US Airways - striving for worst

[Let's Go State]

A friend of mine is going on vacation next week, and a family emergency came up (actually life threatening). He calls up US Air - no refund, no moving the flight, no banking the funds, no flexibility. If they don't go, they just burned a lot of damn money on this trip.

When I did this with Delta, no problem - they just requested some type of documentation and we got a whole refund.

US air is a pathetic airline.

 

[Mr Janny]

A friend of mine is going on vacation next week, and a family emergency came up (actually life threatening). He calls up US Air - no refund, no moving the flight, no banking the funds, no flexibility. If they don't go, they just burned a lot of damn money on this trip.

When I did this with Delta, no problem - they just requested some type of documentation and we got a whole refund.

US air is a pathetic airline.

unfortunately, this is not news. They've been that bad for a long, long time. I have no idea how they're still around. Sorry to hear about your friend's situation.

 

[ISUAgronomist]

unfortunately, this is not news. They've been that bad for a long, long time. I have no idea how they're still around. Sorry to hear about your friend's situation.

Won't be around for long with the American "merger". American will go further down hill just like the former Continential routes after the United "merger".

 

[cowgirl836]

A friend of mine is going on vacation next week, and a family emergency came up (actually life threatening). He calls up US Air - no refund, no moving the flight, no banking the funds, no flexibility. If they don't go, they just burned a lot of damn money on this trip.

When I did this with Delta, no problem - they just requested some type of documentation and we got a whole refund.

US air is a pathetic airline.

they should go public about it - local tv news, newspaper, put it on their facebook page and tweet it. Seriously, there was some article a while ago I read about how closely businesses monitor tweets about themselves and that you can sometimes get a fast reaction if you use Twitter. One of the tv stations up here does an "on your side" segment that publicizes ******* business dealings like this. It may not get them their money back, but it will give bad PR to the company and maybe keep others from flying with them.

 

[cowgirl836]

.......and fantastic, just checked and that's who we're flying with in a few weeks. Well, hopefully we don't have to make a change (do have trip insurance though). I've never flown with them before but we're using a different airport than the usual. Guess I'll find out!

 

[DistrictCyclone]

Won't be around for long with the American "merger". American will go further down hill just like the former Continential routes after the United "merger".

So true. American and US Air are my two least favorite airlines, and this merger is going to be a cesspool of suckiness.

I'm also upset that I won't be able to call them "USeless Airways" for much longer.

 

[ISUFan22]

Flew US Airways once. Won't do it again. Didn't have direct issues but we found their planes to be very outdated. And on a very long flight (Hawaii), it's certainly not enjoyable.

Get what you pay for.

 

[CYlent Bob]

Public shaming. It does seem to work.

United Breaks Guitars - YouTube

 

[RayShimley]

Delta is the only major US airline I will fly with. The other are...just terrible. Not worth saving 100$ for the inevitable hassles that will happen flying United, AA, US Airways

 

[HGPuck]

I guess to be a bit of a contrarian, but these are the reasons US Airways prices are low. Most of us have ended up on US Airways at times because it was the lowest priced flight to a destination. They are providing something that consumers want, low priced flights. They do that by having older planes, policies about cancellations like those mentioned, less customer service staff, and so on. The problem is at some point someone gets 'bit' by a family emergency coming up, flight delays caused by the older planes, ect. But you can't really expect them to have lower priced flights and be exactly like other major airlines. (And yes I know their flights are not always the lowest priced but on the aggregate they usually are lower than a lot of the other major airlines)

Having said all that I do feel for the OP's friend and you do have to wonder sometimes in situations like this if market efficiency is worth it.

 

[Wesley]

Won't be around for long with the American "merger". American will go further down hill just like the former Continential routes after the United "merger".

American/US Air flight attendants now look like 70 year old ex pilots. What happened, Tank?

The only decent airlines right now is Frontier and Alaska Airways.

 

[CYme]

American/US Air flight attendants now look like 70 year old ex pilots. What happened, Tank?

The only decent airlines right now is Frontier and Alaska Airways.

