North West Airlines > Reviews > North West Airlines - i reckon its ok

Author's product rating:   

Food Quality	Poor
Customer Service	Friendly and attentive
Punctuality	Good
Space	Fairly Comfortable
Value for Money	Satisfactory

Advantages:	decent leg room, excelent service, easy film viewing
Disadvantages:	not very good food but isn't that the story of all airlines?

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I have been flying with northwest airlines during this whole summer of 2001. I would have liked to use other airlines that i have flyer miles with but northwest was the best option for everything i wanted to do and the only one available.

I'll tell you right now that I always fly economy. I wasn't greatly impressed with northwest airlines but it wasn't total crap either. I was somewhat pleased because i found that i had more room in economy than i am used to. Usually i find myself straining to find a comfortable position but on northwest it wasn't so bad at all! This was wonderful because i took two very long flights this summer. One from Tokyo to New York and one from Detroit to Beijing.

I just got back yesterday on my flight form Detroit to Beijing. It was so much better than I had expected. I was also quite lucky on my flight from Tokyo to New York. Both flights were very long as far as I am concerned and my comfort concerned me. Even though i was traveling with pieces of on-flight luggage i had plenty of leg room.

I traveled with my laptop under the seat in front of me to keep a good eye on it and other things in a backpack in an over head compartment. Even with the laptop taking up leg room i was still able to stretch both legs out to the sides of the laptop without invading anyone else's leg space. This is what i found marvelous. I did not have to keep getting up to stretch my legs and I didn't get off the plane feeling compressed either.

The food isn't the greatest but i am not the authority on plane food as i am an extremely picky eater. So during my most recent flight which was 13 and a half hours long I didn't eat a thing except for some biscuits i had brought with me and a reces piece. I was ever so surprised when a trolley rolled by with heaps of ice-cream sandwiches on it. I guessed they were taking that delicious treat to the first class cabin, but lucky me and the rest of the passengers in economy. The ice-cream sandwiches were for us! I was ecstatic. I had never eaten something so delicious on a flight. I was disappointed that the other food that was offered was more complicated stuff. I never understand why airlines never feed us more simple things that sound less flashy and are tasty such as a simple hamburger or pizza or spaghetti! Surely this would be easy enough to get on board right? Well Northwestern tried to feed me chicken with green curry and some other such things which i would not have. I have never trusted plane food and am yet to find an airline that caters to my desires. I am sure that speaks for many of you.

The service was good though. When i asked for a drink after the meal time was over, a drink was brought immediately. Alternately i was frustrated when the trolley came by and i asked for a coke they filled my cup with ice and poured some coke into it. Because of all that ice i got so so so little coke and i wasn't even given the rest of the can! How stingy can they get!?

Well the airhostesses were extremely kind and very sweet. Always asking if they could bring me something. I asked for some pound cake and i got it. They had gone around the plane finding some extra food servings that had not been taken out of the trolleys and found me some edible food, i might add that they also brought me some extra ice-cream.

At check-in the lady was also extremely friendly. There were some problems with the information in their database so she scurried off to phone immigration. They told her that i was correct in saying that Mexican diplomats do not need a visa to get into china. I always have this problem when going to china. I don’t know why no airlines have this information in their computers. This problem has occurred with british airways as well. She also engaged me a little in conversation while their machine was getting fixed. I guess if you are in the wrong mood you can find this inquisitiveness an annoyance but i found it very sweet of her to show some interest in my travels and where i lived and that sort of thing. I reckon it is so much nicer to check-in with someone who likes to chat and is so open and friendly.

I cannot really compare northwest with other airlines as i flew on them over a year ago and don’t recall much about the flight or the check-in but the purpose of this opinion is to tell you about northwest so that is what i have done. It is not the flashiest airline. You do not have your own television screen on back of the seat in front of you but if you sleep a lot on the plane that won’t matter to you and if you like the in-flight movies that they play then its all good. A plus about their movie system is that they have lots of big screens. Other airlines i have been on have had one screen to entertain 40 or 50 rows but on my flight from Detroit to Beijing, there were big screens every 35 rows or so. Thanks to this I was able to see the screen well from where I was. Not only that but when someone got up and blocked the screen or when the trolley came by and the airhostesses blocked my view, the next screen down was close enough so i could watch that one instead.

Northwest as i have said is not the most luxurious but i found it to have good leg room, a yummy snack, great service and very kind and willing airhostesses. I will rate this airline as good though i think it is somewhere between average and good.