US Airways Dividend Miles - USAirways and too tight connections!!

I don't really know where to post this thread. Just arrived home from a trip flown on USairways. So upset and mad at the airlines. I had 4 flights total since I had connecting flights from SLC to PHL and back. On all both my outbound flights and the first leg of the return, the flights were held up to one hour for connecting passengers. I got off my flight from Philadephia to Phoenix, which supposedly landed on time, had to wait as I was in the back of the plane but thought I had plenty of time (40 min), went to the lady's room and then proceeded to connecting gate. I saw a mom and her young child running to catch a flight and a old lady also running and thought, that is just not right, passengers should not have to RUN from one flight to another. But I was wrong, got to my connecting flight and was denied boarding along with 2 other passengers because we did not arrive early enough. We watched the plane sit on the ground for 20 minutes but were not allowed to board. All of us, so exasperated, having sat at the gate waiting on previous flights for connecting passengers.
I am a travel agent and I honestly for the first time, have had to reassess the idea of traveling via air travel. Don't get me wrong, I have itchy feet and love to travel, but it is so often a bad experience these day. I think I might have to resort to car travel as much as I dislike it. Flying these days is almost worse than taking a Greyhound bus.
On this flight my company paid top dollar for my flights but that is no answer to these bad experiences, no matter how much you pay for you flight, you are still at the mercy of the airline.
No a happy camper.

Please follow as the thread moves to the US Airways forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

Since you've already decided that from now on you might just drive to SLC from PHL instead of flying, why are you wasting space here? :confused:

Seriously, these "all about me" posts on FT are becoming all too frequent. While I have no problem with posters sharing their negative experiences in search of specific answers, solutions or compensation, I do have a big problem when posters act as if their personal inconvenience is an indictment of the entire airline industry in the U.S. Fact is, the vast majority of passengers still get from Point A to Point B with no mishaps.

BTW, running through airports is nothing new. O.J. Simpson's Hertz commercials -- in the 80's -- used that theme quite often.

And no, air travel in the U.S. isn't quite what it used to be (more security; tighter seats; no free food; etc.) -- but it's also WAY cheaper now than it was years ago. So we get what we pay for.

Enough already.

Since you've already decided that from now on you might just drive to SLC from PHL instead of flying, why are you wasting space here? :confused:

Seriously, these "all about me" posts on FT are becoming all too frequent. While I have no problem with posters sharing their negative experiences, I do have a big problem when posters act as if their inconvenience is an indictment of the entire airline industry in the U.S. Fact is, the vast majority of passengers still get from Point A to Point B with no mishaps.

BTW, running trough airports is nothing new. O.J. Simpson's Hertz commercials -- in the 80's -- used that theme quite often.

Enough already.
^^

...On all both my outbound flights and the first leg of the return, the flights were held up to one hour for connecting passengers. ....

That's rather unusal for US Airways, with its strong emphasis on on-time performance ...

Missing the connection when the aircraft is still at the gate is most frustrating, and I can speak from personal experience too.

I'm no stranger to tight connections (planned or unplanned). When planned, it's usually for early flights with more departures during the day if I miss my flight. I've just completed a longhaul trip on BA; for these int'l trips, I allow a long connecting layover just in case. Flying isn't what it used to be, but it still can be a pleasant experience.

Care to share dates and flight numbers?

I don't really know where to post this thread. Just arrived home from a trip flown on USairways. So upset and mad at the airlines. I had 4 flights total since I had connecting flights from SLC to PHL and back. On all both my outbound flights and the first leg of the return, the flights were held up to one hour for connecting passengers. I got off my flight from Philadephia to Phoenix, which supposedly landed on time, had to wait as I was in the back of the plane but thought I had plenty of time (40 min), went to the lady's room and then proceeded to connecting gate. I saw a mom and her young child running to catch a flight and a old lady also running and thought, that is just not right, passengers should not have to RUN from one flight to another. But I was wrong, got to my connecting flight and was denied boarding along with 2 other passengers because we did not arrive early enough. We watched the plane sit on the ground for 20 minutes but were not allowed to board. All of us, so exasperated, having sat at the gate waiting on previous flights for connecting passengers.
I am a travel agent and I honestly for the first time, have had to reassess the idea of traveling via air travel. Don't get me wrong, I have itchy feet and love to travel, but it is so often a bad experience these day. I think I might have to resort to car travel as much as I dislike it. Flying these days is almost worse than taking a Greyhound bus.
On this flight my company paid top dollar for my flights but that is no answer to these bad experiences, no matter how much you pay for you flight, you are still at the mercy of the airline.
No a happy camper.
I understand you're frustrated with the experience and I've been in that position too. Got to the gate and the plane was still sitting there but couldn't board.

What's a little odd though is that there are often threads here about how the airline didn't hold the plane. In fact, it even happened to you. So it's rather strange with as much as that happens, you had multiple flights on one itinerary where flights were held up to one hour for connecting passengers.

