cmcfong

Our paper today reports USAIRWAYS may go bankrupt as early as mid-September. I am holding FF tickets to Paris for mid-September. As a practical matter what will happen to us if USAIRWAYS goes under while we are on our trip?

rkkwan

Nothing will happen. USAirways will not file Chapter 7 (shutdown) this soon. It will only go into Chapter 11.

United has been flying under bankruptcy for many months now, and may be joined by USAirways and Delta. But all will be flying for a while.

AAFrequentFlyer

I believe USAir is talking about Chapter 11, not 7, so you should be fine during your trip.

But, what if? If you used USAir miles to get a ticket on USAir, it would be a long ordeal for you. Here's why. US based airlines are required by law to help bring in any passengers left stranded 1/2 way of their trip by a bankrupt US based airline, but there is no law that makes them fly any extra planes just to pick you up. Also, this does not apply if you did not start your trip, in which case, you are on your own to collect any money from the airline. What they are required to do is "sell", for a minimal fee any available seat after their own passengers are taken care of. Unfortunately this creates a packing order. For obvious reasons, the first passengers accomodated by any other US based airline would be first class passengers followed by business/full fare/economy/discount economy and finally award/special/free tickets. When the other airlines collect the original ticket from the stranded pasengers, they have a claim in the bankrupcy court later on against the bankrupt airline. Usually what they end up getting is just a small percentage of the original cost of the ticket, but a 20% of a $1000 ticket is a lot more than 20% of $100 ticket. There is also a small charge involved once they find a seat for you, I'm not sure exactly what it is, but for some reason I don't think it's more than $50. So, as you could see, it may be days before you get a seat, especially during a busy season, and no, nobody will pay for your lost time, hotel or any other expense that you may face, unless you file a claim with the bankrupcy court, but again, you are at the end of the list, so it's not even worth your time.

There are other possibilities. Some airlines may just want to accomodate you if for no other reason than good PR. Some foreign based airlines that partnered with the bankrupt airline may step in to. Your status if any may help you, and few other possibilities, but what's important to remember that what I described above is the way it's regulated and the US based airlines that fly to the same destination HAVE to follow the procedure, anything above is only at the discretion of any other airline that wants to get involved.

cmcfong

Thank you both for taking the time to respond. AAFrequentFlyer, that was extremely helpful. I have four award tickets on USAIRWAYS for flights over the next year. I hope I can use them all......

rkkwan

If you have that many Dividend Miles, you should really try to use them up as soon as possible. The report leaked this week on USAirways on the WSJ is prepared for the labor unions by the consulting firm that the unions have used for a long time. They're telling the unions (especially the pilots) that many creditors really think this time they can get more back by liquidating the company rather than funding them forever, as there's really little hope for USAirways to come around. Their costs remain high. They're shutting down their hub in PIT, their other hub at PHL is being severly attacked. It can only cutback so far before it stops being a network airline.

beachy1

AAFrequentFlyer, great info! Based on your report, I think I'll be completely out of luck if they go under, as I have FF tix to Italy in mid-October. It sounds like I'd bet better of if the airline folded while I was mid-trip! Do I need to start panicking NOW about having my whole trip scrapped? I assume US Airways will make no effort to find a comparable ticket for me on another airline?

lisaindc

I have seen several threads discussing what happens to flights already booked with USAir FF miles, but am wondering if anyone has any insight into what would happen with tickets purchased from USAir for future flights (Nov. and Dec.) should they file Chapter 7. Also, would it make a difference that the tickets were obtained through expedia?