I flew on Northwest once, about two years ago from Indianapolis to Milwaukee to Boston for a christening, since I'm my brother's son's godfather. No problems other than noticing that about half of the population of Milwaukee has the same general build as a Gamorrean Guard from Return of the Jedi, I've never seen such enormous people before... made all Samoans look like Kate Moss... so I was kinda nervous as I may have appeared to be a snack to the behemoths...Four hour delay on the way back, and a part had fallen off of the plane or something when we got to Milwaukee, so I must concur with the general low reputation of the airline.

I have flown Northwest precisely once, and while my experience does not match the horror show recounted by Lena, it was bad enough, and came complete with surly flight attendants, lousy food, untoward delays and massively overbooked flight. It may not be the worst North American airline (my vote is still with Continental for that) but its making a run at the title.

There I was, relaxing in my relatively comfortable window seat and listening to my iPod on my way home from London while enjoying the view of the Atlantic ocean, when my view was interrupted by a stream of brown liquid that appeared to be coming off the wing. I'm not a particularly nervous flyer (more of a puppy with a window, really :P) so I observed with interest for a few moments. I pointed it out to the woman next to me after it continued and she called the flight attendant, much more alarmed than I. The flight attendant was dismissive and avoided the question despite persistence from my seatmate.

About 10 minutes later, the pilot cut through over the PA. Expecting a simple flight update, I didn't pay much attention until I heard him mention dumping fuel. It turns out that one of the three hydraulic systems failed on the plane and we were turning back. The brown stream of liquid I'd seen was the aforementioned fuel being offloaded into the ocean (I can't imagine this practice is particularly good for marine life).

As we neared London/Gatwick airport, the pilot continuously gained altitude to try to slow the plane before attempting a manual landing. In doing so, he failed to take into consideration the length of runway needed to accomplish a normal landing. A nice whiplash inducing bounce combined with just barely enough room on the runway to stop made for a particularly jarring return to London.

Following the awful landing, we were required to sit on the plane for about 2 hours while the mechanics attempted to fix the problem. This was apparently impossible, and we deboarded. Time now was about 12 noon. We had to run around and collect our luggage, and got a nice tour of the entire airport as we scrambled around. From there we were told to get in line at the customer service desk for meal reimbursement tickets for food in the airport. This was absolutely delightful considering that the plane was a 747 with over 200 passengers, and one attendant was handling each individually. The meal coupons were about enough money to cover fast food or booze (~$6...I opted for liquor). After collecting the vouchers we were told to await an announcement at 6pm. Needless to say...I was so excited to spend 6 hours in an airport.

We were given an envelope only after asking repeatedly if we were going to be reimbursed for the inconvenience. This included a 5 minute phone card that was not activated so proved useless, and the choice of either a free drink on the flight, free headset on the flight, or 1000 worldperks miles which, if you read about the frequent flyer program, amounts to almost nothing. We asked if we could be switched to a direct flight because we were going to miss out layover. No deal...not even so much as an attempt to accommodate our request. The announcement finally came at 7, not 6, and we were bused to an area hotel (nowhere near transit back into London proper), which was actually very nice, but they weren't informed we were coming until we were in transit, so checking in took another hour. By the time we get settled, they had stopped serving dinner (In retrospect my choice of alcohol over lunch was not the best idea :P).

The next morning, we had about an hour delay to board, a few gate changes, and we were shuttled to the plane and boarded from the ground. Apparently they forgot about the two handicapped people on the flight in wheelchairs who couldn't use stairs. I have no idea whether or not they even made it on the plane.

I settled back, and picked up the flight magazine, jokingly saying I was going to check and see if we were on the same plane [I had noted a half-complete crossword puzzle in my magazine the day before]. Surprise...it was. Nothing like that to put me at ease.

It started to rain, and because of the delays in boarding, we lost our takeoff position....another hour on the ground and finally we were off. There weren't enough headsets to go around, so people were pressured not to take them.

We landed...and prepared to figure out what to do about our missed layover. We ended up waiting 6 hours to get booked on a flight back home...better than we thought we'd do on a weekday evening after a holiday.

This, in combination with my previous experiences with the Northwest Airlines including generally bad service, extreme delays, extreme levels of overbooking with high pressure demands for "volunteers", and tales of woe from a close friend who missed not one connection, but 3 to India which resulted in missing half a visit home and a lost hotel booking guarantees that I'll never fly the Northwest again.

