Fly the unfriendly skies
Written: Sep 28 '00 (Updated Oct 19 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Got me to my destination
Cons: Ran out of food, no cookies, unfriendly staff
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| maceyr's Full Review: Northwest Airlines |
Recently, on a trip from Edmonton to Cincinnati, my family and I flew on Northwest Airlines with a stop at Minneapolis/St. Paul. This is not the first time we have flown Northwest but unfortunately, not too many other airlines fly from Edmonton to the States so we were stuck with Northwest.
First off, of the many airlines I've flown, I've found that Northwest employees are pretty much close to being the worst (Air Canada is a close second). They don't seem friendly at all. They hardly ever smile (I sometimes wonder if they smile even if you tickle them). They obviously seem very unhappy at their job and it shows in their service, or lack thereof. My opinion (which applies to everyone who is unhappy at their job) is to leave and find another job that you may enjoy. Why suffer at a job you hate? No one is forcing you to work. I just can't understand that. But it seems like all the unhappy employees of the airline industry tend to work at Northwest. But enough of that. Most airlines, when I take my son onboard, will take the time to ask and explain the usual safety precautions of flying with a baby. Not so with Northwest. They don't care if you don't know the safety precautions. Since I've flown many times with my son, I know but it would be nice if someone did spend the few extra minutes to go over them. At least it may artificially show that they care. But Northwest obviously don't.
My flight from Edmonton to Minneapolis/St. Paul was pretty much like the usual flight, except that they ran out of BOTH BAGELS AND MUFFINS! Now of all the airlines I've flown, I have never been told that both choices of food are out! I can understand that sometimes one of the choices can be out because more people chose one choice over the other, but both? The plane was about 80% full! That was very bad planning and food allocation. I realize that airlines allocate food so as to maximize it for all passengers and also minimize spoilage but to run out of both food choices shows that Northwest was too cheap to fill up the flight adequately. They didn't even have any cookies! Most airlines supply some cookies as snack but Northwest didn't. That is very bad. So, we were left with eating whatever food we were fortunate enough to have packed with us on our carry on baggage. But what bothered me more about the run out of food was that the staff didn't bother to tell us about it, acting as if nothing had happened. If not for the fact that we were hungry and that we noticed that people in front of us were eating that we would not have known. When we asked the stewardess about the food, she plainly stated that they were out of food. No apologies. Just a statement of fact. That is just unacceptable. The flight to Cincinnati from Minneapolis/St. Paul was better although they were out of something too (I can't remember). And coming back on the return trip, we didn't encounter any food shortages (thank God) but we were obviously greeted by the usual unfriendly faces of the Northwest staff.
Another thing we did not like about flying Northwest was the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport as a hub. Nowhere else is it any worse to go through an airport than this one. This airport is designed as an upside down U. Most times, we arrive at one end of the airport and found ourselves scrambling to the other end of the airport to catch the next flight. Why the airport doesn't provide a crosswalk that connects one end to the other without going the entire route from one end to the other, I don't know. It seems that the terminal surrounds the airport parking and I guess it isn't economical to provide a crosswalk over the parking lot (and lose potential kiosks, advertising space, restaurants, etc). One good thing about the airport is that they do provide some moving walkway to speed up the walk from one end of the airport to the other. Hardly much consolation, though when you have to travel a mile to get to your gate.
One last thing about the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport is that there is always a long wait for takeoff. Don't be surprized to wait at least 15 minutes on the ground before your plane takes off the runway. It seems like the air traffic controllers at Minneapolis/St. Paul are more concerned about letting incoming planes land than to allow the outgoing planes to take off. There is nothing more frustrating than watching over 8 planes to land before your plane moves up the line up for take off. I realize that this has nothing to do with Northwest but it just adds to my overall dissatisfaction.
Another note about Northwest was my attempt to call their World Perks' number. I ended up having to make the call several times because the World Perks provided a message saying that they're unable to answer my call and to call them back another time. What? There wasn't any indication of when to call back or anything. So, I just ended up having to keep calling every once in a while. Frustrating.
**********UPDATE:***********
I have recently submitted my epinion and comment to Northwest and got this email reply from Northwest:
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Dear May Cheung,
Thank you for your efforts to inform us of these experiences with running out of food to unfriendly service.
We want travel on Northwest to be pleasant and enjoyable. The numerous elements of air transportation provide us with many potential opportunities to gain the confidence and loyalty of our customers. On behalf of all of our employees, I sincerely apologize for falling short in so many ways.
Correspondence from our passengers often forms the basis for improved operations. Candid feedback like yours enables us to identify specific areas of concern, and I have shared your comments with our director of inflight services. I can assure you that every effort will be made to avoid receiving another letter like the one we earned from you.
We also recognize that our performance has a great impact on our customers' future loyalty. We would not want an unsatisfactory experience to be the last impression of our company, and as tangible evidence of our concern and goodwill, we would like to add 3000 miles to your WorldPerks account. This addition will be reflected on a future mileage summary.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact us. Your continued support means a great deal to Northwest, and I hope that we will have an early opportunity to restore your confidence.
Sincerely,
Daniel J. Tarro
Manager, Customer Relations
Northwest/KLM Airlines
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For my troubles, I get 3,000 measly miles credited to my WorldPerks accounts. I can't do anything with 3000 miles. A one class upgrade for a one way trip costs 5000 miles. This re-iterates my lack of confidence in this airline with regards to their commitment to customer satisfaction. As I said before, unless I need to, I will not fly Northwest again.
Overall, my experience with Northwest has not been very good due to their lack of customer service, unfriendly and uncaring staff and the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport. If at all possible, I wouldn't fly Northwest for the reasons given above. I'm sure there are a lot of happy Northwest travelers out there but so far, my experiences have not been very good.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
maceyr
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Location: Canada
Reviews written: 129
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I hardly have time for Epinions anymore but do try to read and rate.
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