schnookies

I went to NJ it was ok going there, I arrived into Philly ok. But going back the flight was delayed one hour at first because of "maintenance problems". But it quickly became three hours delayed. When we finally got on the plane we ended up just sitting on the ground for another 1 1/2 h while they were fixing this problem with the wing.
People got worried and I started hearing people talk how they were unhappy with US Airways. What has YOUR experience been and which airline are you happiest with?

suze

I've flown 3 times (in June of 06, 07, 08) on US Air from Seattle to Puerto Vallarta (thru Phoenix). It was a great price and OK service. No complaints, no problems.

My "favorite" airlines are Hawaiian Air and British Air (but obviously that's for going either to the islands or London).

1JAR

When I was wrking on the East Coast I earned alot of FF miles and ended up using them for 3 Business Class Tickets on partner Quantas. US Airways did all the leg wrk and it was a wonderful trip. So no complaint here.

karens

We live in PHL and can fly to many US destinations direct on USAir. What you experienced is not uncommon for PHL. It's a busy airport that has problems, esp. with connecting flights. (Thankfully, we don't have to deal with that).

My husband has been a FF with USAir for over 10 years. They are not great, but their service has gotten better -- probably b/c there are fewer flights.

Their international service isn't great. The seats are small. Air Canada and Lufthansa have significantly nicer overseas flights.

Gekko

I fly USAir frequently and have no complaints. I particularly like the small regional jets.

They're fast and people must check their large rolling carry-on monstrosities.

mlgb

I can't stand their Phoenix transfer location. Their planes are not especially comfortable, either.

Much rather go Jetblue if possible.

TrvlMaven

I booked a group of Girl Scouts throu the group res website for international travel. We were told for six months that we would be able to check two bags (we were taking one bag of donations) at no charge. Check-in day, they wanted to charge us for the second bag--took many calls to a supervisor to clear it up). They were kind enough to put us all in two rows together. Minor problems on the return flight, but not too bad.

schnookies

Good to hear your point of view! I won't vote them out that fast

rkkwan

What do I think? It's probably one of the worst major airlines in the US. Having said that, what you experienced can happen on any carrier.

gail

Both kids fly it back and forth to college, I to see brother in Florida. I find it no better or no worse than other US legacy airlines - but that is not saying much as they all seem to be getting more uncomfortable with more delays.

And one problem on one plane in one part of the country can cascade to multiple problems in several cities by the end of the day - far less redundancy than there used to be in schedules and capacity on any airline.

gail

And everyone hates the airline they are on when sitting on the tarmac or waiting in the terminal for a delayed flight.

rkkwan

If you want to know what some of its most loyal flyers (or most loyal ex-flyers) think of them, signup with this website and read the discussion board there:

http://www.ffocus.org/awa/

No other US airline has generated this much "interest" in having such a dedicated website for its loyal flyers to complain about their airline.

While that site has expanded to cover other airlines, its main focus is still on USAirways.

Reason? They had their various meltdowns in the past years (baggage during Christmas 2004, summer European cancellations in 2007, etc). They had that huge problem in merging the old USAirways and America West (many employers still call themselves USAirways East or USAirways West, as they don't like their counterparts). They had abandoned BWI and PIT in recent years after Southwest entered those markets. They took away mileage bonus for their elite FF flyers and remove their 500-mile minimum earnings. They removed some business and first seats to put more coach. Etc.

nytraveler

It's fairly awful - but then so are all of them.

the incident you describe is - unfortunately possible with any airline. I travel a lot on business and things like that happen to me at lest once every couple of months.

Serendipity42

We are flying US Airways from Seattle to Charlotte in March. Going to the AKC Agility Nationals so will be flying with a small (6lb) dog. Wanted a non-stop flight & US Airways was the only airlines to offer that. Made our reservations a couple months ago. On a whim I logged onto our account this week - they had changed our flight out to one with a 2 1/2 hour layover in Phoenix! Arrrggh! Don't you think we could have gotten a notice saying they'd changed it? The only other non-stop option within a day or two of our original flight is a red-eye. Sigh. I guess we have no choice. I understand airlines are cutting back on flights these days, but shouldn't they have notified us of the change?

Serendipity42

Serendipity42

To clarify my note, we changed our flight out to the non-stop red eye, do not want to go to Phoenix

Serendipity42

Judyrem

My least favorite airline! Schnookies(LOVE your name), your experiences sound very much like mine,,,awful.

yk

schnookies - What you described has happened to me multiple times on American Airlines. I fly AA exclusively because of my elite status with them, and I can tell you that most of my flights have been delayed due to various reasons.

annikany

I chose to fly them from SYR-ARN 2 years in a row because I like the plane that they fly that route. Leather seats and one side is a 2 seat side. Perfect for long flights with a companion. I do not like going through PHL though. My experience with them is no different than any other airline.

LarryBee

Your experience probably has more to do with PHL rather than the airline.

karens

I would agree with that last comment.

I had friends who refused fly USAir and instead chose Southwest.

But they couldn't fly non-stop on Southwest and they got stuck sitting in the same traffic on the PHL runway as all the USAir flights.

PHL is not the best designed airport (understatement).