Does anyone have any thoughts (good or bad experiences) flying America West? We are thinking about purchasing round-trip tickets from Philadelphia to Phoenix, but we have never before used this airline.
Any feedback would be much appreciated!
Thanks.

Khy, I have to admit that I have only flown with them once, but it was an uneventful flight. They are very similiar to Southwest. The only real feedback that I can give you is to arrive at the Phoenix airport early for your flight back. Phoenix is their home base. My in-laws live there and everytime we go there is a long line at the America West counter. Have a good trip.

We have flown AW to Mexico, Las Vegas and probably a few other places and have nothing significant to report. The planes don't have of the fancy new gizmos like personal video screens or extra-large seats, and they seem to skimp on cleaning them between flights, but the flights were on time for the most part and went without a hitch. I'd certainly fly them again if the price were right.

AWA belongs in the "US Airways, Northwest, TWA (before they were sold)" category. The actual flight experiences on each of the above are the same, on average.
There are lots of reviews of AWA in the archives if you do a quick search here.

I've flown them, as well, and everything was fine.

We here in the great Southwest often refer to America West as "America's Worst". That said, we all fly it - limited options in Tucson. It is not like Southwest Airlines. Southwest is great! America West is pretty notorious for losing luggage and for being late. I have often flown Tucson to Philly (I usually do the red eye that goes thru Vegas). I mean, it's an airline I fly often but also often wish I'd had a different choice.

Recently flew AW for the first time cross country with a plane change in Phoenix. It was "ok" and they didn't lose my luggage!! On that same trip I flew segments on Jet Blue and Song, both of which are far better.

We flew from Phoenix to Flagstaff - (January 2004) the flight eventually was fine, HOWEVER, we were delayed more then 12 hours due to flight cancellations.

As most know, we in Dallas are restricted in our flights from Love field to "protect" AA and DFW airport.
So, direct SWA flights from DAL to any but the 5 contiguous states are unavailable.
AW has many good fares to SAN and the West from here, but all go through their Phoenix hub.
A very typical professional flying bus.
M

Two friends and I flew AWA from Minneapolis to Vegas last June. The actual in-flight experience was uneventful. But, you might want to be cautious about two things when checking in. If you'll check in at a big airport which is not their home base, like Philly or Minneapolis, you might want to "ask" around where their departing gate will be and listen to their announcement until boarding. At Minneapolis, they had only 1 gate which is also shared with (or sort of borrowed from) NWA. Last time, we did not see our gate on monitor, but luckily, a nice security personnel altered us the gate. 20 minutes prior to boarding, it changed again and we did see many people being confused about it. Secondly, do not use their online check in. We did, and our seats got all messed up and we were the ones who had to split up even though we checked in first.

I forgot to add to my last point that the flight attendant did tell us that the seat assignment with their online check in often messes up. And that's the reason she gave us when we were asked (not politely though) to move.

With all due respect to RenoFirstTimer, I'd like to add that we did AW's online check-in both times (I looove online checkin) and it worked fine, our seats were just as assigned.

We recently flew on AW from Dallas to Seattle, with a stop in Phoenix on the outbound, and Las Vegas on the way back. All 4 flights arrived on time, even though one was 30 min. late departing, due to them overbooking by one person.

When the announcement was made that they were overbooked by one, I kind of held my breath, knowing that we had missed our original flight, and weren't really supposed to be on this one. In the end, AW paid TWO people a $300 voucher each, in order to free up a seat for one person.

On our return to Dallas, I discovered that one of our (inexpensive) bags had been badly damaged. (The contents were O.K.) Even though AW has a sign posted that they are not liable for luggage damage, they gave me a $50 discount coupon to be used on a future trip.

I usually fly AA, and the only negative difference I noticed was the lack of "announcements" on the AW flights. On AA, they occasionally tell you where you are and if you are passing over some landmark. Gates for connecting flights are also announced before landing. I was a little disappointed that AW made no gate announcements, and only twice pointed out geographical features.

Otherwise, AW was O.K., and I do plan to use them again (and redeem my coupon)!

