I decided to take The Lev family to Los Angeles/Anaheim for a little R&R over the long weekend while I attended a trade show. Was able to book three seats in US first class on the AE web site and booked myself in Y. Family was very excited and this was gonig to be the first time in First class for the kids. Here are some chronological thoughts:
1. Deliberately booked via Charlotte to get F and jet service on both legs. CLT-LAX leg was cancelled so I got re-booked via PIT on a Dash-8 (down to First class on 2 of 4 legs and fewer points for me).
2. Called AE to get family re-booked. They were not aware of the cancelled flight but did re-book us and pre-reserved seats.
3. Arrive at YYZ T3 for our 06:20 departure. All our pre-reserved seats had dispappeared. Agent suggested that they re-jig their timetable every 30 days and that I should check regularly with US to ensure my seats have not been given away
. she got wife and kids window seats one behind the other CLT-LAX. My aisle became a window.
4. clearing US customs and immigration takes over half an hour, resulting in me doing an OJ Simpson run through the airport to the gate,. I arrive just before 6:20 departure. Fortunately they hold the flight for the family.
5. Arrive in PIT and decide to try out US Club. Am told I'm only allowed one guest. I point out that my three fellow passengers are travelling in First Class. Sorry First class only gets access on INTERNATIONAL flights
6. PIT-LAX 4 1/2 hour flight. Meal service in First Class consists of the same Buy-on-Board cold meal offered in Y for $5-7 but it's free for the family. So much for the kid's meal I had pre-ordered for my 7-year old. the good news is she didn't like the buy-on-board choice so I got passed back to me in Y. My wife is asleep when drinks are offered. When she wakes up, nobody offers her a drink.
7. Arrive at LAX, figure based on tight timeline to board aircraft at YYZ there is no way my bags have arrived. I thought I'd check proactively with the US baggage people at LAX to see if my bag made the flight, rather than wait around. Their baggage system is apparently too antiquated to be able to check on-line status of bags. Wait for bags and by some miracle, they made it
8. Have 4 fun days in California
9. Return to LAX. There are about 8 check in counters for US but ZERO agents (actually there is one guy at the far end who spends about 15 minutes dealing with somebody who is sending a small package). Since the AE tickets are paper, I need to deal with an agent. An agent finally appears and deals with someone in Y line. Another agent appears and deals with someone else in Y. A third agent appears (they all seam to walk at about 1 mph) and deals with the guy who budded the line in front of us in the *G/F line. The good news is that F passengers get priority clearance through security.
10. US has closed its club at LAX and since it's in T1 there, there is no practical way to access a *A lounge.
11. Board aircraft and am just getting comfortable when we're paged on board. Wife thinks I'm getting upgraded. But no - the ticket agent had put our connecting ticket stubs with our originating flight boarding passes so we handed them the wrong coupons. Wife grumbles to gate agent to no avail that some teenager was upgraded to F rather than her husband.
On a positive note, at least all flights arrived on time.
My question is, why would anybody in their right mind pay to fly US Airways First Class transcontinent domestic when they get a Y meal and no lounge access?
I just hope that with AC buying in to the "new" US, they won't learn from US about how to treat J passengers.
