We will be flying economy to Madrid and return. Would you pick U S Air from Philadelphia or Continental from Newark? The price difference is not too great so our concern is mainly about service and reliability. Thanks.

Despite having a large hub at EWR, CO was tops in on-time performance among the six legacy carriers for August, and consistently in the top 2-3 throughout the year. And year-in year-out they have significantly lower cancellation rates than the other 5.

USAirways has worst on-time performance in the past several months, and their trans-Atlantic service had recently been criticized loudly by a USAToday column.

I can't say about service, but I think few will disagree with me that CO is the more reliable airline.

[The 6 legacy carriers are AA, UA, DL, CO, NW and US.]

Agree with <b>rkkwan</b>, but for YIO,

One of the first international flights out of US to London that was allowed after 9/11 was USAir(9/18?, if my memory serves me right). I was on it. Perhaps the fact that there were only about 50 passengers total, at best, resulted in some great service,

but CO is definitely the better choice at the moment......

Continental.

US Scairways or USeless Airways shouldn't even be considered.

I advise going to the airliners.net forum and looking at some of the posts on US Airways. Not flying US Airways goes way beyond their lousy service. You'll probably be stuck on an overworn 767 or 757, that could go mech.

I agree with everyone else. Go CO!

Have you looked into AA or DL?

Definitely CO

Let me add this. I fly CO's longhauls a lot, but never USAirways across the Atlantic, that's why I say I can't comment about their service.

Longhaul service on CO is adequate. Dinner out of EWR is okay, but breakfast prior to arrival is extremely light. CO mainly uses the 767-400 for MAD, which is quite comfortable. Each seat has personal video screen that runs on a 2.5-hour loop.

USAirways mainly use the A330 for MAD. It has superior entertainment, with AVOD.

Thank you all for your efforts to make our trip a nicer one. I promise we will put your thoughts to work.