Now, can we either start a STAR thread or stay on topic here? Now about our tragic new magazine...
Yes, about our tragic new magazine.
There are really two things that are appalling, and I think it's important that they're noticed as two separate things.
Someone above referred to it a few times as 1/2 thought out, and I couldn't agree more. Piney I think suggested that the half-dozen important airport maps they removed, along with all the Spanish-language features, and all the non-English immigration information could have been an accident, an oversight.
Well, yes, it could've been. But there were so many things wrong, and these people are professionals at this sort of thing. If it really was a half-thought out accident to omit things like airport maps and instructions for immigration/customs, I don't consider that an accident, I consider that negligent. Someone really screwed up, and should be held accountable for it.
And if it wasn't an accident, and they intended to remove all of that information? Well, then they're even bigger morons than I thought, living in their parochial little world, thinking they're still running a regional airline.
Really, the more I think about the removal of the Spanish stuff and all, the angrier I get.
That's the first issue I have with the magazine--the inexcusable stuff they got wrong.
The fact that it's Las Vegas Magazine, brought to you by US Airways, is a completely separate issue. There, maybe you can give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the next issue will be focused on Charlotte, provided that they can find it on a map. I highly doubt it, though. This problem is really also a big one, but I've used up all my anger venting about the other one I guess. I've said earlier in the thread that there was a right way to tell US/East customers about US/West destinations. This wasn't it, not even close.
And you know that since Pace is the same company that put out Attaché, they're very, very capable of putting together a great magazine. The only possible explanation why this one isn't great is that they were constrained by following management's orders.
Heh, I just looked through the back of the magazine, and I noticed the route maps. I hadn't noticed them before, since I was preoccupied with the missing airport maps. Wow, this just gets worse every time I touch it. You get one big map of North America, and one big map of the REST OF THE WORLD. Good luck figuring out where US flies in Europe--I know the destinations by heart, and yet even I can't see all the dots. No more full-page Caribbean map with lines showing all of our routes. (Well, maybe that's for the best, since I doubt they'd get any of them right, seeing as how they refuse to issue press releases for the new ones.) Hmmm...the one yellow dot (meaning US serves it with its own metal) I can make out on the world map is in Canada, it's Quebec City. Shame that US doesn't fly there, and never has. Brilliant. On the map of the United States, the seasonal US/East destinations (like MVY and EGE) are marked with green dots, like they should be. But the seasonal US/West destinations (like FCA and TEX) are marked with yellow dots, indicating that they're year round, which they're not. Oops. And that's after looking at the route map for 5 minutes. Guess that was 5 minutes too many.
Oh, and I liked how on the (English-only, nowadays) inflight entertainment page, there's a column listing what's shown on the P@ssport system on the A330. Only problem? The top of the column is marked "ALL ROUTES". Doesn't say anything about it only being on the A330; guess some people might be disappointed when they think they're getting a bunch of movies on "ALL ROUTES". And as someone else mentioned, hope you didn't want to know what the movies were actually about.
Sigh...this airline's going to drive me to drink. Guess I'd better have exact change ready--at this rate, they'll be charging for booze in First before long.
