More CO/NW LGA-MSP-LAX-EWR
Apr 11, 2003, 7:40 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: New York
Posts: 7,349
More CO/NW LGA-MSP-LAX-EWR
Dear fellow talkers,
Here is the continuation of my CO/NW report! I am continued to be impressed with Northwest overall, despite a little bit disappointed with the first leg – LGA-MSP, but a fabulous MSP-LAX flights, and Continental serves a good meal up front but the lack of service is evidenced by the “cold” nuts that I received. The morale of Continental seems to be pretty low and the “so-called” customer satisfactory service seems to deteriorate quicker than anything.
April 9, 2003
NW 561 LGA-MSP Lv0620 Arr0816
Airbus A320-200SR N331NW “3231”
Check in was unsuccessful at the self-serving stations, so I proceeded to the first class line, which only had one party ahead of me. The whole process was quick and I was given two boarding passes by a smiling agent, which is a rare sight at New York airports these days. No gate information was available at the screen, but since all NW gates are clustered at the end of the Delta terminal, there was no problem, but an announcement will be appreciated. Gate 7 was the gate for our flight. Boarding began at 5:51am, and the flight was fairly full. We were served a pre-takeoff beverage and coats were hang with the help of a Y class F/A. Door was closed five minutes early and pushed back at 6:25am due to perhaps traffic at the alleyways, since all the morning flights departed within 6 and 6:30am. We headed to runway soon later and took off from Runway 13 at 6:35am.
Flying time was two hours and twenty-one minutes and the pilot did not give us cruising attitude this morning. There were a few bumps on the way out, and for economy cabin, there was a beverage service and continental breakfast were on sale this morning – “A Large croissant, a muffin, and a fruit bowl” for $5. I personally think that a hot breakfast item will be more popular. Anyway, in first class cabin, we got our usual egg or cereal breakfast. Fifty minutes after takeoff, the breakfast tray finally showed up. I was a bit disappointed that a separate beverage service did not start first. But at least, breakfast was on sight. Here is my description of the breakfast
To Begin:
Fresh fruit plate, accompanied by a choice of bagel or muffin
3 slices of cantaloupes, some mango slices, and 2 slices of pineapple – pretty good! Bagel is fine as well, and lite cream cheese is provided.
Main Entrée
Scrambled eggs with home fried potatoes and sausage links
It was the worst breakfast dish that I ever saw in my past few years of flying. The egg were all dried out and tasteless. I was disappointed with this dish and even AA does a better job.
Or
Cereal with banana and milk
After a tea and coffee service, the F/A disappointed into the galley and remained there for the rest of the flight. There was no final beverage service. Descent began at 8:31am and we landed on Runway 30R at 8:06am (MSP is an hour behind NYC), and a NW’s DC-9 landed simultaneously at Runway 30L… what a funny sight! We parked at gate G-19 shortly. Then I found out that my LAX gate was at G-4. It was a fifteen minutes walk. Therefore, I don’t have time to visit the WorldClub at MSP.
NW 319 MSP-LAX Lv0905 Arr1111
Boeing 757-300 N581NW “5801”
G4 was the gate and the flight was pretty full this afternoon. Boarding began at 8:31am and I was excited to board this brand new plane. F class seats were the typical NW domestic first class seats and the seat pitch is 37”. The headroom was a bit taller than the older and smaller –200s. Y class look crowded and I will not like to sit back there. No wonder the –300 is designed for charter airlines. Anyway, two cheerful flight attendants offered us pre-takeoff beverage and hang up jackets. Although boarding was through door 1L, the F/As managed to do all these works. Door was closed four minutes early and we pushed back right on time. We headed to R/W30L and took off at 9:18am. Flying time was three hours and twelve minutes, with a cruising attitude of 31,000ft. Due to light head wind, almost an hour was slashed from the typical flying time.
Unlike my last sector, the F/A pushed out a beverage cart twenty minutes after takeoff, and began an initial service. Y class got a complimentary continental breakfast. And twenty further minutes later, the breakfast trolley made its way down the aisle.
Here is the offering:
To Begin:
Fresh fruit plate, accompanied by a choice of bagel or blueberry muffin and yogurt
2 slices of cantaloupes, 2 orange segments, & 2 strawberries! Blueberry muffin was served, and a container of harvest peach yogurt was also served.
Main Entrée
Cheese Omelet with home fried potatoes and sausage links
Well, it was the exact same breakfast dish, except omelet filled with cheddar cheese was served, instead of dried eggs. It was a bit better.
