One airline I had no status on, one airline I did have status on, a third I had status on through airline number 2 since airline number 3 and airline number 2 are in the same alliance. Guess which travel experience was best?
Airline number 1.
Airline number 1 was AirTran, the airline I took between Baltimore and Portland to join my family from my brother's graduation, picked mainly because even combined with all the expected fees of checked luggage and necessary shuttle transport to the airport, the one-way fare was less than half that of the one way fare between National (I refuse to call it Reagan) or Dulles and Portland. SuperShuttle was prompt picking me up at the crack of dawn from my dorm, and it was an absolutely beautiful day with traffic not being an issue on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway (which is what I feared because it was Preakness). Having to check two bags at the counter, I was prepared to shell out around 50 bucks--but the check-in lady offered me an upgrade. I initially declined, thinking this was just a way for AirTran to get more money out of me, but she pointed out that I would actually save two bucks by upgrading, and get a better seat. I know it was only two bucks, but its the concept--an airline trying to save you money!--I looked like your average student traveller, and she could have potentially saved the upgrade offer for someone more likely to be a repeat customer, but she didn't, and I got lucky. In general, the whole travel experience that day was actually quite nice (except for the whole factor of flying up to Maine--"everywhere else is sunny, but you're going to Portland!") and I wouldn't hesitate to fly AirTran again.
Airline #2 was American from Boston to DFW. American is barely eking it out in the US domestic market, and have cut back quite a bit on their point to point offerings. While every other major US airline, except for US Airways, is trying to reimagine its identity and product, American's just seems stale by comparison. It doesn't help that they manage to make it difficult for their best customers--at Logan, no signage indicating where "priority access" check-in was, and the whole airport set-up was just a mess. Now, some would argue that they should reserve status based only on miles flown, and not based on usage of a mileage-linked credit card, but that ignores a crucial point: these credit card deals bring in a reliable stream of revenue to the airlines--the credit card companies buy the miles from the airlines to offer them to their customers. Realistically, as the mileage programs evolve, you'll see more of a linkage between fare paid and mileage traveled in order for the airlines to recognize and reward their best customers.
Airline#3 was American and JAL from DFW to Bangkok. Of course, I was running a little bit late, and needed to check bags, and had to use one of the airline counters. American, though, has eliminated any service counters from the lower half of Terminal D except self-service--with no exterior signage to indicate this. Which meant schlepping my bags halfway through the terminal to get to a full service desk. At this point, American isn't even trying--I mean, the guy who helped me out was nice enough, but it would have been nicer if I could have just gone straight from the car to the check-in desk, and not have to have backtrack. DFW's AA's largest hub, so it's not like they have any shortage of staff lying around. It didn't help that because I didn't have priority access on my boarding pass, the guy at security initially refused to let me use the priority line even though I showed him my status card that gave me the privilege of doing so. He relents, and I make myself look like a fool when my empty water bottle falls out of my backpack, making all sorts of noise.
The flight from DFW to SFO was nice enough, and was relatively scenic, even if I was too busy working on school-related stuff to notice. Flew right over the grand canyon, las vegas, nevada, the Sierra Nevadas, Yosemite, and Mono Lake before landing over the bay in San Francisco. Flying into California in the daylight never gets old because of how spectacular the landscape of the American West is, with the mountains serving as visual gate signifying the beginning of California. It was simply a glorious, beautiful day in the Bay area, and its too bad I didn't have the chance to enjoy it.
The highlight or, should I say, lowlight, of the flight was not the constantly screaming toddler that didn't stop even after we landed and were getting off the plane, but one of the flight attendants making a rather politically incorrect comment revealing the 757's nickname among AA flight attendants--not in the galley, but while doing the drink service in front of other customers. Just another reason why maybe a trip to Chapter 11 might do AA some good--the product is stale and there's no sense of innovation at all by the airline. I'd much rather them try and experiment with certain offerings to differentiate themselves from the rest of the majors, especially with the rise of new pseudo-LCC's like JetBlue and Virgin America, that sell you both on low fares and in flight experience.
SFO's a nice airport--its just a royal pain to transfer with no airside intraterminal transport, and AA's recent terminal transfer has made a long walk to the international terminal to connect with its oneworld partners even longer. I'm not even sure there is any intraterminal transport.
And for the second time that day, I was forced to get body-scanned by the TSA. At least the guy examining my ID was doing his job though--commenting that my hair color had changed and asked me for my last name. Concessions and the like post security in the international terminal are also relatively bare and uninspiring, but at least the floors were clean (or at least clean enough to sit on) and I was able to sit on the floor and recharge my laptop while abusing their free wifi--which they claimed only lasted for 45 minutes, but only reset after that time period--and I actually got some work done!
The JAL staff were nice enough--as I wanted to change my seat from a window to the aisle, since I figured I'd be trying to get some work done, and wanted to be awake. Not only did I get a window, I also got an exit row window which sounded great.... until I boarded the 777 and discovered that the "window" was the cabin wall (is a window seat really a window when there isn't one next to the seat?)
The windowless window seat was an omen of things to come on this flight--things that on paper sounded great, but in reality, failed to deliver, or had some negative side effect. Nothing service-wise or non-safety related seemed to go right on this flight:
--some of the promised extra legroom was hampered by the inward bulk of the cabin door and my feet had to be slanted
--the advertised seat power outlet for me to plug my laptop into did not exist
--unlike most flights, where the cabin is usually cool, this was easily the hottest I'd ever been on a flight--it felt like I was stuck sitting in my late grandfather's living room for eight hours, with no escape, and I sweated more than I ever have before on a plane
--JAL has AVOD--not as great as Cathay Pacific's, but still AVOD! Except my screen, because of the exit row, was stuck in the armrest area, and was impossible to get out!
--because I was next to the galley I got my first choice of meal! Except that the meal service started just as I started to get into a rhythm on write-on work...and I had to put my laptop away. And once I was finished, the meal sat there, and sat there, and sat there...it easily took an hour after service was started for them pickup the long finished meal trays---and since I was unable to use my personal AVOD, I effectively sat there for an hour with a useless tray on my tray table--bored out of my mind and sweating
--booze on JAL is free! Except in my case, they gave me enough to knock me out twice (even though i only asked for one drink with dinner), and render me well-rested.
--Except I didn't want to rest on this flight--I wanted to get work done, and get my body adjusted to the time--I only wanted to briefly nap. Whoops!
JAL has just come out of bankruptcy, and that is clear from the shape of their cabin--it looked comparable in wear and tear to the AA757 I had just come off of--and their IFE product. Just about the only thing that separates them from a US carrier at this point is that their flight attendants were nicer, and the booze was free.
At least the takeoff and landing camera underneat the cockpit was cool--giving a pilot's view of the approach and take-off.
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