US Airways on time?

[fendbass]

I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings. My wife flies US Air every week, and the flight (from CLT to Tampa) has been late over 70% of the time, and we're not talking a few minutes; her last flight was over 3 hours late. My wife finally gave up, and switched to AirTran for her last trip.

 

The main problem is that her flight originates in Orlando, and that one is almost always late. The flights from Tampa to Charlotte are also late, although not as ofter as the flights in the other direction.

 

I have also heard that US Air was switching their reservation computers to a different system, and that was having all kinds of problems, probably won't be straightened out for at least a couple of weeks, maybe longer. So far, what seems to be most affected is the self-service check-in kiosks, but, this implies to me that the whole system may be a little shaky

 

I agree with the general consensus of opinion; if you are going to stick to US Air, try to fly the day before.

[rjnjr1019]

i have never had a flight on us airways that was on time

[38anchor]

Avoid PHL like the plague and you'll be fine.

 

I'm reading this thread with interest and growing trepidation. We are flying US airways for our upcoming cruise this Dec. We decided to go with RCI air who have put us on US Airways. We are flying from the UK, 20th Dec Manchester to Philidelphia, with a 4 hour wait before we catch our connecting US airways flight out of Philidelphia onto Miami. The return leg is pretty much the same. As we are UK based, we don't really know much about US Airways and this thread has really started to worry me.

 

Why is Philadelphia such a nightmare, and should we rethink our plans (if we can).........

[parody]

Why is Philadelphia such a nightmare, and should we rethink our plans

 

I would wait a bit before you make any changes for a trip that is 8 months away. Senior management at US Airways is well aware of the baggage problems that have occurred in Philadelphia and have taken a proactive stance to make significant improvements. There has been a major article on this recently in the Boston papers, but for now, here is a quote from the April 3, 2007 issue of the Charlotte Observer: The percent of flights where baggage is sent to the carousel in Philadelphia within 30 minutes of the plane's arrival time was 95.5 percent in March, up from 82.2 percent in October."I think in Philadelphia we've seen some real movement, but it's not consistent yet," Gee said.

[hdawson]

This chart (on the left) may help everyone to choose the airline that is right for them. This is the service rankings for the year 2006, and just released.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2007-04-02-airline-quality-report_N.htm

[concour]

My experience with US Airways has always been a crap shoot. Flown them twice in the last few weeks and had problems all round. Computers down, late flights and missing luggage. Went through Philly last weekend, never again. Leaving philly on the way to NOLA for the cruise they pulled out the gate "on time" with people still putting their luggage overhead. We went about 20 feet and then waited another 35 minutes till we taxied onto the runway. At least we officially left on time. One leg of the flight they had two of us assigned to the same seat. The flight attendant originally said that if there was no other seats available I would have to take another flight. I calmly explained that would not be an option because my wife was on the flight and I had a cruise to go on. Lucky for me I got the last seat on the plane.

 

Waiting on the cruise documents for August. If the flight is with US Airways I will try and get them changes.

 

Bill

[hdawson]

With USAir's record I don't see how they can survive. Why would anyone with a choice choose them?

[tomko2]

Before you eat the tickets, see if there is space available the previous day. If there is, call US Air, explain that you feel the 55 minute connection will just be too stressful and that you CHOOSE to book the flight a day earlier. Don't in any way make it seem like you distrust US AIR-flight connections or luggage issues. The worst that could happen-you get charged the change fee (most likely $100.00pp). The best-the US Air rep reduces the change fee or makes the change for free. Even paying the change fee is cheaper than new tickets.

 

Book a Priceline hotel, relax the evening before and ENJOY your cruise.

 

Great advice from Greatam. The second leg of one of our US Air flights was cancelled because of an FAA directive. Apparently too many planes were scheduled to fly (I think there was a problem out west which caused problems with flights on the eastern seaboard). We were lucky we were headed home so we booked for the next morning, called a hotel (which was filling up fast) and spend the night there. (US Air did not give us anything except a discount voucher at the hotel).

It would be so worthwhile to be in Florida ready for your cruising rather than stressing right to the last minute.

Things happen that you can't even imagine, e.g. our flight in to Ft Lauderdale last October was three hours late because the President was leaving Lauderdale and his plane sprayed gravel on the runway; naturally no other plane could be in the air space during that time and then we ended up diverting to Tampa for fuel before finally landing in Fort Lauderdale.