America West!

[gunner22a]

Sent my kids on their honeymoon cruise last week. They were booked with the above company. Nothing but a horror story. Thank god their cruise departed late or they might have missed it due to delays on departure and an unscheduled stop for fuel of all things. Comming home from LA was just as bad. Delayed again and their bags were removed from the flight as it was overloaded. The airline, if they can call themselves that won't give them a definative time on when their bags will be back. They are told it all depends on how loaded the upcomming flights are. I too have a cruise booked out of LA but won't be flying with them regardless of what it costs me. Beware of cruise air is all I can say!

[MandyGirl]

Thank goodness they arrived safely to their final desitnation for each part of their trip. Sometimes in certain weather, planes can be "weight restricted". It can happen with any airline. Also, weather in one part of the country can affect the plane as it makes its way across from point A to point B - causing delays in the rest of its schedule. Another example could be when a plane must go around weather (hence an unscheduled fuel stop since those things can be uncalculated or unexpected when doing the flight plan) or be kept in a holding pattern by ATC (burns more unexpected fuel). There are even times where there are unscheduled medical emergencies that cause a landing inflight. Lots and lots of variables can always affect departure/arrival times but the pilots do what is safest for passengers.

The monthly stats are posted by the department of transportation for each domestic airline. Delays, lost baggage, customer complaints. It's always a good idea to look those over when booking any airline - or look at NTSB for incident/accident statistics. Some airlines even post their traditional on-time percentages by flight on their website (AA does).

I would think that America West was not intentionally trying to take a hit with their delay counts or baggage counts, but trying to keep passenger safety a top priority. But the situation you described can happen (and does happen) with other airlines as well. Back when I flew AA so much I had Gold status, I had my share of delays for various reasons - and it can happen to any airline. (Just my opinion)

[billybob123]

At risk of repeating myself (which I am! ha) there's two great sites which allow you to monitor your flight's on-time performance:

 

http://www.bts.gov/xml/ontimesummarystatistics/src/ddisp/OntimeSummarySelect.xml?tname=OntimeSummaryFlightData

 

And to determine your airline's performance:

 

http://www.transtats.bts.gov/OT_Delay/OT_DelayCause1.asp

[vivian02]

If they didn't miss the cruise it had to have been a good cruise. Flying into a port one day ahead of a cruise and flying back one day post cruise can be less stressful. The wife and I had the experience last June flying back from Europe into LAX with one hour and ten minutes to catch our flight into Phoenix. Our luggage was first on (747) and last off. We arrived 30 minutes late and it was 45 mintes before we could clear customs. The Air Line specialist at the time said our luggage would not make our flight unless we could "run" down to terminal 7 and do a check in there. We were at terminal 1?...Anyway we ran down to terminal 7, found a customer service agent who told us to return to terminal 1...? Anyway to make a long story short we managed to fing the check in at termial 7 and found a clerk that understood our situation. We got through security and had 9 minutes to spare getting onto our flight to Phoenix. These things happen all the time and you have to be alert and just try to make the best of a bad situation. Anymore stories out there? Let hear them. Tim and Cathy

 

Loved that Meditteran Cruise

[gunner22a]

Her mother and I are doing just that for our upcomming Panama cruise out of LA. I would have sent them the day before but the way the cruise departures worrked out that was not an option. They left the wedding reception at 2 am, went and got changed, picked up the bags, did a quick early morning breakfast with the rest of the wedding party and flew off to the airport. Never would I book any cruise and fly the same day. I don't like the idea of watching my ship disappear over the horizon just as I get to the dock. The extra dollars for a hotel room are nothing and the ability to get to the ship early the next day to board is priceless.

[bencruzN]

We have made the mistake of taking America "Worst" umm West, a couple of times and each time has had delays of more than two hours. I try to avoid this airline. Thank God their ship left late, and they made their cruise.

