for those of you who are wondering- the lady at the us airways club envoy lounge at PHL told me that the plan is to have us airways as a star alliance member beginning jan 1. the new lounge in phl is very nice with a open bar on the envoy side and make your own sandwiches, cheese and crackers, and fruit.

flight 3 to fco did not leave until 2 am because of mechanical delays- i was SO mad! used my prefered certificate and got row 1 as a gold preferred on a $570 fare, service was very good on the flight, cant complain. they gave us certificates for $100 (I think this was only to envoy) but this still doesnt make up for the hassle... we did not arrive until 330 pm.

3:30...wow. If I remember correctly, you were supposed to get in around 9:00 or so. Nice gesture to give out vouchers though. Was Envoy full on your flight?

The return was also some 6 hours late, playing havoc with connections. When a boutique international carrier runs a spoke that far with one aircraft dedicated to the route, any kind of mechanical problem is an issue. With those flights largely full of deep discount and freebie traffic, there isn't a lot of room to put people on other carriers. Years ago, I got stuck on a reward ticket from Continental in Melbourne, Australia. 2 days later, a nice guy from Qantas put us on one of their flights out. That's when you realize what a long thin line a route like that is.

yeah, envoy was packed, I got upgraded at the gate, at checkin they told me 14 seats were left. coach was packed too, i was actually hoping to get bumped so i could talk them into directly flying me into florence (great place to go if youve never been).

they got us on the plane and it taxied to the runway and then it came back around 8 pm. by then all of the othere us airways transatlantics had left, i was hoping to get onto another flight and connect to rome, the only one still boarding was to gatwick and the agent said he bumped 5 people. envoy was almost full, maybe just one person missing, on the way out which leads me to believe they didnt rebook anyone.

i tried to get rebooked on ba to heathrow without success, but at least i took a nice nap in the envoy lounge until they called our flight. imagine waiting at the gate for six hours...

lets hope my upgrade clears for the way home...

Hey- I was on this flight too! My BF and I were 3A and B. Just came back yesterday. I too was trying to sleep in the nice Envoy Lounge (if they only had Loveseats...) You weren't the one sleeping on the floor, were you?

I was upset that we got the lousy $100 voucher. Do you know you have to go to the airport or their center city office to use it? Talk about annoying. Plus, do they really think that our priceless vacation time is worth $100?? I know, it was a mechanical failure- but come on! (Ok, I know I'm whining). BTW- everyone received the voucher including coach, I asked at the desk when we were reboarding regarding compensation.

Unfortunately, I opted to sleep instead of eat the FC dinner. I assumed it was hard as a rock by then. Was it?

Interesting about the vouchers. When I had a 8 hour delay out of PHL in November of 2000, they gave us (may have been just the Envoy pax) a $400 voucher. Could be they've changed their compensation structure post bankruptcy - or I was just lucky.

Regarding the vouchers, my BF was on a US flight this past September PHL-LGW, when all of a sudden in mid-flight (over BOS) they turned back to PHL for mechanical repairs. They were delayed by 8 hours and he also received the lousy $100 voucher. He was flying for business and missed one day of work (forcing him to work 12 hour days to make up for it when he arrived). All of this for $100.

Soon after we booked our trip to Grand Cayman and we called US reservations line. They said he could book the tickets online and then go to the ticket office in center city (within business hours M-F 9-5) or the airport to get the $100 refund from his voucher. The reservation line told him he had a week to do this after booking tickets. He went within 4 days and they told him it had to be done within 24 hours. So now we have 3 $100 vouchers. (And I have a bump voucher).

minnie:
yes, it was me in the beige cargo pants who was asleep on the floor of the envoy lounge, across from the bathroom. I slept so well in the lounge that I ate dinner on the flight (and then slept for four hours). the crabcakes weren't bad, however I do agree with other posts that the food in envoy isn't as good as other airlines' products (say, BA club world).
and I think I vaguely remember seeing you, as I believe there was only one couple I saw in envoy... I was seated in 1H. fortunately i got upgraded on the way home.
the delay was SO annoying- but Florence and Rome were wonderful, my first trip there and my first time off/ vacation in SIX MONTHS! didn't get into florence until 8 pm that night...
I really liked the coliseum and ancient rome/ palatine hill, anyone with any other suggestions for places like that to visit... can't wait to go and see Great Zimbabwe the next time I am in africa, lived in Harare but never had the chance to visit...

