I don't recall ever hearing that. On which airline did you notice this?

If we're only talking about coach, JetBlue has DirectTV and Midwest has more comfortable, bigger seats. Other than that, its all pretty much the same.

I appreciate your defense of WN. I LUV the company, and though it hasn't done much for me, own the stock. I think it's a wonderful enterprise.

From my point of view as a consumer (though I know I'm not the most typical, since most appear to be much more price sensitive) I think these issues are very, very real. They don't seem to deter enough people to hurt WN, but they do deter a LOT of us.

Even if you're in a high-number boarding group, for example, it's rare to have to deal with the scrum that you do at WN. More importantly, if you were to fly as much on just about any major airline as a regular user of WN ostensibly would, you'd have the advantage of elite status boarding, and possibly elite passage through lines for TSA. As for WN's handling of the queues, I can only assume that the gates you frequent are staffed by particularly good people. I haven't historically found them particularly special in the places I've flown.

The single thing that repulses me about WN is the outdoor line that I recently saw to check in at LAX when riding back to another terminal on a rental-car bus. It stretched all the way to, and nearly past, the next terminal. I don't care how fast it goes. That would stress me out to no end. I realize it may not be WN's fault (others have suggested it's because they can't get enough gates at LAX, etc.) but it's a deterrent nonetheless.

If you're flying 100,000+ miles in a year, you probably are not a very jittery flyer like I am and wouldn't notice something like this. Or maybe they don't do it on AA, I don't know. For me, it's just kind of annoying when they say goodbye early, because the flight crew seems to act as if it's a done deal while I'm clawing the armrest for 20 more minutes.

One thing I will say in favor of Northwest, free beer on international flights. I flew MSP to NRT roundtrip in March and I must have drunk a case of Sapporo. What else is there to do on 12 hour flight in coach.

I was flying Business Class to London on AA, and after asking for a 4th beer, a senior flight attendant I hadn't seen before brought it out with an admonishment for me to "Go to sleep". :rolleyes:

You're right. I probably wouldn't notice. I tune out most of the announcements (even though I really shouldn't. :o) At any rate I don't think AA does that as a general practice and I was just curious which carrier did. If I were to hear it, I would also find it annoying. I'm with you in that I'd like the crew to give the impression they're still working those last (crucial) 20 minutes.

Good grief. Unless you were swinging from the chandeliers or hitting on the FAs, it was really uncalled for to cut you off [and] admonish you like a naughty child.

I've witnessed FAs telling tipsy pax that the cabin was out of beer (or vodka or what-have-you). And I've suspected that was an excuse to slow down the flow of alcohol a bit. But I've only heard them flat out refuse to serve one very unruly pax... and even he wasn't ordered to sleep. :rolleyes:

I thought it was a little odd as I was quietly watching videos with headphones on in my seat, but her remark got the desired result as I did not ask for anymore beer because I didn't want to be branded as an alcoholic or troublemaker. I don't usually drink alcohol when flying so I don't know if this was an isolated incident or not.

how about Frontier airlines?!
 

I had a very pleasant experience flying Frontier out of PHL to LAX.......(I wanted to enjoy (and I did!) their non-stop service out of PHL in Feb., cause I knew they were stopping it at the end of the month....

(now one has to connect in DEN)

the gate agents were extremely upbeat, as were the F/A's...

And they had the same great private TV's in each seat , just like Jet Blue..

Plus the aircraft was only a few years old...

What is it like for those of you that live in their hub, DEN?! do you swear by Frontier?

I even went ahead and signed up for a frontier credit card....

But since there are not too many flight selections on Frontier out of PHL anymore, I usually end up flying US Air now....

ellen

IMO, it is an isolated incident but it's a shame the FA made you feel uncomfortable about a few beers. If you are flying international F or J, you should be able to enjoy several drinks if you so desire. Mr. ok certainly does when he flies (as would I if it didn't make me queasy at high altitudes) and over the years I have noticed plenty of other pax imbibing freely.

I hope you will be able to fly international J again soon. More tahn likely the FAs won't say a word. Unless.... Hey, wait a minute... That wasn't 4 beers pre-departure, was it? :p ;)

Edited to bring this back OT: IMO another way that all carriers are similar is that they each have their share of great FAs and of less than stellar ones.

Thanks for mentioning YX. They should get alot of credit for keeping the 2x2 seating on most of their routes (and for buying LGB-built 717's!) in the face of the industry downturn. I just hope they will start scheduling their connections at MCI and MKE a little tighter; but then maybe two hours betwixt flights is a good thing for a place laid out like MCI.

www.midwestairlines.com

That line looks bad, but it has never taken me more than 15 minutes to get to the Metal Detector, even if the line is nearly back to the Air New Zealand desk at T2. Southwest does a great job getting people through the line and looking out for folks whose flight is leaving sooner.

Also, T2 is very quiet after 1 pm which is when the last non-red-eye flights leave for the East Coast. (WN has none, I know, but HP and US do and they also use T1 at LAX).'

There was a move afoot to get US to move to the UA gates at T6-7-8 but I am not sure how this will be impacted by the takeover/merger by/with HP.

I do know that WN would give HP/US some $$$ to get out of T1. The problem is that there really are no gates available now at T6-7-8 espescially now that most of the UX flights have moved from the commuter terminal to "T8"

Jakebeth,

If you don't want to lose any more money, SELL that LUV stock. Airlines are a terrrible investment. They have high fuel costs, high labor costs, security and weather issues. While Southwest has made money by hedgeing fuel, fuel costs even two years down the road are sitting north of $50/barrel of oil, meaning its advantage has evaporated.

I think Continental has become a different airline compared to the other legacy carriers. They have managed to not eliminate pillows, magazines and complimentary meals at mealtimes which to me makes them a true full service carrier in the traditional sense while UA/AA/NW/DL/US have all become more like LCC's with global route networks.