US Airways Dividend Miles - delays/cancelations/NO spare parts!

Wanna see DoUgIe's croonies spin this!!! (They will find a way, I'm sure!!)

So, after 150+ near FLAWLESS CO flights, I decided to use up a voucher and 50Kmiles. I was booked XXX-clt-fll on 11/16. Let me describe the TRUE state of this pathetic excuse for an airline...

XXX-clt fine. Nothing special.

Clt-fll dep @1145. Get ready to start boarding at 1140 after finding 14 vdb's. Oops...broken 757 nosegear! So...they find a new bird!

Board at 1215pm, end up shutting door quick. Jetway moves back up! Uhoh...captain says "broken computer". 5 techs finally say that we will be cancelled after an hour, as ALL SPARE 757 parts are in PHOENIX!!!

At this time captain tells me this is the 4th 757 to head to the hanger in an HOUR! We deplane, and are told NO REBOOKING until you go to baggage and get your checked luggage!! (CP line hooks me up though!!). Wait at baggage.."Luggage will be off in 15 min".

Ummm...nope. Hour goes by..."Shift change..30 more m in". 45 go by.."3 cart drivers in line, no one to put bags on the belt"

15 more mon, NON priority tagged luggage off first!! Get bags, go through security, have dinner, wait for my 815 bird which is now DELAYED from newark (subflight or something like that..9000#) until 645 departure!!


So let's see...
Us doesn't stock 757 parts in clt
Us doesn't keep up maintenance (pilot stated it was written up 10 DAYS ago!!). (BB..something about a "box" they tried, but it was the computer, NOT the "box" that they COULD replace!!!)
No tix until luggage was picked up!
Hours in baggage (did the phl staff take over clt baggage??)
No meal vouchers
TWO rebook agents for a FULL 757!!!
I'm in COACH on a PAID first ticket (one ffmile paid, one FULL F)
Can't track incoming (delayed) flight!
Oh well....I will NEVER EVER fly us again for vacation!!!

On the good side, I had a preflight drink on the way in!

As if things couldn't get any WORSE, the inbound ewr-clt 757 is now MX at ewr. So the flight is changed to the st thomas inbound.

So, confirmed (from pilot) 4 757's down in clt hanger, one in ewr. Don't they only have like 14???

Phx and other 757 routes now cancelling!

From what I hear, spare parts are a problem, especially on the East side of the operation. Which probably leads to some of what you describe since electronics are strictly remove and replace when there's a problem - pull out the non-working unit and replace it with one from stock.

Jim

Ok, 1687 now DOWNGRADED to 321. 40 poor suckers not getting on. The us operations at clt tonight are a JOKE!!

BB...meet the most AWESOME pilot tonight!!! (He's flying the bird!!). Soooo many good hearted souls at us...too bad DoUgIe isn't one!

Ok, 1687 now DOWNGRADED to 321. 40 poor suckers not getting on. The us operations at clt tonight are a JOKE!!


Sure. The difference between the new 321 and the domestic 757 is 13 seats total, with 2x as many in F on the 321. Even counting the original VDBs, that's only 27 who won't get on. Is there really the need to embellish here? It's not like they haven't loaded you up with ammo!

Also, on 11/16 there is no CLT-FLL flight departing at 1:45pm... did you mean the 11:45am departure?

They could have downgraded to a Messup 900. Short of a B1900 or a Saab, could it be any worse than that? ;)

Sure.

It's possible that the earlier problems are resulting in crews deadheading on this flight, which would result in more VDB's. For instance, the 757 crew deadheading to the overnight so they'll be in position for tomorrow would result in the loss of 6 available seats.

Jim

Let me clarify....

MISSED a "1" in there. 1145 (flight 881) was the original.

As for vdb's......
The bird we were scheduled on was a 757 (8F). Bird we GOT was a 321 with F layflat seats (in from st thomas) with 12F, NOT double. Not sure what capacity is...but these were the facts as far as I remember...

