Hi All - just thought I'd share my recent experience flying on a US-East flight.

This was ORD-PHX, 5am departure. These are my views only and don't constitute any kind of accurate depiction of general conditions. Also, I don't know who is responsible for certain things, so some of the negative experiences are probably not US' fault.

As the flight departed at 5am, I left downtown at 1am. Took the blue line to ORD, arriving at 2am (3 hours before flight).

I arrived at the ticket counter along with one other person - we were the first to arrive. All the kiosks were closed and there were no staff. There was one paper sign mixed in with the TSA warnings directing pax on the 5am flight to the left (little arrows were drawn). Unfortunately, that dead-ended at a TSA checkpoint and the folks there knew nothing about the sign or the flight.

After a call to the preferred line, an employee came out and told us check-in wouldn't be available until 3:30am - and then promptly disappeared out of the hidden door she had emerged from...

At 3:30, while I was sitting on the baggage scale checking email, people suddenly started clamoring for the kiosks - I looked up and lo-and-behold, they were now available.

I must say, I've never used a US East kiosk before - I found the interface somewhat less intuitive than US West and the touch-screen seemed much less accurate in tracking. Anyway, it took a few minutes to "find" my record and a few more minutes to print the boarding pass. Except that it never printed. I tried again and had the same problem.

So I moved to another kiosk to experience the same thing - it said it printed my BP, but nothing came out. Turns out, the third time really is a charm. On a third kiosk, I was able to successfully print a BP. Couldn't check in for the PHX-LAX flight as it was a US-West flight.

Once they began boarding, I found I was the only F passenger - I went up to the GA, handed her my BP, and was told that I needed to go to the counter - it's invalid. So I walked over to the counter and they had to reprint the BP (this was the 4th time for anyone keeping score). After that, I was allowed to board.

F was nearly empty. There were two other pax and myself.

Despite the nearly empty F cabin, no drinks were offered.

One extraordinarily large pax went up to the FA after boarding was complete and complained about being unable to fit in his seat (Y bulkhead). The FA let him move into F. He was travelling with his two kids (~4-6 years old) and actually left them back in Y while he moved to F.

While we taxied to takeoff, the broken leg pax had his seat fully-reclined. FA allowed this even during takeoff (so this apparently isn't an FAA reg). The op-uped dad kept his iPod going all through pushback, taxi, and takeoff - all without a word from the FA.

So I was surprised by the following:

• Difficulty in checking in/printing BP
• Empty F cabin ^
• US-East aircraft (A319EOW - is this like ETOPS?)
• Electronics on during taxi/takeoff (consistency please)
• Lack of pre-departure drinks

All that said, the FA was very friendly and courteous - I mentioned that this was my first US-East flight in many years and the FA mentioned that they had just started this route a few weeks ago. Drinks were plentiful and the snack basket was handed out at least once (I slept through most of the flight). No XOXOs yet - still too hot I guess.

The in-flight service and pilotage were excellent - in fact the landing was the smoothest I have ever encountered at PHX and was among the top 5 I've ever witnessed.

Anyway, I think the issues above should be simple to resolve. If they can get consistent with US-West on check-in and pre-departure drinks, I'd be a (mostly) happy camper. And if there was consistency to op-uping... seriously, just because you can't fit in a seat doesn't mean you should move up front for free. I've been stuck between and next to obese pax before and they've never upgraded me before... I guess it hurts no one since the seats were open, but it's annoying that I'm spending several thousand dollars a year to maintain a relationship and the resultant benefits and he moves up front because he's too big and didn't buy an extra coach seat - I'm guessing he's not exactly a frequent flyer. FWIW, he tried to move up front on the PHX-LAX leg (HP) and the FA told him no-way...

I guess the bottom line is that I'd like more consistency - whether it's consistently more positive or consistently more negative, at least with a measure of consistency I can make a more informed decision as to who and how I fly, and I suspect the same is true for many of you - whether you're East or West flyers.

I hope you Easties have great experiences out West and I'll be looking forward to my East flights later this month - 58 minute international connects and all...

Sorry if anyone was offended by this - it was not my intention. I only wanted to relate a personal experience to other HP flyers who haven't yet flown US.


Sean