DELTA +1, US AIRWAYS -1

Delta +1

Recently, I signed up for the SPG / Delta Crossover Awards.

I had a trip to Atlanta, a Delta hub, so it was timely that they announced this new partnership.

What do you get? SPG Platinum and Gold members get Starpoints for Delta flight purchases, and elite benefits on Delta, such as priority check-in, priority boarding, and first checked bag free. Skymiles members earn miles for hotel spend as well as SPG benefits at Starwood hotels, such as late check-out, complimentary in-room internet, and upgrades when available.  I highly recommend signing up for it. (see link above).

My experience on Delta? I am SPG Platinum, and when I got to the airport, I went through the priority line both at security and at the gate. And on my flight back from Atlanta, I got upgraded to business. Score! My flight was delayed 40 minutes, but the upgrade and the service was made up for it. Our flight attendant was incredibly sweet and worked really quickly. She was touched by the volunteers on our plane who just finished building an orphanage in Honduras and even though she was a business class flight attendant, she tried her best to help these folks with their bags. Overall, I had a great experience. This could really get me to take more Delta flights, and I'm happy to start accruing more miles with Sky Team, not just on Star Alliance, to give me more flexibility. Smart move, Delta. Smart.

US Airways -1

My experience a few days earlier to Charleston was the opposite of the above.

My US Airways flight was out of the worst gate in LGA, attended by the worst agents. An agent delivered the bad news that our flight was delayed because of a mechanical issue that they were fixing. However, when anyone approached the gate to ask questions, he wouldn't look at anyone in the eye, spoke in a condescending manner, and every person turned around after a brief dialogue with him with enraged. That included me. He called passengers headed to Detroit on a connection, and called my last name. So naturally, I went up to the gate but when he discovered that I wasn't headed to Detroit, he said, "If you're not going to Detroit, I'm not interested in talking to you." There could be more than one person with the same last name on a plane. Do you have to be so rude?

An hour later, they finally send us to the Customer Service desk to reroute our flights. Once we got to the desk, the employees there turned us back around saying that our plane was now fixed and was going to fly. So we all ran back to the gate. Because one agent was using the computer, a second agent said she couldn't scan my mobile device, so I had to wait until a third agent got off the phone to issue me a paper ticket. Then they yelled at my sister because she started heading to the airplane even though she had already scanned her paper ticket. They got her confused with me. But no need to scold us.

So much for getting us on the plane finally. We didn't take off for another 30 minutes because of a delay, so we all missed our connecting flights anyway. And we wasted precious several hours of our Saturday eating Chick-fil-a at the Philadelphia airport instead of a delicious low-country lunch in Charleston. One thing that I need to give them credit for is having new flights ready for all of us when we landed. However, those employees who sent us back to the gate made a mistake. They should have just rerouted us when we asked them to. Would have saved us a flight and precious time. Would have saved them the shame of poor customer service, revealing how people aren't really using their brains much to add efficiency to their operations. When we asked where we could file a complaint, they gave us an address... a physical address to mail our complaint. Seriously?

What's even worse for US Airways is that during the several hours I was aggravated by US Airways' lack of customer service, I thought of all of the other times I was unhappy with US Airways, even if it wasn't necessarily their fault. Like the time when I was stuck in Birmingham because of a thunderstorm. They delayed, delayed, delayed, and finally canceled my flight sending me back to my hotel after several unproductive and miserable hours at the airport. My flight to Roanoke was on the loudest propeller plane I've ever been on. . I also hate the fact that these small flights require me to gate check my bag every single time. If that wasn't enough, I also hate having to walk outside to the plane on windy, rainy, and frigid days.

Focus on your customer service, US Airways. Hire people who like to help people to do customer service work, and make sure that your agents use their brain.

Bottom line. These two experiences back to back might make me choose Delta over US Airways because they fly to a lot of the same places in the south. I will likely have to fly US Airways sometimes, but when I have a choice, I might just go with Delta.