The best care in the air?
Written: Aug 30 '07 (Updated Apr 19 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Yummy cookies. Wide seats.
Cons: Limited routes mean extra layovers. Luggage was delayed.
The Bottom Line: Midwest scores big points for big, roomy seats.
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| knotheadusc's Full Review: Midwest Express |
I recently got to experience flying on Midwest Airlines, mostly courtesy of the U.S. government. What I mean is that my husband, Bill, took lots and lots of TDY (temporary duty yonder) trips on Midwest, racked up lots of frequent flyer points, and used them to score us a free flight to San Antonio. For years, I had heard about how great Midwest was, so I was pretty curious about how I'd like it.
Bill and I booked the trip to San Antonio back in July, while he was still deployed to Iraq. He made all the arrangements, paying full price for his ticket and giving me the freebie for our vacation a couple of weeks ago. Midwest Airlines has hubs in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Kansas City, Missouri. The airline is actually based in Milwaukee. In the course of our trip, I got to see the airports in both cities.
Bill had touted Midwest's so-called "Signature Service". Signature Service means that the the flight will offer an all business class flight, with 2x2 seating, wide leather seats, and fresh baked chocolate chip cookies on all flights scheduled after 10:00am. Bill had talked an awful lot about those cookies and frequently reminisced about Midwest's old standard of service, which included free wine/sparkling wine and meals served on china. Of course it was too good to last, especially in today's post 9/11 climate. Still, I was mostly impressed by my experiences on Midwest.
On our trip to and from San Antonio from the Washington, DC area, I experienced five different flights. Our first flight left the Reagan Airport in DC promptly at 7:05am on August 17th. Bill and I had a very easy time checking in, since our flight was so early. I was happy to sit in the nice wide seats which accommodated my wide butt with ease. I enjoyed the wide center partition on the seats for our Kansas City flight. It was a very comfortable ride, with pleasant flight attendants and a nice, smooth flight to Kansas City, albeit without the famed chocolate chip cookies. But then we landed...
As it turned out, our connection to San Antonio was waiting for us at the gate. We had to rush to make it onboard. As we were heading for the smaller plane that would spirit us to San Antonio, I said to Bill, "I bet our luggage will get left here."
Bill said, "No it won't... We're so close to the other gate. They'll get it on there, no problem."
So we sat down in a more cramped aircraft, albeit still with leather upholstery. We happened to be on the exit row, so we had to give verbal consent to the flight attendant that we would help out should there be an emergency. I was a bit out of sorts on that flight, so the flight attendant had to coax me to say I'd do it. The flight was basically peaceful, but cramped.
As soon as we got off the flight in San Antonio, I had a splitting headache because I hadn't eaten anything. This is not the airline's fault, since food was offered for sale on the flight and we did get granola bars and half cups of soda. But I still didn't take it well when an airline official broke the news that our luggage was delayed. The airline official said it would come on a flight that would arrive several hours later. I believed him, but I seriously needed a shower and a change of clothes... and I was really wanting to get in the whirlpool at our hotel. They offered to have the luggage delivered, but Bill ended up getting it himself after a man at our hotel warned us that the luggage wouldn't show up until late at night.
Traveling back to DC wasn't as traumatic, even though it involved two layovers. We had to wait a bit for the window to open at the San Antonio airport in order to check our luggage. Our ticket agent was the same guy who had told us days before that our luggage got left in Kansas City. And we had the same cramped flight from San Antonio back to Kansas City, only this time, we got the tasty chocolate chip cookies. Everybody got one fresh baked goodie, but the flight was only about 90 minutes or so.
As soon as we landed in Kansas City, we had to run to the next gate to make the connecting flight to Milwaukee. Unfortunately, the connecting flight was in a different part of the Kansas City airport and we ended up having to go through security again. Luckily, this was a very quick process, since the flight to Milwaukee was boarding when we got to the other side of security. I fretted that our luggage would get left again.
We got on the hop to Milwaukee, which was a Signature Service flight. We got nice wide, leather seats and two chocolate chip cookies. The flight was nice and smooth and we had no problems, until we landed. Once again, our flight to DC was right on the heels of our flight from Milwaukee and we had to haul hiney to the gate. The flight to DC was another Signature Service flight... we got off on time and scored two more cookies. My dear health conscious Bill refused his, but I greedily accepted mine. By the time we were on our third flight, I really needed a drink. Bill bought us both little bottles of red wine at $5 a piece. Apparently, because we had wine, we forfeited our right to our free half can of soda. Oh well. The wine wasn't the best I've ever had, but it wasn't bad... and it did make the last leg of our trip more bearable.
One thing to know about buying food or beverages on Midwest Airlines is that they don't accept cash. If you want a meal or beer, wine, or cocktails, you have to pay with a credit card. This was not a problem. By our third flight in the late afternoon, Bill and I were very ready for a drink.
We landed safely in DC at about 6:00pm. I was in a bad mood because I needed food. Luckily, our luggage arrived safely. We picked it up and went on our way.
Generally speaking, I liked my flights on Midwest Airlines. Let's face it. I have a big butt. I appreciate the nice, wide seats and long seatbelts on Midwest Airlines. I had no trouble whatsoever fitting in the seats or the seatbelts. The flights themselves were very comfortable, with the possible exception of the seats in the flights to San Antonio, which were on a smaller airplane. I was a bit disappointed when our luggage was delayed on the flight from Kansas City, but I wasn't surprised. I would have liked it, of course, had we not had to go through security again in Kansas City.
Truth be told, however, I can't overlook the fact that I was very comfortable on the Signature Service flights in and out of the hubs. Generally, the flights got off on time and they were very pleasant. They weren't perfect, but the seats alone made the flights better than any of the few I've taken in the past ten years, even considering the fact that our luggage was delayed.
I would have liked it if we'd had slightly more of a breather between flights, at least so that our luggage could be loaded on our connecting flight to San Antonio. But by and large, despite my crankiness due to low blood sugar, I was impressed by Midwest Airlines. I would definitely fly them again, if we weren't about to move to Germany. But I'm sitting here wishing I could take a Midwest flight to Germany, which should tell you something. At least I could be assured that my seat would be wide enough and comfortable for a seven to eight hour flight.
www.midwestairlines.com
Recommended:
Yes
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