Don't forget about Southwest. Just to give everyone a different opinion, we just came back from Jamaica last night on AA and didn't have any trouble, although I prefer the Delta app for traveling. Even with all the trouble going on with OKC closing while we were transferring flights in DFW, and a bunch of diverted planes came in to DFW, we left on time, had to fly west to go around the storm and got to DSM half an hour later than our original flight. Also, I had to fly into Fresno a bunch of times for work and the only good flight times I could get were on US Airways, and I never seemed to have trouble. I was able to move some flights around when work schedules changed, but I also didn't buy the lowest tier tickets.

One thing that people don't know is there is a lettered tier system on plane tickets. The often allow different options for what you can do with your ticket. I'll try to find a link later, got to go pick up some Jethro's for lunch!

 

[cyinne]

A friend of mine is going on vacation next week, and a family emergency came up (actually life threatening). He calls up US Air - no refund, no moving the flight, no banking the funds, no flexibility. If they don't go, they just burned a lot of damn money on this trip.

When I did this with Delta, no problem - they just requested some type of documentation and we got a whole refund.

US air is a pathetic airline.

I'm not saying that I agree with what US Airways did, but if they did buy a non-refundable ticket- I'm pretty sure you run the risk of something like this happening. Maybe US Airways is strictly "by the book with no exceptions", or quite possibly your friend caught the wrong person to talk to on the wrong day. Perhaps your friend could try to contact US Airways again and ask for a refund again. Also when your situation came up while flying with Delta you caught the right person to talk to on the right day.

 

[ZJohnson]

US Air does blow, but for me its the only straight flight from PHX to DSM. I had the same issue when my family member passed. They wouldn't even give me the bereavement price.

 

[06_CY]

OPs friends should have made sure they could get refunds/credit/etc for tickets when they bought them. Not every company does that.

 

[Farnsworth]

they should go public about it - local tv news, newspaper, put it on their facebook page and tweet it. Seriously, there was some article a while ago I read about how closely businesses monitor tweets about themselves and that you can sometimes get a fast reaction if you use Twitter. One of the tv stations up here does an "on your side" segment that publicizes ******* business dealings like this. It may not get them their money back, but it will give bad PR to the company and maybe keep others from flying with them.

this is very true. It's insane how much my company monitors twitter/facebook/tripadvisor/flyertalk/etc.

 

[Sigmapolis]

I live ten minutes from one of US Airways' major hubs at DCA and even I refuse to get on those planes. Not going anywhere near another US Scareways plane again.

I still with Southwest. I've saved so much money over time with the free re-booking (granted, I travel a ton), they've got a hub within an hour of me, and their network is very national and does DSM.

Delta is fine too--if a little pricier. Never really lived on any of the routes dominated by AA, Continental, United, or Alaska, so never really had to deal with them. I just stuck with WN/AirTran and it works.

 

[DistrictCyclone]

I live ten minutes from one of US Airways' major hubs at DCA and even I refuse to get on those planes. Not going anywhere near another US Scareways plane again.

I still with Southwest. I've saved so much money over time with the free re-booking (granted, I travel a ton), they've got a hub within an hour of me, and their network is very national and does DSM.

Delta is fine too--if a little pricier. Never really lived on any of the routes dominated by AA, Continental, United, or Alaska, so never really had to deal with them. I just stuck with WN/AirTran and it works.

BWI blows. I loathe US Air, but anything beats having to make the trek to IAD or BWI (especially if it's a weekend and you can't get a cheap MARC train back to DC).

Supposedly, JetBlue was slated to beef up their routes from DCA, but that's almost 3-year old news now and nothing has happened.

 

[cycloneworld]

I've still not seen a "good" Southwest fare from DSM (unless you are going to Chicago only). Most times a ticket is $400-$500...sometimes double what I can get on Delta or other airlines.

 

[shawn_200m]

I am currently sitting on a Delta flight to Rome, as others have said, they are far and away the best major carrier in the US. I fly about 85,000 miles a year, and Delta is the only airline I use, especially for international travel.