Kgruendel,

Will you please post the response you receive from NWA.

I thought that was a very well written letter.

Radiocycle
Northwest Moderator

[This message has been edited by Radiocycle (edited 01-26-2003).]

You are correct about NWA not paying attention to cabin conforts. NWA in my opinion is trying to run a no frills type operation. I think if NWA's freq flyer program was not so liberal they would not have near the loyalty they have. NW's domestic first class is lousy. Unless you can chug down enough free drinks to make it worth it. The DC-9 first class seats are so thin that the person behind you can grope you just buy putting something in the seatback. I do not know how NW compares intl, But my opinion is that NW's product need serious improvement to remain competitive.

You may not have a choice in the near future with UA, AA, US and CO in bankruptcy or on the verge of it.

I think NW's frugality has contributed greatly to its success and ability to remain competitive in such a difficult environment.

There are certainly plenty of other choices.

DL - with BizElite product and a decent domestic F product
AS - DVD players in transcon F
B6, F7 - new jets with satellite TV
FL - Business class product available
HA - New Boeing 767-300ERs

That's just for domestic US, there's plenty more competition from international carriers (CX, JL, NH, SQ, etc to Asia - BA, AF, LH, etc to Europe - AC to Canada).

I think NW's frugality has made itself attractive to only frugal customers who choose NW on the basis of fare only. The generous frequent flyer program doesn't quite offset the vastly inferior cabin service/product, in my opinion.

[This message has been edited by keithguy (edited 01-28-2003).]

As it turns out I was also on NW19 NRT-SIN on the 21st, in the very last row of Y (66). I also noticed the flicker of reading lights on and off at times, but actually attriubted it to people bumping the light switchs in the turbulence -- which was constant during the flight and quite significant at times (as a whole, I would say it was about the "roughest" 7 hours I've flown -- but I was also feeling a little under the weather).

I did not notice the lights doing the same thing during the return the next day (I came right back on NW20, so the same aircraft) but that could have been because the behavior was less noticable in the early morning and daytime.

I didn't even attempt to watch the movie; it looked awfully pinkish to me!

But we did have a lot of room to stretch out, that's for sure. Not crowded at all.

Steve

sllevin:

I noticed your post in another thread about your SIN run, and I was trying to figure out from the time on your post whether you had been on the same flight as me! What a coincidence!! I hope you don't mind my asking, but you went MIA-IAH-NRT-SIN, right? And then you turned around that same morning (at 6am, after arriving at 1am) and went right back, SIN-NRT-IAH-MIA?? Were you in coach the whole time??? How did you survive????

Anyway, yes, flight 19 on the 21st was quite bumpy. It was really annoying me, because I like to get up and walk around on long flights, but the seat belt sign was on the whole time. Incidentally, I was in 25G. Maybe the problems with flashing reading lights were only in my section. My audio connection was working on that flight, but who wants to watch Scooby Doo?? (Apologies if you watched and enjoyed it! )

Nope, I was never offered any compensation inflight when I told the FAs of the problem. On my last flight, the FA loaned me a clip-on reading light, since the light at my seat wasn't working. On one of my MSP-NRT flights (on a 742) on which my audio connection wasn't working, I asked the FA if I could move to seat 43G, which is normally reserved for crew, just for the duration of the movie (2 hours). She emphatically told me no, because those seats were reserved for crew. No crew member ever sat there during the whole flight, however. (I was in 44J and could see clearly that 43G was empty throughout the flight.) In fact, on all my 742 flights, I have never seen any crew actually using those seats.

I do know from a different experience on a domestic NW flight that FAs have access to bonus mile coupons onboard, which they can hand out to passengers in flight. (Unless my experience was unusual.) It would have been nice if any of the FAs on my Pacific flights had given me such a coupon. Maybe the reason that they didn't was that entire sections of the plane (and dozens of passengers) were affected by the equipment failures, and they may not have had enough coupons for everyone.

