No I haven’t gone into early blogger-retirement (YET!), I’ve just been jet-setting back to the the good old US of A. I suddenly found that I had a ticket that needed to be used or would be lost and so I changed some things around and boarded Qatar Airways on my way to NYC via Doha.
As a quick aside, I used to think it was sort of pretentious to debate the merits of different airlines sort like a snobby way of saying how worldly you are….but I suppose that was because I’m relatively petite – so leg room has never been a serious issue for me – and this was before I spent quite so much time on planes – as travelling 24 hours to somewhere tends to affect your judgement. Generally though, I’m very happy saving money by using a bargain carrier to do a 1 to 4 hour hop to some vacation destination knowing that I can save my money for fun things when I get there – food, drinks, shopping, activities. Plus I’m an American so I’ve been long exposed to an airline system whereby I expect old planes and shoddy service. But when it comes to the long-haul flights, I’ve decided that it most certainly matters what carrier you choose and now I’m a happy participant when discussing airline options with shorter routes, more comfortable seats, and less egregious food.
Qatar Airways service and comfort were completely top notch. Unfortunately because I changed my ticket so late, I ended up with a 10 hour lay-over in Doha. The last time we were through Doha, I left the airport and visited the Souk and it was actually really nice but this time I was by myself and not into it so instead of paying for a visa, I paid $40 USD for entrance to the Oryx Lounge. They have drinks (alcoholic and non) and snacks and some comfortable seats and loungers. They also have shower facilities most of the time, but unfortunately they happened to be under renovation while I was there. It was definitely the best way I could have spent my layover and I was glad I did it and equally glad once it was time to get the show on the road and get to NYC!! My second leg – the longer one and about 13 hours – I got the exit row and it was golden. I watched movies, ate decent food, had an eye mask and ear plugs from their kit when I wanted to sleep – I’m easy to please.
Oryx Lounge
My stay in the US was over before I knew it and I was boarding a United Airlines flight which connected in Beijing where an Air China flight took me the rest of the way. Because of past experience I knew I was setting myself up for unpleasantness but I booked with miles and I had decided to suck it up and just do it. Poor choice. United was atrocious – disgruntled flight attendants, disgusting food, and planes that made me nervous that we wouldn’t make it to our destination. We sat on the runway for an hour++ before the pilot announced that we were going to take off even though the cabin lights and in-flight entertainment systems weren’t working. WHAT??! I half expected him to add that the landing gear was a bit rusty. Anyway I made it – a bit shell shocked – but VERY happy to be off the planes and back at Changi Airport.
My experience reminded me of a pretty funny, REAL email that my husband once sent to United’s Customer Service to let them know how he felt about their service. I’m sharing a selection below….not surprisingly they didn’t respond. Enjoy! =)
“United continues to set the benchmark for contempt of your customers. The service is a joke, the quality of the planes and staff on them is a joke, and the frequent flyer program is the biggest joke of all. I would suggest that every single person working at United be required to ride a real airline at least once to see that the ordeal of flying need not be a truly, truly unpleasant experience. Singapore Airlines, Emirates, BA, Thai Airlines…all of these would absolutely embarrass your once almost-decent airlines. Another thing: tell someone to remove that condescending, patronizing, disdainful preflight video memo from your CEO. The MBA-speak bullshit about “synergy” with your “partners at Continental” and your “efforts to improve” makes me want to vomit every time I have to sit through the indignity of it.
expatopia 