Today's US 1254 from SAN/PHX created quite the surprise for my wife and son this morning. We were traveling back home from an extended weekend in San Diego and my wife had booked the tickets. During booking she said that she hadn't noticed AW flight numbers vs US flight numbers. When we returned home I showed her the difference.

Neither of them had flown a US flight before and couldn't understand why I was fairly upset when I found out we were on an East managed flight continuing on to PHL. I have learned to just shut up and hope for the best in these situations.

Surprise! Our FAs were as rude as some of the worst FAs we've encountered anywhere in the world. To top it off they loudly announced that "because the short duration of this flight, there will be no beverage service. However if you have a medical condition that requires water, we will try to get to you." Funny, all the 100+ times I've flown this route with HP employees, getting a drink didn't seem to be a problem..... :rolleyes:

Now they understand why I rated the old US as the bottom gunk in the outhouse and avoided them at all costs when I had to travel East.

Is there any way we can get US to list flights that have PHL based FAs and then discount the fares 98% because we have to put up with their rotten attitudes? :D The CLT FAs were always nice, but the only flight I could ever rely on getting them was the PHX/CLT direct (which was 5 times higher than their competitors connecting via DFW or ORD.)

As for our family, as long as US still lists AWA vs US flights, we will avoid US at all costs. I will happily pay double to skip the rude PHL crews.

PS, a letter to the exec office and the union's office is in the works. Why oh why do unions allow rotten employees to ruin all union employees' reputations?

That's quite a difference in attitude from the FA on my PHX-CLD flight last weekend. (CLD is a tiny airport in Carlsbad, 30 miles north of the San Diego airport.) He gave me a full can of diet Coke and a large glass of ice water.

It is particularly important in these no fluids on board days that the FAs graciously and quickly give us beverages once we are in the air.

This was a flight that was originally an HP flight.

I love Carlsbad airport! I hardly ever am able to get into there though. We have friends in Valley Center, so CLD is my preferred destination.

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I do understand there are some employees that ruin it for everyone who does their jobs correctly. Unfortunately we usually remember the bad longer than the good.

I flew between CLT-LGA this weekend (hour and 15 minute flights each way) and I received pre-flight drinks on both, as well as in flight drinks. On my way back today, I got juice as my pre-flight drink and two full cups (albeit plastic) of Chardonnay in an hour and 15 minutes. And, of course, the snack basket!

That's ridiculous. Under the old-East policy - that should have been an express beverage flight - coke, diet coke, sprite or water as all flights 225-400 miles should be. I've had them do a full beverage service on a flight like that but only once before on a 329 CLT-BNA Mesa flight did they pull the "too short" non-sense.

...As for our family, as long as US still lists AWA vs US flights, we will avoid US at all costs. I will happily pay double to skip the rude PHL crews.

An absurd false generalization based on a single experience!

I'm pretty picky about inflight service (probably came about after I flew SQ for a couple of legs :D ) and I have found US to be very variable (although I barely fly them at all with about 2000 miles in the last three years). I have had flights PHL-RDU with no beverage service at all and those with full. I had a wonderful FA on my USExpress flight from LGA-RDU in April, but a terrible one going up there.

Remember though, this is true on ALL airlines. I do fly AA alot, and have had mixed crews with them. On my last trip to Japan, I had two of the best crews I ever had on any AA airline. But getting to ORD to connect to Japan, had one of the surliest.

An absurd false generalization based on a single experience!

Well, I'll just counter his statement. I've had 3 out of 4 US West flights this year with horrible flight crews. I'll continue to try to avoid them the best I can. Give me an East crew, PHL and all, any day!

