united but operated by us air??? that's what our flight says

[leanne11]

what does that mean? do we go to united or us air check in, what do we tell ME? booked through cheap tickets so i can't find the flight on either united web site or us air?
anyone ever hear of this?

 

[salmoneous]

I've had something similar a few times. What it is supposed to mean is that you have a ticket from United to put you on a US Air jet. Go to the United gate for check in, but give yourself extra time since there may be confusion.

What's a bit worrisome is that you should be able to find the flight on US Air's website. If you aren't seeing it, I'd call United and ask what is up.

 

[betterlatethannever]

what does that mean? do we go to united or us air check in, what do we tell ME? booked through cheap tickets so i can't find the flight on either united web site or us air?
anyone ever hear of this?

Yes, it happens all the time.

You go to the USAir counter to check in.

The flight number you have, you will not find on either schedule. You will need to look for the departure time on the USAir web site.

Ed

 

[tkldisney]

You go to USAir counter to check in!

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

what does that mean? do we go to united or us air check in, what do we tell ME? booked through cheap tickets so i can't find the flight on either united web site or us air?
anyone ever hear of this?

That's called code-sharing.

You're really flying on US Airways, except the flight is also sold by United Airlines as a United flight with a United flight number. But you'll check in at the US Airways counter and travel on a US Airways aircraft.

There could several reasons why you don't see your flight on either the United Airlines or US Airways website. The most likely reason is that there's been a schedule change involving new flight numbers and possibly new flight times since you were ticketed. Call United to find out you how they now have you booked.

Tell DME your United flight number. For inbound travel, the specific airline doesn't make a difference; you can still have your luggage "magically appear" in your room. For your return trip, you won't be able to use Resort Airline Check-in. United participates in Resort Airline Check-in, but US Airways does not. You can still use the DME transportation, but with your luggage in the luggage hold of the motorcoach.

 

[debden]

Yes,We went thru United and it said operated by US Air.When we got to the airport we went to the United desk and they said we had to check-in at the US Air counter for our flight.So on the way back we went to US Air and they said we had to check-in at United!! Are you kidding? We were at Los Angeles airport..do you know how many terminals we had to go to get to United?? We had less than 2 hours before our flight was due to leave and here we are hell bent and gone from where we need to be. We did make the flight on time but we swore we would never book a flight operated by another airline.It's just too confusing to know where to go to check-in and at a huge airport like LAX you do not want to be running around with your luggage trying to figure out where to go to catch your flight!!
But all's well that ends well and we learned our lesson....
Debbie

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

When we got to the airport we went to the United desk and they said we had to check-in at the US Air counter for our flight.So on the way back we went to US Air and they said we had to check-in at United!!

I assume that your inbound flight was operated by US Airways and your return flight was operated by United Airlines. When booking a roundtrip, it's entirely possible that two airlines could be involved in operating the flights. In fact, that's one of the reasons for code-share arrangements between airlines — it allows them to offer more competitive roundtrip flight time choices, so that you don't pick a different airline.

If your return flight wasn't operated by United Airlines, then it would make no sense for US Airways to send you to United.

The lesson here is to pay attention to which airline is operating each flight segment when a code-share is involved, and to go to the terminal of that airline for check-in and boarding.

 

[skooniebird]

what does that mean? do we go to united or us air check in, what do we tell ME? booked through cheap tickets so i can't find the flight on either united web site or us air?
anyone ever hear of this?

US Air for check in. This happened when my 13 yr old son went to DC. Then we experienced some problems where we had to pay extra for him to have a "chaperone" where other kids' parents who were even younger didn't. So when I called complaining wanting that money back I had to go around and around with US Air saying they are just a carrier for United and United saying it was US Air's problem. Finally it was United who had to pay me back. But what a fiasco. It was like they didn't even know who was who themselves.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

It's interesting that almost everyone still writes the name of the airline as US Air or USAir. In 1997, the name changed from USAir to US Airways. After America West acquired US Airways recently, the combined airline took on the US Airways name.

It's not a big deal, and I'm not trying to pick on anybody. But it helps to use the right name when doing Google searches, when looking in a phone book, or even when talking to the employees of the airline.

 

[leanne11]

but can i use the 24 on-line check-in boarding pass?

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

but can i use the 24 on-line check-in boarding pass?

The 24-hour online check-in is important if you want an "A" boarding pass on Southwest Airlines.

However, for the legacy carriers with pre-reserved seats, such as United Airlines and US Airways, you really don't gain anything.

 

[betterlatethannever]

It's interesting that almost everyone still writes the name of the airline as US Air or USAir. ...

At least we're not calling it Allegany Airlines

Ed

 

[helenk]

It's interesting that almost everyone still writes the name of the airline as US Air or USAir. In 1997, the name changed from USAir to US Airways. After America West acquired US Airways recently, the combined airline took on the US Airways name.

It's not a big deal, and I'm not trying to pick on anybody. But it helps to use the right name when doing Google searches, when looking in a phone book, or even when talking to the employees of the airline.

...
You can type usair.com and you will be taken to the US Airways website and you can google us air and one of your choice is the US Airways website, so I think it really does not matter.

 

[safetymom]

The old name was Allegheny Airlines.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

...
You can type usair.com and you will be taken to the US Airways website and you can google us air and one of your choice is the US Airways website, so I think it really does not matter.

Again, I'm not saying that it's a big deal. But my Google comment is legitimate. For example, if someone searches at Google News for articles about USAir, that person will only get articles that either mention the airline's previous name or articles in which the writer is unaware that the name changed in 1997. But a search for US Airways will provide current business news and travel news about the airline.

Nobody should take my comments as a personal criticism.

Some business analysts have suggested that America West made a bad decision when they decided to use the US Airways name for the combined airline. It's a name that never really caught on (as this thread shows), and it doesn't have a particularly positive image.

 

[DebbieB]

I think they went with USAirways because America West really didn't have a big presence on the east coast, where the most routes are. I live in PA and never really heard of America West before the merger. I've been flying USAirways (yes, I am guilty of saying just USAir) pretty frequently lately (12 flights so far this year) and noticed they are really making progress on getting the planes repainted white.

Interesting article in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review this morning:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/business/s_434809.html

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

The old name was Allegheny Airlines.

Yep.

In 1984, Allegheny Airlines became USAir.

In 1988, USAir acquired Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA).

In 1989, USAir acquired the old Piedmont Airlines.

In 1997, USAir completed a re-branding as US Airways

In 2005, America West Airlines acquired US Airways, keeping the US Airways name for the combined airline.

Update: This year, the new US Airways is making it possible to fly on Allegheny, America West, PSA, and Piedmont gain... sort of. See http://www.americawest.com/awa/content/aboutawa/companyprofile/usair/livery_heritage.aspx

 

[betterlatethannever]

The old name was Allegheny Airlines.

Thanks. I knew I didn't have the right spelling.

Some business analysts have suggested that America West made a bad decision when they decided to use the US Airways name for the combined airline. It's a name that never really caught on (as this thread shows), and it doesn't have a particularly positive image.

It was a lot more positive than "Agony" (for Allegheny) Airlines.

Ed

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

It was a lot more possitive than "Agony" (for Allegheny) Airlines.

Very true.

Airlines had interesting nicknames in those days. And do you remember "Air Worst" (Air West, later Hughes Airwest) and "Frantic Airlines" (the old Frontier Airlines)?

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

You're really flying on US Airways, except the flight is also sold by United Airlines as a United flight with a United flight number. But you'll check in at the US Airways counter and travel on a US Airways aircraft.

This is exactly right. You are on a US Airways flight, not United.

It can get confusing.