We recently travled via Northwest Airlines. I have never seen such unfriendly airline employees on board a flight as they were. The steward raised his voice at passengers when he asked them what beverage they wanted. He told them.."Wait! I'll get to you in a minute..I have others to serve". Northwest needs to be way more stringent on who they hire. It's obvious some of their employees don't know how to work with the public.

This airline is good also, although the seats could be better.

Do not ever fly Northwest if you can possibly avoid it.

I have flown Northwest in the past year four times (I usually try to avoid them). I am four for four with a) getting in HOURS AND HOURS past due - getting bumped twice- once with a confirmed seat and boarding pass b) lost luggage and c) the world's rudest and most self-entitled and least helpful personnel.

Do yourself a favor... their seats may be cheap but that is the only way they can get anyone to fly their airline.

The customer service is abysmal; I've dealt with 6 people regarding my last reservation, and only one was both polite and truthful.  The overall tone was dismissive and offensive; two of the people I dealt with were either lying or incompetent.  They made me cry.  Really.

I have tried again and again to get a flight from HSV to HNL with my daughter using WorldPerks points, but everytime we find a decent flight, it won't let us use our separate points. We tried to complain to the company, but all we get are obviously pre-made electronic answeres (even though they claim to have actual people read the complaints and comments) that are not helpful AT ALL. They used to be a good company a looong time ago, but now they're just plain useless, unless you're flying to some asian country.

I checked in online the day before my flight and saw that some seats were available for an additional fee. They were labeled Coach Choice, carrying the distinct implication that they were somehow better than the other seats. The graphic showed them as behind a handicapped seat so I thought they'd have more legroom or maybe even no seat in front of them. So I paid the $20 for the "upgrade" and was extremely upset to find that the seat I had paid extra for was ABSOLUTELY INDISTINGUISHABLE from any of the other seats! Same seat, same tiny allotment of legroom, same everything. This is a despicable way to make extra money, implying that some seats are better and charging extra for the same crappy seats everyone else gets for no extra charge. NWA is shamelessly scamming consumers, DO NOT FLY NWA!!

There are many reasons why they should be called NorthWORST instead!!!

Horrible service. Canceled our flight at the last minute and offered the passengers no assistance and no alternative solution. They flat refused to work with other airlines to reschedule our tickets. Never trust Northwest.

not surprised at all to find out that other raters don't like northjest. every third time i flew them they lost my luggage, and the flight attendants had the dispositions of prison guards.

Northwest sucks and this is from experience. Planes are old--it's like a Greyhound bus w/wings.  They always cancel their flights and don't give you complimentary snacks. $5 for a snackpack...brother!

I flew to China (about a 24 hour flight) with NW and I thought they were pretty good. The Flight Attendants were nice and helpful (especially the asian FA's). We boarded on time and the pilot also got us there on time. FA's are always offering us free drinks (alcohol cost 5 bucks) and we got free blankets and pillows. Downside is that their planes are still kind of old and seats are not that comfortable for international flights. Food is decent (you can't expect gourmet food from airlines unless you fly first class) and the movies/entertainments are bland because only kids would enjoy them. I would give them 5 stars if they update their aircrafts and offer better entertainment but their service is superb.

Absolutely horrible customer service, over priced tickets and terrible seats.

Be wary of travel vouchers offered for voluntarily getting off of an overbooked or overweight flight. When they say that seats are limited, they mean impossible to find. That is especially true if you are fly in or out of a busy airport such as Orlando or Phoenix.

HOW CAN ANY CUSTOMER OF NWA EXPECT TO GET GOOD SERVICE FROM EMPLOYEES WHEN THE NWA BIG WIGS TREAT THEM LIKE CRAP-OLA. This airline should go out of businees and be used as an example of what not to do to make your company profitable, layoff and then big raises for head man. BOOO!!!

This has to be the worst big airline flying. The ticket agents are generally anti-customer and NWA ability to manage weather delays and baggage changes is terrible. If you have to fly Northwest factor in flight delays and baggage screw-ups. Basically, Northwest is not worth the price. No wonder they are bankrupt!

Pros: modern Detroit hub and user-friendly Minneapolis hub, good customer service, reliable flights, worldwide connections on Sky Team partners, frequent flyer benefits Cons: no in-flight entertainment or complimentary meals in coach within US

I have flown Northwest enough times to know that probably 75% of the staff is downright rude or annoying. Their planes are the oldest of the American carriers, and they lack almost any kind of inflight ammenities. However, they have what is probably the best frequent flyer program in the buisness.. and they seem to have a better then average on time record, so that is worth something. If only they modernized their fleet and taught their flight attendents and airport workers some social skills then would be a great airline.

