Midway Airlines
 

I have heard that they are going bankrupt and getting planes repossesed. Whats going on?

A judge has asked Midway to provide their plans for survival, otherwise he will order reorganization under bankruptcy laws as of July 24.

Doesn't look good for Midway, which is really too bad, since they now fly exclusively 737s instead of those awful regional jets, and for $25 you can upgrade yourself to first class. It's gonna hurt those of us who use RDU for northeast corridor travel if they tank, so let's cross our fingers.

Flash. Midway announced tonight that it is shutting down for two months, to start up again eventually in some sort of agreement with USAir.<BR><BR>Stay tuned.

They will become US Air Express.

When "they" announce that "they" will become US Air Express, "they" is just the top execs -- not the employees and not the planes (737s), which will both go away. So "Midway" will become a bunch of US Air stock and a whopping salary turned over to Ferguson, the CEO who has presided over the demise of what was, a few years ago, a very good airline. Keep those exec parachutes gold!

The US Air Express will be all regional jets. They had to promise to hire furlouged US Air pilots, so I guess the above is true, just a place for CEO's from Midway, giving the employess the boot.

IF you used a travel agent to book you on Midway, INSIST the travel agent rebook you on US Airways AND send you paper tickets. Orbitz, for instanjce, will do this for you BUT it takes an argument and talking with a supervisor.<BR><BR>Orbitz will ultimately rebook while you are on the phone with them. And they will send you a paper ticket via Fed Ex - $15 charge.<BR><BR>Orbitz will AT FIRST tell you to get the paper ticket from Midway and then take it to US Airways to rebook. This is where you must stick to your guns and insist that Orbitz do it for you.<BR><BR>Orbitz will even eventually offer you a full refund - but it will take 2-3 billing cycles to obtain it.<BR><BR>If you want to be rebooked on US Airways, hang tough, and Orbitz will cooperate, eventually.<BR><BR>What a mess!!

Actually the Press Release said you had to go to your Travel Agent or the Midway Counter by July 25.

Haven't seen anything about a deadline. Midway's statement seems open ended. Orbitz's message said nothing of a deadline. I'll take a look. But it would seem that's imposing a stiff deadline, given all the folks who will be calling.<BR><BR>This is so typical of Midway. One time, I bought a RT ticket to Atlanta, and the day I was leaving Midway told me they were cancelling all flights out of Atlanta on my retrun date. They suggested I stay overnight, at my expense, and were surly when I asked to be rebooked on another airline (they finally agreed, after a fight!).<BR><BR>What a carrier!!

Just for the record, Midway wasn't always such a crummy airline -- to the contrary, it was once a wonderful, friendly, comfortable line that worked to please passengers. I don't know when Ferguson took the helm, but at some point they stopped caring at the top level and pretty soon they stopped caring all the way down, although I have to say, a lot of the people based at RDU were really nice. But try to deal with them on the phone, never mind try to deal with anyone in management...pttth!<BR><BR><BR>To give you a good example of the idiot Ferguson was -- WHY ARE THEY KEEPING HIM AT USAir??? --- when he and his buddies decided they liked skiing at Steamboat Springs, they suddenly decided to start a route from RDU to Steamboat in the winter. Cute idea, but how many of N. Carolina's businessmen and families were really going to use that route enough to make it worth it?<BR>Oh yes, and then there was the 737 to San Jose that was supposed to entice NC dot-com business travellers -- it left at an ungodly hour and although it was non-stop, it was a teensy 737 to travel for the 5+ hours!<BR><BR>But I remember smiling faces, great food, great schedules, and really comfortable leather seats on the Fokker 100s. That's what I miss!