Reply #203: It's possible you're lucky enough not to have flown on Northwest and US Airways

[smoogatz]

with much frequency--they're consistently in the bottom tier in customer satisfaction these days. Both truly awful airlines, but Northwest is the only choice we have flying out of MSP, unless we want to make multiple connections and double our travel time to wherever we're going. US Airways is to be avoided at all costs: I only mention it because I had to fly into Philly not long ago for a conference, and didn't know any better. Horrendous service (at the terminal, mostly--the flight crew were fine), never again. You also may not have the pleasure of flying coach with much frequency: I almost always end up stuck in coach--not because I don't have the miles, but because Northworst never lets you use them. Northwest used to be okay, but they've declined precipitously in recent years after several rounds of salary cuts that affected almost all of their customer-oriented staff. They used to be pleasant and helpful Minnesotans who actually went out of their way to help you. Now they're surly and disgruntled. Fine, I don't blame them, but I wish they woudln't take it out on me. And I wish their management would get its head out of its collective ass and listen to its customers, who would flee in droves if they had any other reasonable choice. If I could fly Lufthansa direct from Minneapolis to L.A., I'd do it in a heartbeat, even at twice the price.