PHL-United or American Airlines

[spammie]

US Air has more flights but after having my luggage lost and (2) new Samsonite suitcases destroyed by them, I refuse to fly with them again. Any recommendations flying United vs American?

[quinceemom]

What's the final destination? If it's FLL, try AirTran - they may not have direct to FLL, but shld have one connection in ATL. You could also try them to West Palm Beach or Miami, if you're renting car. Let's just say I've heard some good things about AirTran (and they're having a fare sale thru July 15th).

[hdawson]

AirTran was recognized by the FAA as having the best luggage handling record for 2004 among all domestic airlines. Also ranked second in overall service. My line of choice.

[quinceemom]

Hdawson, thanks for the great comment!!!! Can you tell who I work for - maybe I'll see you in the skies someday!!!! I was actually in PHL the night before the Superbowl and I just have to say, the Eagles fans were absolutely my favorite people all season - except the day after the Superbowl. I'm looking forward to this season.

[hdawson]

Quinceemom. You guys do a fantastic job and are so responsible for the growth and sucess of this company. I've been so impressed, I have bought stock in the company. I do wish you would come back to GSO. I had such great personal service from a gate agent in Miami a couple of years ago, I wrote a real letter to Joe Leonard. I've never had such above the expected service as that lady provided me. Keep up the good work.

[just4kixx]

Spammie...

 

Please be careful when booking through United. I've purchased several flights through United.com this year and ALL of them have been flights serviced by USAir :eek: . I, too, had baggage problems with USAir upon returning to Philly just 2 weeks ago. And also, I booked a flight for DH from Phillly to Phoenix for this past Sunday. On Saturday, wHen I went to get a seat assignment, I found out that USAir had no record of his reservation (fully paid through United.com). I was on the phone for at least 2 hours trying to get that straightened out. Finally, a very nice woman out of CHicago from United was able to fix things. Thank goodness I had made that initial call... DH would have been P.O.'d at PHI at 6:30am!!!!

 

SO, I don't know if there is any way to tell for sure... except perhaps if you check out the USAir flight times... and the United flights are exactly the same.... just be aware that United does book flights through USAIr

 

On the other hand, Airtran and SOuthwest air should also be good options out of Philly. There is also USA3000. I've been hearing good things about them too!

 

WIll be flying Airtran on Friday to FLL. WIll let you know how it goes ;)

 

Good luck

A~:)

[spammie]

just4kixx, thanks for the "heads up" regarding US Air and United. I have flown AirTran before and really like them a lot. Our next cruise we leave from Miami, hubby hates flying and wants a nonstop flight directly into Miami. Unfortunately AirTran only has 3 flights per day out of Philly to Miami and they all have connections. I'm thinking we are probably going to try American Airlines.

[jerseygirl3]

Spammie, Air Tran has non-stop flights from Philly to Ft. Lauderdale. It's only 23 miles from FLL to Miami. Maybe that's an option for you?

[quinceemom]

just4kixx - what time is your flight Friday? Hopefully, this tropical storm will be done by then, we've had terrible weather for about three days now. Sun is trying to come out, but still slightly windy and yucky. Spammie, AirTran is acutally having a pretty good fare sale right now, so if you chose to fly direct to Miami, you could always rent car and just drop it off in Ft Lauderdale. I think there's a shuttle, but if your hotel is closer to FLL, maybe there would be hotel shuttle.

[hdawson]

quinceemom. Aren't new planes nicer than 20+ yr old ones? Love those oversized overheads. Those Belgian cookies too. I ordered a case after one flight. Kind of expensive cookies though. Bet you have a drawer full.

[quinceemom]

Acutally,no I don't. But if you ever fly us again, and the flight attendant is pretty nice, bet you could ask her for extras and you'd get more than enough. I always hand out more to people that ask for more,,,but you're right, if I want just a taste of a little sweet, a couple of the cookies are great. Thanks for the great comments,,,,,I'm thinking of printing this forum and forwarding to our marketing director. I think he'd get enjoy seeing the positive comments also,and thank you for taking the time to write a nice letter about your good experience in Miami. I can assure that not only was the letter given to the gate agent, a copy was put in her file as well.

Thanks again.

[greatam]

DO NOT fly United (read US Air) out of Philly. US Air has had baggage problems out of Philly since Xmas. They still continue.

 

I booked UNITED flights to Philly in May. I am a VERY loyal AA flyer, but AA had no availability at anything close to reasonable ($500.00pp) on the dates I needed. So booked United.com. Was shuffled onto US AIR. Called immediately to express my concern. United assured me "everything has been worked out baggage wise on the codeshare flights". Returned to PHX this morning. NO LUGGAGE. I was one of 50 or so people with NO LUGGAGE. Got absolutely NO help from United-in fact, the lady at lost luggage for United told me it was not THEIR problem, go talk to US AIR. US AIR had ONE person on duty to handle 50 complaints. It is now 6 hours after I landed in Phoenix. NO LUGGAGE and NO ONE KNOWS where it is. What in the h*** are all the bar codes for???