:D

KevAZ,
Oh behalf of all of the US East f/a's I apologize that you had such a negative experience with one of our flight crews. Having been based in PHL for the past 4 years I can tell you that the PHL base has some of the finest f/a's I have ever worked with, I'm just sorry that you seem to have flown with possibly some of the worst.
I hope you won't lump us all into one basket, and that in the future we can restore your faith that some of us are actually pretty nice. :)
Happy Travels!
GW

An absurd false generalization based on a single experience!
Unfortunately I had many US experiences from 1999-2004 that caused me to avoid US at all costs. This was the first experience for my wife and son. Both are Silver DM customers that have never flown the legacy US. My wife has more of her customers in PHL than any other city and she's always flown HP there and skipped US based on my recommendation.

As I posted earlier, I was not happy at all that my wife ticketed us on a US east flight, but I hoped to be proved wrong. Instead it bolstered my prior experience with US East staff and now she has the same approach as me - AA east if we can't go HP, US/HP in the west. Tell me when a CLT crew is definitely going to be on and I will reconsider.

KevAZ,
Oh behalf of all of the US East f/a's I apologize that you had such a negative experience with one of our flight crews. Having been based in PHL for the past 4 years I can tell you that the PHL base has some of the finest f/a's I have ever worked with, I'm just sorry that you seem to have flown with possibly some of the worst.

GW, thanks. I am generalizing and understand that point. I am sure that not 100% of the FAs based in PHL are like the people I just posted about. I'm going to estimate that other than the 4 PHX/CLT directs I took over a three month period in 2004, I flew US 20-25 times from 1999-2004 and the experiences went from bad to "travel stories over beer." IMHO, it appeared that the FAs I met were in battle with mgmt and we the PAX were caught in the middle. I am sure that there were employees then that didn't fall into that catagory, but unfortunately I didn't cross paths with them.

As a result of my experience I split my travel between HP and AA exclusively back in 2004. Today's flight took me back to 2004 and I got the feeling that these FAs hate their jobs and all of the PAX that make life difficult for them.

Unfortunately bad employee attitudes that are allowed to be displayed over time tend to create more bad apples. Hence my letter to both the union and mgmt. The union needs to hear about the bad apples from PAX. I'd love to see the union provide an open dialogue with customers about their experiences. Some of the "bad apples" may just need more training, better mgrs or (fill in the blank.) I don't believe in firing people on the spot for poor service (with a couple exceptions....) so if they can be turned around and be happy people - wonderful! ^

Unfortunately I had many US experiences from 1999-2004 that caused me to avoid US at all costs. This was the first experience for my wife and son. Both are Silver DM customers that have never flown the legacy US. My wife has more of her customers in PHL than any other city and she's always flown HP there and skipped US based on my recommendation.

As I posted earlier, I was not happy at all that my wife ticketed us on a US east flight, but I hoped to be proved wrong. Instead it bolstered my prior experience with US East staff and now she has the same approach as me - AA east if we can't go HP, US/HP in the west. Tell me when a CLT crew is definitely going to be on and I will reconsider.

Having been CP for 5 years and occassionally GP on AW and NW I can tell you that rude flight crews are everywhere. The CLT crews are the worst. Talk about nasty. The g/a's won't even call the other side of the airport to tell your gate that your plane just landed and to hold the doors for you to get there. I think you're generalizing the idea that southerners are nicer than northerners.

My experience with AW - no meals in F on PHL - PHX and only peanuts and one drink PHX - PVR. Now this was a few years ago. They may have stepped up since. US at least feeds you in F on transcons.

I suggest you fly American and tell me how you like the MD-80s. And you're going to pay for your upgrades. :eek:

I suggest you fly American and tell me how you like the MD-80s. And you're going to pay for your upgrades. :eek:

I love the MD80 and only 5 across seating rather than six. Rarely is there a problem with overhead storage and I feel MUCH less cramped. Plus, only 20% of the seats are middle seats as opposed to 33% on most other aircraft.

As I posted earlier, I was not happy at all that my wife ticketed us on a US east flight, but I hoped to be proved wrong. Instead it bolstered my prior experience with US East staff and now she has the same approach as me - AA east if we can't go HP, US/HP in the west. Tell me when a CLT crew is definitely going to be on and I will reconsider.

Kev – what cabin were you in?

