Just curious as to how many west coasters on this website maintain loyalties to US Airways-and why? Were you previously based in the Eastern US, just like the service, the Dividend Miles program-or what is it?

I would suggest asking chexfan but I think he moved to Georgia. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/tongue.gif

but geo, I conveniently moved back to SEA after the double miles promo ended. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Anyways, I moved from PHL to SEA last sept. The new company for whom I work has a very good travel discount with AA, UA and DL. I have transitioned all of my business travel to UA and DL (when absolutely necessary) basically due to location of my destinations (SFO, IAD, SDF, ORD, SYD). I have logged 58k miles on UA this year.

I am a Gold Preferred flyer on US due to my flying from PHL (and SEA late last year). I truly enjoy my chances of upgrading and will do most of my pleasure travel on US until I reach 1K on UA. In '01 I have made 3 trips on US from SEA (to PVD, FRA and AMS- 30k actual miles). All have been upgraded to first/envoy which I could not enjoy as a lowly Premier or Premier Executive on UA. I will probably only attain Silver status on US for '02-03 which will be fine for me.

If US does join the *A, I would be very happy. I would be able to use my stack of SWUs and get mileage credit to my UA M+ account (even though my DM account is larger).

So as a recap, I fly with US as a SEA-based flyer b/c I was previously based in the NorthEast, and I truly enjoy my chances of upgrading (plus all the SWUs...).

I moved out here to SEA from HokieLand VA. I only flew US once over there, but I figured I'd enroll in DM since they were pretty much the only airline that flew into ROA. I have to say though that I'm very satisfied with their level of service. Their prices could be a little less forbidding for transcon, but when they have deals it's definitely worth it for getting me to the southeast. I wish they had more west coast service though...I'd be taking weekend trips down to CA a lot more often.

Oh, and all those DM miles I've accumulated in the past 3 months don't hurt either. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I dig US Air.

I try to fly US for most travel east of the Mississipi (most fares do not price out from LA to west of the MS river). I was made silver in Dec. 2000 & recently used the systemwides for my trip last week to London. Just made Gold by challenge & intend to qualify by miles by years end. Am waiting for the fall Europe fares to go on sale & will buy a US ticket from LA to either FRA or MUC. US is the only airline that I am aware of where one can get systemwides at the 25K level & being able to use them! Will stay with US. I fly UA for places where US does not price out or sub $100 or so tickets).

I made Chairman's Preferred on US this year doing the LAX-CLT route on a weekly basis. I was previously a UAL 1K, so US comped me Gold and I never had a problem upgrading and most flights were on time. Regrettably, I haven't had much opportunity to enjoy my Chairman's status as I am currently not flying cross country. I would choose US for future travel over other airlines if the # of stops were comparable. Currently I am doing the LAX - PHX route, so I use Southwest because they are by far the most convenient in terms of schedule and on-time performance.

[This message has been edited by edg1 (edited 07-12-2001).]

I have to admit that I really like their product but US from L.A. is tough! My most recent examples (both res +2 weeks out) were LAX-PIT-MCI-MHK: 12 hrs and $800 in Y (This almost didn't happen as neither the website nor the res agent wanted to price out the LAX-MHK trip which never made sense to me as all cities in the ITN are actual US cities), LAX-PHL/CLT-MCO (I missed the 8 A.M. PHL and had to wait for the noon CLT) 11 hrs and $650 in Y. Two Christmas' ago I was on an award ticket for the holiday and I missed the 8 A.M. PHL. It was three days before I could get another seat out to MCO. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif

[This message has been edited by anrkitec (edited 07-12-2001).]

I got hooked on US almost by accident...

Last Feb., I was looking for the cheapest student fare to Germany from SFO, and since I had few miles in any program it came down to price. US beat out CO by about $10. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

By the time I flew on the ticket two months later, I was just in time for the double Q-miles promotion. The return plus a one-way outbound (also student fare) made me elite.

I do need go out of my way to fly them (SFO instead of SJC, often lousy connecting times between west coast and Europe flights), but the benefits (especially SWU's and 50% mileage bonus) are hard to beat, and I enjoy stopping for a day on the East Coast to visit friends near BWI.

Yonatan

P.S. since discounted transatlantic fares to/from the West Coast are often only $100 more than from the East Coast, from a mileage-run perspective it's like adding a transcon for only $100!

I started out in 1988 while in grad school where US was the only jet operator into ITH (well, there was Piedmont too but it had been acquired). My account was dormant for 7 years (US dropped service to RNO where I used to live/work) and BLI (previous nearest airport to YVR). Only a flurry of travel and double q-miles got me to reactivate my account.