NWA is ok, and for the prices is really good.Although the planes look in good conditions, the in-flight entertainment is inexistant, at least on my usual flight from Detroit to Mexico City it is (4 hours flight...really boring). The food is ok but not the best.The terminal in Detroit is well organized.Flew Northwest about 20 times and they never lost my luggage.

Top safety and equipment maintenance. Lousy labor relations for 50 year history - frequently employees are in funk. Rather casual about clients. Tend to be around due to smart key city cluster planning - would not make it if competing on service quality and style. In Minnesota, generally disliked for arrogance and lack of real honesty in helping client. Too much focus on pennies. Real cheapos on food/drink. No blanket, pillows. Bathrooms are sometimes dreadful. I always look for alternatives.

Great business class on the new A330s

I would have to say nwa is an ok airline. I have had better flights with other airlines. The food and entertainment before 9/11 was great, but they have cut back on services since then ( As most airlines have). Since we live in Minnesota we usually have to fly nwa, until now! There is a great airline called sun country that has great deals and has msp as a hub. AS a recomendation if your flying to or from msp try sun country you will get more for your money. All in all nwa isnt bad but it definetely isnt the greatest.

I have had very good luck with Northwest - and I fly a lot. They fly in to the more remote areas I need to go and their pricing is always right up there with the other discount airlines. I have never been bumped from a flight, but have volunteered and been very well reimbursed for doing so. Flight attendants are helpful and will do their best to make sure families can sit together and they can prove magical at getting the overhead compartments as full as posible so everyone has leg room. Except for normal weather delay problems, their flights are almost always on time and if running late, will make up for it in the air so you wind up arriving on time. Unfortunately, they do fly a LOT of the airbus planes, as do most of the less expensive airlines, so they are cramped for space. This isn't first class travel (even in First Class) but of the discount airlines, I have found Northwest to be one of the best.

Flew NW a few times in the 90s, between Chicago, Minneapolis and LA. Was a bit concerned that on two of the flights, of the six stewardesses in my part of economy, three appeared to be heavily pregnant and I wondered, if there was an emergency, who would be helping who out? Another time I arrived in Tokyo with JAL and there was an NW crew waiting for their crew bus; several of the stewardesses were over 50, and the Purser was standing, shirt unbuttoned revealing his string vest, huge sweat stains under both arms. Looked awful! Having said that, the flights I was on were ok; got a snack, crew were okay, so nothing special but not bad either!

As you will see in my comments of Detroit Metro, I used to really hate going somewhere on Northwest. I used to hope that I could get a flight into Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky on one of the Delta subsidiaries, or on US Airways to Pittsburgh, but Detroit revamped their airport, so Northwest became a lot better in my mind then.

by far the worst airlines ever. went to the northwest gate for my flight in newark- no one was working the desk. needless to say, we missed our flight.

Well I don't rate them a 1 just cause I use them all the time, because they're cheap. It's unfortunate most people have to settle for northwest and therefore settle for bad service. I think just about every one of their flights I've been on has been delayed, one time a malfuntion with the machinery crap told the pilots that the landing gear wasn't working! So they had everybody freakin out until they realized it was a mistake. At least half the flights I've taken with them have lost my luggage. The last one I was on had the worst attendants ever. They're so disorganized it's not even funny, from the flight-booking to their service right down to their playing cards. My sister got a deck that was missing a card, and an extra 2 of spades in it's place!

I can say this... I flew the entire winter in & out of Minneapolis into blizzard conditions from San Antonio without (1) late or delayed flight. It rains in Houston & the Continental/American/Delta boys shut the whole system down...

I have mixed feelings about Northwest. They offered a very inexpensive flight from Philly to San Jose. The flight was practically empty, but the luggage of more than half the plane was lost. They said it was due to lay-overs that were short. It was eventually delivered late the following day. On the return flight, they were booked full, and my boyfriend and I were seated apart. The flight attendant saw that we wanted to be seated together and the people seated near us wouldn't help us out, so she found someone else on the plane to switch. I thought the service was generally okay. Not great, but okay- and I guess that's what we paid for.

