Aussie, Aussie, Aussie....or U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A?

Ok, so in last week’s Cafe I said that after my relatively enjoyable A380 experience on Qantas, I wasn’t even going to bother evaluating the forthcoming US domestic flight as I had assumed it would be “completely awful.” Well, I was wrong.

It was worse.

But I’m not going to use this week’s Cafe (writing it as I am during a lovely 4-hour layover in LAX, but thankfully the relatively new Qantas lounge is my refuge rather than having to deal with the atrocious American Airlines “Admirals” Club...which should be court-martialled) as a rehash of American Airlines’ tiny seats, tiny flop-down TV screens, tiny inventory of pay-for-the-privilege onboard food (they ran out) or apparently tiny baggage staff at O’Hare (took 40 minutes to get my bags.)

Rather, I’d like to use this opportunity to comment on what I see are the glaring differences between flying in the Australasian region, and flying in the USA. You may think that this would be quite a simple exercise (Australasia good, USA bad.) Not so fast, person squished into seat 23B - which on some American planes is actually an aisle seat thanks to a silly 2-3 configuration which I thought is what I was booked into but on flight AA1006 from LAX-ORD actually is a B737 which makes 23B a middle and therefore why didn’t American move me to an aisle seat as I am an Emerald One World frequent flier for the love of all things human...don’t you even care about your most loyal customers?

But I digress.

My thoughts and ruminations on the differences – note not just the good vs. the bad – of flying in the USA vs. Australasia:

It’s better in Australasia because:

- Many flights – even domestic Australian flights - will find you on wide-body planes. I don’t care if the Qantas CityFlyers from SYD-MEL are on thousand-year-old B767’s, it beats a single-aisle plane any day of the week. And flying an A330 across Australia from Sydney to Perth is like a Rolls Royce compared to the Yugo-like B757’s I usually get flying from Philadelphia to Los Angeles in the US. Opinion: the B757 is the most diabolical aircraft on the planet. Discuss.

- People. Or rather, a lack thereof. Barring a domestic Chinese flight, or trying to get a bowl of cereal at 8am or a sandwich at 5pm in any Qantas Club in Australia, most of the time it just seems like flying around Australia and Asia seems less crowded. Maybe it’s because the airports are bigger, or the planes are bigger, or most likely its because the USA is still by far the largest travel market in the world. Whatever the reason, I just think that travelling in this part of the world gives you room to breathe. Dissenting opinions, anyone?

- Lounges that actually are relaxing, productive and inviting, rather than justifying their existence by basically having an ambiance that says “well at least you’re not out in the main terminal.” Frankly, many US airport terminals loaded with fast-food outlets are actually more welcoming than the airline lounges.

- Cross-alliance frequent fliers matter. I never joined their frequent flier program, but Cathay Pacific ALWAYS acknowledged my OneWorld status and made sure I had the seat I wanted and/or offered upgrades. Hey American – please remember you are part of the OneWorld Alliance, now can my Emerald status please allow me into this lounge I don’t want to come into anyway?

It’s better in the USA because:

- Choice. Yes, it’s often the best of a bad lot, but let’s face it – on any given route you likely have a dizzying array of airline choices. And if the US carriers ever get their act back together and sort out where they are good and where they are not, a plethora of competitive options will always be a good thing for travellers.

- Decent carry-on food options in the terminal. Now, you may argue that this is just a by-product of the removal of free food on flights, but at the end of the day, if I can get a huge roast turkey sandwich with all the fixings which was made fresh by Chili’s just an hour ago, pop it into my carry-on, and nosh on it during the flight, that’s not a bad thing. And although I still appreciate a free beer on Qantas CityFlyer flights between 4-7pm, no amount of Qantas’ “bento boxes” they’re passing off as onboard meals these days is going to get me to give up my Chili’s roast turkey sandwich. Mmmmm.....

- Camaraderie. It’s amazing – back when airlines in the US started charging for bags, all the travel blogs and news articles were speaking of “air rage” and “passengers bills of rights” to deal with all the headaches resulting from people bringing on board their bags rather than checking them. A couple of overstuffed overhead bin years later, and I am seeing quite an interesting development – what I’m calling the “Air Team” mentality. It now seems as though everyone dealing with the drudgery of US air travel now is realising everyone’s in this mess together, and the cooperation and team work I saw this past week was quite interesting. I’m talking fire bucket brigade-type operations where the guy in 7D has to put his laptop bag back by 27D due to no more space above his seat, and people were passing his bag down the aisle to the flight attendant in back. When we landed, process reversed and voila- by the time the door opened Mr. 7D had his bag and we all zipped off. Beautiful.

- Politeness. Sorry Aussies, but when it comes to apologising for bumping your head with a laptop bag while squeezing down a tight aisle, Americans come up trumps with politeness. I got smacked on my Qantas flight with such a bag and although the guy did turn around to see what got in his bag’s way, no acknowledgement of the shiner on my head was forthcoming. When stuck in my middle seat from LAX-ORD, the guy in the middle seat in front of me actually turned around and ASKED ME if I minded if he put his seat back a bit. Why not at all my good man, go right ahead. See how easy that is?

Anyway, enough of my drabbling on...did I mention I have a 4-hour layover? So, Cafe regulars, what do you think? Who’s got the better flying environment? And what are your observations about what’s good and what’s bad about air travel in your parts of the world? Let’s hear it. And I’ll see you in Sydney after I land in what seems to be about 5 days from now....