I'm sure this has been discussed ad nauseam, but I feel compelled to share my thoughts.

I just completed a round-trip EWR-DEN on Continental in F. I have to say, that I'm impressed.

Luggage handling -- At check-in, my bags were tagged with the "premium" tag. When I arrived at DEN my bag was the 3rd off the carousel, and back in EWR it came out among the first 10. Timewise my skis took long to come out in DEN, but they were the 2nd to come off the ski racks, and in EWR they were already out by the time I got to the oversize luggage section. ^

Planes -- both legs were on a 737, albeit a different model. The seats were ok. The plane was in pretty darn good shape and was clean and inviting. No IFE on the flight there, but a movie shown on overhead LCDs on the return. No power ports.

FAs -- they were friendly, personable and helpful. In short, everything you want from a FA. At one point the FA doing the F service went back on the plane to help out. I pushed the call button to ask for a drink, and he practically ran back up to the front to ask me, with a smile (genuine, too), how he might be of help. ^

Meals -- a meal of some sort was offered (I think a soup with a sandwich or salad), but I didn't partake. Cold salted nuts (cashews on the flight to DEN and mixed nuts on the return) were offered as a drink snack at the beginning of the flight. After the meal they baked cookies for the F cabin. ^

Boarding -- The "Elite Access" boarding lane let me get on board the plane without waiting in line in the middle of general boarding. I think this is a fantastic approach to this. It's just a blue carpet with the words "Elite Access" on it, and when you get up to it whoever is doing the boarding takes your boarding pass before going back to handling the rest of the crowd. ^

I think AA could definitely learn a thing or two from its competitors.

i too had a look at the other side this past weekend, tho it was a different other side...

i flew three segments -- two on southwest, and one on AA. all segments were about 90 minutes long, and on all segments, i took a standard (non-exit, non-bulkhead) coach window seat, and had an empty middle seat next to me.

ranking the flights for comfort, AA's MRTC MD-80 comes in second.

since i last flew southwest, they've reconfigured their 737-300's with very comfortable leather seats. the pitch is 33", but the seats are slimline, and are shaped perfectly for the 33" they get. i was able to fully straighten my legs under the seat in front of me, or cross them comfortably. there is no wasted space under the seat, so i had plenty of room for my legs.

i was floored. i will no longer rule out southwest on comfort.

so could AA learn a thing or two from its competitors? heck yeah! southwest is moving towards more comfort in coach, and we all know which direction AA is going.

(southwest's 73G was not quite as comfortable as either the 733 or AA's MRTC -- the seats were not slimline, and i couldn't quite get my legs under the corner. but when AA removes MRTC, their MD80 will be worse than either of southwest's larger 737 types.)

edited to add: in 90 minutes, southwest does two drink services. AA does one.

Your experience is not atypical.
This is why many of us continue to put up with the NonePass shenanigans (which are apparently being copied to some extent in Dallas...)

(Unfortunately the shortage of F service and routes to Oz on Skyteam means I'll be "re-joining" AAdvantage for my upcoming RTW).

Had two weekend roundtrips to ATL on DL, but it was not fun in Coach. Narrow seats, GOOD sound connections for audio and video, narrow seats, and no food, I found the Desk agents confused and uncertain about most of the routine questions, that I asked. Little in the way of decisiveness. And ATL airport is one big operation with interesting simple design filled with many travelers.

No regard for CO Elite status or upgrade possibility at checkin or at the Gate desk. It seemed to me, that the desk agents were looking out for DL members more then the CO Gold passengers.

Hope things get better as Skyteam becomes more seamless, and the hired help are more comfortable with the regulations.

Hopefully you didn't have to get up to go to the bathroom - end up coming back and finding someone in your seat.

CO's Business First is much better than AA's Business Class -- quality of plane, seats, meals and service. I was comped to CO Plat (because of ExPlat) and will migrate there.

This is unusual for DL as a CO PLT I have had DL FA's come over to me and thank me for my business. I am usually one of the first to board and they have always made an annoucement to the effect of all SkyTeam elites may pre-board by showing their elite card.

I fly DL frequently becaues I really like their frontline people and for me their times are better than CO's.

I know that my experiences are not the way things always occur but, give DL a another try things have improved since the entrance of CO/NW into SkyTeam.

