F Class comments
 

I recently flew in F for the first time on NW. I paid an F class fare so no type of upgrade was involved. Had flown in F on mostly UA in the past and have a few comments regarding the quality of service I received. The switch from UA was based on their recent switch to commuter jets in the market we fly to.

Seats: UA seats are much nicer and more comfortable. Not a big deal though to me.

Entertainment: There is none on NW. Kind of miss that. Wish there was at least had audio service. A medium deal to me.

Food: The food on NW was at best awful. Had a breakfast flight outbound. Overcooked, low quality and poor presentation.

Had a dinner flight on the return? It was again nearly inedible. They should lose the 2 chunks of beef 'appetizer' as they were far from appetizing and no one ate it. Spend the dimes that are saved in improving the rest of the meal. Even with the recent cutbacks at UA the food has remained good to very good.

I also think that they should not serve the meals and drinks from the cart. UA flight attendants always served meals and drinks individually from the galley after going around the cabin and taking orders. Much higher quality perceived at ZERO cost to the airline.

Flight Attendants: All of the NW flight attendants were great. Very friendly and always available.

All of my flights were on time and arrived early. Something I would never have experienced had I flown UA connecting to United Express. Overall I would say NW did a pretty good job with the glaring exception of the food service.

I agree, I think NW doesn't really care about what kind of food they serve to F, mainly because most passengers who are sitting there are upgraded elites. They have to realize that some people are paying customers, and will spend there money else where unless they get good service.

As far as entertainment goes, I couldn't agree more. Surely NW can make money by charging for headphones for movies. I would suggest writing a complaint letter to NW, I've written 3 in the past regarding the entertainment and the response always seems to be "thank you for taking the time blah blah blah, we will forward your comments to customer service blah blah blah.

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support our troops, AND president http://www.studentsforwar.org/hitler2.htm

"AT ZERO COST TO THE AIRLINE" For years Northwest flight attendants went around and took drink orders and ran the meals out to the psgrs. On larger planes, that meant there also had to be at least 1 galley person doing all the "behind the scenes" work of getting the meals and drink orders prepared etc. UA and most of the other majors still do it that way. NWA eliminated the galley position (MAJOR COST SAVINGS!!!!) and had remaining flight attendants use carts in the aisle..thus..performing aisle duties AND galley duties without utilizing a 3rd or 4th flight attendant. NWA began tightening it's belt a few years befor 9-11, and this was one of the major changes it made. While running drinks and meals may seem like a better presentation; it ultimately costs the company (UA for example) thousands and thousands of extra dollars to perform their service in that manner. Happy travels!

[This message has been edited by CAM63 (edited 04-20-2003).]

[This message has been edited by CAM63 (edited 04-20-2003).]

I think NWA has a very reliable domestic fleet and that the FC product is good.

There are different reasons why having a FC seat is important to frequent fliers. Some of the reasons are:

*gourmet meals (and more choices)
*ease of exit at destination (first pax off plane)
*larger seats
*more room for luggage in overhead compartments
*Free alcoholic beverage service
*coat check service
*glass and china VS. plastic cups/plates
*better ratio of FA's to pax
*quiet, peaceful area without a lot of noise.

RC



[This message has been edited by Radiocycle (edited 04-20-2003).]

I was on a flight that lasted about 4 hours. It took the flight attendant about 15 minutes to hand out our drinks/food from a cart in the aisle. I've seen the same task accomplished on UA by 1 flight attendant from the galley. Again, a little more effort gives a much better impression.

I guess I should take my business elsewhere. We were thinking of trying CO flights that connect to the NW jet service into our destination city.

[This message has been edited by cabledave (edited 04-20-2003).]

I cannot think of (1) time out of the 500+ domestic Worldperk elite upgrades that I have not been offered and served a beverage.

NWA runs a good airline and has been improving in technology (e-checkin, Worldperk specials/account information, website promotions, luggage tracking, e- ticket reservation tracking, etc)

Rather than take a negative opinion of Northwest, why don't you give them a fair chance. It's really a great airline.

