Delta vs United vs. ANA: My experience flying from Tokyo-Michigan-Seattle-Tokyo

ANA seems to have recently upgraded their planes...
and they are awesome! 

Recently, I returned to Tokyo from teaching at the International Stunt School out in Seattle Washington. As I always go to Michigan when I return to the states from Tokyo, normally I always fly Delta (straight shot from Narita to Detroit) or United (Narita to Chicago, Chicago to Lansing). As an extra trip out to Seattle this time afforded me the opportunity to use all three airlines in one go however (Narita to Detroit- Delta, Lansing to Seattle- United, and Seattle to Narita, ANA), I thought now might be an interesting chance to compare the three side by side. 

As aforementioned, in order to avoid the hell that is transferring, (and the 100 million mile+ walks you need to get around Chicago O’hare), normally I always just take the straight shot from Tokyo/Narita to Detroit, and then use the Michigan Flyer bus service (which is comfortable, has free wifi, and is only $25) to get where I am going in Michigan. 

I’ve always been happy with Delta in recent years as the seats are spacious enough, I can usually sleep well, and the movie and entertainment options are pretty boss. The only complaint I’ve ever had is that once the airplane is in the air, it’s always friggin cold. (So much in fact that I usually have to bring warm clothes and socks to wear on the plane even in the summer).  

On ANA this was not an issue at all. The cabin temp didn’t change in the least from the moment I got on (pre-take-off)  till the moment I got off. In typical Japanese, detail-oriented fashion, the service was great, (they actually give you picture menus of the food choices) and the plane had a higher-tech feel to it. (I heard that ANA just upgraded to Boeing's newest planes, so that may have something to do with the technical enhancements). In any event, it was pretty damn nice. Instead of having shades that you pull down over the windows, they actually just "turn" dark blue. No damn idea how that works... and you can control the degree of the tint with a key menu under the window. (I’m assuming it is blue because blue lighting is supposed to have a calming effect, and put people in a better mood). The bathrooms were also more spacious than I have seen on other planes, and had cool blue lights as well. 

In terms of movie and entertainment selection though, Delta had them beat, but other than that, I’d say ANA took the cake in the other regards. Seat comfort was more or less the same. (Although ANA might have had a tiny bit more footspace)

As for United, it was fine, and I only had one issue. You have to charge your credit card to access the entertainment and movies. WTF?? Who charges for that?? Granted, it’s direct TV, and seemed pretty awesome, but it also seems kind of asinine to leave travelers without a credit card (or who don’t want to use it) just assed-out in terms of their entertainment. Particularly since it’s totally free everywhere else. It is only a few dollars, but travelers be warned! For the United flights I was only traveling domestically however, so international might be a different story. Still for myself, that was a major major turn-off. Nothing erks me more than when companies try to charge you for services that have always been (or should always be) free. No more United for Chuck, me thinks. If you come with your own movies however, and that doesn't bother you ,then otherwise, it wasn't bad at all. 

How a Taekwondo Chest Protector and 3 Off-duty Delta Employees Saved Me $330

So after finishing up my training at the stunt school in Seattle, I got up at 4:45 in the morning to catch my flight back to Michigan at 7:00am... and ended up missing my flight by 2 minutes due to difficulties in getting through TSA. As I'd never missed a flight before in my life, I went to the counter in a kind of muddled disbelief only to find out that the SeaTac airport has been busy like that all summer and that they recommend arriving two hours early- even just for domestic flights. To make matters worse, every other flight that day was overbooked by 5 or 6 people, and my girlfriend, Mari was flying into Detroit to meet me the next day, (so I would need to be there to drive down and pick her up). Furthermore I had paperwork I had to complete and fax in that day or I would have to start my trademark application process for my business (Phat English) all over again which would cost me thousands of dollars to do. Things were looking grim.

When I spoke to the person behind the counter, they offered me the option of buying a seat on one later flight for $800 or taking my chance that a seat would still be open(which would mean getting on for $50 or so). Finally I chose to latter, and much to my dismay it completely filled up as well. I was still stuck. Finally, I decided not to take any more chances and I bit the bullet, and paid $330 for a ticket for the first available flight the next day (7:00am) that would get me home by 2:13pm. Not really knowing what else to do, I went back to gate I had been at all day, and decided to take a nap (using my taekwondo chest protector as a pillow), get some Korean and Japanese study in, and some writing done. Thankfully, SeaTac had free wireless, so I could keep myself occupied.

About 7 hours in to my time there a random guy walked up to me, and told me that due to the overcrowding, Delta had upgraded a flight at 11:00pm that night to a much bigger plane and that there were now 33 seats available. He approached me because he said the Taekwondo chest protector I had on my backback (which I had brought to the stunt school to use as a spine guard during stairfalls) made me stick out, so he knew I had been there all day. From there, I told him that I appreciated his gesture, but that I had already bought a ticket for the next day. With that, he said, "What? You bought a ticket? You shouldn't have to buy a ticket. Come with me." It turns out he was an off-duty pilot for Delta who was just trying to get on a flight himself. From there, he introduced me to another off-duty employee (who was an engineer) (and who also recognized me because of my chest protector) who was also just trying to get a flight home, and they discussed the situation, and decided that something was a miss. Not being able to figure it out on their own, they called over another off-duty guy (who worked in baggage) and who happened to know the rules backward and forwards. They said:

'Hey Ryan, this guy bought a ticket for tomorrow, and we need to get his money back.'

He responded, "Which guy?" and they pointed at me.
He replied, "Oh yeah! The guy with the funny thing on his back. Yeah, he's been here all day!"
Apparently, according to Ryan, due to their poor customer service rating, Delta had recently enacted a new "Flat Tire" rule, which stated that if a customer was under 10 minutes late for a flight through no fault of their own, they should simply be put on stand-by for the next available flight, and should not have to pay more than $50.

As the new plane made the 11:00 flight "the next available flight", according to the new rule, I was qualified to be on it, and shouldn't have to pay. With the assistance of a new woman who had just started working the counter the 4 of them commenced to spend the next 3 hours not only teaching me all kinds of stuff related to flying airplanes but also arguing back and forth on my behalf with the finance department. It was simply amazing. Finally, they won the argument, and sure enough another Delta employee came up to me, and handed me an envelope with the cost of my ticket enclosed. After that, as a thank you to all of them, I took my new friends (plus another off-duty Delta guy who was trying to get home from his honeymoon) out for beers at my treat. As Karma would have it, almost all of them managed to catch a flight home at the same time as me, so as I got to get in line to catch my flight, I saw them get in line for theirs as well. For a day that started off in peril, it ended up being the best way I could have asked for to end my time in Seattle. Regardless of what any one else may have to say about Delta customer service, this is one flyer, who you will never hear utter a word of complaint. Furthermore, from this point on, anyone who cares to make negative generalizations about Delta employees may wind up finding out what my right foot tastes like.