But shouldn't one expect a little more when flying business class? On a recent flight I experienced bad service and bad — really bad — food in a creaky, dirty plane.
Serves me right for not doing some research. If only I had paid attention to J.D. Powers's North America Airline Satisfaction Study, where US Airways came in near the bottom of the barrel.
Or followed newspaper reports of the unhappy merger between US Airways and America West before choosing this airline to fly.
- Patient, informative, good-humored US Airways ground crew
- Old equipment
- Service-averse flight attendants
- Nauseating business class fare
- Deteriorated interior with cracked and peeling leather seats; plastic covering for overhead light is missing
- Flight steward balked at request for help stowing carry on
- No drink service until dinner, despite two-hour delay inside airport and 35 minutes on the tarmac
- Galley ran out of meal choices. Only option: Old roast beef sandwich with green, iridescent meat
- Filthy tray table in business class with encrusted food (not immediately visible, as table is covered with advertising)
- Only complimentary amenity in business class: small, cheap plastic headphones
- No pre-landing beverage service in business class
- Business class cabin attendants disappeared after meal service and did not reappear until landing.
Aside from having a larger (i.e. adult-sized) seat, I expect a few courtesies — a beverage when I board, a flight attendant who's willing to help me stow my carry on bag, a meal that doesn't threaten to send me to the emergency room.
Unfortunately, none of these were forthcoming on a recent US Airways flight #51 from McCarran Airport in Las Vegas to JFK in New York. The equipment was an Airbus A319 with twelve business class seats.
Cabin stewards who couldn't have been less interested in tending to passengers, nauseating fare, and a plane that had seen better days all made me wonder: If this is their best class of service, what are the conditions in coach? And does US Airways pay any more attention to its fleets' mechanical upkeep and service?
Frankly, I'm not willing to board another US Airways flight and find out. Because as far as I'm concerned, I didn't just sit in business; I got the business.