Or
Cereal with banana and milk
After breakfast, I fell asleep and when I woke up, the F/A was making another beverage service with the snack basket filled with Sprintzels and bags of smoked almonds… yes the almonds made a return on this flight. There were a number of passengers, who were shocked and the F/A said, “Yes, almonds were available.” Of course, by the end of the beverage service, only the sprintzels were left. Descent began at 12:02am, and then we landed on R/W24L at 10:33am (MSP was two hours behind LAX). We were parked at gate 22 shortly after. It was a good flight.
Due to my early arrivals, I got to walk from T2 to T6, and here were the obligatory plane-spotting list.
Varig’s MD-11 PP-VPO
Korean’s Boeing 777 HL7574
Korean’s Boeing 747-400 HL 7473
Japan Airlines’ Boeing 747-400 JA8076
CO 84 LAX-EWR Lv1230 Arr2048
Boeing 737-800 N33266
I went to PC today, which was nice and I got some peanuts and sat by the window. Boarding began at 11:54am, and the obligatory pre-takeoff beverage service was served. F class cabin was filled, as usual. But this aircraft was a bit special, which was equipped with a third lavatory in economy cabin and sky map was available, although I did not get to see it too much. Printed menu was passed out and the door was closed at 12:32pm, and then we pushed back a few minutes later. As we began our taxing, the pilot announced that we were put on a thirty minutes hold due to weather at Newark. We slowly taxied towards the end of runway 25 and headed towards the imperial terminal and stopped there for an hour… We were allowed to turn on our cell phones, and then the pilot announced that our ground hold will extend for forty five minutes. Well, if there was any indicator of how good our flight was, the F/As took their seats and no beverage was offered. Until finally someone asked and a glass of water was passed out. Personally, I thought a really good airline will serve another round of beverage in F, and served some water to Y. The F/As did not even bother to take the after takeoff beverage and entrée orders. Anyway, here was a list of aircrafts spotted!
SQ 744 9V-SMZ
MH 744 9M-MPC
TG 744 HS-TGK
TACA A320 N465TA
NZ 744 with GE ZK-SUI
LA 763 CC-COP
TN 340 Bora Bora F-OJTN
QF 744 VH-OJM RR
QF 744 VH-OEH with GE engines
LH 744 D-ABYU
CA 74E B-2447
KL 74E PH-BFY with www.klm.com sticker
NZ 744 with the Lords of the Ring Livery ZK-NBY
We soon began heading to R/W24L at 1:44pm, and finally we took off at 2pm. Flying time was four hours and forty-nine minutes, with a cruising attitude of 33,000ft. Our routing took us LAX-LAS-DEN-Omaha-Des Moines-Davenport-Chicago-Cleveland-New York. The warning sign began with the “cold” nuts I received. If those remembered, there was once a “warm” nuts theory, which will indicator how your flight will go. My verdict is that “yes, it works.” The cold nuts proved the direction of our flights. Anyway, the BF meals retained its high quality standard. It was not too bad, considered the present economic situation. But I will appreciate if there were more beverage services. Here is the menu transcript:
LAX/PDX/SAN/SEA/SFO/SJC/SNA-EWR 5140W 203C007-2 4/03
To Begin
Warm roasted nuts served with your preferred cocktail or beverage
Not really!
Appetizer
Lobster accompanied by Du Barry sauce
Well, it used to be lobster half, but now we got 1/4 of a lobster… it was still good, but I found the Du Barry sauce a bit too heavy.
Salad
Red oakleaf and romaine lettuce with fresh asparagus, Roma tomato, Kalamata Olives and feta cheese
Offered with your choice of La Flora Italian herb vinaigrette or creamy Thousand Island dressing
The salad was nice, and it was good to have it served separately.
Ciabatta bread, multi-grain and pretzel breadsticks and assorted rolls with butter
Main Courses
Grilled Steak
Grilled Sterling Silver steak tenderloin complemented by peppercorn sauce
White cheddar cheese mashed potatoes with chives
Fine green beans
Buttered carrots
Very good entrée! The steak was not over-cooked and then mashed potatoes…
Herbed Chicken
Breast of chicken presented on a bed of herbed couscous, accented by red wine sauce with mushrooms
Buttered baby carrots
Baby peas with chanterelle mushroom and salsify
Grilled Shrimp
Grilled marinated shrimp enhanced by a shellfish sauce accompanied by a grilled artichoke base filled with creamed spinach, Tomato and fresh basil, Fiesta Rice
Pasta Bowl
Cannelloni pasta filled with ricotta cheese and wild mushrooms, topped with Saute sauce and oven-roasted yellow tomatoes; Freshly grated Parmesan cheese will be offered with your pasta
Dessert
Vanilla Ice cream offered with your choice of toppings
I had a caramel sundae. Good!
