joshwex90

I must say, I was pleasantly surprised with my LY flight last night, 027.

Things started off on the right foot when the security agent deemed me a low enough risk that she tagged my bag (as opposed to me needing to X-Ray it) and sent me to check-in. I'm aware that's not LY, and I know it does happen - I've had it happen before. But still a great feeling when it does happen.

My line in Express Check-In wasn't moving because their was some sort of problem with the family in front of me. An agent pulls me over and sends me to the Biz check-in. Unknowingly, the agent VIP-tagged my bags, making them 2 of the first ones out!
I was ready to pay a second bag fee, but she thought for some reason that my booking was an old booking and I was entitled to 2 bags. She claims that's what the computer told her. Definitely not true because my boss bought the ticket in July. But woo-hoo!
She then asked to weigh my carry-on which was a little too heavy. She tagged it for me, saying they *may* need to gate-check it if there's no room, especially since I already have a backpack. No big deal.

She told me they had exit row seats, aisles included, for $99. I asked for a window, and was told only 45A is available, and because the door protrudes a bit, it's free. I'll take it!

I ended up being the first one on the plane, so took both carry-ons with me, and settled down.

Seat was slightly firm, but I assume that's because it's the exit row. Definitely a wider exit row seat than UA, BA, or LX. Was quite happy. And the pillow seemed more comfy as well.

Crew was absolutely outstanding. One of the best crews I've had in years. Seriously no complaints on that side at all.
Food was good as well, and while I thought it'd be nice to no longer be the "other" because of a SPML request, I ended being an "other" anyways as about 80% of the flight ordered the Mehadrin meal! Breakfast was a slight letdown, but tasty anyways. Dinner was pretty good.

Deplaning also didn't take too long.

And finally, it was nice that I landed at 05:44 and was out and ready to go by 06:18, and that includes deplaning, passport control (under a minute, thanks to Global Entry,) and baggage claim which was quite quick because of the aforementioned VIP tags.

I also have to say that any LY agent that I had to deal with, from check-in to the gate to FAs were unbelievably friendly. A far cry from your typical "Israeli!"

All in all, I would definitely reconsider LY.

My problems with the overall experience:

• Website is awful.
• Matmid is terrible, which is a serious hindrance on flying overall. (It's easier to gain Gold on UA than Silver on LY, and I get something with Gold - 3X32 kg bags, lounge access, E+ access, etc.)
• Phones can be an issue, though it was much easier getting through to an agent than in the past
• I was on a "new" plane, ECE. While the AVOD was nice, it was miles behind the competition. There was very little to choose from and the system was very slow to respond. And that's only 2 of the 6 772s!

But to sum up, thanks LY for surprising me, in a good way!

clubman

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Thanks for the report Josh.

Ignoring all the bits that are not really LY but the airport authorities, there is nothing wrong really with LY's Economy, and I've always found it to be on par sometimes even better than the competition.

So if it's Y you usually travel it's ok (putting aside Matmid and all that...) but their premium cabin are where the problem lies - they seriously lag behind the competition.

And as a regular here you know that it really isn't Economy people here tend to complain about.

joshwex90

What do you mean about the airport authorities?

Also, I've generally found Y to be OK, but it seems to have improved. The way it lags is with the IFE. In addition, LY needs to re-do the numbering of their seating rows. People get freaked out when they hear they're in row 45 - which is an exit row! I just find it a little dumb.

I fly a mix of Y and C. Yes, F and C need to be revamped tremendously. I tried the F seat for a moment, and it lags, IMO, behind UA's (PMCO) BF. And C, forget about it. So yes, the premium cabins seriously need to be revamped. But they also desperately need to revamp Matmid and their website. Those are integral parts of the airline operation and customer experience.

But with Y, either short-haul or long-haul, as well as C short-haul, LY seems to be doing a good job. And again, having a great crew, regardless of cabin, isn't a small matter. It's been a problem plaguing UA for a while now.

simba8

Could it be that they had a credit with the airline and used that?

Well, you should know by now that they do weigh the carry-on..its been posted on here before

BUT...im surprised that they allowed you 2 bags...your backpack should be counted as 1 bag. They used to allow one carry on and one portable computer brief case/bag/etc...but they now only allow 1 total. Seeing how they have been pretty adamant about weight issues with the hand luggage out of TLV I would say you got really lucky there as well.


I dont think service is really an issue, as much as product is lacking.

LatusElAl

Most of LY's inflight soft-product is superb and had been for a while (save the pathetic IFE).
Its the premium hard product that is sorely lacking.
As for Matmid - horrendous, as we know. But so long as they are the only one's offerring essentially "free" (100 or now 150 point upgrades) we are all going to just suck it up and stick with them.

joshwex90

I highly doubt it. Anything is possible, but I don't think so, especially because the other people on the booking all paid for their second bag. (They all flew last week.)

I knew, but it was more that she allowed me to take the second bag AND it was overweight, and no problem.

Ya - it's either because it was the Business Class check-in OR because of my natural charm! OR because the prayers from this collective forum worked for me

Agreed

Agreed again, although aren't Y/S/M upgrades actually free?

economyman

No they are not. Last minute (or 48 hour prior) upgrades are not free. In some rare cases they may have to upgrade for operational reasons and will then not charge but as there are usually enough people they can upgrade and take points from I think they sparsely give an operational upgrade. I had one only in my last 5 years of Platinum and Gold.