Donna

I know everyone has to have a bad flight experience sometime, and I can't say AWA is always bad because after one cross country trip five years ago I swore I would never fly with them again. We had horrendously rude flight attendants. One yelled, no screamed, at a man who didn't want to give up his seat so that two people flying together could sit together. Granted, he wasn't being helpful, but she was awful. Then when he called her a name under his breath she said that such a thing constituted "assault" and summoned the police to remove him from the plane. All of us seated around him gave him our business cards in case he needed any witnesses.
Then when we got to Phoenix our flight was delayed and delayed, along with other flights to LA. Amazingly, once three flights were delayed, there were enough passengers for one full plane to take us all to LA. Funny how that happend.
During the many hours we spent in the Phoenix airport we witnessed two small children flying unaccompanied. An attendant is supposed to stay with them at all times, but when their flight was among those "cancelled due to mechanical difficulties" they were left alone to roam the terminal. When their flight was finally called they asked the gate agent if they were supposed to be on the flight. The agent yelled at them and told them not to bother him, he was busy. Got in line and got on the plane themselves, and no AWA personnel ever came looking for them.
When we finally got home, seven hours late, I wrote a letter of complaint to the airline and never even recieved an acknowledgement.
As I said, I'll never fly America West again, but maybe my experience was unique.

how long ago was that flight? I cringe when adults do not take responsibilities for children seriously. Keep remembering how many people saw those two children in England being kidnapped. I firmly agree with ? first lady who said, (that) "it takes a village to raise a child" Sometimes that village needs to advocate; to make enough noise up the line of command to force crew to protect them. We don't ever want to hear that a child we've seen was is missing. The more more vulnerable everywhere; in school, shops, streets, airports, may be us, our child, parent, spouse. How old were the children? OLd enough to be supervised discreetly from a distance or grade school age? In that situation, I would have "adopted' them, or notified child services. Police are easily available in airports.

I know this is an extreme case, but I remember reading of heroic brits and americans and Canadians who protected a fleeing jewish family by refusing to submit to examination to separate circumcised from non. SS had to let train go since feared alienating all. The truthful argument was that many western doctors and parents practiced circumcision for prophylactic-al medical reasons.

Ever since I saw the little boys being led through London, I don't ignore children alone.

I LOVE America West. Their frequent flier program is excellent and award-winning (Freddies). Their on-time record has improved immensely over the past few years, and for a couple of years, AW was rated #1 for on-time performance. We fly America West all the time and have never had a problem. Their fares are exceptional for those of us living in the Phoenix area. I've also rarely had any problems using my frequent flier miles for award travel.

If you do not have to make a connection, you will probably be fine. I personally will not fly AW again after my experience. Outbound to Vancouver via Phoenix, the flight was late getting into Phoenix due to an equipment malfunction. The flight to Vancouver had not left the gate, but we and several others with cruise ships to board were denied boarding even though the plane was at the gate. There was not another flight out later. The plane pushed back as all hell broke loose amongst the denied. They finally brought the plane BACK to the gate and let us on. On the return flight from Vancouver, the plane was severely delayed, not by weather. Of course we missed our connection and stayed in the oven Phoenix is in August overnight until catching a flight out the next day. That was my first and last trip with AW.

Can't say I've had any worse experiences
than on AA/Delta/United-HORRIBLE food
on all those has led me to carry on
delicious in-flight cuisine from a local
vendor. In fact, AW has been quite on-time for me (and I get miles on Hawaiin
which also gets me to Tahiti).
They typically have better fares
in my market-and I can stand a 45 min leg
stretch in PHX! And oh yes, especially in the winter when my friends are stuck in O'hare and Denver!!!!
R5

We recently had two 'internal' flights with America West after flying to th US from the UK. We travelled from JFK in New York to Vegas and then on to San Francisco 5 days later. Apart from an hours weather delay into San Francisco both flights were fine - uneventful. I had checked ahead and we took our own packed lunch for the longer flight to Las Vegas - can't tell you what meals purchased on board were like apart from pricey!
Planes were fine - comfy enough and the 'more mature' cabin staff made a refreshing and not unpleasant change from the sometimes more usual Barbi-esque trolley-dollies!
Everything else (like headsets for the movie) seemed to be $5! We assumed it was for ease of change!!
We were advised to arrive 2 hours before to check in as opposed to the 1 hour advertised. We know US internal flights are routinely overbooked (I haven't been on a single flight in the US yet where they haven't asked people to catch later flights for the promise of a flight voucher of some description) and it has been suggested that the earlier you check in the less likely you are to get 'bumped'. Seems like common sense to me though!

We have flown AWA several times and all our flights have arrived on time with our luggage. Nothing spectacular but we get were we need to be when we need to be there. We started flying them because we fly out of Phoenix, their hub and therefore we have a lot of choices on flight times. Now I check them first.
You will probably find that someone had a bad experience with just about every airline. I would certaintly recommend AWA for anyone flying to Phoenix.