The other thing is that I'm surprised as a travel agent that you are not familiar with the concept of tight connections and running through an airport. While 40 minutes isn't much, it's also very doable in Phoenix.

And this isn't specific to US, tight connections can happen on any airline.

the flights were held up to one hour for connecting passengers.

Not a chance.

I don't really know where to post this thread. Just arrived home from a trip flown on USairways. So upset and mad at the airlines. I had 4 flights total since I had connecting flights from SLC to PHL and back. On all both my outbound flights and the first leg of the return, the flights were held up to one hour for connecting passengers. I got off my flight from Philadephia to Phoenix, which supposedly landed on time, had to wait as I was in the back of the plane but thought I had plenty of time (40 min), went to the lady's room and then proceeded to connecting gate. I saw a mom and her young child running to catch a flight and a old lady also running and thought, that is just not right, passengers should not have to RUN from one flight to another. But I was wrong, got to my connecting flight and was denied boarding along with 2 other passengers because we did not arrive early enough. We watched the plane sit on the ground for 20 minutes but were not allowed to board. All of us, so exasperated, having sat at the gate waiting on previous flights for connecting passengers.
I am a travel agent and I honestly for the first time, have had to reassess the idea of traveling via air travel. Don't get me wrong, I have itchy feet and love to travel, but it is so often a bad experience these day. I think I might have to resort to car travel as much as I dislike it. Flying these days is almost worse than taking a Greyhound bus.
On this flight my company paid top dollar for my flights but that is no answer to these bad experiences, no matter how much you pay for you flight, you are still at the mercy of the airline.
No a happy camper.

OP - Flight #'s and dates please for all four segments.

Why not book the longer layover....US does not MAKE you book that earlier connection. You are right, no one should have to run, but some business travelers don't mind if they can make that connection. If you don't think you can, just easier to book the later flight.

I don't really know where to post this thread. Just arrived home from a trip flown on USairways. So upset and mad at the airlines. I had 4 flights total since I had connecting flights from SLC to PHL and back. On all both my outbound flights and the first leg of the return, the flights were held up to one hour for connecting passengers. I got off my flight from Philadephia to Phoenix, which supposedly landed on time, had to wait as I was in the back of the plane but thought I had plenty of time (40 min), went to the lady's room and then proceeded to connecting gate. I saw a mom and her young child running to catch a flight and a old lady also running and thought, that is just not right, passengers should not have to RUN from one flight to another. But I was wrong, got to my connecting flight and was denied boarding along with 2 other passengers because we did not arrive early enough. We watched the plane sit on the ground for 20 minutes but were not allowed to board. All of us, so exasperated, having sat at the gate waiting on previous flights for connecting passengers.
I am a travel agent and I honestly for the first time, have had to reassess the idea of traveling via air travel. Don't get me wrong, I have itchy feet and love to travel, but it is so often a bad experience these day. I think I might have to resort to car travel as much as I dislike it. Flying these days is almost worse than taking a Greyhound bus.
On this flight my company paid top dollar for my flights but that is no answer to these bad experiences, no matter how much you pay for you flight, you are still at the mercy of the airline.
No a happy camper.

Why not book the longer layover....US does not MAKE you book that earlier connection. You are right, no one should have to run, but some business travelers don't mind if they can make that connection. If you don't think you can, just easier to book the later flight.

Finally! I always want to tell people to just book a little longer layover. Just because 30 minutes is a legal connection does not mean you should book it. People need to think about it. Even if you are completely on time, your connection is boarding just as you get off your previous flight.

Finally! I always want to tell people to just book a little longer layover. Just because 30 minutes is a legal connection does not mean you should book it. People need to think about it. Even if you are completely on time, your connection is boarding just as you get off your previous flight.

^ Complete agreement here, and I hate that our corporate booking tool only shows the shortest possible connections and ignores longer ones despite them usually being the same price.

^ Complete agreement here, and I hate that our corporate booking tool only shows the shortest possible connections and ignores longer ones despite them usually being the same price.

On my company's booking engine, and that of my clients when I've needed to use their travel agencies, you can usually get around that by booking multicity itineraries and manually entering the cities and desired connection times. More tedious, but it works.

All this self I hate US, DL, etc. for doing this to me are getting insane. FlyerTalk is not for .....ing, but for talk amongst aviation enthusiasts.

You are not asking a question here at all, not building a discussion, rather just looking for an outlet to complain on. Not welcome here. Since you say you are done with air travel, go join a Greyhound or car message board.

I don't really know where to post this thread. Just arrived home from a trip flown on USairways. So upset and mad at the airlines. I had 4 flights total since I had connecting flights from SLC to PHL and back. On all both my outbound flights and the first leg of the return, the flights were held up to one hour for connecting passengers. I got off my flight from Philadephia to Phoenix, which supposedly landed on time, had to wait as I was in the back of the plane but thought I had plenty of time (40 min), went to the lady's room and then proceeded to connecting gate.

Wait a sec...did they delay you in PHL for one hour for connecting pax, or did they land in PHX on time? No way a PHL-PHX flight makes up a full hour in the air, nor do they build *that* much slack into the schedule.

