Also, from an operations perspective, Southwest has slated an average amount of time for its flight with 2 hours and 10 minutes to 2 hours and 30 minutes eastbound.  Westbound they’ve blocked 2 hrs 20 minutes to 3 hours and 0 minutes.  The hour flight is for the 5:30 PM westbound departure.  That gives them plenty of time to remain on schedule.

1. A friend of mine flew ORD to EWR on Continental.  The plane pulled up to the gate on time at EWR.  Everyone got up and removed their luggage from the overhead bins.  One problem: The Jetway wasn’t working.  This happens and is usually fixed relatively easily.  But, not this time.  After a hour, the pilot decided it wasn’t ever going to work and had everyone restore luggage and buckle up to move gates.

Is this really Continental’s fault?  No, it is a EWR problem.  But, this likely delayed a flight and pissed off a bunch of otherwise happy customers.  In a tough economy these "annoyances" are hard to swallow.

2.  I flew PIT-ORD-SEA last evening.  The ORD-SEA flight boarded late, the as we were getting on the pilot came on and let us know we would be landing 30 minutes early due to smoother than usual operations at ORD and favorable winds.  Then, almost instantaneously the 757 developed two minor but annoying mechanical problems.  A seat in row 30 broke on an oversold flight.  At the same time, the engine bleed that controlled the cabin’s air flow stopped working.  In sum, a 757 full of people sat in heat for 1 hour to fix a seat.  Various questions, such as, if the seat was broken, why let us board?  And, why don’t we just bump a passenger to the 8 PM flight and move on? Either way, we waited both out and lost 1 hour.  It was annoying, but the experienced flight attendants handled it well and provided free drinks to those who ordered liquor.

Long story short this is a win both from a job and customer service perspective.

(Disclaimer: Just to be clear, I am not against offshoring.  I do have issues with declining customer service.)

Update: I’ve been reading conflicting reports that United’s actual plan is to just streamline complaints via email.  While it makes sense from a cost perspective, it is not really a win for the customers.

Regardless,  as WiFi makes it on to the airplane it is time to say goodbye to the last place where you email can’t reach out.  Transcon flights will no longer be mini-vacations from email.

Last week I purchased and flew a segment on United.  In both the purchase and check-in stages the experience was less than satisfactory.  When I was buying the ticket online, I was presented with the option to upgrade to First Class on my 1 hour flight for $80.  I had no interest in this and declined the option.  However, the “Decline” button on the web-page wasn’t loading properly so the page froze.  I was purchasing a held ticket and midnight passed as a result of the first class offer.  I could no longer access the itinerary so I had to call in and speak to a few people.  The issue was resolved but I had to spend a half hour on the phone from midnight to 12:30 talking to United reps.

Then, when I checked in at the airport, I was provided the same option for upgrading to First Class.  I again declined this, after which the machine wanted to know if an economy plus upgrade was more suitable.  The chances of receiving an E+ seat were already very high as all the economy seats had been assigned, so I again declined.  Then, United was curious if I was interested in the Miles accelerator option.  I declined and finally got my boarding pass.

Sure, I only had to answer a few questions.  But, as a paying passenger, I knew I just wanted my boarding pass.  At least allow me to pre-program my Mileage Plus account so that the machine is aware that I am not interested in those offers.

It is nice to have extra legroom, but I’m not sure how giving United more cash to double my mileage accrual really “enhances” my flight experience.

Does this really influence any passengers? I’m not sure, but compare it to United’s Suite Dreams  and it is certainly interesting to see how the Star Alliance powerhouses see themselves.