The service ended after dinner. One of the F/A headed to the Y cabin, and the other one was reading magazines. I sincerely thought that Gordon must have issued something regarding not serving beverage, when the passengers were not asking. Well, there were some light chops at the end of the flight. Almost forgot – movie for today was “Maid in Manhattan,” and since we were delayed, everyone in Y got complimentary headsets. Thank you, Uncle Gordon for the generosity! Descent began at 6:16pm and we landed on R/W4R at 10pm (EWR was three hours ahead of LAX). The journey came to end soon, with our docking at Gate C-135.
I hope you enjoy this domestic report!
Carfield
Here is the continuation of my CO/NW report! I am continued to be impressed with Northwest overall, despite a little bit disappointed with the first leg – LGA-MSP, but a fabulous MSP-LAX flights, and Continental serves a good meal up front but the lack of service is evidenced by the “cold” nuts that I received. The morale of Continental seems to be pretty low and the “so-called” customer satisfactory service seems to deteriorate quicker than anything.
April 9, 2003
NW 561 LGA-MSP Lv0620 Arr0816
Airbus A320-200SR N331NW “3231”
Check in was unsuccessful at the self-serving stations, so I proceeded to the first class line, which only had one party ahead of me. The whole process was quick and I was given two boarding passes by a smiling agent, which is a rare sight at New York airports these days. No gate information was available at the screen, but since all NW gates are clustered at the end of the Delta terminal, there was no problem, but an announcement will be appreciated. Gate 7 was the gate for our flight. Boarding began at 5:51am, and the flight was fairly full. We were served a pre-takeoff beverage and coats were hang with the help of a Y class F/A. Door was closed five minutes early and pushed back at 6:25am due to perhaps traffic at the alleyways, since all the morning flights departed within 6 and 6:30am. We headed to runway soon later and took off from Runway 13 at 6:35am.
Flying time was two hours and twenty-one minutes and the pilot did not give us cruising attitude this morning. There were a few bumps on the way out, and for economy cabin, there was a beverage service and continental breakfast were on sale this morning – “A Large croissant, a muffin, and a fruit bowl” for $5. I personally think that a hot breakfast item will be more popular. Anyway, in first class cabin, we got our usual egg or cereal breakfast. Fifty minutes after takeoff, the breakfast tray finally showed up. I was a bit disappointed that a separate beverage service did not start first. But at least, breakfast was on sight. Here is my description of the breakfast
To Begin:
Fresh fruit plate, accompanied by a choice of bagel or muffin
3 slices of cantaloupes, some mango slices, and 2 slices of pineapple – pretty good! Bagel is fine as well, and lite cream cheese is provided.
Main Entrée
Scrambled eggs with home fried potatoes and sausage links
It was the worst breakfast dish that I ever saw in my past few years of flying. The egg were all dried out and tasteless. I was disappointed with this dish and even AA does a better job.
Or
Cereal with banana and milk
After a tea and coffee service, the F/A disappointed into the galley and remained there for the rest of the flight. There was no final beverage service. Descent began at 8:31am and we landed on Runway 30R at 8:06am (MSP is an hour behind NYC), and a NW’s DC-9 landed simultaneously at Runway 30L… what a funny sight! We parked at gate G-19 shortly. Then I found out that my LAX gate was at G-4. It was a fifteen minutes walk. Therefore, I don’t have time to visit the WorldClub at MSP.
NW 319 MSP-LAX Lv0905 Arr1111
Boeing 757-300 N581NW “5801”
G4 was the gate and the flight was pretty full this afternoon. Boarding began at 8:31am and I was excited to board this brand new plane. F class seats were the typical NW domestic first class seats and the seat pitch is 37”. The headroom was a bit taller than the older and smaller –200s. Y class look crowded and I will not like to sit back there. No wonder the –300 is designed for charter airlines. Anyway, two cheerful flight attendants offered us pre-takeoff beverage and hang up jackets. Although boarding was through door 1L, the F/As managed to do all these works. Door was closed four minutes early and we pushed back right on time. We headed to R/W30L and took off at 9:18am. Flying time was three hours and twelve minutes, with a cruising attitude of 31,000ft. Due to light head wind, almost an hour was slashed from the typical flying time.
Unlike my last sector, the F/A pushed out a beverage cart twenty minutes after takeoff, and began an initial service. Y class got a complimentary continental breakfast. And twenty further minutes later, the breakfast trolley made its way down the aisle.
