Conclusions

AZ flights

Magnifica class is a brilliant experience – pretty much everyone agrees it is among the best in Europe, but it’s ruined by a horrible soft product (call center, apps, etc. etc.).

The food and wines are great, and the FAs overall attentive – I could always see them walking in the cabin every 15-20 minutes all the time I’ve been awake.

Two things that could improve:

Plane cleanliness – everything wears out, and I do not expect a seat that has been used 5 years to be brand new. But come on, at least do some basic cleaning even in the most remote parts of the cabin. If I can spot the dirt, so can you.

FAs behavior with top tier flyers. This is a debatable point; I don’t fly to be welcome aboard by an obsequious attendant, or at least it’s not my top priority. But if I get on the plane and I see the FA welcome a CFP with all honors, and then the same FA comes to me and says ‘bella lì mr. straniero’ even though I’m CFP as well, then I think that the level of service is not consistent and needs to improve. I may sound snobbish, and maybe I am. But this thing also has an effect on the company perception from the user base, which is what counts in the end.

DL flights

LAX-PHX and LAS-LAX were too short to have an idea. Regarding LAX-JFK, the cabin was clean; there was no service (except items on purchase) and I did not use the IFE. Overall a pleasant experience.

I think there is room for improvement in managing delays. When we were in LAS and the plane was delayed, there was no announcement with details. We were just told the plane was delayed and then for more than one hour there was no additional announcement. Knowing at least the expected delay could make the difference – for example I may walk around or even leave the airport for a while instead of standing in front of the gate waiting.

Hilton properties

The brands are easily recognizable – once you’ve seen a Hampton Inn, you’ve seen them all. Same applies for the Doubletrees. It is nice to see this kind of consistency. Also I love the Doubletree cookie!

I am not a lover of moquette, but the rooms generally feel very clean.

This trip got me 70% to Gold level – without counting any business trips I already had or will have during 2014.

US parks

All parks are clean, wonderfully well kept, well managed and advertised. It is fantastic to see such a level of service even in less known parks such as Kodachrome. The staff takes pride in their job and that is very noticeable. By contrast, Italy has beautiful landscapes, centuries of history, monuments and church and we leave it all decaying. If we had a better attitude and started spoil the tourists instead of trying to screw them for our own little personal gain, we could regain so many points as a country. Sorry for the generalization (not really), but the difference is huge.

And what about the miles?

I spent 70k to upgrade the return flight. We earned 60k total + 8k with ticket purchase (Amex AZ platinum). Par!

Well that’s it. Thanks for reading!

cheers
straniero