FWIW - don't forget that these delays were mechanical < thank the big guy above that the only hassel you encountered was a delay, rather than an evacuation, emergency landing or worse.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by minnie:
Regarding the vouchers, my BF was on a US flight this past September PHL-LGW, when all of a sudden in mid-flight (over BOS) they turned back to PHL for mechanical repairs. They were delayed by 8 hours and he also received the lousy $100 voucher. </font>

Minnie-

I'm with DWSNC on this one. US actually has an excellent on-time and completion record across the pond. IIRC, at one point, they had over 5,000 consecutive trans-Atlantic flight completions. Try comparing that with some other international carriers that routinely have 24 hour or greater delays.

Yeah, it does stink. But think how much we take for granted the safe, timely air travel we experience daily from virtually all carriers in the US.

Just for comparison, I was delayed 24 hours on UA (pre-BK) from IAD-CDG for staffing reasons! After a letter to Consumer Affairs, I received a $75 voucher. Did not come close to covering the cost of my hotel in Paris for the night I was not there.

I think that 5000 flight mark was some sort of hex.

It seems to me that since they made the big hoo-ha about that, there have been a lot of problems. I have been on or know people on at least 10 8+ hour delayed flights in the last few months.

I wonder whether some of this has to do with expected failure rates of new planes? Are we hitting the 'out of warranty' sweet spot now?

Perspective. It's a funny thing.

Years ago I was flying out of Portland Ore on the way home.. everyone got aboard and we sat sat sat. People were fuming about the delay. Finally the captain announced that someone had checked their luggage, but then left the airport in a hurry, and so for safety, they were going to remove the baggage. Next thing I know ALL the firetrucks in the known universe show up and we are ordered (not asked, ordered very firmly) to stand up, leave our belongings and deplane the aricraft N.O.W.

Eventually they got us back on the plane and out of there, though they evac'd half the concourse and it took a couple more hours to get everything straight.

My point is, that in that one second everyone who had been fuming suddenly realized just how serious it was. And all of us were praising the Captains dilligence. Since that time, I've never ever been concerned about a delay, especially not one for any kind of a mechanical or safety issue. It's perspective. Wait 8 hours, or have the tail fall off at 35000 ft over the atlantic.

Which would you chose?

No travel plan or itinerary is more important than the goal, which is to arrive safely. Perspective is important. They really didn't delay the flight for funsies or to infuriate you. It cost them thousands or tens of thousands of dollars to do that. They delayed the flight because it was *necessary* to do so for EVERYONE's safety. Including yours.

I'm not trying to talk down to your or anything, it's simply that since Portland, I've realized that whatever the mechnical reason is, if it's good enough to concern them, it's dang sure good enough to concern me! And I'd rather find out before the wheels have left the ground.

Regards,
-Bouncer-

Hey- I completely agree with all of you. I would rather a delay in my vacation over something tragic. However, my major complaint was the lentgh of the delay. I could understand the first 2 hour delay (they assessed the problem and found out what it was which was something regarding the wing control box (forgive my nontechincal wordage)). But the rest of the 5 hours was spent waiting for the part to be flown in from Pittsburgh. Why do they not have a supply of parts in PHL?

I'm just whining over the fact that I lost a full day of sightseeing and that I really couldn't experience the first class service (besides the nice Envoy seats). I'm glad I was actually able to get to Italy and have a great time (and not being stranded in the Atlantic somewhere). Besides, I look at this whole thing as karma. The trip started horribly but was great when we got there.

BTW, this flight got me to Silver which probably was another reason why I wanted to get off the ground that day. Also, since I fly almost exclusively with US from PHL, I'm use to the usual little delays but this one bothered me.

schistosomiasis - we were probably the youngest couple in Envoy (there were a couple of older folks). We were in Rome, Florence and Venice. This was our first time and won't be our last.