ijgordon

You forgot about the crudites. Those are gone.

I haven't flown AA transcon J in ages. They really offer the full sundae treatment, when on the LHR flights in J all we get is a scoop of sherbert?!?!?

Efrem

Yes, but that's Lynne Truss's book. The possessive of plurals is formed by adding only an apostrophe, but not that of words/names that just happen to end in an "s." (See, for example, "St. James's Park" on any map of London. There are lots on the Web.)

SteveChicago

...perhaps I didn't read it well enough the first time around!!! Oops'

Blumie

You're right I did. But I'm not sure they always offered them in the old days. I seem to recall that they originally served just nuts, like they do now, but then introduced crudite for a period of time as a choice instead of the nutes.


Full sundae treatment. I forgot to mention that last night they also offered a lame fruit and cheese plate as an alternative to the sundae. But then again, aa cheese plates have always been lame, so this is not a downgrade.

M2swim

It is because it is human nature to "win the game". When we score upgrades, YUPs, etc., you have won the game and become king of your own, albeit small, domain.

Swimmin' M

Blumie

Or, you might say, master of your domain.

And BTW, discussions about size really don't belong on this board.

skylady

[This was a GREAT flight. The FAs servicing the J cabin could not have been nicer. They served pre-departure drinks (the standard water, oj, champagne choice), they hung jackets, they smiled, they constantly refilled drinks, they never went into hiding. I also was close enough to the front of the cabin to see that the F cabin also was getting great service.

Thank you, Blumie for the nice comments. I was the one working in your cabin last night!

Blumie

See, I told you if you gave me that extra sundae I'd post some nice comments on FT.

twenex

The quality of service in F is *highly* dependent on the FAs IMHO. My two airlines of choice, UA and AA both do pretty well here, but overall I'd have to give the edge to UA - no flames please... we're all entitled to an opinion. I think those who drink more than I do would probably disagree with me to... UA seems to have their F class FA move to help out in Y right after serving up the first set of drinks on many flights.

HOWEVER... it's obviously status dependent, but on AA upgrades to F are free *and* usually available. On UA, they're few and far between and cost me certs. As a result, I'd much rather fly AA when I can.

I recently did SFO->LHR on BA in F, and I do have to say, that was quite a treat.

Unimatrix One

If you think F on AA's MD-80 is bad, try NW's DC-9. The first time I flew F on an AA MD-80 (after being accustomed to NW DC-9s), I thought I was in heaven.

Unimatrix One

Am I the only one who doesn't care about pre-departure drinks? The more I drink on a plane, the more I have to go to the lav, and the less I have to use those filthy airplane lavs, the better. Hence I generally refuse pre-departure drinks even when they are offered. (If I want a drink before departure, I can often get one in the airline lounge anyway. Why would I want to drink before my flight, then again on the plane before departure, and then again in the air?)

pdb

Was that a rhetorical question?

MikeBOS

I'm with Blumie here, and I fly a lot on both UA and AA in both classes. In my experience, the service in the air is inconsistent on both (generally OK though), and the provided "amenities" (food quality, number of courses, coat hanging, etc.) are also more or less a wash, IMHO. Schedules and loyalty programs swamp any difference in service for me.

That said, for me there is indeed one significant difference, at least in BOS: ground service (ticket and gate agents) is far superior on UA to AA. Far fewer rude agents trying to get rid of the customer as quickly as possible.

JDiver

Maybe you jumped before putting on your huaraches, or just had a bad flight? (Or, is the availability of beer the measure you use for airlines? Until I can get a decent form of brew on an airline, I certainly won't even bother.)

I just recently completed a round trip (SMF-DFW-MIA return) on the common measure of airline service, four very over-booked and full mid-cons, and they certainly were different than yours, for the large part.

June 10, 2006:

AA 1102 SMF-DFW (MD-80): Pre-departure drinks, coat pickup, friendly service, cereal or omelet breakfast properly served, coffee, juice and water refills offered, after-meal activity in cabin.

AA 436 DFW-MIA (777): Even friendlier welcome aboard, pre-departure drinks and refills offered, coats picked up, wine and nuts with refills, meals served with offers for refills on beverages, good FA presence throughout.

