At least one traveler says that bankruptcy has improved United Airlines’ customer service, reports the New York Times. “It was like flying on a different airline,” this flyer tells the paper. “The flight attendants were friendly and the service was efficient.”

Customer service was supposed to be hurt by cuts but, in practice, some experts say that the fear of cuts is a great incentive to improve the service. “A bankrupt airline is anxious not to lose customers, especially business travelers, and may be wary of cutting service below competitors’ levels for fear of confirming passenger suspicions that the company is not long for this world,” Standard & Poor’s Senior Airline Credit Analyst Philip Baggaley tells the paper.

A former brand manager for Delta says, “It’s a very different Delta from the one I used to work at.”

Hard to argue with the evidence but after trying most airlines once or twice, I’ve come to the conclusion that bad weather and mechanical failure cause the worst nightmares at the airport. If things are running on time, everyone can be friendly. If the plane isn’t at the gate on time or it can’t be flown safely, then tempers fray very rapidly on both sides of the counter.