US Airways????
 

I wanted to get some opinions, I do realize this may not really help but thought I'd give it a shot.

We found a NON STOP flight from Philadelphia to Rome and then Venice to Philadelphia through US Airways. I am a bit concerned because the price is a lot less than many of the other airlines which do not offer direct flights. My concern is that there was a lot of negativity towards US Airways in the recent past and I do believe they are just recovering from bankrupcy. If we do use US Airways we will most likely get travel insurance. Any thoughts?

Thank you,
Robyn

I fly us airways frequently beings they are based out of PHL. They have just joined with America West and I think they are out of bankruptcy or coming out of it soon. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. I would just feel I found a great deal!

If you're from Philly, then definitely take it. PHL-FCO is on their new A330 with very good entertainment system.

They've completed the merger with America West and exited bankruptcy. No looming labor problem, and financially they're relatively healthy.

I don't see any good reason to avoid it.

BTW, they don't fly to/from Venice. What connection are they putting you through? Lufthansa via Frankfurt or Munich?

We flew US Air Cleve-Phil-Rome a couple years ago. Our flight from Clev-Phil was delayed almost 2 hours, and we arrived in Phil for our flight to Rome with literally 3 minutes to spare until take off. US Air made no attempt whatsoever to try and retrieve our bags quickly upon arrival, call a cart, call the gate for our connecting flight to say we're on the way...they did NOTHING despite our requests.

As it turned out, my husband spotted a a gentleman on one of the airport carts nearby, got his attention, and he zipped us over to our gate--all the way across the airport (which is huge.) As we were approaching the gate, the gate attendants were yelling "are you the Hopps?" Hurry up! We made it, but by the skin of our teeth! If we were a minute later, we'd have missed our flight. Unfortunately, there was a girl going to Paris on our CLE-Phil flight as well and she missed her connection.

I understand things happen and sometimes connecting flights are missed, but we were most unhappy as to how US Air handled the situation-they just didn't care or try to assist at all. Their ticket prices have been cheaper for other trips we have taken since, but I'd rather pay more to fly another airline vs. going on US Air again.

Thoughts? Grab that flight ASAP before the price evaporates. USAirways will still be there, no worries.

I'm headed to the site to investigate booking a similar itinerary myself!

It's probably gone by now. USAirways is the first airline I checked when flying to Europe. Have flown USAirways to Munich, Rome, Madrid, Paris many times. Good prices, packed flights, no major complains.

rkkwan.........yes....usair DOES have direct flights from philly to VCE and visa versa.

Seasonal? Just-announced? Because I don't even see Venice as a destination on USAirways' PDF timetable. Hm...

I wish someone would ask me if, "are you the _________?" when I approach any aircraft, late or not, as if they were waiting for me to arrive there. "...and USAirways did "nothing"????????

By the way, did the bags get there on time, too?

Intrepid-they weren't "waiting" for us..the door was closed, and when our cart was approaching and we were shouting "wait", they yelled are you the Hopps..they weren't holding the plane for us. As far as our bags, we travel with only carry ons, so we had them with us.

On average USAirways is no better or worse than any other major US carrier.

IF you are using frequent flier miles or doing any kind of an upgrade, make double darn sure you get what you ask for.

I just had a major debacle when I tried to upgrade domestic tickets with dividend miles. The agent did not know what he was doing and the transaction did not come out the way I asked for it to and I ended up being charged for the miles and put in coach class.

I ended up having to cancel the whole transaction by some prolonged negotiating and totally rebooking after I got a supervisor on the line who knew what was what.

I am not sure that the problem was entirely the agent's fault. The problem appears to be more systemic than individual. (The opportunity for failure is endemic in the system.) I learned in my conversations that US Airways and America West are not yet fully integrated when it comes to using Dividend Miles. Some peculiar vagaries seem to exist that lead to error prone results.

First, I think all airlines have their issues. I flew US Air domestically in October. Although the flight was fine, because of the merger, and both America West and US Air not being on the same page. I booked an AW flight, got bumped to USAir. WHen I went to do online check in, I was "not found". I had to call both airlines for them to find me. I was quite upset. To top it off, both airlines told me to go to the opposite carrier.

However, I am flying US Air from LA to Newark in March. Mistakes happen. I just know to double check stuff now. By the way, you may want to check if Continental goes to where you want. I got a flight, non-stop, from New Jersey to Amsterdam for $330 round trip ($411 with all fees and taxes).