June 14:

AA 805 (757): Pre-departure beverages, coat service, friendliness, beverages and nuts with refills offered, meals well served, good cabin presence.

AA 1951 (MD-80): This dodgy exception included no pre-departure beverages, coats picked up from some, others not asked nor retrieved from, both FAs in uniform with wings but no pins or name badges (that certainly assures no names will be named...) This flight was no busier, or different in any noticeable way, at loading than the three others. Beverages offered, only once - nuts came a bit later, and refills were offered from a wine glass. Dinner was served immediately after the seat belt sign went off, rushed, and not FEBO, so those at the back of the cabin were joked with ("You didn't get what you wanted at home when you were a kid, either.") Seated in 5F my seatmate and I were served last - yes, after 6E and F, people to whom the FA seemed to be on a friendly status with, as they conversed trivially several times. The FA in question (or is it questionable FA?) also dumped a tray in front of me without asking what I wanted - I did not want a main, only the salad and a roll - asking "do you want water?" I replied "no thank you, I'd prefer white wine" and got a glass of red wine served to me. Only a fraction of passengers were offered refills of any kind.

During the service, a man with a somewhat pained look indicated he needed to go to the lav - the FA gave him a look pretty much saying it all, with no offer to move the cart back (she was about to serve the first row, and if he had known about FEBO, he would have had no problem - and he was unable to go previously due to expected turbulence.) When FA went by him (row 5, port side,) he got up and hurried to the lav - at which point the FA made some semi-jocular and sarcastic remarks to the passengers in the immediate vicinity ("There's one in every bunch. Blah blah...") IMO, this is totally unprofessional and uncalled for behavior - the man may have made a short connection from another flight, been detained in security, had bladder issues, etc.

The FA began picking up trays within ten minutes, and actually pressured some passengers - asking if she could take a tray when the passenger was obviously not finished (still deploying those delightful plastic utensils on the tendered food.) She whipped some trays away with partially consumed beverages, and chided a man in row 4 who wished to retain his cloth napkin. She then served the prepared ersatz sundaes in a glass with spoons stuck into them, without napkins, and began retrieving the glasses within minutes.

On a flight of 3:40 duration, most services were finished 1:20 out of DFW, and our zaftig ersatz blonde FA queen of the clouds was working hard keeping the jump seat warm the rest of the flight. (Her partner, who was in the galley preparing the trays, etc. retreated to the economy cabin after meal service was completed; I can only imagine the economy FAs were more active, as one or another made occasional runs for water, etc. to the front galley during the flight. The sole appearance of our FA was when she was rung and asked for a glass of water by a passenger who developed a cough in 4F.) The other defect here was a passenger who, for whatever reason, was flagrantly flatulent during some of the flight, obviously not attributable to AA employees - but deserving of a for the ocker behavior.

So, 75% of these mid-cons were pretty decent as domestic "First" goes, with certainly more room and better seating (I did not say "great seating," though on the 777 I had a "coffin" seat and was obviously beyond most mod-con norms,) than, say, BA Club Europe. The last flight was clearly a case advocating for some retraining of a bored, possibly burned out FA. Maybe the OP was on that flight also?

As an ex-CO elite (I used to split my flights,) I certainly do not remember much better service on DL or CO mid-cons... though the Presidents Club was better in some locations (but definitely not all.) OTOH, if someone is flying F, I am sure there is some spare change around for a beer...

Flyer23

Am I the only one who never gets served pre-departure drinks and never sees FAs hanging up coats in UA F? My first flight or two, I figured they just forgot, but when I noticed all my fellow passengers hanging up their coats on their own as soon as the boarded, I figured it was just the way things work.

I also hate that the UA FAs serve the first few rows of Y. I'm not a big alcohol drinker while in the air, but I do try to drink plenty of water. On one of my flights, the FA served me a glass of water, disappeared into the Y cabin for 10-15 mins, came back to refill my glass and plop a plastic tray (like a Lunchables tray) with my "dinner" in front of me, collected the tray, and then disappeared into the galley for the rest of the flight. BenjaminNYC should be real proud of himself for paying for service like that