US Air
 

What a terrible airline!!

A friend is joining me in Oct. for her first trip to Paris. She has FF points from US Air and is going that way with Intl. flight from Philly. I go via ATL on Delta/A/F codeshare.

We wouldn't even consider meeting at CDG. US Air arrives at Terminal 1, also.

The horrible part about US Air is that they NEVER seem to leave on time. I have checked them the last few days..up to 2 hours late every day...seem to be as bad with domestic flights. Glad I don't have to use them!!

so your friend was actually able to book ff tickets and you are complaining before you've ever taken the flight ?

I'm certainly not a USAir defender, however, there have been lots and lots of t-storms in Philly area over the last few days (especially late afternoon). Which is why national and international flights are all delayed. Check the entire airport and you will see everything is backed up -- certainly not the fault of the airline.

I have been watching the Paris flight #754 for the past several days as we will be taking it in July.

There have been delays and I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that they were weather-related.

BUT, let's help Gracejoan3 out a little.

How would she feel if that flight left ON TIME and her connecting flight was a few minutes late and (gasp!) they didn;t hold the flight for her?

Or, perhaps they left ON TIME despite the fact that her luggage hadn't quite made it to the plane..too bad, we HAVE to leave on the dot to keep other folks like her chipper.

You know, Gracejoan3..NOBODY REALLY CARES how many times flights leave late as long as it isn't theirs!

On another new thread the OP started, she was complaining about her DL flight may be using bus gates at CDG2E.

Maybe you guys shouldn't go to Paris afterall. I am sure it will be a disastrous trip.

I go to Paris and to France very often!!

Delta has not had a terminal to pull up to for several years. It would be nice, as I posted on another topic when I asked if anyone had updated info on that. No response to that question, so far.

As to my friend who is going via Philly to CDG...I was just surprised when checking the flight daily to find it being so late every day. As pointed out, it may be as stated..weather problems!! Whatever, she will eventually arrive!! She is a first timer, where I am a very frequent traveler.

rkkwan,

I go to Paris and to France very often. My friend is delighted to be going with someone who knows their way around for her first trip to Paris.

I have reservations for dining, some minivan sight-seeing all arranged and planned for her. We have a ParisPerfect apartment for lodging, pre-arranged airport pickup for each of us.

My trips are always wonderful. I am sure this one will also be great.

Check out http://money.cnn.com/2007/06/05/news...lays/index.htm

Indeed, USAir "had the lowest level of on-time service among the airlines at 63.1 percent" for April 2007.

That said, USAir is my primary airline since I live near Philly, and my experience with them is fair to good. Several times I have gotten FF BC seats, which I appreciate.

BTW, this thread belongs on the 'Airline' forum. ((*))

Jed,

You are right..you have to use the airlines that serve your area. I live in Asheville, NC. I have always used Delta via either ATL or CVG(Cinn). I have Delta FF.

I think I just happened to look at my friend's flights when there were several days of storms. She had FF points to use for US Air or she would be leaving here with me on Delta. She has to go to Charlotte and then to Philly for Intl. flight.

Whatever it is, it is.........

Thunderstorm is Philly. That's a crock. I flew out of Phily an US Air yesterday, and there were no thunderstorms, but we were half and hour late leaving. We sat on the runway waiting for a slot to take off. Philadelphia is a busy airport but there was only one runway in operation. US Air fails to schedule it's planes with enough time it between to allow them to take off evenly. It just sends them all out to wait on the runway.

The huge delays on US Air flights, I have learned, are equipment related. US Air, apparently fails to do preventative maintenance. They just wait until something breaks, then replace it at the gate, resulting in hours of delay.
As airports go, PHL is the armpit (at least) of the world.

Larry, surfmom was referring to thunderstorms that took place in JUNE.

We flew US airways last week to St Martin and back. All our flights (including the connecting flights) were on time.

We were quite apprehensive to fly US initially after reading all the negative comments, but we were glad we just went ahead and did it.

Greenhouse, and I was talking about Wednesday, October 17, when they couldn't get off the ground on schedule. They waited on the runway for half an hour for a slot to take off. And, not a thunderstorm in sight, just poor scheduling.

I was lucky, my flights were on time, but such has not been the norm for US Air to Munich. I tracked that flight for two months starting in July, and 25% of the flight were late into Munich by an average of almost 4 hours. On two of the first eight days I tracked them the were late by 9:29 and 10:38. If I had been on the 2nd flight I would have had to spend the night in the airport or the Hbf and would have missed out on the first day of my vacation. I doubt that people on those flight would be as defensive of them as MNSS was.

I have inside information that these delays were due to equipment failures, not thurderstorms.

And, on August 10, the return flight was diverted to Gatwick and cancelled there. Who would like to have been on the flight?

The list goes on. On Sept 27 and 28 they were 3 hours 48 minutes and 5 hours late to Munich respectively.

MNSS and I can be grateful that we were on some of the flights that were actually on time. That doesn't seem to be the norm.

Has anyone else booked a flight with 2 connections whereby the online itinerary cannot show the segments for seating charts? This has happened to me once for last April's flight (an agent was able to repair the record) and now for next April (several calls / agents unable to repair the record). I think this time it is because the 2nd and last flight share the flight number, but there is evidently a plane change for the overnight segment. I am 'trusting' that my chosen seats have been duly recorded b/c there is no way for me to get anything in print.

US Air changed their booking system when they merged or took over xxx airline (I don't remember). Also, I think their customer service is fully off-shored now whereas last time I was able to reach an American (by that I mean "experienced") agent who did the fix. (yes, one can often tell whether a phone rep is on or off shore).

<i>Annnyway,</i> I am mostly wondering if anyone had this same situation and did they have problems getting their chosen seats?