Hi all,
If you guessed US, I am impressed with your psychic ability. How can anyone associate US with such an infamous reputation? Is this the US that used to give complimentary upgrade certificates to their elite members yearly for transatlantic flights? The one who used to have one of the best international lounges of any USA carriers? (think Envoy in PHL and LGW), not to mention one of the best J cabins (Envoy) that truly outshone its competitors (DL, UA, AA and NW). Alas, change is inevitable and for this once proud carrier its direction has been South for some time already.
My loyalty started about 7 years ago when I started flying for pleasure and always appreciated those handy upgrade certificates. My travels involved about 2-3 domestic transcon flights and 1 transatlantic trip per year so it was easy to qualify as a Silver elite member. Even at the lowest elite level, I always received my special luggage tags included with each new membership package. Those were the days, but one cannot dwell in the past for too long or else you become part of it. So with just 20,000 orphaned miles left in my Dividends account I decided to burn them all for an upgrade on a domestic flight. This will be a fitting way to bid farewell to the carrier that I once loved so much.
Ever since the desperate marriage with HP, I have read countless experiences about the deterioration of service at US. Nowhere is this more evident than flying in Envoy across the ocean. However, a more unsettling development has taken place while flying domestic in F. It appears that the merger is not as smooth as once predicted and the identity of US is defined along the lines of who's East or West. Based on my recent experience, that could not be more true.
About a week before the big Labor wknd I decided to go to Miami. It was sort of last minute since I was not planning on this. As expected, fares were prohibitively expensive into Miami so I settled for a RT of $369.00 w/taxes to FLL on US. On top of that there was "O" inventory available and I managed to use my miles to upgrade with relative ease. Of course, I did this over the phone and I still had the Silver elite number so I got someone who fairly knew what she was doing. Once the reservation was confirmed the agent assisted me with seat assignments. She asked if I wanted the "First class emergency row". That threw me off for a minute. Since when does F has such a row? I made sure that she was not referring to the emergency exit in the back and she assured me that she wasn't. It turns out that row 1 on the 737-400 is the emergency exit row. I'm not fond of bulkheads because of the lack of storage space under your seat and overhead bins so I settled for row 2.
US 4860 SFO-PHX
Dept. 6:00A - Arriv. 7:58A
737-400? - Seat 2D
I hate morning flights. I am a nocturnal creature going to bed at 3:00A and waking up at 10:00A or 11:00A so this was such a torture for me. Unfortunately those were the only flights that had O inventory back to back so I had to grab them. Miraculously I managed to get 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep so by the time I woke up I was in a semi decent state of mind. It's a good thing that I live very close to SFO and it took me less than 10 minutes to get there. I arrived by 5:00A and as expected on this busy holiday weekend the terminal was buzzing with hordes of people going in all directions. The lines at US were long but there were only 2 people standing in the F line. Why I didn't check online? because I like to get a proper boarding pass to reference them to my meal pictures in my album. Sounds crazy but this is one of my many idiosyncracies. We all have skeletons in our closets, some of us even have a graveyard but you get my point. Let he who is without sin throw the first stone.
Despite the 2 people in line at the F check in desk the line was not moving quick enough. I then decided to use the kiosk and in less than 1 minute I got my boarding passes. The guy next to my kiosk was there before I arrived and was still fiddling with the computer. Thank God for F lines at securities. In a quick 2 minutes I managed to pass through security leaving all the drama behind. Airport hell was in full swing with everybody traveling (parents with children, older folks, Fido the dog, Lucifer the cat (not together of course), etc. and the less time I spend with the maddening crowd the better I will feel. Finally the time for boarding arrives and I quickly line up to enter the jetbridge. However, I make sure that people with priority such as family with children and elderly are cleared before I approach the entrance. This is just boarding, not the Amazing Race after all. Oh, I forgot to mention that I had my Elite tag displayed prominently outside my carry-on in order to validate my existence. I AM SOMEBODY! My psychiatrist told me that in order to be able to love others I need to love myself first. So to this day I do everything possible to receive validation for who I am and pamper myself.
My first sight upon entering the aircraft was a senior female FA wearing shorts. As it turned out she was the purser of the flight and did everything efficiently. Pre departure drinks were taken and she had a professional disposition. The flight was packed - no surprises here - and they were running out of overhead space. The last economy passenger came onboard and he was told to check his bag because they ran out of space. They were waiting for the ramp person and I told the purser that if it helped, I would take my carry on from the overhead and put it in front of my seat so that she can accommodate this person. It's just a 2 hours flight and not a big deal. Besides, karma will get back to me one of these days. She was thankful and told the guy that the "gentleman sitting over there in row 2 sitting in the aisle made space for you". Well, maybe if she said that over the speakers it would have been nicer. I noticed that there was no separation between row 1AB and the 1L door. I guess that is why they call it emergency exit row. No closets up front so I cannot imagine how they will cope with those winter coats later this year as have been expressed by others here.
Emergency exit row in F
Another annoying thing was the use of the F toilet by Y passengers. I don't mind if people use it in case there is a cart blocking the way but to see a flow of passengers constantly from the back is irritating. The seats were leather but the pitch is atrocious. I'm almost 5'9" and when the seat in front reclined I hardly had any space at all as you can see from the photo.
I feel like a sardine!
We had a smooth take off followed by beverages in plastic cups and a round of the snack basket consisting of Cape Cod potato chips, Fancy cashews with Sesame sticks, Quaker bars and maybe pretzels? No XOXO bars unfortunately, maybe due to summer hot weather or cost cutting, who knows? It seems that every cost cutting measure these days is followed by a logical explanation. Before landing our purser made another round of drinks and pretty soon we were landing into PHX which was 99 degrees F on this sunny day.
Beverage service
to be continued.....