Rwinn: FA didn't take your coat! No offer of a welcome drink! Snack is only ham and cheese in a bag! A crying infant! I wish you a happy new year, and may all your flights be no worse than this "flight from hell" you describe.

First class on an USAirways MD-80 is barely better than coach on any other plane.

See the first part of my trip report about SK intercontinental and intra-europe in C. The seats on at least one side of the 737 were wider in C: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum81/HTML/001293.html

While I've had some NW experiences like those posted by rwinn above, I'd like to share one to balance the books a bit.

I was returning from Singapore to Manchester, N.H., this past July on a deeply discounted economy ticket ($1,246 round trip). The last leg of the weird routing I needed to take for that fare involved a JFK-LGA ground transfer. I asked the SIN folks (standard check-in, I am not elite with NW) if they could fix things up. They did, routing me via MSP and DTW.

I boarded the airplane happy.

About ten minutes later, just before they closed the doors, one of the gate crew found me in my seat and said "We've been able to improve your routing so you'll get home two hours earlier." With that she handed me new boarding passes.

This was done AFTER I had left the counter, AFTER they had done all I asked, AFTER they had made me happier than I expected to be, without the slightest request on my part, and requiring a voluntary effort on theirs.

It may just be Singapore, but at least that part of NW is more than OK in my book!

I would say that service in First Class on NW domestic is erratic. I've had excellent service, poor service and no service. I continue to favor UA over Northwest. I've hardly ever experienced poor or no Service in first class on United. All airlines seem to have the "disappearing flight attendant syndrome", but there appears to be a regular practice of the FA's "hiding" behind the curtain in the galley on Northwest. I haven't seen this on UA.

I do think that Northwest First Class seats are poor. They provide no lumbar support and many of them seem to be falling apart. I've noticed this on the DC9,757 and A320 especially.

My worst experience?
Hmm, will probably be one of the 20.50 domestic departures in Sweden.
I guess SK somehow figures that 20.50 is too late for dinner, so instead of the pretty nice dinner one gets at the 18.30 departure, on the 20.50 you get an awful "sm�rg�s" (kind of a sandwich) - it's extremely fat with some kind of strange (and fat) filling, and it tastes like crap.

SK has no business class on domestic flights. You can buy a business ticket - but you're still seated in eco.

Also as a tea drinker it's very annoying that you have to sit on guard and SCREAM at the FA when she passes and whispers "tea anyone" - if you don't scream or take other drastic action you're not likely to get tea...

SK has good sides too - but this thread was for the bad ones, so...





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Goldlust

re NWA:

I haven't had the poor experiences in F that others have had. I've had unimpressive service and food, but nothing actually offensive to my dainty senses

once on a ConnectFirst fare I missed the last plane from DTW to MSP because I forgot that DTW is in the eastern time zone and relied on my watch instead of the airport clocks. I stayed at a crappy Romulus, MI motel and got up for the first flight out, on a DC-10. at check-in I was told F was full and was given a Y boarding card. I went and retrieved my bag from the locker and while in queue to board the gate agent walked up and presented me with an F boarding card and a big ol' smile. she actually remembered me!

a few weeks ago I'd booked a trip MSP-IAH-SFO on CO for the miles. the return was a hellishly early 6am and nobody at CO would do a thing to change it (my fault anyway as I booked it online and wasn't paying attention to the return). upon checkin at MSP with CO was told to check in with NW (the MSP-IAH leg was on NW metal). the nice lady at the Elite counter was able to not only get me on a later return flight but booked it on a non-stop (at that poing I didn't care about the miles) back to MSP in F on a DC-10 (the only way to fly F on NW domestic) even though I'd bought the ticket from CO. the meal on that flight was outstanding as was the service.

My worst experiences have been on SK and AY.

As some here have already metioned SK has no biz class on domestic flights even though it sells way overpriced tix for it. There is no warning that domestic flights are first board - best seat basis. Short haul international codeshare flights are even worse. There appears to be no warning about a codeshare and you find out about it often at boarding time only.

AY, is IMO a little better than SK on short haul international flights but if having what they consider an extra perk of cold blizzard coming through the door on their turboprop for the best seats on the plane (biz class exit row) then they better reconsider. The service is also very impersonal with FA-s ignoring English language questions/wishes. They seem to think that everyone on their planes speaks Finnish and speaking English is just a "tall-poppy" syndrome unless you are dressed in football colors and are drunk and rowdy (British football hooligan).

Their international (non trans-Atlantic) service is also very disappointing with VERY poor and impersonal service, very limited pitch, poor food, no personal monitors and even lack of blankets! I hope that I will never fly them on long haul flights again!

I have to agree with others who have trashed SAS. I flew on them last year only because they are part of *Alliance (so I could get UA miles). While I was sitting in coach the whole way, they screwed up many aspects of the service, including my wife's request (made weeks in advance) for a special meal. They didn't have the special meal on 3 of the 4 flights. I got a look at the business section on the 767s. It was a joke -- no better than the domestic first class seats on UA's old DC-10s. And as for intra-European flights, the "business" class was coach with a curtain. Same seats. Same pitch. Maybe the food was a little better but, come on. Next time I fly to Europe it will be in business class and it will either be on UA or Lufthansa -- but never again on SAS.

I flew SAS quite a bit in 1999 between LHR and GOT. The business seats were indeed very close and uncomfortable but I guess the fact that business and coach seats have the same pitch appears to be the norm on intra-European flights. Service was nothing exceptional and I remember asking a check-in agent in Sweden about what precisely constitutes the difference between business and economy. He thought about it for a few seconds and then replied quite accurately, "the price." I was also somewhat amazed that the shabby MD80 that had been deployed on this route had no entertainment whatsoever, not even audio.

Worst transatlantic premium class: US Airways' Envoy class on the two-class 767-200. (I've previously railed on this on the US board.) Lousy food, poor entertainment options (three movie choices and a couple of looping television/sports choices - very weak for transatlantic premium service), broken reading lamp (it was *always* on). Seat recline and legroom were average. Service was average. The winelist consisted of a chard, a cab, and a chablis, all in the $15/bottle (retail) category. Except the chablis...it was probably about $10 per bottle.

Note: Other US FT'ers were quick to point out that Envoy on the A300 is a *much* better product, particularly as far as the entertainment and seats go. Apparently, A300 Envoy has been significantly enhanced beyond 767 Envoy. Also, in defense of US Airways, I've found their narrowbody F to be much more consistent than TW, NW, or HP, and on par with AA and UA.

Midwest Express sidebar: Anyone who has the opportunity to do so should try this airline. It's an entirely different experience from traveling on the major airlines, from the friendliness of the gate agents to the lack of long lines at the airport to the wide seats to the food/drink service throughout the aircraft. The FF program is very basic, but it's a trade-off I'll make anytime I'm flying a coach fare in one of their markets.

Worst Business Class for me was TransAtlantic SAS Copenhagen to Seattle in a "Sleeper Seat" which was an additional US$600. The plane was old and rickety. The food was bad. The flight attendants were surly. The cabin was huge and crowded.

For first class, Air France gets my vote for CDG-SFO. Their featured meal was ground veal "a l"Alpo" (my description. The glassware came in one shape, two sizes no matter whether for water, champagne, beer, or juice. At least the FAs were very friendly contrary to their reputation.

Long live LH & SQ in First!

Nobbi

My vote would go to any United 767 in business. The seats are too narrow for comfort.

I have gone near and far and among my rankings:

Worst international business-
This is a tie- Swiss Air or British Airways.
Although both have impeccable service, I got a middle seat twice. If you are in business, you should be next to a window or an aisle. Apart from the middle seat, both lose more points. SwissAir only has personal videos on their Airbus and their games and entertainment pale in comparison to Virgin Atlantic's and CO 777. British Airways has an interesting business class set up where your seats make a bed and you are diagonal to your seat mate and in my case, had smelly feet.

Their economy class is nice as is their amenities package (how hard is it to convince some american carriers that you might need a toothbrush on an overnight flight?)

Worst domestic first
- Hands down it would have to be Delta. 2 class trans con service is terrible. 767 is a nice aircraft but first class along with the 727 and 757 are old and need seat upholstering and new interiors. However, Delta's biz elite is very good.

If you use that criteria, the only widebody-operating airlines that would stay in the running (operating widebodies) would be those who operate 767s & A-300/310/330/340s. Just about every single airline that operates 747s and 777 (and most DC-10/MD-11) have 7-abreast in business class on the main deck (unless it's located in the nose on the 747).