Philly to Rome on US Airways?

[cadburysmom]

Anyone fly US Airways from Philadelphia to Rome?

 

I've read their 330(airbus?) planes are nice, even in coach class. Haven't flown US Air in a while, have heard lots of negative comments about domestic flights being cancelled or delayed but always good things about international ones.

 

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks! :)

[Juliadlf]

We flew USAirways from PHL to FCO in late August. No problems with the flight.Used them for our return from Frankfurt to PHL (connected from Venice) and no flight delays or issues. I find them and Northwest always good for international travel. Just our experience.

 

We use USAirways regularly for our domestic flights and yes, we do have flight delays but since we can't fly the plane ourselves we just go with the flow ;) .

 

Julia

[winewanderer]

We flew US airways Philly to Rome in October. The first leg was San Francisco to Philly. Everything was fine. Flights were on time.

 

My only complaint was my tv on the seat in front of me wasn't working. Fortunately our flight from Philly to Rome was half empty so we were allowed to move and took a whole middle row for hubby and myself.

[photographia]

I flew US Air from Philly to Europe ONCE. The overseas flight in itself was fine; but it was making the connection in Philly back to my home in DC that was the nightmare. They kept us waiting for well over an hour for our baggage, and not one employee gave us an explanation, much less an apology (and it definitely wasn't weather-related). Since we THEN had to clear immigration and customs, everybody missed connecting flights--in many cases, the last flight of the day--and US Air couldn't have cared less. I myself sat in Philly for an additional FIVE HOURS before they got me back to DC, which coincidentally is a US Air hub, so they have flights coming here constantly! Again, no explanations, no apologies. Subsequently, I have read similar sorts of complaints about US Air in Philly here on these boards.

 

I've flown many airlines, many times all over the world, but I won't fly US Air again. Things can happen no matter what airline you fly; but it's the way the airlines handle these inevitable things that makes a HUGE difference.

 

In any case, if you're based in Philly, and can get a direct flight overseas, that should be fine. But if you have to make a connection, ESPECIALLY to a smaller destination with few daily flights, I myself would either make sure I had TONS of layover time in Philly, or book another airline.

[sandij]

We've booked the US Air Philly to Rome for May but we have four hour layover in Philly coming and going, that should be enough for a luggage transfer.

[Jade13]

Anyone fly US Airways from Philadelphia to Rome?

 

I've read their 330(airbus?) planes are nice, even in coach class. Haven't flown US Air in a while, have heard lots of negative comments about domestic flights being cancelled or delayed but always good things about international ones.

 

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks! :)

 

We flew this route in July. We have always liked US Airways, but I am usually on their shuttles. The flights were on time. We used FFmiles, and even though we were in coach they put priority tags on our luggage. When we got to Rome from the time we walked off the plane we were outside in less than 20 minutes. The only issue was the connection time in Philly. I knew it could be an issue with one hour between flights (we came hours early that morning in hopes of getting an earlier flight to Philly but everything was full), so I made sure to find a diagram and gate info before I got off of the plane. We were speed walking and the Gate we had to go to in Philly was as far as possible. We walked right into the boarding line. The other issue was the video at my seat (whole row) was broken, but fortunately we brought our own DVD and movies.

 

We flew back on Lufthansa, and flying Lufthansa there next year as we can go a day earlier with the Lufthansa schedule.

[Jade13]

We flew US airways Philly to Rome in October. The first leg was San Francisco to Philly. Everything was fine. Flights were on time.

 

My only complaint was my tv on the seat in front of me wasn't working. Fortunately our flight from Philly to Rome was half empty so we were allowed to move and took a whole middle row for hubby and myself.

 

 

They haven't fixed those TV's yet???

[Keith1010]

If you post this on the Cruise Air Board you will get some additional comments from the experts on that board.

 

Keith

[PTC]

I'll put in my two cents....

 

Everyone has a good and bad experience with airlines but they also blame the airlines for what is the responsibility of the AIRPORT personnel. Many people blame USAirways for Philly's problems but what they fail to see is that the airline does not own the Philly airport. Its managed and has staff which does alot of what people think airline staff is doing.

 

PTC

[rebeccalouise]

I have flown US air now five times. I did their nonstop to Madrid from Philly and have also done their nonstop philly- venice (4 times).

 

The good news is that all my flights were uneventful and were on time.

 

The bad news is that the planes are like the dark ages- either movies are shown on the large screen (which was broken coming and going on one flight) or they do have the little tvs, which don't work properly. Let's put it this way- two out of our three worked.

 

Business class isn't wonderful. I upgraded when I checked in on line for an extra $ 500- definitely worth it for the reclining seat but it wasn't like business class on other flights I have been on. Seats were old. Just not great.

 

But was reliable got me where i wanted to go without losing my luggage. I am flying them again in July.

 

Air France and British air are far superior but then you have to connect to get to Italy- no thanks.

[PatfromPa]

I have just booked direct flights from phil to rome on US air. I have had terrible experiences with luggage on US Air,:( but I definately wanted a direct flight to and from Rome and being from NE pa I prefer to fly out of Phil rather than Newark or JFK. So I'm hoping that with a direct flight I won't have lost luggage! I had a bad experience with Air France 2 years ago from Rome and I don't ever want to go through DeGaulle Airport again.

So US Air it is.

[knitter]

The Inquirer today said that 2 execs were being brought to Philly to try and clear up some of the mess that is usair in Philly. The problem I ususally encounter is on the return end- baggage service is almost always slow (and the handlers are usair employees, not airport personnel). I got a usair charge card just to be able check in at first class- the lines to check in can be really awful at times. Living outside of Philly means they are often the only choice though. A couple years ago we flew to Paris on usair and home on United and thought the United flight was pleasanter.

[mountainmare]

We also live in the Philly area so USAir is usually a good option. Last week on Thursday Continental out of Newark was a great price, by Friday it had jumped by $50 and USAir had dropped $30. So we booked USAir for Feb 26 to Rome. I know that flying coach USAir to Europe is grim (to say it nicely) but with a non-stop it gets you there and probably your luggage too. I fly Philly most of the time, maybe I'm just used to it but over the holidays my DB flew into ABE and because its so small was two days late getting in, so I like the choices Philly has to offer.

[ChelseaBrian]

Hi Guys..

we too are from PA. Our experience was much better than expected. We actually only brought carryon's for the entire week long cruise. I had heard such horrible things I didn't want to chance it. Going there way no problem. Only complaints I had were there wasn't tv's on the seats, one huge one in the middle section for everyone to see. Also, man was it ever uncomfortable. But that problem would be with any plane.

 

Coming home they told us our carryon's were now too big and had to check them. We checked them from BCN to PIT (through PHL) AND even jumped an earier flight in PHL. They really did a great job. I wouldn't be to worried about the flight. I was too and now I see it was not worth wasting my time. :o)

[mountainmare]

Chelsea---did you write about your adventures anywhere. I'm so glad you had a great time.