I've been flying with US Airways for 25 out of my 26 years and as of late have noticed an extreme decline in the attitudes of their gate agents, and to be more specific of those working at Philadelphia International Airport. I've had nothing but pleasant and helpful encounters with those working at not only my local airport [small with 98% of connecting flights depart from Philadelphia] but at other airports across the US as well. I'm here to share my two latest encounters.

* Two weeks ago I was traveling to Walt Disney World, alone as I'm a single parent, with my daughter. Our flight arrived in Philadelphia at 10:25am and we were scheduled to leave for Orlando at 12:45pm. We arrived at our original departure gate only to learn that it had been moved to another, and once we arrived at that gate there was a notice that it had yet again been moved. No big deal, gate changes happen more often than not. Our flight was listed as being on time but 12:00pm [boarding time] came and went, 12:45pm came and went, and not one gate agent made it known that our flight was delayed until 1:15pm. We were given a boarding time of 2:00pm, that time came and went as well and by 3:00pm my daughter, 15-months-old, was overtired and cranky. She can sleep just about anywhere but the airport proved to provide too much stimuli for sleep. I approached the counter [along with about 50 other travelers] to ask when we were scheduled to depart and the female gate agent was nothing but rude towards me. Instead of an answer or a simple "I'm not sure" I was told, "You'll leave when we have a plane, okay" and the icing on the cake, "Can't you shut that thing up?" in reference to my daughter. I asked to speak to a supervisor to which she pointed to her tag and said, "M-a-n-a-g-e-r. That spells manager. Did you graduate high school?" I don't anger easily but pushed me to the edge and I replied with, "Listen, you're working here while I have my d-o-c-t-o-r-a-t-e of pharmacology, who trumps who?" I agree that comment was wrong of me but I just snapped, and when we finally did arrive in Orlando [at 8:50pm] my first call was to US Airways and the second to a Philadelphia airport. As it turns out I was just one of a long list of travelers who called to complain, and was assured that appropriate action would be taken.

* Five months ago I went on a vacation to Las Vegas with my family, a long-standing tradition with us. My aunt who lives 40 minutes outside of Philadelphia was meeting us at the airport and while she arrived nearly 4 hours before departure she was still deep in the security line a couple of minutes shy of boarding time. My mother approached the desk to see if there was any way that my aunt, her sister, could be expedited through security though we had no real hope of that happening. She was informed that "tons of TSA agents called off", and when she repeated her question was told, "if you don't leave the counter I'll have you arrested". WHAT? As it turned out our flight was delayed by 3 hours [no surprise] and my aunt did make it in time, but "I'll have you arrested" is supposed to be a valid answer to a question?

Despite having over 100, 000 air miles left to use with US Air I've decided to take my business elsewhere from here on out. I can deal with flight delays, canceled flights and gate changes but I refuse to deal with those who chose to be rude, and that seems to be a reoccurring trend with US Air gate agents in Philadelphia.