America West FlightFund (Discontinued Program) - America Worst Service

I have flown over 1M on other airlines,
originally TWA and now AA, and 30K on
America Worst. I have had more ugly problems
on AWorst that all other airlines combined.
Examples:

1) Delaying a takeoff from SJC for 3 hrs due
to frost on the wings. Can you imagine the
pilot on the wing with a push broom. No they
couldn't move the plane to face the sun so that the sun could defrost both wings at the
same time.

2) After a late arriving first segment, the
equipment for the connector was still at the
gate. The door to the jetway was closed, and
no amount of logic could get the gate agent
to open the door, even though the plane sat
there for 15 mins and left with 15 empty seats (yes there were 14 others in the samw boat).

3) Several times I have checked in at the
front counter and have been told that
everything is on time, to discover at the gate that the flight has been cancelled. In my attempt to circumvent the line, I tried the 800 number, only to be told that the rebooking was under "local control".

Get real, this is not a real airline...

Sorry about all the problems. I guess that plane should just have taken off with ice on the wings.

All of these things you mention happen on every major US airline that I've ever been on. I hope you're not suggesting that these 3 situations didn't occur on TWA. Where've you been the last 15 years? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Open the jetway door?

Well HP did do this once for me in SMF, but that was pre 9/11.

Funny, most of the unpleasant experiences on airlines I've had have been on United, and none of them on America West. So who's right?

Sorry to hear your problems, but I've had exactly that no-access-to-connector problem on UA at ORD and DEN... and I wouldn't want to take off without deicing... so what exactly was unique to HP about all this?

Several points:

1) The frequency with which these things happened is at least 10 greater than other airlines that I have flown.

2) HP seems to be the only airline leaving SJC that has has no access to deicing equipment.

How about my experience just happened last Thursday evening?

We were all seated and ready to depart. Just 2 minutes before the departure, here came an inflight announcement..."We are sorry to inform that we do not have a pilot for this flight."

I could not help but laughing - who else (airlines) could do something like this? This is soooo America West...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SpuddBrother:
I hope you're not suggesting that these 3 situations didn't occur on TWA. Where've you been the last 15 years?</font>

I've found TWA to be very accomodating during the last six years with re-extending the jetway and opening the door two out of two times and one out of one time holding my connecting mainline flight due to a late arriving TWE flight. While TWA was great in that respect, I found them to be VERY tight with hotel/meal vouchers in situations where the plane was long gone or not going anywhere.

As for America West, I rarely connect (except to the occassional LAS redeye). I've only once had a problem getting a meal/hotel voucher. I've never received a customer care kit, despite several requests.

Same thing happend to me a couple of years ago. I was at the LAS HP Club waiting for a red-eye to EWR, asked the Agent about the status of the flight. She made a call and told me that the flight would be delayed waiting for crew, but that the computer was showing that the flight was boarding, so I ought to go to make sure that they didn't give away my FC seat. Got to the gate 15 minutes before schedule and everybody was on board. I got on board and had a pre-departure drink before we got the word. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

We ended up leaving about an hour late, when we got to EWR in the morning there wasn't a gate available for us so we had sit in the parking lot for almost an hour. Got off the plane more then 36 hours after I first arrived at the Tucson airport for the flight to LAS.

I won't even bother to tell you about how it took 24 hours for the trip from TUS to LAS.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by FlyMan:

We were all seated and ready to depart. Just 2 minutes before the departure, here came an inflight announcement..."We are sorry to inform that we do not have a pilot for this flight."

.</font>


Boo Hoo....They should have departed on time anyway! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I have flown 16 segments on HP so far this year and all 16 have been on time. I guess they just don't like you. Seriously, I have had good luck with them in the past year. I have had more problems with United than any other, but I'd still fly them if my other 7 choices were booked or too expensive.

Just finished a first class round trip from them. On the first flight we were lucky to get a drink from the laziest crew I have ever seen. They were more interested in reading and cooking some smelly stuff in the microwave to eat. The return flight was better. This airline will be lucky to survive in this current business climate.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by robertw477:
Just finished a first class round trip from them. On the first flight we were lucky to get a drink from the laziest crew I have ever seen. They were more interested in reading and cooking some smelly stuff in the microwave to eat. The return flight was better. This airline will be lucky to survive in this current business climate.</font>

Microwaves aren't allowed on airplanes, man! I think you're referring to the food replicator.

I hope all of you who have had such bad luck with HP simply vote with your feet and use another carrier. That will leave more room for us who fly them frequently and have had good luck.

All carriers have their problems. But I can honestly say that compared to UA and DL, who I have flown frequently in the past, flight in and flight out HP compares VERY favorably. I have encountered many more lazy and grouchy types on UA than on HP, and much more threadbare equipment on DL, too.

Last week, on a flight from PHX to DEN, everything was right on time, all flight attendants were courteous, etc., and we arrived on time even though the weather in DEN was not ideal. Yet, at the baggage claim, here was someone badmouthing HP for bad service! I think HP bashing is a sport for many these days. My experiences certainly have been very positive, so I will continue to fly them as my first choice. If you do not agree and your experience is not good, simply spend your travel dollars elsewhere.

Here here Al! I put in about 125k a year on them and have no real complaints - except the inability to upgrade from EWR on anything less than a $2000 fare. I just wish they would not give out status (especially PLAT) like candy.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by FlyMan:
How about my experience just happened last Thursday evening?

We were all seated and ready to depart. Just 2 minutes before the departure, here came an inflight announcement..."We are sorry to inform that we do not have a pilot for this flight."

I could not help but laughing - who else (airlines) could do something like this? This is soooo America West...</font>

Actually, Continental does it more.