Another chapter in the endless saga of US Airways comical attempt to operate as a proper TA airline especially on this route, unfortunately my home route.
Todays US 707 started with a minor delay of just 1 hour (this is good in the summer of 2007) unfortunately the plane only made it only to LGW, London UK that is. There the continuation of the flight was cancelled according to the US website. Anyone with any update on what mechanical has hit the B767 that time around?
Maybe the new US strategy to grow internationally includes the introduction of inter european service. The route MUC-LGW seems to be a fantastic choice.

Another chapter in the endless saga of US Airways comical attempt to operate as a proper TA airline especially on this route, unfortunately my home route.
Todays US 707 started with a minor delay of just 1 hour (this is good in the summer of 2007) unfortunately the plane only made it only to LGW, London UK that is. There the continuation of the flight was cancelled according to the US website. Anyone with any update on what mechanical has hit the B767 that time around?
Maybe the new US strategy to grow internationally includes the introduction of inter european service. The route MUC-LGW seems to be a fantastic choice.

They must of re-routed to LGW to pick up a few extra high paying passengers :p ... and to provide them crappy service.

They must of re-routed to LGW to pick up a few extra high paying passengers :p ... and to provide them crappy service.

Or did they run out of gas like the east/west transcons??

We were supposed to be on that flight today!!!!!
After our flight to germany last month was only delayed by 6 1/2 hours due to technical difficulties, we had such a bad feeling about the 767 and rebooked though FRA today.
I am really curious what happened.

Another chapter in the endless saga of US Airways comical attempt to operate as a proper TA airline especially on this route, unfortunately my home route.
Todays US 707 started with a minor delay of just 1 hour (this is good in the summer of 2007) unfortunately the plane only made it only to LGW, London UK that is. There the continuation of the flight was cancelled according to the US website. Anyone with any update on what mechanical has hit the B767 that time around?
Maybe the new US strategy to grow internationally includes the introduction of inter european service. The route MUC-LGW seems to be a fantastic choice.

Technically it would be "intra-European service".

^:D

Any news what happened? :confused:

It's a stretch, but my guess would be the crew might have timed out for one reason or another.

Or they didn't have an IRO (International Reserve Officer) as required for flights blocking more than 8 hr.

They took off on time, so I don't think crew rest probably played into this.

If they were missing the officer, they would have informed the PAX prior to takeoff that they were screwed and not going to make the TA, no??

You'd think they would rather deal with those people in MUC instead of putting them on the road-- costs less as local people don't get a hotel...

Smells like MX to me, but hopefully someone was on the flight, and manages to get home in the next few days.

Smells like MX to me,

I'd tend to agree, with the one other possibility being a medical diversion which then resulted in the crew timing out resulting in the cancellation of the onward flight to MUC.

Jim

Here is a letter I typed in the plane to get rid of my frustration. Can you please give me some feedback before I send it?


Doug Parker
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, US Airways
111 West Rio Salado Parkway
Tempe, AZ 85281


Dear Mr. Parker,
I have been flying US Airways internationally for several years now and as a Star Alliance Gold member I finally am frustrated enough with US Airways to feel obligated to write this letter to you (or whoever has to read it).
I am writing this on board US 706 (PHL to MUC; Confirmation XXX), which finally left PHL at ~ 2.15 am instead of 8.20 pm due to multiple technical problems with the airplane. This flight (and many other international US Airways flights, as I experienced myself and constantly hear from many colleagues and friends) has been consistently delayed over the past months with cancellations and delays of up to 12 hours, so I consider myself rather lucky with only a 6 hour delay. I must say that for about one year now, the on-time performance, condition and cleanliness of the flight equipment, and the on-board service of US Airways international flights are absolutely abysmal. My current seat in Envoy is not working (3rd time now in one year), 2 out of 3 seat entertainment systems in my row do not work at all, the seats are filthy (old food from previous passengers, hair, old napkins stuffed in the seat, found trash in the seat pocket upon boarding) and the food is mediocre at best. Right behind me, in economy, the video screen is held with duct tape to the wall (a mechanic had to come on board to fix it)! This seems to be only the tip of the iceberg, just look at the picture below of a screen on a 767 that I found after a 5 min internet search on one of the US Airways message boards full of frustrated customers and employees.
picture

