North West Airlines > Reviews > Not All That Bad

Author's product rating:   

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

Advantages:	Cheap flights, on time, food was better than BA
Disadvantages:	DC10's getting old & creak a lot, nealy always full

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The trip in question was Gatwick-Minneapolis-Anchorage & return and I was with a party of 5. After reading many bad reviews here & elsewhere about NWA I was ready for anything when I got to Gatwick.

On arrival at the gate I have to admit the DC10 does look very dated now, although our plane looked in a lot better shape than the one bound for Detroit whick looked like it had recently seen a very severe hailstorm.

Once through the security checks & boarded we found we had a half full flight for the first leg so we had the opportunity to stretch out a bit which is always nice regardless of airline.

The transatlantic crossing was pretty much uneventful, we had the groans & creaks of the aircraft during takeoff but once up to cruising altitude the only annoying thing was the noise of the fuelling of the 2nd engine on the tail which is above the rear cabin.

The meal we were served was hot and quite edible, I had asked for a childs meal for my daughter and this was served first.
Coffee & tea along with alcohol was available regularly. All the stewards/ stewardesses were friendly except one who was somewhat sharp with her responses to questions.

We arrived at Minneapolis on schedule right into the middle of a snowstorm. Baggage had to be collected here for entry into the US, it was then re checked for the second flight (well basically just put back on a conveyor). Because of this we had to go through the security checks again.

The Minneapolis-Anchorage leg of the journey was full with every seat taken (including a sky marshal who took it upon himself to make that fact known). We departed slightly late because the aircraft (Boeing 757) had to be washed down with antifreeze prior to takeoff.

Once airborne we found that we had a very talkative pilot who took it upon himself to explain every little bump and his plans to avoid any others, this was a stark contrast to the DC10 pilot who spoke only once briefly during a 9 hour flight.

We were fed an hour or so into the flight and once again my daughter was handed a childs meal before the main meals were handed out. This meal was also hot & quite edible.

We arrived in Anchorage about 10 minutes behind schedule having made up some time during the 5 hour flight.

Return journeys were very similar to outbound, we were able to book our seats for both legs at Anchorage.

The Anchorage-Minneapolis flight was close to full but once airborne the cabin crew moved a few people around (after asking first) to give everyone as much room as possible. Food this time was breakfast, which ammounted to a box of cereal, a carton of milk a banana and some other bits & pieces, plus orange juice & coffee if required. Another uneventful flight which arrived early.

The Minneapolis-Gatwick flight was full with a lot of people coming back from Disneyland. I don't recall a great deal of this flight, because it was a night flight I tried my best to get a bit of sleep, and spent the rest of the time listening to the onboard radio.

Overall I have no complaints about Northwest, maybe this was a one off but because we used 4 flights with them I thought something bad would have shown up.

The flights were pretty much on time throughout, our baggage arrived intact at the same places we did, and more importantly at the same time.

A note to anyone who hasn't travelled in the US recently is that they expect you to leave your luggage open after check in, my luggage was opened & physically checked at Anchorage, Fairbanks & Barrow. The latter while flying with Alaska Airlines although its the airport security procedure rather than the airlines.