I was on 1254 SAN-PHX yesterday too and actually rather enjoyed the flight!. It was my first experience with US-East FC. The extra seat pitch was great and the snack basket was a nice touch. I wish I'd had my laptop to try out the powerport in the seat. I was amazed to find 2 FA’s serving the FC cabin. Maybe that’s because they weren’t doing a beverage service in Y? Anyway, I found them both to be very "professional" but not overly courteous. The only wrinkle I encountered was when I checked-in. The agent at the ticket counter fiddled around for 5 minutes trying to find my reservation until a supervisor told her “it’s one of OUR flights”. After that she was able to check me in right a way.

jim

These are just some of teething pains we will have to deal with. Obviously some of the short legs we Phoenicians typically fly like PHX-LAS and PHX-SAN and PHX-SNA on a 757, those short durations and our HP expectations just need to get sorted out with the US East managed aircraft. It is a rare day not to get a beverage on a PHX-LAS segment on a full 757 even in economy. But, good feedback - hopefully Tempe will pick up on this and get it to in-flight services.

Kev – what cabin were you in?
We three were in Y. Booked at the last minute and we're all lowly Silvers. Not a problem for me, especially since it's a short flight. What put me over the top wasn't the lack of bev svc, it was the extremely rude attitude of the FAs in Y. Completely uncalled for. I am sorry that our presence (and revenue) is such a discomfort for those FAs.

Having been CP for 5 years and occassionally GP on AW and NW I can tell you that rude flight crews are everywhere. The CLT crews are the worst. Talk about nasty. The g/a's won't even call the other side of the airport to tell your gate that your plane just landed and to hold the doors for you to get there. I think you're generalizing the idea that southerners are nicer than northerners.

My experience with AW - no meals in F on PHL - PHX and only peanuts and one drink PHX - PVR. Now this was a few years ago. They may have stepped up since. US at least feeds you in F on transcons.

I suggest you fly American and tell me how you like the MD-80s. And you're going to pay for your upgrades. :eek:

I would agree that all Southerners may not be nice (most of those I know are, including myself!) but not all CLT-based crews are Southerners or from CLT.

Wow. Sorry about the trip. Fortunately, I had quite the opposite experience over this past weekend. I even posted a trip report on my blog (http://mjspeaksontravel.blogspot.com/). :D

Very nice crews all the way around.

Man, this is hard to read. I was hoping I wouldn't have to encounter US-East staff on my intra-west routes for some time to come.

This serves as a reminder to book AWA flights only.

I would definitly take a US East flight over a MESA flight (which are all over the west)... For example, HP flight from ONT-PHX (beverages always)... HP Express Flight ONT-PHX (too short nada)... even with 10 people...


So I have had some nice expereinces on US east..

I used to have strong opinions about the various crews but with enough sampling one realizes that it all evens out. We all have good and bad days.

Example 1 - CLT FA had her husband contact me yesterday after finding my USB drive on the plane. He found my name on some of the files and tracked me down by searching the net. They're mailing it to me. Awesome!

Example 2 - A PHL FA, while waiting in line w/ 35 others planes on the tarmac, serves the FC cabin 2 rounds of drinks & snacks. Nice. Coach only got a "due to the short duration of the flight there will be no beverage service" announcement after takeoff. That must hurt while watching FC get its third and fourth round of adult beverages while in the air.

That's quite a difference in attitude from the FA on my PHX-CLD flight last weekend. (CLD is a tiny airport in Carlsbad, 30 miles north of the San Diego airport.) He gave me a full can of diet Coke and a large glass of ice water.

It is particularly important in these no fluids on board days that the FAs graciously and quickly give us beverages once we are in the air.

This was a flight that was originally an HP flight.
Wow! A good review of a Mesa HP Express Flight.

BTW, CLD is an awesome airport. UA considers it a coterminal with SAN, so codeshared UA operated by US/HP tickets come in handy there.

Folks, give it time - East and West will ultimately reach a consensus to provide a unified terrible product systemwide. :p