze to make it later on in the year, I decided to give YX a try.

I arrived about an hour and 15 minutes prior to departure for check in. To my surprise, the line was pretty long; turned out they only had a single agent doing check in. No elite or first class line as they do not have elite status in their FFP, and there is no separate first class cabin on YX planes. After about 5 minutes in the line, they added two more agents, and the line moved pretty quickly after that. Total time for check in was between 10 and 15 minutes.

My originating segment, SFO-MKE, was on a MD-80. The equipment was late getting into SFO, and our departure was delayed by about 15 minutes. Boarding was smooth; no drinks were served before the flight. The YX cabin is 4 across seating. The seats are all leather. Despite the nice seating configuration, the cabin of this particular plane looked worn and outdated. My seat had very little cushioning and there were noticeable tears in the seatback directly in front of me. The color scheme was a light blue and brown right out of the seventies. When I was served lunch, my tray table sagged in the middle. There was no movie shown, and to my surprise, they changed $3 for a headset rental just to listen to music. I think it's the first time I've ever come across that.

FA's were very pleasant throughout the flight. They came around with drinks and meal service (served from carts) about an hour into the flight. Beer and wine are complementary with the meal; can't remember their policy on alcoholic beverages or even if they serve them. They use cloth napkins and stainless silver. The meal itself was pretty nice - a nice Caesar salad, a big bowl of chopped melon, and two smallish but tasty sandwiches (turkey and ham). After lunch, they served chocolate chip cookies, which is apparently a YX trademark touch. (And a nice one at that.) Defintely better meal service than in coach on any other airline I've traveled on.

Another nice touch - FA's brought around hot towels to all the passengers just before landing.

We arrived uneventfully in MKE about 15 minutes late. I had a little time to explore the famous second hand bookstore at MKE before catching my connection.

We had a DC-9 from MKE to DCA. The interior of this plane had been upgraded and was in better shape than the MD-80 on the previous segment. FA's were alright, although the head FA was a little officious to one of the passengers. He also made two incorrect announcements about the destination of the plane. This was an hour and a half long flight and YX managed to serve a full dinner. It was quite a nice little meal - choice of roast turkey or beef tenderloin. I had the turkey, which was good, and it came with bruseels sprouts, a pretty little tomato salad and a delicious individual walnut tart. Impressive, when so many airlines don't bother with meal service on a short hop like that.

Baggage service at DCA was prompt.

My overall impression of YX was pretty favorable. Given that I was paying $200 less than a full coach fare on other airlines, the service was much better than I would have gotten in coach on those other airlines. I'd say the exerience was comparable to first class on NW, while not as good as FC on CO, UA, or US.

BTW, in case anyone's in the vicinity, I'm hanging my hat at the Gaithersburg Hilton this week.