Internationally, the disparity between NW and its competitors (in economy class) is even greater than in the domestic US market. All the major players in Asia-Pacific offer in-seat video screens in coach on at least some of their planes. Several offer extra legroom (ANA, AA, UA economy plus). Business class is a different story. I think NW's business class is very competitive. JAL is slowly introducing new flat seats but still has old, cramped 47-inch pitch seats on many planes. I believe the same is true of ANA.

I think NW has made a business decision to cater to the low end of the market in Asia Pacific. In talking with my colleagues and clients in Tokyo, I have found that NONE of them fly NW. (In fact, they laugh at me when I tell them I fly NW.) They all choose JAL, ANA, UA, or AA. When I fly NW, the planes are always packed, but as far as I can tell they seem to be packed mainly with infrequent, budget-minded flyers--backpackers, families visiting relatives, vacationers, students, etc. NW differentiates itself from JAL, AA, etc. by offering cheaper fares, the most generous FF program, and convenient connections through hubs at NRT, MSP, and DTW. The budget-minded clientele that NW attracts with this strategy does not care about personal video screens or food quality.

Update:

I just received the nicest message from NW in response to my complaint. It was a personalized message (not a canned response) which apologized for the problems, briefly described their maintenance program for aircraft interiors, and promised to forward my complaint to their maintenance department. They also offered a significant number of bonus miles.

And it came only two days after my complaint! I am shocked! The last time I complained to an airline (United seven years ago), it was about a far more serious problem, and the airline ignored me until I complained to the DOT over a month later. (One reason I stopped flying UA.)

I am very impressed with NW customer service, not just because of their response to this incident. I have also found their phone reps over the years to be uniformly cheerful, professional, and helpful. It almost makes up for the junky planes! (and is quite a contrast to CO, where the planes are immaculate but the phone reps are notoriously bad)

Toldja they would give you bonus miles.

I've been very impressed with how fast Customer Service responds to the comment letters I've sent in. Both via e-mail or paper, they always follow up.

Now only if problems within the plane were jumped on & fixed as fast as the letters...

It's not as bad as it may seem. It's quite comfortable -- more comfortable than NWA WBC, IMHO. Pretty soon, NW will have better seats than CO! You can check out my past trip reports (NRT-EWR on CO) and my post (dedicated to their new seat) on the CO forum.

- Pat

P.S. Please check your FT-listed e-mail address! I sent you an e-mail but it bounced.

I'd have to agree. NW's WBC seats are one of the best trans-Pacific ones that are widely available. FWIW, I notice that most pax sleep or read and ignore the IFE (not saying they are not doing this because the offerings are poor).

If the savings are good enough, I rather stay with NW & WBC rather than go on another carrier with better food/IFE.

May I ask how many bonus miles they threw your way?

Doggone, what's funnier is that I think I would have been sitting right in front of you if I hadn't changed my seat -- I think I had 24J originally, but took 66D so I could get an empty seat next to me.

Yep, did the whole smash in Y. Wasn't all that bad -- but I had open seats next to me on all legs. On IAH-NRT, SIN-NRT and NRT-IAH I had the little 2 seat rows all to myself, so I could look out the window as well as get out without bugging anyone. I probably would have been miserable on crowded flights. But the miles are nice. It's tempting to find another date to do it... but now it looks we're headed west to California.

Oh yeah, I forgot that was the entertainment... wouldn't have watched it -- I was really under the weather for that leg and (maybe accentuated by being in the tail) just woozy and pondering, for the first time in my life, using the barf bag.

Of course, I'd love to find a cheap enough upgradeable fare now that I have enough WP miles to upgrade...

Steve

I agree. NW's WBC seats may be low-tech, but they are comfortable. I am actually not really looking forward to the new seats, because I am afraid they will be less comfortable. KLM's "new" seat (introduced a few years ago) is nowhere near as comfortable as NW's "old" seat (IMO).