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US vs. AA - comparison of First Class

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Old Apr 2, 2015 | 10:19 am
  #16  
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Personally, I like the AS hard product better (more recline, better headrest, power ports, and the overall design of the trays/storage). However, I will agree that the onboard service on US is geberally better and more attentive than AA.

I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that AA's SOP for years have indicated full PDB service, but it rarely happens. If it does, it is a tray of Water or OJ.

I hope that Hector's team will push harder to have the service on the AA side match US's.

PDB is something I miss about UA and have always appreciated.
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Old Apr 2, 2015 | 10:30 am
  #17  
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Agreed...

What hacks me off is when hard core AA flyers TRASH US Air & yet they either have not flown them in 10 years, or have NEVER flown them. Once the US/HP merger was completed & ALL the bugs got worked out, US airways became a decent airline as far as the First Class product goes (-:
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Old Apr 2, 2015 | 10:52 am
  #18  
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Originally Posted by GotCalcio4
Oh, and my biggest gripe - my roll aboard doesn't fit straight into the 737 bins. The Airbus bins are slightly deeper.
The forward bins are smaller on the 737-800 due to the curvature of the fuselage. Go back a bin or try putting your bag in handle first/wheels last, and you should have better success.
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Old Apr 2, 2015 | 10:56 am
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Originally Posted by lrdpenn
While my 'best ever' experience between AA/US has been on AA, I've found US to be more consistent, and consistently a bit better. Sometimes I think I get the same number of unprompted refill offers on, say, a US PHL-BOS as I do on an AA DFW-PHL.
There are a handful of super star FAs on both AA and US. The absolute best I've had on AA was on a short SFO-LAX from a wonderful veteran FA named Margaret. Top notch all around. I've also met Margaret's 'twin' on another short US flight DFW-PHX -- she started off with a special announcement for just the F cabin and then ran up and down the aisle the entire flight. My dinky, skinny little coffee cup never went dry that entire flight.
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Old Apr 2, 2015 | 11:52 am
  #20  
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Originally Posted by newyorkgeorge
F seems to be about the same except US FAs are more likely to do a full PDB while AA seats have power outlets and some domestic a/c have IFE.
I took my first flight ever on US metal 2 weeks ago. ORD-PHL on an A321 in F. The plane was disgusting. Torn seats and carpet, missing and hanging trim pieces on the walls, peeling paint (or whatever that top coating is) in the overhead bins, and third world lavs. I found the seat pitch to be less than AA first and the seats were very uncomfortable compared to the AA 737 F seats. The best word to describe it is "grim". I can't imagine how it was in back, especially without MCE available. Unless and until the legacy US planes are brought up to AA standards (which are not that high to begin with), I am done with US metal.

Cabin crew was okay. Not any different from AA F crews.
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Old Apr 2, 2015 | 1:16 pm
  #21  
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Originally Posted by wjj
I took my first flight ever on US metal 2 weeks ago. ORD-PHL on an A321 in F. The plane was disgusting. Torn seats and carpet, missing and hanging trim pieces on the walls, peeling paint (or whatever that top coating is) in the overhead bins, and third world lavs. I found the seat pitch to be less than AA first and the seats were very uncomfortable compared to the AA 737 F seats. The best word to describe it is "grim". I can't imagine how it was in back, especially without MCE available. Unless and until the legacy US planes are brought up to AA standards (which are not that high to begin with), I am done with US metal.

Cabin crew was okay. Not any different from AA F crews.
I've never been on a worn US a321 and I'm on them almost weekly. I will take a US A321 in coach over any AA MCE every time. US A321 have, in my opinion, the best coach seats of any domestic plane flown by any airline.....10A-C, 9D-E, row 22, etc.....

As far as Flight attendants - both US/AA have gr8 and terrible ones....in my experience, CLT based crews are consistently the best in the US system followed by PHX.....I can't point to a crew base with AA that is as consistently good as the US crews in CLT and PHX, but I can tell you that MIA crews are the worst!

I am surprised that Douggies crew hasn't whipped AA FA's over their lack of serving a PDB.....It's been over a year - I have seen NO improvement from AA on this.

Lastly, I am curious to see how many FA's ultimately serve 16 seat F cabins when fully combined.....AA usually has 2 on the 737 while US has 1 on the A321.....however, I can't really tell much of a difference in service because the US F FAs on the a321 usually bust their a** to get everything done....so, if you think not getting a PDB in AA F is bad now, wait until they drop the extra attendant in F...which I fully expect to happen....sorry for the ramble.
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Old Apr 2, 2015 | 1:16 pm
  #22  
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Originally Posted by wjj
I took my first flight ever on US metal 2 weeks ago. ORD-PHL on an A321 in F. The plane was disgusting. Torn seats and carpet, missing and hanging trim pieces on the walls, peeling paint (or whatever that top coating is) in the overhead bins, and third world lavs. I found the seat pitch to be less than AA first and the seats were very uncomfortable compared to the AA 737 F seats. The best word to describe it is "grim". I can't imagine how it was in back, especially without MCE available. Unless and until the legacy US planes are brought up to AA standards (which are not that high to begin with), I am done with US metal.