Here is the offering:
To Begin:
Fresh fruit plate, accompanied by a choice of bagel or blueberry muffin and yogurt
2 slices of cantaloupes, 2 orange segments, & 2 strawberries! Blueberry muffin was served, and a container of harvest peach yogurt was also served.
Main Entrée
Cheese Omelet with home fried potatoes and sausage links
Well, it was the exact same breakfast dish, except omelet filled with cheddar cheese was served, instead of dried eggs. It was a bit better.
Or
Cereal with banana and milk
After breakfast, I fell asleep and when I woke up, the F/A was making another beverage service with the snack basket filled with Sprintzels and bags of smoked almonds… yes the almonds made a return on this flight. There were a number of passengers, who were shocked and the F/A said, “Yes, almonds were available.” Of course, by the end of the beverage service, only the sprintzels were left. Descent began at 12:02am, and then we landed on R/W24L at 10:33am (MSP was two hours behind LAX). We were parked at gate 22 shortly after. It was a good flight.
Due to my early arrivals, I got to walk from T2 to T6, and here were the obligatory plane-spotting list.
Varig’s MD-11 PP-VPO
Korean’s Boeing 777 HL7574
Korean’s Boeing 747-400 HL 7473
Japan Airlines’ Boeing 747-400 JA8076
CO 84 LAX-EWR Lv1230 Arr2048
Boeing 737-800 N33266
I went to PC today, which was nice and I got some peanuts and sat by the window. Boarding began at 11:54am, and the obligatory pre-takeoff beverage service was served. F class cabin was filled, as usual. But this aircraft was a bit special, which was equipped with a third lavatory in economy cabin and sky map was available, although I did not get to see it too much. Printed menu was passed out and the door was closed at 12:32pm, and then we pushed back a few minutes later. As we began our taxing, the pilot announced that we were put on a thirty minutes hold due to weather at Newark. We slowly taxied towards the end of runway 25 and headed towards the imperial terminal and stopped there for an hour… We were allowed to turn on our cell phones, and then the pilot announced that our ground hold will extend for forty five minutes. Well, if there was any indicator of how good our flight was, the F/As took their seats and no beverage was offered. Until finally someone asked and a glass of water was passed out. Personally, I thought a really good airline will serve another round of beverage in F, and served some water to Y. The F/As did not even bother to take the after takeoff beverage and entrée orders. Anyway, here was a list of aircrafts spotted!
SQ 744 9V-SMZ
MH 744 9M-MPC
TG 744 HS-TGK
TACA A320 N465TA
NZ 744 with GE ZK-SUI
LA 763 CC-COP
TN 340 Bora Bora F-OJTN
QF 744 VH-OJM RR
QF 744 VH-OEH with GE engines
LH 744 D-ABYU
CA 74E B-2447
KL 74E PH-BFY with www.klm.com sticker
NZ 744 with the Lords of the Ring Livery ZK-NBY
We soon began heading to R/W24L at 1:44pm, and finally we took off at 2pm. Flying time was four hours and forty-nine minutes, with a cruising attitude of 33,000ft. Our routing took us LAX-LAS-DEN-Omaha-Des Moines-Davenport-Chicago-Cleveland-New York. The warning sign began with the “cold” nuts I received. If those remembered, there was once a “warm” nuts theory, which will indicator how your flight will go. My verdict is that “yes, it works.” The cold nuts proved the direction of our flights. Anyway, the BF meals retained its high quality standard. It was not too bad, considered the present economic situation. But I will appreciate if there were more beverage services. Here is the menu transcript:
LAX/PDX/SAN/SEA/SFO/SJC/SNA-EWR 5140W 203C007-2 4/03
To Begin
Warm roasted nuts served with your preferred cocktail or beverage
Not really!
Appetizer
Lobster accompanied by Du Barry sauce
Well, it used to be lobster half, but now we got 1/4 of a lobster… it was still good, but I found the Du Barry sauce a bit too heavy.
Salad
Red oakleaf and romaine lettuce with fresh asparagus, Roma tomato, Kalamata Olives and feta cheese
Offered with your choice of La Flora Italian herb vinaigrette or creamy Thousand Island dressing
The salad was nice, and it was good to have it served separately.