Radiocycle
Northwest Moderator

[This message has been edited by Radiocycle (edited 04-20-2003).]

I think I gave a pretty accurate description of the F class service I received. I did receive a drink and not sure what you meant with the first part of your post.

I do think that there needs to be some sort of improvement in the quality of the service and food in F class. When compared with my experiences with other airlines, NW F class is pretty much coach service with a wider seat. And again the food was very, very poor.

I however did notice and appreciate some of the items you mention. If NW wants people to pay F fares they need to deliver a better product than they are now.

I could not agree more to the inferior quality of service. I have flown All the majors to Hawaii from LAX and NW is consistently the worst in Coach and First.
However Price is the major motivator for me so if NW has a deal or mileage bonus I can live with it for 5 hours or so.

And that's what NW management is counting on.

With the exception of Sing Air, I usually set my expectation for airline food and catering to be low. Personally I dont mind the cart as it helps to keep people in the aisle so as to not bump one of the FAs and have someone's chicken spill on me http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.

Cart or no card, I have seen even classy restraunts use carts to facilate serving. If by using a cart there is a cost savings to the airline that is in turn passed on to the consumer, Im all for that. I have found CO domestic first to be more impressive than NW and I avoid UA like the plague due to their attitude and unreliable service.

Its unfortunte that you had to pay F fare and not get the service you expect. I dont view NW domestic F as F, rather, enhanced coach for those paying the price in terms of fare, or business contributed. I set my expectation low and am surprised like recently when my dinner was served from the galley by person and not by cart. Another surprise was the other day the lead FA asked since I was in the last row of F and there were many gold & plat, since I was the only MM Plat would I like to pre-order anything.

Hope you find a NW or CO flight you like.

I became much happier with NW once I stopped comparing NW's First Class to other airlines, and started being grateful that my butt was in a more comfortable seat 99% of time. Sure, the food tastes like a nice TV dinner, but at least it's a meal, right?

Generally speaking, if I'm on a fare that's high enough to use my company's upgrade certificates with AA, or really want to enjoy my flight (and splurge with points), I'll fly AA. When I want a nearly sure-thing upgrade, am in bonus-mile-accrual mode, or have to go to DTW, I'll fly NW. It seems to work out to be a 50/50 split over the course of the year.

On a side note, I'd be interested to see what are each Flyertalker's two top programs (if they have elite status in more than more program)...maybe I'll post a poll in Milesbuzz. I think there are a good number of NW + AA people out there.

Just got back last night from AMS and although I greatly appreciate the free domestic upgrades I have to agree overall with the observations, although I don't think the food is all that bad.

Flew DTW to PHL in F, which was checked in full (as was the entire plane). This DC-9 smelled musty from my seat in 2A, but I was more than happy to have the extra room and perks. Drinks were served from the galley, which I find to be the norm. Coat was taken upon boarding and no pre-flight drinks due to late departure.

Overall though, I thought to myself that I would be sorely disappointed if I had paid for the seat as this plane was in bad shape. Overall, I actually like the DC-9, but this one needed some major rehab. If NW really wanted to compete in the F marketplace, they would need to upgrade their product.

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Randy
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HH Gold; WN CP; NW Gold Elite

I flew last Tuesday on an NWA flight from ATL-MSP on an A320SR. I'm sure there has been exhaustive discussion about what the "SR" means here on Flyertalk, but I'm ignorant.

Anyway, my seat (3B, I think) had electric inflatable lumbar support (or maybe I was hallucinating). Anyway, when I put my seatback in the upright position and held in the round "reclining" button, some kind of electric device kicked in and inflated part of the seat back. When I reclined, it deflated. Wow -- it was FANTASTIC (much better than the 1" thick DC-9 seats in F)! I showed it to the guy next to me and we played with 'em for a good five minutes before the excitement died down.

So...anyone else seen these?

So is the moderator suggesting that this thread should not focus on the negatives of Northwest F class?

I didn't know that only positive comments were allowed.

Was this one of the Pacific A320s?