[vivian02]

Just was notified this morning that I have a change in my itinerary flying back from Europe in early June. AW has moved up my flight out of LAX to Phoenix by ten minutes. This is seven months early I wonder how many more ltinerary changes will be made. Tim and Cathy. Happy flying.

[safein]

I have also flown America Worst. Luckily I only flew to Las Vegas R/T and not trying to connect for a cruise. We were in the airport in NYC where the flights to Phoenix kept on being delayed. When I was looking to book our air to Honolulu to get the Infinity in April,Even though they posted some of the best prices and times, I told my husband that there was no way I'd fly America Worst even though we're flying in 2 days early! I would be too afraid of having our luggage lost by them and still not getting it in time for us to sail.

 

Anita

[StephenJohnson]

America West has actually always given us good service, but we may just be lucky ;) - we're flying them to/from SD on our next cruise, but we're going down early, and have a leisurely homeward bound connection.

 

Flight schedules often change a little, vivian02, I wouldn't sweat it too much.

[vivian02]

Thanks for the vote of confidence for my first fight on AW in June 2005. I'm not sure how this one will work out but they did put us in Business Class on AW. My son who flies alot with AW out of Phoenix says with their Business class you'll be offered a drink. Prior to this this flight coming into LAX on Air France having the wine list and "buffey" what ever that means... I'm sure the AW treatment will look a little hokey! Well see how it works out. If I have too much wine on the French connection out of Paris I can always use alittle french on them. I'm sure after a 12 hour flight I'm probably just want to get home. By the way our flight out of Pheonix last night was full on SW. Thats why I own there stock. Tim and Cathy.

 

Norwegian SKy Alaska 05/03

Norwegian Star Hawaii 11/03

Royal Caribbean Splendor of the Seas Meditterean 5/04

[MaryPoppinz]

I've flown 8 segments on America West, all either in to or out of Phoenix. Every single one was late. My parents are actually flying AW through Phoenix today. Both legs have been late (they're cooling their heels in Phoenix right now.) They usually offer pretty good fares, but you need to have a flexible attitude (and schedule.) You can't rely on getting there on time with America West.

[kelmac]

America West is only a few % points worst than the other airlines. I use them a couple a times a year with no problems. All airlines are late 20--25% of the time. I fly SW, American, Delta and American West--they are all about the same. If you fly early mornings and avoid connecting flights things usually work out well. Planning is everything. (Inset flame here..........___________________)

 

 

:D

Kel

[parody]

America West is only a few % points worst than the other airlines. I use them a couple a times a year with no problems. All airlines are late 20--25% of the time. I fly SW, American, Delta and American West--they are all about the same. Kel

Good anecdotal evidence. However, the FAA statistics provide some additional details. Out of 19 airlines, America West's on-time performance was second to last at 76.7%. At all reportable airports, Hawaiian Airlines at 95.3% was the highest. See details at http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/reports/2004/0412atcr.doc

[kelmac]

Good anecdotal evidence. However, the FAA statistics provide some additional details. Out of 19 airlines, America West's on-time performance was second to last at 76.7%. At all reportable airports, Hawaiian Airlines at 95.3% was the highest. See details at http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/reports/2004/0412atcr.doc

The month of October, 2004:

% on time record for the following:

--All airlines = 81%

--America West = 77%

--American = 82%

--Delta = 79.5%

--South West = 80%

 

Hardly a big deal statistically. Fly before 9:00am and their is little difference between all airlines.

[StephenJohnson]

Well, we just took America west to & were scheduled to take it back from our last cruise - as it happened the return flight got cancelled and they moved us to an earlier direct flight on Alaska, so we're pretty happy with them. They also accomodated us shifting to an earlier outbound flight.

 

Again, they're not our normal airline of choice (that's Continental / Sky Team) - but I really think they're not so bad as made out - I wouldn't take those % ontime listings as gospel, either - remember, they don't measure HOW late flights are. Most America West ones I've seen that were late were only a few minutes late.

 

Good cruising!