One can definitely feel the frustration of (…and feel sorry for…) the flight attendants who have to cope with those working conditions and more than once I heard them apologize to the passengers for the obvious lack of interest of their management to make things work as they should in a respectable airline and how they used to work with US Airways before the merger.
Compared with any other Star Alliance airlines (… and I have flown United, Lufthansa, Swiss, and ANA in the past 12 months), US Airways is not even close in flight equipment condition and cleanliness, food, and, most important, on-time performance. I can fully understand my colleagues at xxx, who simply decline to fly US Airways for any international travel anymore. This is a trend that started in the past 2-3 years and I know that you have lost and are losing quite a few long time customers among my colleagues.
I hold tickets to MUC on US Air 706/707 both in September and December of 2007 (this time in economy) and we are definitely not looking forward to those flights. My family, who will be travelling with me, is already asking me to rebook on Lufthansa or United. My 6 year old daughter is now scared to even board a US Airways plane and she keeps asking me “Daddy, will we fall into the ocean with this old plane?”. Unfortunately, I was told that returning the tickets is not possible, so I must assume we are stuck again with broken airplanes and hours of flight delays.
Please do not offend me by sending some pre-canned answer and some $100 coupon that can only be redeemed at the airport and not online (completely and totally worthless). I have spent almost $20,000 on US Airways tickets in the past year alone and I want some honest answers why my former favorite airline is turning into such a nightmare to fly (since the merger with America West).

Sincerely,


PS: I am now on the return flight from Germany (flight 701, seat 1C, 8/11/07). We rebooked through FRA (giving US Airways yet another $600 in rebooking fees), since the MUC flight has been delayed or cancelled multiple times and the past two weeks and we simply cannot afford such the lottery of flying US Airways on this route. Now, on this Airbus A330, three out of the six seats in row 1 simply do not move. They cannot be reclined at all and the footrests are not working. In addition, my monitor (and the one of my daughter!) do not stay upright and we have to hold it up by hand to watch a movies. How embarrassing. Several passengers also just had a leisurely conversation with some of your flight attendants on board and they were VERY frustrated and angry with the management of US Airways. We were surprised to find out how strongly they expressed their profound anger about the management after the merger and that they were embarrassed to work for the “new” US Airways. They extended their apologies and sadness to us that as paying Envoy class customers, we I have to put up with such trouble while other airlines fly on time with clean and functioning airplanes. Enough said…………
PPS: After arrival in PHL, we learned that our original flight US 707 from MUC to FRA was diverted to London Gatwick and then cancelled. In other words, we were very lucky not to be on this plane. Since we saved US Airways money by not being on this plane (hotel in London, food, etc.), I ask you to refund us at least the $600 change fee we had to pay to be on a safe plane that brought us home on the same day we left Germany.

If you haven't sent it yet, just a small editing correction:

1st PS: "since the MUC flight has been delayed or cancelled multiple times in [instead of 'and'] the past two weeks...."

Jim

I want to mail this tomorrow. Thanks for the edit!!!

I just got to PHL from LGW (731: 1230 ) and the lines and processing were horrid. We were told it was because the Munich flight had to stop at LGW for repairs. That meant there were twice as many passengers to handle. None of the flights left until all the passengers had been processed. To make matters worse, there was a luggage beltway problem at LGW which delayed the delivery of the bags to the planes.

OTOH, Envoy service was very efficient and visible.

BTW, how come it's 'shoes off' at LGW and not at LHR?

Another correction...You said US 707 from MUC to FRA. I presume you meant "PHL" and not "FRA."

Let us know what kind of a response you get.

I just called US Air again trying to rebook my September fligh on US 706/707. They won't help me at all. They claim the flight has been almost always on time and there are abolutely no problems with this flight. Form your own opinion....

I just called US Air again trying to rebook my September fligh on US 706/707. They won't help me at all. They claim the flight has been almost always on time and there are abolutely no problems with this flight. Form your own opinion....

No need for opinion here! The stats speak for themselves!
Reference: flightstats.com

US 706 PHL-MUC
Historical Performance
Ontime: 20%
Ave Delay: 66 minutes

US 707 MUC-PHL
Historical Performance
Ontime: 40%
Ave Delay: 80 minutes

I can't wait to see what new cities US will be offering service to in the coming months. They've been so spot on with their current overseas lineup that it's time they expand their service.

