usair

[kisobel]

any opinions on usair???


kate

 

[chevyAZ]

Former Platinum and Club Member on America West. Once the US Air Merger happened I can tell you that customer service went down hill .

I stopped flying US Air last January after a horrible flight experience from MCO to PHX. I live in PHX, and fly Southwest almost exclusively, now. I dont get seat assignments, but their employees seem like they're happy to work there and my on-time arrival experience has improved dramatically .

US Air's frequent flyer program stinks. The average freq flyer ticket from PHX to MCO takes 50,000 miles (It used to be 20,000, then 25,000). You can occasionaly get by with 37,500, but that's very rare. To put that into perspective, you'll need about 11 cross country round trips to get 1 free ticket. When you compare that to Southwest where you can get a free ticket for every 8 round trips regardless of the mileage and add that to the fact that in most cases SW is much cheaper, the decision for me was clear.

Others might have a different perspective, but for me, they're not up to par. It is difficult to do from PHX, but I do anything I can to avoid flying them.

I am now 11 months US Air Free .

 

[bicker]

They're comparable to all the rest of the airlines. Some are better at some things than others, but it all evens out in the end.

 

[safetymom]

US Airways isn't bad. They do have some issues with the two computer systems from the merger. It may require a phone call to straighten a problem out instead of using the web page.

The front line employees are some of the best out there.

 

[ZekeKelso]

Their planes take off and land at their destination - which is 99% of what I am looking for in a flight. However, I notice a distinct difference in customer service between the legacy carriers (including US Air) and SW/Jet Blue. I'll go out of my way to fly SW/Jet Blue.

Also, among the legacy carriers, US Air annoys me with their aggressive "selling" to customers - both via the inflight TV's and from the FA's. I wouldn't go out of the way to fly, say, AA over US Air. But given a choice of two equal flights, I'll avoid US Air if possible.

 

[bavaria]

As a UA frequent flier I sometimes find myself on US Air. As Safetymom said, they have great customer service - at least on the 'old' US Air side of things. For some reason I have avoided flying on the America West routes even though they do come up as an option on my routes.

For the infrequent flier, price, schedule, availability of nonstops, and then frequent flier benefits seem to be the motivators.

As with any airline and any rental car company and any car service, you will read both good and bad reviews.

 

[bicker]

Their planes take off and land at their destination - which is 99% of what I am looking for in a flight. However, I notice a distinct difference in customer service between the legacy carriers (including US Air) and SW/Jet Blue. I'll go out of my way to fly SW/Jet Blue.

Well, I cannot imagine putting SW and JetBlue in the same sentence. JetBlue offers advance reserved seat assignments, and back-of-the-seat entertainment systems, which put them in a realm of their own. They're the best of both worlds, really.

 

[goofyforlife]

Oh US Scare....

Where we used to live they were the only carrier at our airport...

and guaranteed our luggage never made it home on the same plane or date for that matter....

One trip it took three days to get all of our luggage... (none of our checked bags made the original flight)

The FF program is a mess...My DH has had tons of points he earned on business trips but they were never available when we wanted to fly so useless. Once we got three fares but realize if you need to make any changes to your flights they incurr a fee (We had booked the tickets almost a year out...in the meantime we moved 3 hrs away so needed to change airports and ended up paying $75 per ticket that we changed)

On SWA ...totally different story...Never had a problem using rewards credits...I can change my ticket until the cows come home for no additional fees.... And on my regular fare tickets...i can get a credit back if fares drop.... We flew to FL for free this last trip because we had over $250 in credits and scored ding fares for each way.

 

[bicker]

I just had a great experience using FF miles on US Airways. In the past, I was never able to use FF miles for open-jaws, on any airline, but US Airways just let me do so.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

The last time I flew USAir (DCA-BOS) they lost my bag for 24 hours.

 

[DebbieB]

I flew over 50,000 miles with USAir this year, had only one really bad flight and it wasn't actually their fault, it was air traffic control because of rain in PHL (where I was connecting). My luggage did not make my connection, it was delivered the next day.

The airline I really have trouble with is Northwest. Almost every trip we are delayed due to mechanical problems with their old DC-9's.

 

[ZekeKelso]

Well, I cannot imagine putting SW and JetBlue in the same sentence. JetBlue offers advance reserved seat assignments, and back-of-the-seat entertainment systems, which put them in a realm of their own. They're the best of both worlds, really.

Don't want to put too much clutter in a US Air thread, but keep in mind that many frequent SW fliers love SW's open seating policy - it's one of my favorite features. But I do like those nifty TV's on Jet Blue.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

The last 2 times we used USAirways our luggage didn't arrive with us, even though they were non-stop flights. Both times we were leaving for a cruise which is really annoying to not have our things right there with us. I wouldn't mind as much if we were just going to a hotel and it could easily be delivered later that day.
Since then we've switched to SWA and even with the open seating policy, I'll take them any day over USAir. They don't charge a change fee and if I find the price has lowered since we booked, we can get a credit that can be used online. USAir gives vouchers that you have to go to the airport in person to buy. Also their vouchers can't be pooled like credits from SWA. Each voucher can only be used to buy another ticket for the original flyer. Pain in the butt!

 

[bavaria]

I think that this thread with the side comments re SW are a great example of how one size does not fit all.

Some travellers love SW for the fares, flexibility, and open seating. That would not suit me and I don't see myself flying SW. (they don't serve my home market, but I do a lot of flying in the US and still wouldn't consider them at this point)

On the other hand, I love UA for the benefits I receive as a frequent traveller, mainly Economy Plus seating. But for the infrequent traveller, it can be frustrating to fly UA and to be told that they need to pay extra to 'upgrade' to those seats.

Again, one is not better than the other, it's just a case of each person having different priorities and needs, and which airline can meet those priorities and needs.

 

[TDC Nala]

I took a USAir flight to MCO this month, and they had the flight attendants come around trying to get you to sign up for a credit card.

Wonder what kind of thing I'll get when I fly them to Europe in June. I would have loved to go on Southwest, but they don't fly to Europe.

I love the Southwest seating policy, and the TVs don't interest me on Jet Blue since I got a video Ipod. But if Jet Blue flew to Orlando from Washington, I'd look into them. I have so many credits on Southwest that it's just easier to go with them.

 

[plutospup]

The majority of my flights are on US Airways. I leave from our local airport on a commuter, and connect through Philadelphia. I can honestly say I haven't had any problems in the past two years. Even the American West flights to the West Coast have been good. Coming from Syracuse, I wouldn't anticipate any problems with US Airways. ...now if it's a United flight I could tell you many HORROR stories!

 

[ducklite]

US Airways isn't bad. They do have some issues with the two computer systems from the merger. It may require a phone call to straighten a problem out instead of using the web page.

The front line employees are some of the best out there.

I feel the same way.

Anne

 

[ducklite]

I took a USAir flight to MCO this month, and they had the flight attendants come around trying to get you to sign up for a credit card.

They do that on every flight but there's no hard sell. They make a brief announcement then walk down the aisle. If you aren't interested they do'nt even stop at your seat.

Anne