Tuesday bright 'n' early I am going on a day trip to Saint Louis in the front of the plane (hopefully) from Reagan National.

It has been a few years since I've flown on TWA. I remember old planes, worn out FAs, substandard service. Perhaps it has gotten better.

There is no way to go to STL from any close airport except TW, at least directly. And it's too risky to connect through ORD. I could drive to BWI and take WN, but that is too much for me given time constraints etc.

I'll post my trip report here when I get back.

Richard,

I have flown this route several times in the last few months, all on TW. I think that for a short, domestic leg, it is pretty comparable to any other US airline. The early morning departure out of DCA is a 757, which on TW, are all quite new. The seating is 22F/158Y. F to/from DCA is usually packed, especially on morning/evening flights.

In my experience, service on TW's routes to business centers on the East Coast is usually pretty good for the length of the flight. The catering may not be up to the standards that you are used to on UA, but there should be some form on a hot breakfast served on a single tray in F. In Y, the breakfast is usually a bagel in a bag. The seats in F are comfortable, and there is in-flight entertainment in the form of audio as well as drop-down LDC screens. There is also no entertainment fee for Y, as no movie is shown, just short features and sitcoms. F/A's on these routes are usually good about getting jackets hung and drinks served prior to takeoff.

The TWA staff at DCA is also good, especially at the Ambassador's Club, located just past the security checkpoint in the old "banjo" terminal. Because the DCA flights are also part of the TWQ service geared towards business flyers, you will also arrive at the "beginning" the C concourse, near baggage claim and ground transportation.

Hope you have a good flight.

I arrived at National, the old terminal, early Tuesday morning. At the TW counter I discovered that my F flight was really a Y flight, don't know why, nobody could tell me.

They told me all F seats were taken. I went through security and spoke to the gate agent. She said that F was full but she could take $75 from me and do a standby upgrade. But, she wondered out loud, what if I didn't get the upgrade. Well, then, she would void the transaction. It was as if nobody ever upgraded before, although she was with TW for a million years.

A seat was broken also, the tray wouldn't go down, so that was a possibility assuming that was okay with me. "We served people on pillow s all the time" she assured me.

5 minutes before departure, I got the upgrade and had a choice of seats. It turns out F was half empty (and this was day after Labor Day.)

Unusual to me is how they board. They boarded F, then elites, then "people who need additional time", then from the rear forward by sets of 6 rows. No mad rush to board either, different from my UA experiences.

The flight left precisely on time. A somewhat dilapidated MD-80. Meal was a blueberry muffin, orange juice, milk, cereal and fruit. I only ate the fruit. Service was good at first but then ceased to exist for the duration of the flight.

A smooth landing 15 minutes early.

I arrived in STL after my meeting in plenty of time for the 2:04 to DCA. The gate agent assured me I'd get on although the flight was full. Well, I didn't. No Y seat, no F seat, so I had to wait for the 3:50. The STL airport was packed.

The 757 was also packed. I got the next to last seat but only one of two that didn't have a person sitting in the middle, so I shouldn't complain.

On take-off, the 757 wobbled quite a lot which someone said is normal for the rear of a 757 although I've never noticed it. Service in Y was fine, with one beverage cart service, offer of refills, and trash pick-up.

Landing was quite hard probably due to the short runway.

My general impression of TW is that (no offense meant) everything is faded, old, dilapidated. It is just not working very well. I assume the aircraft are safe, but everything else was rather second rate. And this was a very expensive flight, $1200 for coach. They messed up my rservation (or someone did) and they seemed unable to handle basic upgrade procedures. The staff were nice enough to me but they were snappish with other people. I would not fly them if I had a choice of other airlines.

Interesting, especially
You seem admirably cool about it.

Violist, I didn't expect much so I wasn't surprised!! Sometimes that is best...

If it happened on UA I'd be more pissed, but TW...well...

There's a new one. Is that what the pilot told you?



[This message has been edited by geo1004 (edited 09-15-2000).]

Actually, it is quite common to make hard landings on short runways. Pilots don't have a lot of room for errors, so they need to make sure the plane hits pavement as quickly as possible. At least, that's what an AA pilot told me before a HOU-LGA flight. Yes, that landing was hard too.

They really don't have much room at DCA. After they waggle back and forth following the Potomac away from protected airspace and no-fly areas they plop down on the mini runway (one of the shortest) and needs stop right away...

Landings at SNA can often be the same way...

Richard,

Just curious as to how you got a $1200 fare "upgraded" in advance, assuming you aren't an Elite w/ TW. I'm also assuming that the fare was a full-fare Y ticket.

Strange that an upgraded seat mysteriously dissapeared from the system- glad that it has never happened to me.