janicerobertson

As a Star Alliance Gold, I was appalled at the current levels of service at US Air. Four of us had booked seats to St. Maarten on US Air from Chicago. My first inkling was when I called to get seat assignments and was told that US Air no longer offers "choice" seats to United's members, as United does not give economy plus to US Air Dividend Miles members. As the 4 flights had a longest duration of 3.5 hours, I thought the aisle seats we managed to get at the very back of the plane would not be too bad and decided to just suck it up. Our flight left Chicago nearly an hour and a half late...arrived in Charlotte with barely enough time to make the connection. (Heard later than US Air would not hold any flights to the caribbean for connecting passengers, even if the plane was already on the ground--met a number of very disgrunted passengers on the return flight home from CLT to ORD). Flight from CLT to SXM was another disaster...despite being fully boarded, we then had yet another tarmac delay. Air vents were dripping water and the flights attendants were mighty peeved when those in the window seats asked for paper towers to stop the water leaking onto them. No AV, no movie, no inflight entertainment of any kind, no blankets for sale (the flight was freezing...very glad I had my own but most did not)...a cursory drink service and buy-on board meal, and then the flight attendants spent the balance of the flight hawking US Air's credit card, and hard-selling duty-free. Never mentioned "free flights" were only continental US, never mentioned card had a fee, never mentioned conditions of the two "free" companion tickets.Very, very glad to deplane!
The return flights were even more frill-less. No food service (other than those snacks) because "the plane had no refrigeration." Ironically, no mention of this on the inbound flight or I would have planned accordingly. No audio, movies, etc. as US Air chose to take out the "inflight entertainment" because it was losing $. Surly attendants, again who spent most of the time plugging the credit card and duty free. No mention of the fact that liquid items had to be checked or would be confiscated...lots of complaints from fellow passengers about that in customs!!!
Flight from Charlotte to Chicago was a disaster. Plane at the gate but no crew (Crew was on another plane coming into another terminal but stuck on the tarmac and not at the gate.) We ended up boarding nearly an hour late, and then there was runway delay. No apologies, nothing.....
If this had been a no-name carrier and I had a bargain flight I probably would not have minded. However, our tickets were nearly $700 and on what I had always thought was a pretty mid-tier carrier, I was truly amazed. I did express concern via the website and was offered a $25 voucher toward future travel. I just laughed and decided US Air is no longer among the Star Alliance carriers I will patronize.

formeraa

I love these kinds of posts. The OP had some relatively minor problems and makes a mountain out of them. If the OP had done their research, they would have known exactly what they were going to have on these US flights.

I've had these experiences on every major US carrier and even some that don't exist anymore. It just depends!

AggieNzona

Its just you!

jeffclt

it's USAIRWAYS.....

I suggest you find another carrier in * to get you where you want to go. Your experience is not mine with USairWAYS. Good luck in your future travel.

ramblers63

Aside from IFE, you could replace "US Air" with the name of any other domestic carrier and have the same experience. Were you expecting a three course meal in Y? Were you expecting a warm towel and a hug from the FA?

Shame for you that IFE was so recently removed that you couldn't find that fact documented anywhere. On United they give everyone a free iPad and Bose NRs, right?

mikeef

That's not really irony. That's just something unfortunate.

Enjoy your other *A carrier!

Mike

GNRMatt

The only legitimate complaint was the fact that some people had water dripping on them from the air vents. For anyone who had to deal with this, you have a legitimate gripe that the airline should take care of.

All the other stuff, come on. IFE and the meals are something you could've figured out ahead of time. Things running late? Well, some times that is the airlines fault, other times it's things that are out of people's hands such as weather conditions. You'd need to be more specific of the reasons to really have a legitimate gripe. Have a problem with the flight attendants mentioning the credit card, but not giving you 100% of the details? Are you serious? Should they read all the terms and conditions for you? That's why they give you a pamphlet to read!

dcpatti

Each airline has its own flavor of "suck", and the OP got a taste of US' flavor. Lots of little nuisances and annoyances but absolutely nothing you won't find on another carrier, just another flavor.

Had to run for a flight? Delays happen. *Everywhere.* It's been thunderstorm after thunderstorm here in the east coast, with a little hurricane thrown in the middle, and that is going to back up air traffic.