Ciabatta bread, multi-grain and pretzel breadsticks and assorted rolls with butter
Main Courses
Grilled Steak
Grilled Sterling Silver steak tenderloin complemented by peppercorn sauce
White cheddar cheese mashed potatoes with chives
Fine green beans
Buttered carrots
Very good entrée! The steak was not over-cooked and then mashed potatoes…
Herbed Chicken
Breast of chicken presented on a bed of herbed couscous, accented by red wine sauce with mushrooms
Buttered baby carrots
Baby peas with chanterelle mushroom and salsify
Grilled Shrimp
Grilled marinated shrimp enhanced by a shellfish sauce accompanied by a grilled artichoke base filled with creamed spinach, Tomato and fresh basil, Fiesta Rice
Pasta Bowl
Cannelloni pasta filled with ricotta cheese and wild mushrooms, topped with Saute sauce and oven-roasted yellow tomatoes; Freshly grated Parmesan cheese will be offered with your pasta
Dessert
Vanilla Ice cream offered with your choice of toppings
I had a caramel sundae. Good!
The service ended after dinner. One of the F/A headed to the Y cabin, and the other one was reading magazines. I sincerely thought that Gordon must have issued something regarding not serving beverage, when the passengers were not asking. Well, there were some light chops at the end of the flight. Almost forgot – movie for today was “Maid in Manhattan,” and since we were delayed, everyone in Y got complimentary headsets. Thank you, Uncle Gordon for the generosity! Descent began at 6:16pm and we landed on R/W4R at 10pm (EWR was three hours ahead of LAX). The journey came to end soon, with our docking at Gate C-135.
I hope you enjoy this domestic report!
Carfield
Apr 11, 2003, 9:55 pm
#2
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Chicago
Programs: UA 1K, AA Gold
Posts: 3,640
Thanks for the report.
I haven't flown CO much, but I remember when I flew SEA-EWR there were about 4 beverage services in each direction in Y. I asked the F/As about it, and they said it was CO policy to serve drinks once an hour. Wow.
I also get annoyed when F/As decide to ignore the cabin for the last half of the flight -- the worst was an ORD-SEA trip in F where the F/A ignored us for the last 2.5 hours, while Y got a final drink service. I'll downgrade if I get stuck with that purser again.
I haven't flown CO much, but I remember when I flew SEA-EWR there were about 4 beverage services in each direction in Y. I asked the F/As about it, and they said it was CO policy to serve drinks once an hour. Wow.
I also get annoyed when F/As decide to ignore the cabin for the last half of the flight -- the worst was an ORD-SEA trip in F where the F/A ignored us for the last 2.5 hours, while Y got a final drink service. I'll downgrade if I get stuck with that purser again.
Apr 12, 2003, 3:42 pm
#4
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Some big city away from home (expat lifestyle)
Posts: 171
As far as the beverage service goes. On my CO EWR-SEA flight in FC, the F/A was constantly on her heals asking if we needed something to drink or anything. A few days later on SEA-EWR in FC again, it was the total opposite. A horrible breakfast was served and the curtain was closed for the rest of the flight. I had to go ask for a glass of water since she was not responding to call buttons. So I crawled over my sleeping neighbor to get one.
The service is very erratic on CO these days. a few months ago I did do EWR-LAS in coach and they did serve water every hour. Guess it just depends on your crew.
The service is very erratic on CO these days. a few months ago I did do EWR-LAS in coach and they did serve water every hour. Guess it just depends on your crew.
Apr 13, 2003, 11:08 am
#5
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 2,576
It took you 15 minutes to walk down the concourse from G19 to G4? It's not THAT far and there are moving sidewalks! I'd buy 15 minutes from G19 to F14 or C27 - but not just down the hall.. c'mon Carfield! =) One reason for no drinks on the ground in LAX on your CO flight could be because they didn't want to open up the carts if takeoff was imminent. Just like the inevitibility that once the seatbelt sign is off, it gets bumpy, as soon as they opened the carts - they'd get the release from ATC. Something to think about I guess...
Glad you enjoyed at least most of your flights. Nice report. By the way - Almonds are back on all flights! I guess they've ditched the party mix again.
AZJ
[This message has been edited by azj (edited 04-13-2003).]
Glad you enjoyed at least most of your flights. Nice report. By the way - Almonds are back on all flights! I guess they've ditched the party mix again.
AZJ
[This message has been edited by azj (edited 04-13-2003).]
Apr 14, 2003, 12:32 am
#8
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Some big city away from home (expat lifestyle)
Posts: 171
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by NWseaflyer:
SR103-
Is it really such a big deal to get out of your seat, walk into the galley, and ask for a drink?</font>
SR103-
Is it really such a big deal to get out of your seat, walk into the galley, and ask for a drink?</font>
I tend to go to the galley on most of my flights anyway, it’s only a problem when the person sitting next to me prevents me from getting out. Regardless, the point was she should have been coming through the isles occasionally or at least answering the call buttons.