Well, I moved from PIT to SFO about 1.5 yr ago, and prefer the direct to PIT over a connector. I think they have good service, though I am looking for ways to upgrade to first/envoy class-

I have homes (and offices) outside NYC, Seattle, and South Florida, which means I am always on a loop. Since I like to fly out of suburban White Plains, NY, USAirways is perfect. Even with a plane change, it's as fast as a nonstop from JFK (when you add the extra travel time), and much less stressful. The system is perfect for me. As for the West Coast, my observation is the company has very little identity, and you see it in the traffic flows. These routes are spokes, and they primarily carry East Coast people out the beginning of the week, and back at the end. I have also observed that they run special cheap ticket deals through discount travel agencies out West, designed to stimulate originating traffic from there. Once you get West, the nearest hub is couple of thousand miles away, so at that point they have to hand their customers over to someone else. That's got to have a profound effect on their ability to build a customer base in the West. They need an alliance with someone like America West or Alaska. Lastly, from the file of useless information, it seems many of the senior airport personnel out there are former PSA, and represent the last link to that failed attempt to become a presence in the West(now that the MD 80's are being retired).

For awhile, I was flying to CRW from either LAX or SNA but now I can fly CO through CLE. I did like the jet service to CRW through PIT and enjoyed the customer service. Never had a problem flying US.

This is an interesting thread because I recently moved from ITH (where US is the only game in town) to SEA.

I am currently figuring out if Preferred status will be any use to me. I am 12,000 miles short, so I need two transcons to get it. At the same time, I am about 9,000 miles short of reaching UA Premier Executive.

So I am debating whether I want to be US Preferred and UA Premier or just UA Premier Executive... The SWU offer when hitting DM Preferred is very tempting.

But at the same time, UA can fly me everywhere I want to travel to from SEA, while US only goes to the east coast. And I have two US denied boarding free tickets burning a hole in my pocket, too!

I think I will stay somewhat loyal to US, because it seems to be easier to get discounted seats vs. UAL, when flying to the east coast and Florida. But looks like UAL will be my primary airline...

I live in the LA area & do both UA & US. US usually prices out when flying to the eastern part of the USA from the west coast. I take UA (or others when long hauls are under $100 or so--example, LAX-MIA for $97.50! on CO) when I can't get US to price out decently. It takes only 25K to get systemwides from US and at 50K on US, you get 100% bonus on miles. Say you want to go to LA from SEA, the best way is with UA. Best of success whatever decision you make!

Found this while searching for other threads.

3 interesting observations:

1) The SWU did drive a lot of traffic. Bring them back.
2) Deelmakur calling for a AWA alliance almost 4 years ago.
3) The West coast supporters that were here years ago, are now gone. However, we do love our current left coast (but clubless) friends.

Wow, talk about an old thread. Even in it's heyday, US never had much presence on the West Coast. Fare sales were often skewed to travelers originating out there, and not offered to easterners. Heavy demand was always greater late week, with little pressure for upgrades on Mondays, for example. In my case, I still do roughly 10 RT flights a year from the east to Seattle, where I keep a home (and office). With Alaska now offering service from Newark and Miami, I have moved all that business to them. As an MVP Gold, they treat me very well. In addition to guaranteed upgrades if you pay an extra few bucks, decent meals on real plates, with glassware and metal utensils, new planes (737-700/800/900), individual IFE units, no change fees for elites, and a FF plan that has NW, CO, AA, BA, Hawaiian, just to name a few of the partners, it's worth traveling to airports which add 20 or 30 minutes to the trip. Actually, the past few years' Freddies say it all.

I am bi-coastal schlub going from SFO-PHL. For three and a half years I was doing this commute about 25 times a year. For the last six months I am down to once a month (Yeah!!) Probably back to my old schedule in the second half of the year, though. :( Since my flights always originate from SFO, I don't have to worry about the equipment arriving on a tight schedule. In all this time I have only been late arriving in PHL once (massive snow storm; flight diverted to Hartford for a few hours). Oddly enough, I have never had a late arrival into SFO on my return from PHL. That's about a hundred times. Go figure.

I should end up doing at least 20 round trips to LAX this year from DCA, IAD, CHO or RIC, and as I've said in numerous other threads, I generally won't fly US on transcon routes anymore because of the inferior meal service and the lack of a club at LAX's chaotic Terminal 1. The only time I'd consider flying US to LAX is if the fare is at least $200 less than AA (which hasn't happened in a few months now).