 

I own a logistics company and prior to December, I booked a LOT of freight (over $75,000 per month) on US Air for their Eastern corridor service. I cancelled my contract with them, due to sloppy handling. Then stupid me allowed myself to be shuffled onto a United codeshare with who else, US AIR.

 

The luggage was not the important thing. But what was in it was. It was my birthday Thursday and I got a check from DH to spend anyway I wanted. I spent it all on clothes in NYC and all those clothes are in the suitcases, as well as his personal present to me. I have two more codeshare United/US Airways flights, one in August, one in September. Cancelled both and also cancelled my Ameniti membership with United. Lost over $2000.00 by cancelling, but at this point, the money is worth less than my personal feelings. Do NOT fly United (or US Air) out of Philly!!!

[just4kixx]

just4kixx - what time is your flight Friday? Hopefully, this tropical storm will be done by then, we've had terrible weather for about three days now. Sun is trying to come out, but still slightly windy and yucky.

 

We are scheduled to fly to FLL on Friday 12:35pm. We are then driving to Key West for my nephew's wedding. Hopefully we will squeeze in a good weekend down there! Keep your fingers crossed!

 

A~:)

[hdawson]

Emily's sustained winds are up to 45MPH. Five day projections don't, at this time, look good for Florida.

[just4kixx]

Ah... wonderful... :(

 

Flying with my "afraid to fly" flather... this should be very interesting! Wish me luck

A~:)

[quinceemom]

You should have a good flight down - it looks like you have an excellent crew. And remember, if they serve pretzels (which they will, because it's a PM flight, just ask for "those little cookies"). There's a nice little bistro near the gates that has some good sandwiches and salads - be sure to take something on plane with you, as it's long (2 + hours) and AT does not serve meals. Hope your flight is good - be sure to post report when you get back.

[Giorgi-one]

AirTran was recognized by the FAA as having the best luggage handling record for 2004 among all domestic airlines. Also ranked second in overall service. My line of choice.

 

We were booked on Airtran for August cruise. Last month they cancelled our flight and rebooked us on a 10 AM flight out of FLL. No way I would evey try that. We cancelled, got our money back and rebooked on Southwest.

 

Airtran has a habit of cancelling or changing flight times.

[hdawson]

Giorgi. Haven't you notice, all airlines are cancelling and rescheduling flights?

Just read the posts where people weren't contacted by the airline. It seems to be a semi-permanent phenomonim in the industry.

[ladycaveat]

Does anyone know of any good deals on non stop flight from D.C. (Dulles International) to either Miami or Fort Lauderdale for end of March to mid April 2006? For that matter . . . what airlines besides United's Ted fly that route?

[hdawson]

Best prices don't usually come out until after the low cost carriers publish their fares. About 6 months out. Also the top three domestic airlines for service were JetBlue, AirTran and Southwest, in that order. United ranked 4th. I know AirTran serves all three DC area airports. You can check their website to get an idea of rates on sale. The current sale ends tomorrow, Fri.

 

Current AirTran sale fare for late Aug from BWI to Fll is as low as $49 going down and

$79 on the return. All fares are one way.

[quinceemom]

To Giorgi-one, while I am sorry that you had what you think is a bad experience with AirTran, I will affirm hdawson's reply, cancellations and delays are just part of air travel, just like traffic jams and delays are part of driving. The skies have almost more air traffic than they can handle and any event, weather or otherwise, that can cause a delay will have a ripple affect on other airports. Delta has just announced that they will be increasing fares and I predict that a number of the larger carriers will follow suit. And as far as customer satisfaction, there will always be passengers for whom no airline will meet their expectations and on the other hand, there will always be my favorite passengers - the ones who come on with their smiles, always say hello and goodbye and who just love to chat with you about their travel plans.

[marvholly]

Be real careful re: UA. Several of the travel insurance companies are NOT covering financial default by UA and have not been for seferal years. My last 2 cruises I did AA. Good choices out of ORD and connections in Atlanta or Houston.

[Billys9319]

We were booked on Airtran for August cruise. Last month they cancelled our flight and rebooked us on a 10 AM flight out of FLL. No way I would evey try that. We cancelled, got our money back and rebooked on Southwest.

 

Airtran has a habit of cancelling or changing flight times.

 

 

We had the same problem with Airtran out of PHL, but they never notified me. Luckly I keep checking our reservation. We also are now booked with southwest.

[quinceemom]

To those of you who had flights cancelled with or without notification, I do wish you would take the time to contact AirTran in writing - just go to Airtran.com and on the left hand bar, there will an option to "contact us". If this is a recurrent problem in this market, it should be brought to management's attention, as PHL is definately a competitive market and AirTran should make an effort to satisfy it's passengers. Thanks!

[quinceemom]

And for those of you think it's just the passengers who get the royal treatment, I was caught up in the thunderstorms that just moved through Philly - got back to ATL at 0300 and to my house at 0415, in plenty of time for 0845 dental appointment!!!!!!!