Fly from Milwaukee!
Folks...
I don't know if reasonably priced corporate travel gets better than
this. I am in the midst of a very positive travel experience and just
need to tell some of you who fly a lot about it. I like it when a
company's plan actually works.
Many of you have joked about the wisdom of living in Milwaukee and
working in Chicago. There continue to be stimulating and delightful
things at both ends of my 182 mile (round trip) daily highway
commute. Midwest Express airlines, however, is my newly discovered
compensation for the drive itself.
We booked my current flight to San Francisco only a few days in
advance but were able to get a price which compares favorably with
similar flights from O'Hare to SFO. I'm staying over a Saturday
night, which helps. My E-Ticket entailed waiting perhaps 3 minutes in
line and check-in at Milwaukee's Mitchell Airport was painless - the
terminal is smaller and parking rates much cheaper than O'Hare.
Boarding and take-off on time, and I picked up a complimentary
newspaper at the gate.
From any airline with the name "Express" I expected low cost, no
frills, sardine seating, stale dry food and screaming babies all the
way to California. Not so. The aircraft is an MD-80 (I guess that's
a Boeing 80 now) outfitted with 31 rows of wide leather seats, two
on each side of a wide center aisle, with a six inch armrest
between. So 4 seats where the others put 5 or 6. Lots of legroom for
me even with the laptop case under the seat. The engines are in
back, not on the wing, and I'm in row five, so things are calm. Crew
announced the altitude above which we can operate our laptops and CD
players, and I'm listening to the brand new Acoustic Alchemy CD we
bought last night at their concert in Milwaukee. Very pleasant.
This would be enough for me to recommend the airline, but there's more.
The cabin crew announced breakfast service: a Wisconsin Cheddar
omelet with ham, seasoned roast potatoes, pastries, fruit and
complimentary champagne! It arrives on a tray with cloth place-mat
and napkin, "real china" serving pieces, teeny little glass salt and
pepper shakers and a cute little glass flute for the champagne. There
is enough room to extend my elbows to the side while cutting my ham.
Most of the passengers elected to mix their champagne with orange
juice and make impromptu Mimosa punch. And the food was pretty good!
Second servings were available and there was an alternate cereal and
fruit selection - the fruit was nicely arranged on those. After my
tray was cleared the steward asked if I would like to keep my coffee
and has produced a dainty saucer and small napkin. So my rating here
is very good (for airline food).
I read in airline magazine section about in-flight service. Turns out
that Midwest Express has decided to make their cuisine a selling
point. Their meals feature Wisconsin products including the obvious
dairy and brewery items, but also including those Danish Kringle
pastries from Racine which I like. Conde Naste Traveler readers (it
says) and the Zagat guide rate Midwest Express the best airline.
Champagne is complimentary on the breakfast flights, wine with lunch
and dinner. The slogan is "the best care in the air" and I agree
that's just what I'm getting at the moment. Midwest's route map has
about 25 cities and it's a reasonable alternative for almost all the
big places I might want to go except the northwest.
My taste in the wine can barely tell the difference between a cork
and screw-top, so I've no idea if the champagne is of premium
quality. Yes, it could be nicer in first class... if there was a
first class on this airline. But there isn't. And the cheap seats are
darned good back here today....
Oh yes, there is one screaming baby. Mom and the stew crew are
passing her around up front in the wide seat by the bulkhead.
Very friendly. Maybe the champagne is OK after all.
Somewhere over Colorado, I think.
Doug
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