Most of my transcon flights now go to American Airlines, which flies IAD-LAX nonstop with a First Class cabin that's more deserving of the First Class name. I have never missed an upgrade I've requested on these flights (except for redeyes, which I don't upgrade) and the level of service in F is miles ahead of US Airways. I do have to pay for some upgrades, at $25 per 500 miles = $125 per transcon leg, but the upgrade is well worth it on AA.

One of the reasons I like US is that it has the most flights out of the airport closest to my home (CHO) but similar to deelmakur's situation with HPN vs. EWR, it ends up taking about the same amount of time for me to drive to IAD and fly nonstop to LAX as it does to fly out of CHO and connect in Charlotte on my way to LA. Plus, last-minute fares are considerably lower out of IAD due to all the low-cost carrier competition there.

I am planning to move to Los Angeles later this year, which will cut down on a lot of my travel. I will easily requalify for Chairman's this year with my East Coast travel alone (thanks to 40,000 rollover miles from last year and some bonuses from the 20K promo) but if US is still around in 2007 it's unlikely that I'll fly them enough to qualify for any Preferred level, being based out of LAX.

I used to be loyal to PSA, and I probably would have been loyal to US had they STAYED HERE! Not that I'm still bitter or anything ;)

I continue to fly US despite all of the service cutbacks, because I do think they have the best frontline people. However, I am moving more of my transcon business to UA because of the LAX club closure, but I will continue to earn miles on US through the end of the year. Not sure yet what I'll be doing in '06.

Wow, talk about an old thread. Even in it's heyday, US never had much presence on the West Coast.
Dragging this thread back to the top to comment on this... sure they did. Right after they bought PSA they had the best West Coast route network of any American airline. I remember flying the old PSA/US after the merger.

Then they systematically dismantled it and went back to being an East Coast regional with a few token transcons. After that, as a Northern California resident, I never had a reason to fly US Airways again until the HP merger this year.

Amazing foresight for Deelmakur suggesting the America West partnership four years ago. I guess that is why he's a deelmakur :D

I regularly hop back and forth betwen PIT and LA living between the two cities, and as the non-stops dwindle (soon to drop down to 1X daily apparently) so does my interest in US. I have been flying since Allegheny in the mid 70's. I am exploring my options now- if I have to connect then US is no longer much different from any other airline and with the devaluation of the FF program (the Golds get hit hard) I am looking at where I can get the most bang for my BIS mile.

CO and U look the best right now, but I haven't written off US. I still like CLT and the Airbii on the US transcons, though first is what we know it to be. The AM WEST routes from LAX create some brand spaking new route opportunities and frequencies.

LAX is very well served by U and I like the DEN hub. CO has always been a good experience, but lots of RJs from PIT and IAH is a little out of the way. If NW got some newer AC that would help (which seems to be the direction they are headed). AA is all RJ to PIT now and Delta involves Atlanta :td:

Know that I will incur some flames here, but since you asked an open question, I will answer with an open mind.

I had zero experience with US until '04. Beginning in Jan '04, I was spending a lot of time in CLT with a client and couldn't spare the hub time with AA, so went with US direct PHX/CLT whenever it was open.

My impressions were that the planes were generally run down, several reminded me of Pan Am weeks before they went belly up. However, several flights were on <5 yr old metal. All in all, I'd give them a 4 out of 10.

The PHX TA and GA were nice, I would give them an 8 out of 10.

The CLT TSA drill was a flustercluck but not US' problem.

The US TA and GA at CLT were much less helpful than the AA or UA people that I met through the four month period when I was stuck going with them due to sold out US flights. Not nasty - CLT folks are nice to begin with, but obviously were not going to help me as a weekly traveller. I will give them a 4 out of 10.

Here's the flaming part........ I was upgraded often because I was still a UA1K at the time and I found many of the US travelers in F to be loud, rude and demanding. Not all of them, but enough to cause me to ask several of them point blank what in H was their problem? I've been flying F and J for 20+ years and I've never encountered more rude people than I did last year on US. My wife flies to PHL regularly on HP and she said she's run into the same attitude on those flights with people stating that they are "US Air top flight customers!"

As a result of the recent FF negative changes and our experience with US customers in F (which we can only guess as CP upgrades), we've both moved all of our travel to AA domestically.

Sorry, but there are some real jerks flying US and my wife and I have both been unfortunately stuck next to them. Visualize a mobile phone user next to you in mid-flight and that's the way we think of US flyers based on our experiences over the past couple of years.

Parting shot - we realize that this must be a very small minority of US customers. However, after living in five countries & working in 112, we haven't met a group of people that are more rude than that small group we got stuck with over the past two years from US.