In route from Atlanta to Minneapolis to Honolulu, I had no complaints about any part of the flight whatsoever. Good service and no delays of any kind.

My wife and I were booked out of La Guardia to fly home for the holidays. We had some difficulty with traffic, and were concerned about reaching La Guardia in time for our flight. I placed several calls during the drive to NW Airlines to confirm that the flight would be leaving on time; once while in Manhattan, twice during traffic snarls on the Brooklyn-Queen Expressway, and once when we were about a quarter mile from the airport. I was assured each call that the flight was on time. We reached the airport and checked our baggage with about 20 minutes until flight time, so dashed through the airport to the gate, where we discovered the flight had been delayed about 30 minutes. We were relatively unconcerned with the delay at this point, and appreciated the chance to catch our breath, however we were not seated together. I had booked the flight well in advance so was dismayed that we hadn't been given adjoining seats. Still, at this point, I had no significant complaint. The flight boarded at or very near the posted time, and we backed out of the gate. We spent the next 1 = to 2 hours waiting. The pilot informed us the plane needed to be de-iced, and the de-icing crew was out of fluid. I stress that the delays were not weather-related, and were never suggested as such by any NW personnel. As our window was only 38 minutes, we missed the connecting flight in Detroit. The NW gate attendant suggested we go to another gate, which had a flight scheduled for departure to Minneapolis, and see if we could get routed through to Des Moines. Upon reaching that gate, were told there were no seats available on flights to DSM, from either MSP or DTW, until the following evening. We opted to continue to MSP rather than spend the night in Detroit, so rebooked on that flight, which was delayed and scheduled for a 9:40pm departure. We were then told the flight had been transferred to another craft due to mechanical problems, and we were sent to another gate. We were further delayed when NW had to cancel another flight because, I was told, a plane had left the gate without one of the drink carts, and by the time the plane returned to the gate the flight crew was over hours. We were held while people from that flight were booked onto ours. We finally reached MSP around 2:15am, where we were put up at the Sleep Inn, finally checking in at about 3:00am, and given meal vouchers for the airport vendors. I will compliment the NW staff who were there to meet us that miserable morning. They were cheery, considerate and, as much as was within their power, very helpful. With less than 5 hours sleep, we returned to MSP by 9:00am, and were rebooked for the 8:50pm flight, which was the soonest we could be confirmed. We listed standby for every preceding flight, beginning at 11:15am. We were told by the gate agents, with only one exception, that the flights had been overbooked (during the holidays!?) by at least a dozen seats. The gate attendant at the 1:05pm flight (gate C16, if memory serves), told us that if we opted to take ground transportation to DSM, that NW would reimburse us for the car rental. It was also announced that the 1:05 flight would have empty seats because the plane had taken on too much fuel, and would be overweight if full. I asked the NW agent at the gate if there were some kind of reimbursement claim form for the car, and he directed me to the ticketing agents because, he explained, the paperwork is not kept at the gate. When we approached the ticket agent, we were told unequivocally, after she had made a brief phone call to consult, that NW would NOT, in fact, reimburse us for a car rental. At every gate but one (there were 5 flights preceding ours) they requested volunteers to be bumped, and offered round-trip airfare or a $500 voucher, which only added to our frustration. We who were bumped from flight 3467, in essence, by the delayed flight 251 out of La Guardia, received a night at the Sleep Inn and about $25 worth of airport food. We finally departed on the 8:50 flight, reaching Des Moines a little past 10:00, just 26 hours later than our original arrival time. Fortunately our luggage was waiting there for us, the one thing they did correctly. When I complained to the airline, they dismissed the entire mishap and told me the delay was weather related. Blizzards and hurricanes are weather problems. Running out of de-icer is poor planning. I will never use, recommend or endorse Northwest airlines in the future.

Northwest always seems to have the lower fares. However, when I flew to the East Coast and back there was no on board movie, and on the return flight after there was no movie. I was upgraded to first class and the difference was minimal.

PLEASE! Their planes do not need aircons because the crew is so COLD! Not to mention old! Maybe that's the problem. They've spent so much time away fr. their kids that they failed to hone their parental instincts. They ask a passenger, "beef or chicken" in a brisk way and when asked to repeat, they become tight-lipped and repeat in an impatient voice. When a passenger asks for something, they don't go out of their way to give an extra smile or words of concern. Northwest should stop spending money on advertisements. Instead, it should funnel that budget onto customer service trainings.

Northworst lives up to its name.