FA hawking a credit card? Zone out. Companies try to sell you stuff constantly and you can either tune out, or let it bother you. Yes I find the credit card speech extremely annoying but you know what? I get annoyed when UA tries to sell me a hotel and a rental car every time I call them up. In LAX the Southwest credit card hawkers now do it in English and in Spanish.

Condensation dripping? Blame humidity for that. Might as well call your weatherman and complain to them. No blanket for sale? Does being chilly in a movie theatre or restaurant ruin your visit? When you're sharing the cabin with 120+ other people, it's really hard to expect the temperature is going to be exactly to your liking, and there's probably folks on that flight that found the temperature "refreshing".

While I do find surly FA attitudes worthy of complaint, that's about the extent of things. So send US a note or fill in the web form about that. But if you want to travel a lot, you have to learn to let the little things go. And most of the rant is little things. There is so much about air travel that just plain sucks, that you will end up miserable if you choose to let it get to you.

PHL

IFE was removed from US Airways (yes, it's US Airways, not US Air since 1996) in 2008 when fuel was sky high and the brain trust in Tempe decided they could save money by flying less weight (all those monitors and play back units add up), and also licensing costs they no longer have to pay to the content providers. Not a great decision, but...oh well. That's what personal devices are for. And, their web site has clearly indicated which flights have entertainment options, so this is something you could have verified in advance.

As for holding another aircraft for inbound passengers. This is something every airline will NOT do unless there are extenuating circumstances. The practice of getting the door closed 10-15 minutes beforeLike, if there were 20 of you on that flight. Or, if there's another one later that day that the mis-connects can be put on. As with everything, it comes down to cost.

The credit card app is annoying, but oh well. If you want to know the specific terms and conditions, take an app and read them. If not, ignore them.

And, finally, tarmac/runway delays are not really something you can blame an airline for. There were likely other aircraft on the tarmac with you from the likes of AA, CO, B6, etc. But I'm sure the people on board those aircraft were blaming the delay on their respective carrier.

hitherandyon

Recent trips with US have been just a means of transportation and nothing
more. Food in FC is terrible, if you get it at all. Rarely do I even get asked
if I'd like some water before take off - and the last fligt from LAS I was only asked ONCE for a drink/snacks...the whole time the crew sat around talking to each other and reading magazines. The only time I received anything is if
I hit the call button.

CLTUSCAPTIVE

No, it is not just you, USAirways (and every other US major) has cheapened its service. Flying has changed dramatically in the last ten years. On the other hand, in my experience as a US Gold out of Charlotte, their basic performance, in terms of on-time flights and clean airplanes, has been excellent this year. Sorry your experience has not been the same.

apeortdz

+1

DCdeacon

It's just you. The fact that you think you flew on "US Air" (which hasn't been around since 1997) is all we need to know.

donmak

The dripping water would probably annoy me, I must admit. But...


When I fly ANY airline (although I am near CLT so US is my main carrier) I ALWAYS have the following:

My own food and water (high quality granola bars, trail mix, etc.). Even on flights that advertise snacks or meals.

My own IFE, consisting of a tablet and my smartphone. Rarely - almost never - does a IFE system have anything remotely worth watching. I hate them. (I also bring extra batteries so I'm loaded for each leg if my connecting is short). Podcasts, movies, tv shows, etc. If I have time to charge up between flights I also carry a hybrid AC/USB power strip (travel size) so I can share an outlet with someone if they are all taken. None of this takes much room or effort to carry.

NC headphones (for my IFE and to ignore the credit card sales pitches)

Foam construction worker earplugs (for I'm not watching/listening to IFE, or sleeping and the possibility of loud passengers or crying babies). I bring a 10-pack from Lowes, because I use them at hotels too.

===

On the other hand it seems US has a hard time making connections, at least on the routes I fly. A snack would be nice. But whatever. They can't all be Alaska Airlines (who I love) for many obvious reasons.

ArizonaGuy

The OP's issues are not out of the norm for any US domestic airline. Most of us generally agree. Tarmac delays, lack of food in Y, disinterested crews, hawking of duty free, etc. What's so odd about this based on current standards?

What's more annoying to me is that there will always be people who point out the far more trivial error of an OP referring to the airline as US Air instead of US Airways. It's pedantic.