Ryan

PB&J,
The situation today and in 2002 is vastly different. In 2002, they were able to obtain new financing and upon exiting bankruptcy, government loan guarantees.

No new financing is available to them and the loans they are in default of are those government loans. As it stands, they owe the Federal government about $700 million.

The reason bankrupt companies survive is because there are either banks or investors that view them as worth saving and a worthy investment. As it stands today, I doubt that anyone would be willing to put in fresh capital without a serious reduction in their expenses.

AAFrequentFlyer

Thanksgiving and Christmas may be the busiest flying periods of th year, but they are certainly NOT the most profitable periods for the airlines. Besides this is ONLY early Sep. and for next next couple of months it's the slowest flying period, plus with the sales starting any day now, it will be a very rough time for USAir. As I posted on the airline forum, this is a completely different situation than UA or DL, or even much different from their first bankrupcy. I would not be so confident this time around.
Wall street is not. Many articles in all the major business newspapers today giving USAir only about 50/50 to survive till the end of the year, if that long.

Juldie

I am the original poster. I have been at work and just got home.Thanks for the info. I mainly was wondering about any kind of trip insurance that might exist. Does not sound like there is such a thing.

I may just take the gamble that they will still be flying, not sure yet. I will continue to see what others have to say here. Thanks.

caribtraveler

Juldie: So did we all confuse you now? Cause I sure am.
Anyway, whatever you decide, good luck.
Ryan: I have another question for you. I'm looking at the back of my credit card bills (both Visa and Mastercard). They both have what you mentioned - the 60-day rule for letting them know, but they do state it's for errors on your bill.
There's a separate section now called "special rule for credit card purchases". And that goes on to say that if you have a problem with the goods or services you purchased and you have tried in good faith to correct the problem with the merchant, you may not have to pay remaining amount due. You have this protection if what you purchased is over $50, etc....
There's more to this rule. I'm sure everyone has it on the back of their bill including you.
Can you look at it and tell me if that could be the reason then why I got my money back?
I'm sorry but I just find it hard to believe the CC would have given me back my money so easily if they didn't have to.
Let me know what you think. Thanks.

Patty

Juldie,
Here's my advice... is it critical that your son comes home for Thanksgiving? If not, I'd buy the ticket on US and see what happens. If they liquidate, you'll get a refund from your credit card company. If it's very important that he comes home for Thanksgiving, buy a ticket on another airline. You don't want to end up scrambling to find another airline to bring him home over a busy holiday.

BTW, I have friends who purchased cruises on Renaissance before they ceased operations. All of them eventually got their money refunded through their credit card companies (even though it was beyond the 60 day billing dispute limit). I think there's an exception for a service that's never delivered. These were fairly large amounts of money relative to a domestic airline ticket.

hugglynn

Coming from the hub from where you son will be flying out of, the reports are here that USAirways is conducting business as usual and for now, all tickets will be honored and miles stay intact. If you want to roll the dice, there is a fair chance they may still be flying come November. We took a really big roll of the dice and cashed in our miles for tickets IN JUNE just prior to the filing because of all the hoopla in the news here that lead us to believe they would file on Sunday. And turns out, they did file. It's probably all going to depend on continuing union negotiations as to what happens, but USAirways goal is to restructure to become a "low cost carrier".

Juldie

Hugglynn - If US AIR becomes a "low cost carrier" do you know if that means that their fares will go down? If so, then waiting off to buy the tickets could be an even better gamble!

hugglynn

Possibly, but there is a lot of speculation as to where their "hubs" will be. They recently opted for a hub in Fort Lauderdale as what I understand their new focus is going to be Florida and the Caribbean. In addition, officials at Pittsburgh International have been looking at other alternatives for carriers out of Pittsburgh for a long time. My feeling is that at some point in time, USAirways will not even have a hub in Pittsburgh, but another airline (such as Southwest) might. They have already cut flights departing from PIT by about 30% and have cut a lot of destinations. With all these ifs, it's definitely hard to make a decision.

Ryan

The chances of USAir remaking themselves as a low-cost carrier are about as realistic as my chance at 39 years old of roaming Centerfield for the Yankees next year.

They have unions balking at the 3rd request for wage concessions, they are about to miss a payment to their employees pension plans and in the HISTORY of aviation in this country, I can't recall one full service airline that has been able to completely remake themselves as a low-cost carrier.

To use a phrase some colleagues from the South are fond of "That dog just ain't gonna hunt."

caribtraveler

Juldie: September issue of Conde Nast Traveler says you can purchase insurance on your airline ticket, but you have to read the fine print because some of those companies won't insure on airlines that already are in financial trouble. The magazine mentions one company: www.travelguard.com.

