BoSox,

If you can get all your Routes on MidWest Express, I'd say go for it. I love them; and before 9/11 they spent more money on food per person than any other airline. ie, better food!

I have only flown them to/from PHX and DCA to MSP or MKE; so I don't know how they are on other routes. But, I'd definitely fly them again in they fit into my travel plans.

Nick.

Two days after NW started flying to RNO, they initiated flights from RNO to Los Angeles, San Diego and Seattle.

All were terminated after Reno was bought out by American.

-Robert

Go for Midwest Express! Being from Milwaukee, we fly ME most of the time, schedule permitting. Their service is great! It's hard to beat fresh, baked on board choc. chip cookies or a nice glass of wine with your steak, using real silverware, ex. for the knife and a cloth napkin. Status means nothing since the whole plane is "first class". Their FF program, although with limited partners, is fine. With frequent travel on ME you earn "Frequent Flyer Plus" status which gets you a 50% bonus on miles flown as well as a few other FF mile redemtion benefits. As mentioned earlier, the biggest downside of ME especially on weekends, is their limited schedule.

I tend to hear only good things about ME's service. I guess it depends on your travel patterns and what you want out of an FF program. If you're an infrequent flyer who wants the best travel experience for the money and isn't concerned about lining up miles to get to Micronesia, the Davids may be better than the Goliaths. OTOH, if you fly lots and can play the elite game and depth of partnerships and international networks matter, it's hard for the little guys to compete. I do want the little guys to stay in business, though, since the competition matters a lot for prices.

I'm surprised that in a thread about a frequent flyer program nothing has been mentioned about YX's FF program.

What hasn't been said is that to get a big award (e.g., Hawaii) you'll have to use a YX partner like NWA because YX is only domestic. And if you think you have a hard time booking NWA through NWA, you'll have even a slimmer chance booking NWA through YX.

But if you don't mind redeeming domestically, you'll have no problems. I've redeemed several companion awards to LAX with only a few months notice.

Also be aware of YX's program changes that take effect Oct. 1, 2002.

I can't add any more superlatives to YX's service: 2x2 leather seats, decent food, uncrowded planes.

Same here....after I requalify for 1P again on UA (by end of May), I may just fly them for the rest of the year (only about 12,000-15,000 extra miles) even if I have to go down to San Antonio to catch their flights. We need more airlines like them!

Miscellaneous thoughts:

As wonderful as YX is, redeeming miles is not easy. Very few award seats are available. This is in part due to the fact that there are relatively fewer seats per plane.

In regards to meals, there have been cutbacks since 09/11. For example, LAX-MKE used to be a full lunch tray; on a recent flight it was downsized to just a chef's salad. Very high quality, just smaller than previous meal service.

I'll never forget my first YX flight. Before departure, the FA announced, "Tonight's dinner will be filet mignon." Almost everyone on the plane emitted a sigh of pleasure. On another flight they promised pretzels. What they served were hot, freshly baked pretzels accompanied by a small jar of gourmet mustard.

In seven years of flying them, not once has a YX flight been late. Not once have I encountered a gate agent or FA who was anything but professional and polite. As further proof of their focus on quality, one time I was seated next to a "spy" from HQ who was on a flight to verify that the FAs did a full seven (!) drink services.

In summary, if you can live with their schedules, take them. If only they would improve award seat availability, they'd deserve a "10".

YX is a very good airline, but they have a VERY limited route structure. The only airline you can use to earn miles domestically on is F9, and the closest airport they fly out of from MKE is MDW! I would love to transfer all my flights to them, but they are just too limited in flights and destinations. Bummer, I had over 80K base miles with CO/NW last year!

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Hell hath no fury like that of an elite frequent flyer in coach.

I am not real smart, but I can lift heavy things.

Hopefully they don't go the way of Legend Air... Nice flights from Dallas to Vegas.. all first class

Error

[This message has been edited by ME1st (edited 03-28-2002).]

Yes YX rules... People in MKE have a great deal of loyalty to them, and I try to go out of my way to fly them when I can, not just for the service, but because I'm happy to give them my money, in hopes that they'll continue expanding!

UNfortunatly the food service has gone way downhill since 9/11 ... but it's still better than average.

As for the FF miles, yeah, it's failry limited, but it's gotten me on Virgin to europe, so that's not so bad!

One thing to avoid is the backseats on the MD-80s - the horrible ones near the engine, some of which have no window. On some of the YX MD-80s, in addition to the noise and lack of window, the seats actually narrow to the same width as regular coach to accomidate the galley - quite a bummer!

... but to answer your question, since you live in MSP, I wouldn't completely 'bail' on NWA for obvious reasons (non-stop flights to half the world), but give YX a try. If you fly to the east coast alot, it could work out quite nicely! Who knows, someday maybe they'll add real flights to MSP, though I would't count on it for a while!

Also, I was under the impression that NWA miles can be earned on YX flights... but perhaps that's changed.

YX's partner rules state that you can earn YX miles on NWA international flights, but not domestic.

You also can redeem YX miles for NWA flights and vice versa.