Cabin crew was okay. Not any different from AA F crews.
As a "hard core" AA flyer - I've found the crews on the few US flights I 've taken to be very friendly. They always greet everyone, offer PDBs, etc. But I've also found some of them to very slow with the service, especially full meals. They obvioiusly aren't used to it.

But I can't say I've been on ANY US Aircraft that I would call nice. I was on an A321 last night which had LED lights (so I'm assuming is somewhat new), but the seats are old and janky, and I don't care for the small galley and lack of closet up front. It just looks trashy how they have the plane configured.

US air cabins are all absolute trash, and you can tell they have/had no interest in investing in their hard product to make it comfortable or offer any ammenities while on board.
That being said, I'll take an AA plane any day over US AIR, despite how friendly the US AIr crews might be.
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Old Apr 2, 2015 | 1:28 pm
  #23  
 
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Last edited by UrbanDweller; Apr 2, 2015 at 1:45 pm Reason: self deleted, my post referred to J, not F
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Old Apr 2, 2015 | 1:40 pm
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Living in PHX, over the years of flying US Airways, we feel that we get a pretty consistent service with a smile, sometimes good service and not so much of a smile, but rarely anything we would consider lazy.
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Old Apr 2, 2015 | 1:41 pm
  #25  
 
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I had an absolutely brutal flight on a US redeye from SAN-CLT recently. The 321 F seat was the single most uncomfortable premium cabin seat I have had for decades, not even a pillow to be had, and service was inattentive, to put it mildly. At least the blankets were recognizable as such, though, as opposed to on the early morning connection that followed, where they resembled tissue paper. I would take the AA planes (and were, it possible, pre-Doug meals) anyday.

Last edited by rfrost; Apr 2, 2015 at 6:50 pm
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Old Apr 2, 2015 | 1:44 pm
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by chicagoflyer1976
But I've also found some of them to very slow with the service, especially full meals. They obvioiusly aren't used to it.

But I can't say I've been on ANY US Aircraft that I would call nice. I was on an A321 last night which had LED lights (so I'm assuming is somewhat new), but the seats are old and janky, and I don't care for the small galley and lack of closet up front. It just looks trashy how they have the plane configured.

US air cabins are all absolute trash, and you can tell they have/had no interest in investing in their hard product to make it comfortable or offer any ammenities while on board.
That being said, I'll take an AA plane any day over US AIR, despite how friendly the US AIr crews might be.
Agree that the meal service is slower, but that is usually due to the fact that there is only 1 flight attendant serving F. That, and as you say, they probably aren't used to the new sequence of warmed nuts, etc.

I'm really, really trying to understand how you can say that all US cabins are absolute trash? What does the size of the galley have to do with your experience? All US cabins had have had their seats recovered within the last five years, in both classes, and bulkhead walls were all replaced too. I appreciate the simplicity of the F cabin and the proximity to the FAs, many of whom I talk to and have gotten to know. I think the cabin described is likely a bad apple and isn't characteristic of at least 90% of US's fleet.

I prefer US F seats to AA seats, and find it really annoying that there isn't a place to put a drink built into the AA F seat armrest without popping out the drink trays. I guess AA knew their FAs weren't going to be offering PDBs when they ordered the planes Each 737 I've gotten on (even the new ones with BSI and AVOD) have just been filthy (perhaps this too has been bad luck). Crust and crumbs in all the seats, corners, and ground into the carpets, scuffs on the bulkheads from people's shoes (not AA's fault).

I think it's what we're just used to. Frankly, I get on an AA 737, and think "this is janky." That, and dirty. Very dirty.
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Old Apr 2, 2015 | 1:45 pm
  #27  
 
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Originally Posted by rfrost
I had an absolutely brutal flight on a US redeye from PHX-CLT recently. The 321 F seat was the single most uncomfortable premium cabin seat I have had for decades, not even a pillow to be had, and service was inattentive, to put it mildly. At least the blankets were recognizable as such, though, as opposed to on the early morning connection that followed, where they resembled tissue paper. I would take the AA planes (and were, it possible, pre-Doug meals) anyday.
You can thank AA for the lack of pillows. PMUS had pillows on every seat in F, which were cut to "align" with PMAA.
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Old Apr 2, 2015 | 2:19 pm
  #28  
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Wait until you get two AA FAs that are talking away instead of getting meals ready to serve. I agree the one US FA seems to bust their butt to get the service done completely.
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Old Apr 2, 2015 | 2:53 pm
  #29  
 
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Originally Posted by aamilesslave
The forward bins are smaller on the 737-800 due to the curvature of the fuselage. Go back a bin or try putting your bag in handle first/wheels last, and you should have better success.
Got it. Thanks for the tip!
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Old Apr 2, 2015 | 3:07 pm
  #30  
 
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Originally Posted by I_Can_Fly_US_Airways
What hacks me off is when hard core AA flyers TRASH US Air & yet they either have not flown them in 10 years, or have NEVER flown them. Once the US/HP merger was completed & ALL the bugs got worked out, US airways became a decent airline as far as the First Class product goes (-:
I have yet to fly F on US AIR as of yet but have flown coach about 8 times with US pm. I was treated well on two flights but the other six it was downright hostile when trying to get a complimentary beverage or snack. One literally through a hummus box at me when I tried to explain that EXP was Emerald. Might be a mute point now that they MUST have been trained EXP was CP. I'm flying to PVR in F on US next week so we shall see!
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