194 scheduled (they may have OVERBOOKED this bird, as numerous crying people did NOT have seat assignments with the scheduled 757 bird)
BUT...the bird I was on was allowed 142 I believe. This was an "international" config 321 maybe??? It HAD 3 rows of f layflat seats! I was told they STILL needed 40 vdb's. They were offering the "free ticket anywhere in the us".

So....LONG story short..bird left with a few CRYING...one guy who was double booked in 6 thrown off by authorities (got in a fight and was a complete idiot to the fa..long story, but the fa handled it well. I wanted to punch the guy out, he was blocking her from going to the cickpit to get help!!) And me in F!!!

As far as embellishing, please give me your email and I will send you a few of the pictures I took with kids and parents in "meltdown" crying! I was advised by one guy there to go to the MEDIA with the pictures. I can tell you I WILL file a dot complaint.

Oh...to add insult to injury...NO meal vouchers, and NO etuv's were given out! I hope the us starts a system like the uk...get the pax there or PAY.

I was delayed by 11 HOURS! Wonder if I will get the usual $100 voucher? I am seriously thinking of suing us in small claims for the cost of the flight. (Would that be done in the state I originated in, or the one I had the mx problems??)

So...DoUgIe's cronies, those are the facts. I would expect NOTHING LESS then the spin miesters though!

I am seriously thinking of suing us in small claims for the cost of the flight. (Would that be done in the state I originated in, or the one I had the mx problems??) Maybe neither? It's typically where at least one of the defendants resides/operates.

There are no 321s with lay flat seats. There are 2 configs on 757s.

Originally, you had 8/185 = 193 seats
The 321 is now 16/164 = 180 seats
757 Int'l is 12/161 = 173 seats

So, they were initially oversold by ONE seat - I'm not sure how you'd get 14VDBs even with crew deadheading when you're at 194 scheduled (which may or may not have included pre-listed crew).

Assuming that there actually were 13 crew or others, that's 207 people to load and gets close to 40 VDBs on the next flight (207-173 = 34). So, worst case they'd need 34 VDBs, not 40. And even that is a dubious claim.

They've given you plenty to complain about as is, there's no need for blatant and obvious embellishment. It distracts from the real problem - that they don't run a reliable operation. (Of course there's the claim that 150 flights on CO were "flawless" that embellishes just a tad... have you been through EWR? Not sure I'd call that flawless, but that's just me...)

As for suing, you got on and should have been reaccommodated in your original class of service as there were 50% more F seats on the new flight and were transported in accordance with US' agreement in the CoC. Only way you'd win is if US decided that it would be cheaper to lose on purpose and pay you than it would be to respond.

(which may or may not have included pre-listed crew)
There are two "types" of deadhead. Scheduled, which means that the deadhead is a published part of the crew's trip (sequence of flights for 1-4 days). Since crew schedules are built a couple of months in advance, scheduled deadhead crews would be included in the passenger count and they would count toward the booking limit.

The other is unscheduled deadhead, which happens in real time - i.e. crew scheduled to fly CLT-MCO and spend the night but their flight cancels so they are told to deadhead on the next MCO flight. An unscheduled deadhead crew would not be counted as passengers booked until scheduling put them in the res system and do not count toward the booking limit before they're put in the system, so the flight could already be overbooked and suddenly become overbooked even more.

Jim

Then we were on the int 757. They WERE asking for 40 vdbs. Also stated by the pilot was the fact that they were "at the end" of shift rotation, and scheduled for the early flight out of fll.

This could NOT happen, as they would have "under minimum" hours of rest. So, another crew was on the bird to fly it in the am, as they were then NOT the early crew. This included fa's too.

As for the 150 flights and flawless...you're right! ONE time I had a bafoon ga NOT allow elites preboard. Yes, I HAVE had wx delays...but NEVER a mx! Then again, their equipment is NOWHERE near as "beat up" and "tattered" as US'S.

From what I hear, spare parts are a problem, especially on the East side of the operation. Which probably leads to some of what you describe since electronics are strictly remove and replace when there's a problem - pull out the non-working unit and replace it with one from stock.

Jim


Jim:
This is exactly what my friend who is mech. in PIT has been telling me.