A comparison, the new USAir/America west vs Delta
Feb 19, 2006, 10:04 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Dallas, TX
Programs: DL PM MM, AA Platinum Pro, Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Gold
Posts: 1,097
A comparison, the new USAir/America west vs Delta
Delta, thanks for being such a well run airline compared to some of your competitors!
I just recently completed a trip to Mazatlan, Mexico on America West/US Air. I can throughly say that I missed my beloved Delta after that experience. First after buying tickets they had a flight schedule change a few weeks before our flights and it messed up all our flight times. We had 8 people flying from SLC-PHX-MZT and mysteriously we ended up on all different flights. A call to HP and they said, "Well the flights are full, there's nothing we can do about it. So four of us arrived at 2pm, 3 of us arrived at 4:30 pm and the last one didn't get in until the next day.
The schedule change also gave us 3+ hr layovers in PHX, not my favorite place to be. They also told us there was no standby on the earlier flights for us to all fly together as "You have to travel with your bag on an international flight" It's weird to point out that two of the people that were on the later flight had their bags show up with ours on the earlier fight, so I guess you really don't have to travel with your bags!
When we left SLC, they couldn't get the Airbus computers to "sync up" and so we waited on the taxiway for 30 minutes while they shut down and re-started the plane to try and "clear" the issue. I know mechanicals happen, but they didn't tell us what was going on until after we were ready to go, so the whole time we're wondering why the engines keep shutting off and re-starting.
The flight attendants were mechanical, bordering on rude. I got yelled at for having my tray table down while trying to put away my headphones after the final approach signal, even though it was clear I was putting my things away and had every intention of complying. Even the woman behind us said, gosh, what's up her a**?
So, the way home was the same, 4 of us left on the earlier flight, four on the later flight to PHX. What was weird, is when we got to PHX that 5 of us were booked on the earlier connecting flight, and the last three were booked on a flight 90 min or so later. We asked if they could stand by for our flight SLC so we could go together, but we were again told no, as the flight was full. I then watched them call four NRSA's up for their seat assignments upon boarding, a family of four. The door closed with two open seats, while our group of three was stuck in PHX for another 90 minutes.
Here's where it gets even better! One of the NRSA's kids decided to help the FA on our CRJ serve drinks and pass out peanuts. So we had a 12 year old taking drink orders and passing out peanuts while our FA sat up front chit-chatting away. Are there any FAA rules against this? I wasn't too excited to have a 12 year old handling my drink order. What if I had ordered an adult beverage? I wonder if the FA would have assisted then? At any rate, it seemed very unprofessional.
I see that HP is the same old airline even though they're calling themselves USAirways. From similar probelms with schedule changes DL has always taken the attitude (at least with me) oh, yes WE changed the schedule and WE will do what it takes to make it right, even if it means booking your party in full 'Y' to put them at the top of a standby list on a full flight, etc. HP didn't really seem to care, and they were obviously lying to us about full flights, when they're clearing NRSAs.
I cold have flown Skyteam (CO) and paid about $115 more, earned MQMs and Skymiles etc, but decided to fly on HP with the rest of my friends so we could all be on the same flights. So much for that! This trip just re-inforced the fact that you should stick with one airline and earn status as they will take good care of you when it's all said and done. Thanks Delta for doing such a decent job for me!
I just recently completed a trip to Mazatlan, Mexico on America West/US Air. I can throughly say that I missed my beloved Delta after that experience. First after buying tickets they had a flight schedule change a few weeks before our flights and it messed up all our flight times. We had 8 people flying from SLC-PHX-MZT and mysteriously we ended up on all different flights. A call to HP and they said, "Well the flights are full, there's nothing we can do about it. So four of us arrived at 2pm, 3 of us arrived at 4:30 pm and the last one didn't get in until the next day.
The schedule change also gave us 3+ hr layovers in PHX, not my favorite place to be. They also told us there was no standby on the earlier flights for us to all fly together as "You have to travel with your bag on an international flight" It's weird to point out that two of the people that were on the later flight had their bags show up with ours on the earlier fight, so I guess you really don't have to travel with your bags!
When we left SLC, they couldn't get the Airbus computers to "sync up" and so we waited on the taxiway for 30 minutes while they shut down and re-started the plane to try and "clear" the issue. I know mechanicals happen, but they didn't tell us what was going on until after we were ready to go, so the whole time we're wondering why the engines keep shutting off and re-starting.
The flight attendants were mechanical, bordering on rude. I got yelled at for having my tray table down while trying to put away my headphones after the final approach signal, even though it was clear I was putting my things away and had every intention of complying. Even the woman behind us said, gosh, what's up her a**?
So, the way home was the same, 4 of us left on the earlier flight, four on the later flight to PHX. What was weird, is when we got to PHX that 5 of us were booked on the earlier connecting flight, and the last three were booked on a flight 90 min or so later. We asked if they could stand by for our flight SLC so we could go together, but we were again told no, as the flight was full. I then watched them call four NRSA's up for their seat assignments upon boarding, a family of four. The door closed with two open seats, while our group of three was stuck in PHX for another 90 minutes.
Here's where it gets even better! One of the NRSA's kids decided to help the FA on our CRJ serve drinks and pass out peanuts. So we had a 12 year old taking drink orders and passing out peanuts while our FA sat up front chit-chatting away. Are there any FAA rules against this? I wasn't too excited to have a 12 year old handling my drink order. What if I had ordered an adult beverage? I wonder if the FA would have assisted then? At any rate, it seemed very unprofessional.
I see that HP is the same old airline even though they're calling themselves USAirways. From similar probelms with schedule changes DL has always taken the attitude (at least with me) oh, yes WE changed the schedule and WE will do what it takes to make it right, even if it means booking your party in full 'Y' to put them at the top of a standby list on a full flight, etc. HP didn't really seem to care, and they were obviously lying to us about full flights, when they're clearing NRSAs.
I cold have flown Skyteam (CO) and paid about $115 more, earned MQMs and Skymiles etc, but decided to fly on HP with the rest of my friends so we could all be on the same flights. So much for that! This trip just re-inforced the fact that you should stick with one airline and earn status as they will take good care of you when it's all said and done. Thanks Delta for doing such a decent job for me!
