There's the Good, Bad, and then Northwest!
Written: Feb 23 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Extensive destinations in Asia, SkyTeam,
Cons: Seats, Food, some staff members, old planes
The Bottom Line: Hope we can get American carriers to provide better service. Keep nagging!
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| can_of_beans's Full Review: Northwest Airlines |
Pretext
Many people wonder why the North American airline industry is failing. The main reason is there are too many airlines offering the same crappy service, ignorant staff and complicated fares. Air travel is supposed to be fast, convenient, and with full service. Not 60 minute wait in a line, rock hard seating with a bag of Lays and a can of Coke, and the new game called "The Adventures of Mr. Smith's missing luggage." Even though I flew NWA only once (and never again!), I'm pretty sure I'm in the same boat with the many other Epinioners denouncing NWA.
My History
Only once. Flight from Seattle to Honolulu to connect with a Japan Airlines flight to Osaka. But once was enough!
Check-in
Okay, it wasn't too bad. Actually, the check-in girl in Seattle was pretty friendly. She did take some time proccessing my ticket (maybe the computer?), but once it was through, she pointed down the time I should proceed to security and time my flight left. Not bad, but I had to wait in line 20 minutes. After flying other airlines, you get to demand better service!
Seating
Uncomfortable! One factor is the planes. NWA actually has the oldest fleet of aircraft in the US industry. Even though NWA (at the time) was starting to refurbish the planes, the plane I was on was not yet renovated. The seat had little pitch and leg room. NWA should consider buying new planes. Some of their DC-9 aircraft are over 30 years old (seats are probably younger though)!
Inflight Crew
Not bad in general. One FA just seemed to be bummed out and a look as if she had better things to do. But most ground staff and the other flight attendents were cheerful enough. They were very helpful as well. Crew do not have to go all out, but as long as they are friendly enough, it makes a big difference in flight. The one that angered me was the one at the lost baggage. More details at other notes!
Entertainment
Large tv at the front. The movie Flipper (at the time) was fairly recent (I didn't really like the film, but hey that ain't the airline's fault!). There were magazines in the front pockets. NWA I hear hasn't installed new personal entertainment centers on each seat in which many airlines are starting to. Some probably won't like that.
Food
Gross! The only thing that wasn't ruined was the coke and the salt and pepper packets! I had a hard and cold sandwich, a browning lettuce salad, and cookies. Recently I here that NWA doesn't even provide free meal service on domestic anymore. Maybe that is for the better! look at http://www.airlinemeals.net for pictures.
Destinations
NWA does a pretty good job at this. They are very extensive in Eastern Asia with a hub in Tokyo. They fly via flights through Tokyo to even smaller airports like Pusan and Fukuoka (I'm not sure if they do to Fukuoka anymore). And with their highly integrated system with KLM, they have many flights to Europe including codeshare flights. I also here they have pretty good latin America flights but not as extensive as lets say AA.
NWA World Perks
From what I here, this is one of the best programs out there. Extensive partners and the World Perks visa supposedly make it very easy for flight awards. Also they recently joined Skyteam for even more earning opportunity. But since I don't intend to fly Northwest, I wouldn't get it.
Fares
Okay for flights to Asia. Upto $200 Canadian less for a Japan flight all NWA from Calgary compared to Air Canada via Vancouver in July and August roundtrip. But elsewhere I here they are pricy. Considering service wise, it evens out. I'd still rather dish out a few more coin for better service.
Other Notes
A first for an American carrier. Even though NWA has a safe record, their ageing fleet does give some slight concern. Some of their DC-9s are over 30 years old. The industry average age for their fleet is 10 years while NWA sits at 18 years!
Also, my baggage incident. Since my flight for NWA and Japan Airlines were separate reservations (my flight on JAL was paid by my grandpa so it was reserved seperately), I had to recheck luggage in Honolulu. NWA lost my bag and I went to the baggage desk. The desk person kept questioning whether I looked hard enough on the conveyor belt. I looked though quite extensively but no bag in sight. So after nagging for a bit, he checked the computer 10 minutes later and finds out it is on another NWA flight from Seattle which left 30 minutes later. I know some airlines do this, but it was a little irritating when the baggage desk personel questioned whether I look at the conveyor belt carefully. At least my JAL flight wasn't for a few hours yet.
Overall
Overall I was displeased with NWA. Liveable but definately not comfortable. It's been a while since I did fly NWA, but from the concensus of other reviewers (2.5 out of 5), NWA is pretty mediocre. But since it is been a while since the flight, I would like a lot of comments on service recently. And if this review needs updating, I will go and reserve my next flight on NWA and report back. Maybe I caught NWA on a bad day.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
can_of_beans
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Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 1 member
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