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Taken August 2003 from Singapore to New York JFK (via Tokyo)

There are so many ways of looking at a problem, and so many ways of solving it. I only started flying Northwest because they suddenly sent me a Silver Elite card out of the blue. I decided to give them a try, and their attractive prices as well as the good mileage base (I am almost Platinum Elite!) make me come back every time. Yes, the service is usually bad because on a US carrier it is the flight attendants who are kings and queens, and the customers just sit there and pay.

On my recent trip from Singapore via Tokyo to JFK, I had a lot of Filipino Flight attendants on my first leg. They treated everyone like strangers, but all I had to do was crack a joke and one of the American blondie's with her long fingernails and bleached hair started getting into a deep conversation with me in between meal and drink services. And she treated me very nicely!

When I arrived at the Tokyo terminal, all of the computers had stopped working (this was on the 21st of August), which meant that there were some people who had a ticket, but no seat number. Clearly, the flight was overbooked and when I went to my seat, someone was already occupying it. We both walked out, he handed the same ticket back to the lady, and gave me a ticket in the upper cabin!

Up in World Business class I knew that they knew that I was upgraded, and they treated me as if I was a brat who was just lucky to be on an overbooked flight (I am barely 20). It just took a couple of smiles and a small conversation, and their entire attitude immediately changed!

In the end, I would fly with them again, and I don't think the upgrade was a mistake - it was back in Singapore where Northwest actually canceled my reservation without any reason whatsoever, and wanted me to fly Singapore - Tokyo - LAX - Detroit - JFK... I would do a lot, but I am NOT out of my mind. And all they said was: "It was not my fault!"

Despite all this, I would definitely use them again.