I saw a mom and her young child running to catch a flight and a old lady also running and thought, that is just not right, passengers should not have to RUN from one flight to another.

Lots of reasons people occasionally have to run from one flight to another. Normal, minor inbould delay, and you hustle to get over to the next flight. This isn't a new development...probably happens a bit less now than the late '90's when on-time performance was awful for 2-3 summers in a row and more airports had "clumpier" schedules.

But I was wrong, got to my connecting flight and was denied boarding along with 2 other passengers because we did not arrive early enough. We watched the plane sit on the ground for 20 minutes but were not allowed to board. All of us, so exasperated, having sat at the gate waiting on previous flights for connecting passengers.

I'd be frustrated too if the plane really sat there for 20 minutes.

I am a travel agent and I honestly for the first time, have had to reassess the idea of traveling via air travel. Don't get me wrong, I have itchy feet and love to travel, but it is so often a bad experience these day. I think I might have to resort to car travel as much as I dislike it.

A Utah-to-Philly roadtrip? :p

Flying these days is almost worse than taking a Greyhound bus.

That is not possible. Flying in the last row of an EgyptAir A321 with no working A/C is better than the Dog. Orders of magnitude better.

no matter how much you pay for you flight, you are still at the mercy of the airline.

Not entirely true...pay enough, and you'll have a pilot and aircraft waiting at your mercy at a private airfield near you. Of course, most of us run the cost-benefit analysis and decide to accept the frustrations that commercial air travel brings us.

On my company's booking engine, and that of my clients when I've needed to use their travel agencies, you can usually get around that by booking multicity itineraries and manually entering the cities and desired connection times. More tedious, but it works.

I think Orbitz and most of the other major booking engines can handle this too. I used to do it all the time on the PMUA site (as crappy as it was). It would always present me with the last SEA-DEN-MCI option of the night, one with a 40-minute connection. So I usually did a multi-city booking to create a longer connection with an earlier SEA-DEN flight. Saved me a few unplanned Denver nights over the years...

FlyerTalk is not for .....ing, but for talk amongst aviation enthusiasts.

What evidence do you have for that. I reserve the right to post about
my latest troubles with an airline just as I do every shining splendor I
encounter.

I'd suggest alighting from your lofty equine.

I've been a bit surprised lately at some of the tight connections that US shows as viable. Like some of the other posters, I usually decline those routings (even though they often put me into my destination significantly earlier than the alternatives) just because I hate to chance the situation that the OP describes. Of course, despite all of my planning, I still end up running through the terminal all too often.

What evidence do you have for that. I reserve the right to post about my latest troubles with an airline just as I do every shining splendor I encounter.

I'd suggest alighting from your lofty equine.

:D Good point. Aren't many threads here solely devoted to aviation enthusiasm... That's some other board somewhere...maybe one of those pilot boards or photography boards.

Here, we like to b*tch... :p

Finally! I always want to tell people to just book a little longer layover. Just because 30 minutes is a legal connection does not mean you should book it. People need to think about it. Even if you are completely on time, your connection is boarding just as you get off your previous flight.

If you're flying through PHL F-Terminal... even booking a 3 hour layover doesn't mean you'll make it.

FlyerTalk is not for .....ing, but for talk amongst aviation enthusiasts.

You are not asking a question here at all, not building a discussion, rather just looking for an outlet to complain on. Not welcome here. Since you say you are done with air travel, go join a Greyhound or car message board.

I run a nice car message board. CheersandGears.com we can help you pick out your next car or learn more about your current one.

but god no, I hate flying yet I'm still here. I don't hate flying because of any fear of flight, but because of what the airlines and the TSA have turned the flying experience into. They've turned what used to be a reasonably pleasant experience into cattle herding and branding. The only way to get a decent experience is to pay 5 times more for your ticket for an upgrade to F and they really aren't adding 5 times more value on any of the US domestic flights, rather they punish you for flying coach while telling you you'll love the "improvements"

For 2012, I have experienced an abysmal on time performance from United and US Airways and I come on here to kvetch about it and learn ways around being treated like cattle since company travel policy doesn't allow me to select first class.

What evidence do you have for that. I reserve the right to post about
my latest troubles with an airline just as I do every shining splendor I
encounter.

Proof? From about FlyerTalk: "conversing about programs, how to make the most of your miles and points, general travel, airports, destination and dining information."

Notice nothing about .....ing. Besides OP say she never wants to fly again. So she's not looking for answers, just looking for a forum to vent and likely send an e-mail to US, "O, I'll post here too and give you all the bad press"

If you're flying through PHL F-Terminal... even booking a 3 hour layover doesn't mean you'll make it.

For more US, fun discussion on the Phila. "F" terminal follow discussion here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-airways-dividend-miles/1224237-trip-dump-aka-phl-term-f-6.html

If you're flying through PHL F-Terminal... even booking a 3 hour layover doesn't mean you'll make it.

Get Real.