And here's a Q&A I found about airline bankruptcies
http://hasbrouck.org/articles/bankruptcy.html

TopMan

Apparently at least one large travel agency sent a letter out to patrons yesterday telling them to stay away from USAirways and not buy ANY tickets...if that kind of "run on the banks" thinking takes hold I suspect the company will never survive.

We are also being told that it is HIGHLY unlikely that any other airline will take over the FF program if the company fails.

Juldie

Hi everyone - I am taking the plunge and going to purchase my son's US Air ticket for him to fly home Thanksgiving. There are hardly any flights left. Anyone out there have a very good reason to scream "Don't do it"?

I actually called their consumer affairs # - what a joke. They of course would just tell me " It is business as usual, there are no contingincies planned because they will be flying".

ms_go

Juldie - I posted on this topic yesterday under airlines.

We needed to buy tickets for Thanksgiving (ORD-JAX-ORD), and the most reasonable alternative, by far, was on US Airways. I would have preferred a non-stop on United, but it was nearly double the price (times three tickets).

What I did was buy the tickets from United Airlines as a codeshare flight -- UA flight numbers but travel is on US Airways metal. This only cost me a couple of dollars more per ticket than buying the same itinerary directly from US Airways. And because it is a United ticket, they are responsible for getting us there and back if US Airways can not -- obviously, subject to availability on other UA flights.

This may or may not work for you depending on the route (I didn't see where he is traveling from), but it might be worth a look. If US Airways did cease operations, I'm sure it would be a hassle to reroute on United, and would not provide the non-stop you are looking for -- but some way, somehow, your son would probably get home and you wouldn't be out the cost of the ticket.

Good luck.

Dick

Am I the only one that doesn't understand why the union doesn't take the cutbacks?

It's not like these people could join another airline at a comparable salary.
The low cost airlines pay much less with fewer benefits.

Rather than being out of work, wouldn't it make more sense to accept the paycut and just look for another job.

One UsAIr pilot was quoted as saying he applied to SW and was told that there are thousands of pilot applicants.

What am I missing?

Juldie

ms_go: that's great advise. I just checked and the same flight booking through United is $30.00 more each way. $60 is a lot more to spend. yikes.

ms_go

Yes, $60 is a bit steep. I think for our tickets the difference was something like $264 vs. $257, so not too bad. I guess it depends on the route.

SB_Travlr

Juldie, I think someone already laid out the critical decision point -- how important is it that your son be home for Thanksgiving? If it's essential, then you are taking a risk by booking USAir. If it's not, and he could stay where he is for the holiday, the gamble might be worthwhile.

We weighed the same issue: we are flying to Tahiti the Sunday before Thanksgiving, for a cruise starting the day after T. Cruise line had booked our flight to LA on USAir -- and at the time, it was a good option for flight times and connections. (We paid a "deviation" fee to choose our own flights.) But when the news about USAir broke, we decided we just couldn't take the risk of losing our long-anticipated vacation -- and the options for standby flight and alternative plans are very limited in such a heavy travel week. So we put our $$ where our hearts were, paid another deviation, and have reservations on AA instead. Yes, it cost a few more $$, but we think it is well worth it.

The "Monk" in me always wants a Plan B in my pocket...

Suki

Well, I 've posted this before, but I purchased 4 tickets direct to Rome for next March on US Air. I did this at the beginning of August and I just wasn't aware of the severity of their situation. This a direct flight so I chose it over booking through US Air but flying Lufthansa with a connection through Frankford. I wonder what the charge would be to change flights (selecting the Lufthansa option) and would Lufthansa honor my US air tickets?

AAFrequentFlyer

Suki,

The change feee may not be worth it in your case. ms_go suggestion is just the opposite of what you want to do.

You are STILL buying the ticket from USAir, and the only thing you are changing is the carrier. Lufthansa may or may NOT accept the USAir ticket if USAir liquidates, especially if they didn't receive the money from USAir for the flight. Code shared flights are paid for upon completion of the flight, not before. The issuing airline prints a ticket for you and once you turn it in, the actual carrier turns it the ticket for the money. So if Lufthansa would feel that they can't collect the money from USAir, you would end up in the same situation. It's very similar to writing a check. Your money gets pulled only after the check comes back to your bank, but if there is no money in your account the check gets returned and the receiver of the check is now holding a worthless piece of paper.

What ms_go did was to buy the ticket from United for a flight operated by USAir. So if USAir disappears, United will still have to fullfill it's ticket contract with her by either refunding the money for a non-delivery of service, or putting her on a different flight, whether their own or another airline, etc... Since you couldn't fly on USAir because it went under, United didn't have to pay anybody, thus they still have your money.

Hope I didn't confuse anybody with this ramblng.

Suki

No, AA, your post was enlightening not confusing. Guess I'll just cross my fingers and hope for the best.