With regards to AA, I must say that the 4 times I have flown them this year my service was acceptable and enjoyable. Unless you fly more than 3 Hours with CO in F and during the dinner hour, you will recieve soup and a sandwhich(which is nice since most airlines no longer serve any food). On all four of my AA flight in F I was served a steak and baked potato which was very nice on shorter flights(about 2 hours in length.

Dan

I just got back from a trip to Turkey on Delta---going over in business and back in coach. The coach flights were on par with AA--some things were better and some worse. The business class product was much better than AA's--even AA's 767 business class service comes up short. Far too often a frequent flyer program keeps you locked into that airline and you do not know what you are missing.

I have never flown AA J but I do enjoy DL BizElite and find it to be a great product although many complain that it is getting dated.

The food is neither good nor bad but the people are what make DL great, I have never uniformaly found such great employees as those who work for DL.

Dan

From an ex-CO guy, I really don't get where they shined so far above AA...

Bags - Who checks them on business? That's what rollaboards and overheads are for.

Planes - they are a little newer, and sometimes cleaner...just depends. F is usually in good condition now on AA....granted, it was rough there for a few months, . AA has some new 738s and 763s which I've been on quite recently and in tip top shape. MD80s are definitely tired, but so are some of COs birds.

FAs - maybe you got lucky? I had lots of good and crappy ones on CO, just like I do on AA now.

Food - On a comparable dinner flight, AA will serve a full three course meal, with two or three hot choices as opposed to CO's it's soup and salad. I'll take a full, proper meal, thank you.

Boarding - AA lets FC pax board first...and then there's always GRP1 if not in F. Plenty of time to get on board with lots of space still available. Granted, this does not compare to a rug that lets you bypass everyone else at your convenience.....

I guess that rug is to replace the one they pulled out from everyone with their crappy NonePass program changes, but if it works for you....go for it

Well, let me count the ways...


Quite true. But then there's the time when you have to check your bag because a) you're not traveling on business , b) your stay will be so long that your bag is too big, c) you have to carry something with you that you can not carry on board, and so you must check your bag. I personally have been in all 3 of these situations this past year. Having your bags tagged premium and actually come out first is an excellent service. I've only seen AA do this on premium international travel.


Well, CO claims to fly the newest jet fleet of any major carrier. I don't think it's that big of a deal. I'll take AA's old, crappy and dingy 762 over CO's brand-new 738 any day. I just always like wide-body jets.



I had friendly FAs on both legs. Granted, I've had plenty of friendly FAs on my AA trips this year, but I've also had the "bad apples", where the FAs just don't care. Since this was only a single trip, I obviously can't speak to a pattern with regards to CO. I'm sure there's variety out there. I just know that people on this board complain about AA's FAs quite a bit, so I thought I'd throw some fuel on the fire.



In my opinion the only food advantage CO had was the fresh-baked cookies. I remember when AA use to do that, and I thought it was a nice touch. Not very healthy, but gives you something to smile about it. I generally stay away from airline food, regardless of the class of service I'm traveling.



I think AA should do both -- pre-board F/J/Elite AND set up a premium boarding lane. That way if I want to be on board first, I can do that, and if I get up there in the middle of boarding I don't have to wait in line with 100 other people to board. This would be pretty nice.

So, 2 biggest things I think AA should adopt is premium luggage handling and a premium boarding lane. Cookies would be a nice touch, but since the airline is getting rid of pillows to save money (incidentally, we had pillows and blankets in F on 1 of my 2 legs on CO), I can't really see them start baking cookies. The other 2 things don't cost all that much, but I think can be really handy.

AA has freshly baked cookies in J and F on transcon flights. I like the chocolate chip and LOVE the sugar cookies. Let me know if you want pics.

J lost the transcon cookies on lunch/dinner flights after 9/11. They could not resist the $30/J cabin catering savings for cookies, milk, glasses, etc.

Not on LAX-JFK. Though they are no longer on evening flights, they definitely still serve them in the mornings. And you still get the milk if you want it. I had my last cookie 2 weeks ago and I'm looking forward to another one next week.

I don't remember getting the freshly baked cookies in J on my last JFK-LAX transcon, which was in October. But it wasn't a morning filght.