Need Your Opinion - Airlines: To Change or Not To Change??

[tchoney]

We are booked through US Air for our May 2005 cruise. I love to fly US Air and booked our airfare directly through them. Mainly because of loyalty, and secondly because they were the only airline to offer direct flights from my area to LAX in the time frame needed. My family of 7 has perfect flight times... Anyway,

Saturday, we met a pilot of US Air (for 19 years!) and he said, he would recommend that we returned our tickets and went with another airline. He has been with them many years and doesn't foresee the company making it through February. Especially with now the unforeseen gas prices rising more and more and more.

Ironically, I read an article in the newspaper yesterday, saying that it would be better to buy with a credit card because the credit card company would handle all transactions with the airline directly. And then it said, as long as the Amount billed on the statement was within 60 days. Well, I made my airline about 2-3 months ago in anticipation for next year.

What would you recommend that we do? Should we go ahead and transfer our tickets to another airline and give up our perfect flights and times or hang in there at least until february and see how the airline performs while risking not being about to get airfare for the time needed??

I appreciate everyones help and opinon. We have never run into this situation before....

Thanks!
Tina

 

[CGC33A]

buy trip insurance that will cover the airfare.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

See "US Airways skids toward liquidation," by Steve Halvonik, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW, Friday, October 29, 2004, at http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/regional/s_267107.html

It looks bad.

But are your tickets refundable? And, if so, how long will it take them to process the refund?

 

[BELLE16127]

I live in Pennsylvania just north of Pittsburgh and ALOT of people here are REALLY WORRIED about the whole USAir thing here as Pittsburgh International is a MAJOR HUB for USAir. We were really worried that something would happen before our October trip. It is all over the news here all the time and it doesn't sound too good (from what I understand). Our DD has flights booked for Thanksgiving and Christmas through them and we are worried about those (she goes to college in Florida). You never know what to do I hope the best for you I know the feeling of the wondering....good luck

 

[ivanova]

Is US Air already in bankruptcy? If so most travel insurance companies won't cover airfare witn an airline in Chapter 11. We had tickets with United last Fall, paid cash for DD's (used freq flyer miles for DH and me) and travel insurance would not cover the airfare since UAL is in chapter 11.

Also, whether or have paper tickets or e-tickets might also affect how you'd be handled if they did go belly-up by February.

 

[treloarf]

I am from Pgh. & have not yet booked our air for the disney cruise we're taking early Feb. I want to buy my tickets from USAir because I'm holding a frequent flyer ticket for 1 flight & need to purchase 3 more. But I am a little nervous especially if trip insurance wouldn't cover the flight costs.

I'm going to wait another week or two & see what happens.

 

[seashoreCM]

You will need to find out the current law regarding other airlines' honoring tickets of bankrupt airlines.

At one time quite recently, other airlines had to let you stand by for a $25.00 fee, although during a busy time you jmight have to wait a few days for seats to be available.

As far as cruises go, you need to book in a fashion that allows a refund for the cruise if the airline doesn't get you there. Generally this means getting insurance and possibly booking both the cruise and the airfare as one package.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[CarolA]

Well, the pilot does not appear to know much about ticketing on an airline. Unless you were very generous and paid full fare you cannot just return your tickets and book with another airline. You can cancel your flights and get a credit minus the change fee (normally $100 per ticket) You might could book on a codeshare with United, but there is no gurantee of that.

Right now your options are very limited. You can cancel and try to rebook on a USAir alliance partner using USAir flight numbers and use the credit from cancelling your original flights or you can just wait it out.

The law extending the airline bankruptcy protection did pass. Here is the deal you can pay a fee of $25 to fly standby to your desitination. With a group of seven that is going to mean you are splitting up and not getting your perferred times.

I would call my CC company and see what they say they will do if USAirlines goes under.

Also, a good souce of info is the forums on www.flyertalk.com

 

[Jestocost]

Originally posted by CarolA

The law extending the airline bankruptcy protection did pass. Here is the deal you can pay a fee of $25 to fly standby to your desitination. With a group of seven that is going to mean you are splitting up and not getting your perferred times.

The provision extending this requirement beyond Nov. 19 (for an additional 30 months, I think) passed in the Senate version of the Intelligence Reform bill, but was not included (to the best of my knowledge) in the House's version of the bill. The Senate has rejected the House version, so the bill has been sent to a conference committee to work out the differences. They'll likely get to it when they return for a lame-duck session after the election.

 

[CarolA]

Thanks for the update on the law. So basically it expires Nov 19 and we don't really have an idea when the protection will resume? (Although for flights to and from Orlando in busy season I am not sure how much help the ability to fly standby is going to be)

 

[DebbieB]

Even though I had a $150 credit with USAir for a cancelled May flight, I chose to book with AirTran for December so I wouldn't have to worry. Plus USAir's price was higher. For the flights I wanted, they were $321. For flights with not great times it was $175. AirTran was $135 for times close to what I wanted.

Unless you booked refundable tickets, you can't return them and get your money back. I don't think you can transfer them, except for maybe United.

 

[safetymom]

I don't think there is much of a chance of USAirways giving you your money back. That is what a non refundable ticket is. They could transfer it and charge a fee but I think you are out of luck on the ticket unless they go out of business.

 

[wildernessbride52105]

i never flew USAir but i've also heard that. i personally like SW.