Monday, September 24, 2007

Qantas to and from US great, American Airlines terrible

I call it when I call it. Qantas have let me down a lot but not this time. My flight and experience with them was great. Started with the new first class lounge which is fantastic. It has a full top class restaurant and has a beautiful, open and relax yet smart layout. The staff were attentive - more so than any other Qantas experience I can mention. They kept coming up to me looking for ways to help out. One small criticism was that there was no free wi-fi. I later found out from a friend that there is but you have to ask for it. This lounge is now on par with the Cathay Pacific Wing lounge in Hong Kong as the best I have been in.

Both flights were as I have been hoping for with Qantas. The VOD worked (finally), the food was served soon after take off and the staff friendly. Only complaint is that while the staff are friendly they still do not match the Cathay and Singapore staff for attentiveness. They continue to disappear for hours during the lights-out period and have to be prompted to water. But huge improvement.

They were however let down by their code share partner American Airlines who continue to serve rubbish food, downgraded me twice because they oversold and then required me to pay for food and were delayed for more than three hours out of Chicago on the way home. This meant that while I made it to my connection in LA (but only because it was also delayed), my luggage did not. I had my luggage arrive this evening (36 hours after me) but one of the bags is now missing a wheel. Is there a line here about how the wheels have fallen off American?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It wouldn't surprise me if Qantas have you on a list or something - the "nice fly list".

Tim Hughes said...

Sadly I suspect I was also on the "best we've got" list for American as well

Anonymous said...

Now, now Tim ... American Airlines website sets the stage for your experience and expectations with their comprehensive "Customer Commitment - Customer Service Plan" available on http://www.aa.com > About Us > Customer Commitment. In part, it reads:

American Airlines and American Eagle are in business to provide safe, dependable, and friendly air transportation to our customers, along with numerous related services. We are dedicated to making every flight you take with us something special. Your safety, comfort, and convenience are our most important concerns.

The "numerous related services" includes selling you food and they added the extra bonus of giving you the opportunity to buy new luggage.

It certainly sounds like your flight was "special" -- not necessarily in a positive kind of way, but memorable nonetheless...