Secret weapon
Today was my first trip on Midwest Airlines, a regional carrier based in Milwaukee. Since I’m spending more than a week in Minnesota, I went for the lowest fare on Hotwire, which waits until you’ve committed to purchasing a ticket to reveal the name of the airline you will be flying for what is often an astonishingly low fare. After a very nice experience recently riding a small Embraer jet with US Airways Express, and after today’s Midwest Airlines trip on an Air Canada jet, I’ve decided that the regional-scale planes with the comfy leather seats are the way to go.
The flight crews for Midwest are very friendly and helpful — they’re Midwestern, after all. But, like many smaller airlines, they seem to be trying harder to build good customer relations. On that front, they do have a secret weapon: warm chocolate chip cookies are served on every single flight. Since I changed planes today, that meant that I got two cookies. How great is that?
I think that helps explain why I was not particularly phased when my flight from Milwaukee departed over an hour late. It was snowing something fierce when we were about to take off, and it took a while for our plane to be cleared for a rather spectacular de-icing and a reassuringly mundane takeoff. Frankly, if I had to fly in 20mph winds and low-visibility snow flurries, I was happy to do it with a regional carrier where they see that sort of thing all the time.
I guess something about melty chocolate chips makes everything copasetic.
As a Canadian all I have to say is welcome to Air Canada. We don’t fly Air Canada unless absolutely necessary.
-B
So I’ve heard (about the airline), but Air Canada does seem to manufacture nice planes. I think the Brazilian Embraers do have a bit more headroom and larger overhead luggage compartments. But I put my trust in our northern neighbors when it comes to something that will fly through a blizzard.
Air Canada may have nice planes but they have the worst customer service both at the counter and on the plane.