ByrdluvsAWACO

Have your flights been as pleasant as mine have been for your intra west or HP-route flights?

So far this year I've struck gold with upgrades, the FA's are still friendly, and I've yet to experience any of the PHL-style baggage issues. I'm hoping the US-east mindset doesn't infect the western ops for a few years down the road.

LAX1K to AmWest

The A319 or A320 PHX-ONT is always quite nice.. once in a while we get the A320 with all leather seating (nice newer aircraft)... and some of the FA's are young and very "friendly"

PSU Mudder

One more question for the Westies: What has been your opinion of the maintenance of aircraft interiors over the years? The east fleet has gone downhill badly, and up until this point I've chocked it up to two bankruptcies and a merger. But going forward, did the old HP keep the seats repaired and cabins clean, or should I continue to expect more of the same?

stiphy

I'm not a westie but on the HP flights I've taken I've seen some planes that were horrendous. Some of the older Airbii on HP are UNBELIEVABLY dirty, especially in Y. Either that light blue/green color they use REALLY doesn't wear well or they just neglected some of these planes for WAY too long.

Sean

AZ Travels the World

As a "Westie" CP, I've been upgraded 100% of the time this year, even on very popular business routes & flights that were previously very hit-and-miss. It doesn't always happen at the 7-day window, but typically occurs before the Platinum window opens. I'm finding the automatic upgrade system is working better than ever.

While my YTD PQM mileage is quite high, making me high on the list of CP's for upgrade, when looking at the seat maps after I'm upgraded, I'm frequently the only person who has been upgraded. I think the high level elite ranks have thinned out dramatically, unless the system isn't working for a large percentage of elite passengers.

As for in-flight service, I haven't noticed much difference. Typically, FA's are very pleasant and helpful. You always have the extremes on occasion, but, as a rule, they're very solid. I've not seen any infiltration of the negative/cynical/disenfranchised attitude I've found so prevalent in the East (particularly in Envoy to Europe ).

As for aircraft interiors, HP has always done a reasonably good job of keeping aircraft in decent shape and I don't see a change in this area. I've been on several of the older East aircraft and I know what you mean about their condition -- truly appalling. I've never seen anything like that on West aircraft, even the oldest of them.

Edited to add:

As the largest percentage of my travel is still in the West, it's a good thing that my day-to-day experience hasn't changed to a large extent. Given my experiences in the East, and in dealing with DM and website issues, all of which are so consistently poor, I'd be a former US customer at this point, even if it meant flying WN. I don't know how many of you have been able to stick it out for so long, I really don't.

cptango

Other than not getting a predarture drink last night from LAS-PHX they have all gone pretty smooth.

CPTANGO

SS255

I was born an bred an "Eastie," but since I live out West and have flown the West side a few times now since the merger, I must say that I am struck by two big differences:

1) Service on the West side seems to be more consistent.
2) Maybe I've just been lucky, or maybe it's just the desert heat, but the East side seems to be plagued with far more operational issues - even in perfect weather. I don't experience drama when flying on West itins the way I do flying on East itins.

Mrp Alert

I have not been flying US-West that much. My west flight crews have been excellent. My only issue was a few saturdays back when 2 PHX-LAS flights in a row went mechanical with 2+ hour delays each and 1 PHX-LAS flight was cxl.

KevAZ

I have to Ditto AZ Travels the World across the board.

However, I have gone out of my way to only book flights "Operated by America West" since the merger. I got nailed a couple times last year by last minute changes in the routes where I ended up on an East flight (they were awful!), but now religiously check up to the last day before the flight to make sure it hasn't changed.

I would have flown Aeroflot over US pre-merger. After those couple of East flights last year, I would stretch it to choose Sierra Leone Airlines over US East.

PSU Mudder

Well, the comments by the Westies provide some measure of hope for us Easties about how this management team maintains planes. Assuming, of course, that the whole operation doesn't go down the dumper first.