After 30 days overseas I’m back home and married. Of course that vacations always run fast independently on how long they are. What didn’t pass by fast were the flights.
For the first time in my life I flew with US Airways. I left on the 27th of July, 3 members of my family a week later and a group of 12 (Family&Friends) two weeks later. It’s impressive that we all had a very bad experience with this airline.
I arrived there almost 5 hours late (and they made me do one more stop than scheduled), the 3 other family members arrived 2 hours late (and also with one more stop than scheduled) and the other 12 were split into different flights (they even split families). Some arrived 5 hours late, some 17 hours.
I thought that on my way back things would be different but I was so wrong. I arrived almost 12 hours late. The transatlantic flight was delayed hour by hour until we left, almost 12 hours after the scheduled time. We were told that the plane had a problem and that they were fixing it. When they finally fixed it and brought the plane to the gate, the captain starts into an argument with the maintenance team and refuses to pilot that plane. Meanwhile the entire crew got illegal (7h after the scheduled depart time) and they had to call a new crew team. Well, I could go on and on, but the point is that even when they have problems they don’t know how to deal with them.
- At night the airport gets really cold (because the AC keeps working and the airport is not crowded anymore). Among the passengers there were small children and people that were cold. There were people asking for blankets at 1 am, but we only got them at 4am.
- There were people saying that they didn’t want to go on that flight anymore (because of the engine problems) and that they wanted to stay in a hotel and fly the following day, but they only gave us that option at around 4am, after the crew got illegal and the police and the FAA came. Yes the things ran out of control in a way that the police and the FAA came to talk with us.
- They were stupid enough to tell the passengers what was the problem with the plane (carboretor) and that the captain started into an argument with the maintenance team and refused to pilot the plane. Would you feel comfortable for flying on such plane after this? If FAA didn’t came and explained everything to the passengers I guess they wouldn’t have any passengers on that flight.
Well, they did the very basic things such as meals vouchers, hotel and flight rebooking for those who refused to fly. And when I arrived home I had an email from them apologizing and they gave me a $300 voucher. Of course that’s not enough, they hold us for 12 hours, hour by hour, I missed one day of work and after everything of course I don’t want to repeat my experience.
In one month, everyone that I know that flew with them had lots of problems. One colleague from work arrived in the US 3 DAYS LATE! Yeah, they didn’t have her name on the booking list (although she had the receipt/reservation from US Airways) and all the flights were booked until the 3rd day.
If you are going to fly in a near future, be aware of the airline you choose.
[Update: I’ve just found this interesting article on USAToday about the same thing.]
[…] Since I’m in a mood to talk about airlines, I guess that in a near future our experience onboard is going to change for better. […]
Thanks for this post!
I’m supposed to fly them transatlantic in a couple of days. I picked the cheap flight because I’m a student, but looks like it might have been a big mistake…I already hate flying and I can’t afford to be DAYS late!!! Maybe I’ll try to get a different airline…
I wish you good luck. I guess that this doesn’t happen to 100% of the people, so I hope you are one of the ones that doesn’t experience nothing like this. 🙂
I have been flighing weekly for years so I guess im used to delays and problems. But last month after sitting on the runway in a filthy for 7.5 hours before we were told to get off and come back in a hour reboard and head to chicago. That never happened the staff was now past thier FHA time allowment (they cant flight illigal) The reason we sat for so long was as the pilot put it” we are waiting for the new paint to dry on the runway”. This is such a lie. He really said that…
I ended up renting a car and driving all night to chicago to make a meeting. The end result was a $300.00 credit to any domestic flight. The problem is: When I used that credit (which was really a refund) to flight to to st thomas VI which I still had to pay 235.00 they refused to give the 4600 miles usually issued to me on a round trip flight to the V.I.
Shrewed out of 2 days stuck at airport, car rental, gas, FRQNT FLYR miles, and 3 hours I stayed on the phone onhold with india
They suck so bad……….
The flight I was in yesterday was canceled, after spending 3 hours in a plane that never took off. This plane was ready to take off twice, and twice it was stopped and parked on the gate for a “mechanical issue” as they called it. After 3 insane hours in there (the kids at this point were freaking out), we were told the flight was canceled. Then the line at the customer service was unbelievable, of course! The only other thing they could do was fly us out tomorrow on the same flight, same hour, but the possibility of a delay or cancellation was there. Another flight was offered for today at 6pm; however, it had already been delayed until 6:45 for mechanical reasons.
The airline will refund the money back; however, it takes them 2 months to process.
I will never fly again after that experience yesterday, I even experience claustrophobia, which had never happened to me before. It was out of a scary movie, there were people that wanted to leave the plane after the first take off attempt, there was a little girl sitting in front of us puking her guts out, the flight attendant never offered any snacks (thank God I brought stuff for the kids, by this time they were starving) and an older man peed on himself waiting in the bathroom line, because the guy that the flight attendant was flirting with, was standing right in front of the bathroom, and the old guy thought he was in line waiting for the bathroom.
@I am a Platinum member on Us Airways. I was invited by US Airways to call them and pay around one thousand bucks to upgrade my status to Chairman?s Preferred Status. I did not care to upgrade but when I looked at the benefits that I dont have to pay for changing or re depositing fees for my dividend mile tickets, I decided to call. I spoke to Becky at Dividend miles and told her that I had two tickets using my fiend?s miles and then proceeded to give her the record locator number. I asked her to make sure that the information she is giving me is the correct one. She put me on hold for about three minutes and came back and assured me that I will not be charged and thus I agrred to pay 1000 US Dollars to upgrade. A week later, I called US airways to asked them to cancel one of my tickets and re deposit the miles. The agent told me that I have to pay 250 dollars to do so. I told her the entire story and then she put me on hold for about ten minutes and came back and told me that there is nothing she can do to help me and that I should call Dividend miles and talk to them. I then called and spoke to a guy Dan. He was a cold and rude son of a bitch. Not only he told me that he could not help me , he tried to imply that i did not understand Becky. He acted like as an a** and a jerk. This is precisely the reason as to why none of the US Carriers will NEVER make any money. They have no idea of customer service. They act like robots with no compassion and show no responsibilty for their action. I fly onec a month around the world in First Class and I am sure that I will never fly US Airways no matter what happens. I dont understand this. I hope that our Government NEVER bails them out and le them go out of business. They keep on filing bankruptcy and hurt people but never learn that by being responsible and courteosu, they may get more passengers and may start making money. I fily Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines and I can assure you that no one at those airline will ever act like Becky and Dan at US Airways. It just does not happen. I hope to GOD that US Airways will go bankrupt for ever and disappear from US like Pan American and other carriers. They are grossly incompetent. No. of times flown on this Airlines: No Comment Class flown most frequently: First Class Brian Johnson:
My experience with US Airways was nothing short of horrid. I have only flown them once but it was a flight from Denver to Tampa to see my then boyfriend (we were in a Long Distance Relationship). After everyone was boarded on the plane, we had to wait 2 long hours before takeoff simply because someone fuelled the plane incorrectly and they did not tell us this or communicate it properly prior to takeoff.