:rolleyes:

They claim the flight has been almost always on time and there are abolutely no problems with this flight. Form your own opinion....

According to flightstats.com, for the period June 1 thru July 31 PHL-MUC arrived on time 20% of the time and MUC-PHL 40% (the usual DOT O/T - "within 15 minutes"). The average delay was 66 and 80 minutes, respectively.

Jim

ps - I see that me4yankees is quicker than I.......LOL

I can't wait to see what new cities US will be offering service to in the coming months. They've been so spot on with their current overseas lineup that it's time they expand their service.

:rolleyes:

Perhaps a third world country this time, where they'll give the competition a run for their money!!!!

Ironically, when I went to Cape Verde years ago, they had some Dash-8s in the US Express paint scheme..... I had to do a triple take. Maybe that can be their new international hub!

Perhaps a third world country this time, where they'll give the competition a run for their money!!!!

I have to object. Have you been to a "third world country"? The few times I have traveled between "third world countries", I never saw anything like the filthy planes, rude crews and unexplained, long delays that I frequently used to encountered at US Airways.

I fly back and forth between the United States and Europe several times a year and have completely eliminated US Airways out of my transatlantic travels since last year. Reading this thread, I realize it was the best decision I could have made.

Not sure, if the summer chaos is the reason for that, but US seems to change the ac used for PHL-MUC-PHL to an A330 starting at 9/6. No clue either if this will improve the on-time stats but at least i dont have to fly that old 767 bird anymore...:rolleyes:

Not sure, if the summer chaos is the reason for that, but US seems to change the ac used for PHL-MUC-PHL to an A330 starting at 9/6. No clue either if this will improve the on-time stats but at least i dont have to fly that old 767 bird anymore...:rolleyes:

As far a sI know, its only for the Octoberfest. Our Dec reservation shows the crappy 767 again.

Not sure, if the summer chaos is the reason for that, but US seems to change the ac used for PHL-MUC-PHL to an A330 starting at 9/6. No clue either if this will improve the on-time stats but at least i dont have to fly that old 767 bird anymore...:rolleyes:

funny thing,
when I saw the title for this thread
"US 707 MUC-PHL Only Made it to LGW"

I had to do a double take, for a brief moment,
I thought US was flying a Boeing 707 from MUC-PHL. Figured they got a good deal on some old aircraft (LOL) :D:D

Of course, I knew this wasn't really a possibility (i.e. of course, it was a flight number NOT an aircraft) -- but, you never know with US. :D

All the problems in Philadelphia have actually been great for New York City. With the easy connections Amtrak provides for passengers wishing to travel to Newark from Princeton, Trenton, and Philadelphia more and more people are using Continental Airlines and Newark Airport for their TATL travel. The additional traffic, particularly the high-yield business travel from Southern New Jersey and Pennsylvania has really enabled Continental to earn respectable yields on the increased capacity.

There are a number of destinations served exclusively from Newark, exclusively by Continental. This is great for New York City.

Continental Airlines is very aware of this opportunity and is really making the most of it. Continental can't make EWR as convenient to people in the Phillie 'burbs as PHL but Continental can certainly provide better service, more reliability, a beautiful new customs and arrivals hall, and an overall warm welcoming atmosphere with great friendly service which makes EWR worth the minor inconvenience of getting to EWR from suburban Phillie worthwhile.

Thanks US Airways, I'm not sure we'd have access to as many nonstop destinations and such a healthy Continental Airlines if you ran a consistently reliable efficient high-quality operation in Philadelphia.

As far a sI know, its only for the Octoberfest. Our Dec reservation shows the crappy 767 again.

Oops, didnt think about "Wiesn"-Time and that it might have an impact. But you are right, seems to be a temporarily improvement only. Guess i am lucky that both TA flights i booked my girlfriend onto are scheduled to be operated by the A330. Otherwise i might have the doubtful pleasure of enjoying her in "stinking mood" the first night...if she arrives that evening, after all :p

Well, I got my response today (I think at least it is the response, since it does not refer to anything I said in my letter...). :mad:

The same standard letter, nothing personal in the letter at all.
And as the ultimate insult, they sent me a $300 voucher I can't use with online bookings, although I said specifically they should not bother...

I assume they have the janitor open the letters and just print the response and mail it (my name was misspelled in 3 different places). :confused: