Worst Airline I have ever flown on. They delayed my flight and then would not even hold my connecting flightto California 5 minutes. Stranded me in Phoenix. FUCK OFF US Airways... I had to buy a ticket to Ontario with Southwest, which is a much better airline anyhow.
I reiterate... FUCK OFF US Airways I WILL NEVER FLY ON YOUR AIRLINE AGAIN even if I have to fly around the world on other airlines to get where I am going.

Summary: Very unhappy with service: 1) very delayed flights, 2) extremely unprofessional gate staff, and 3) damaged contents to carryon bag that was checked unexpectedly before boarding.


Dear US Airways,

I have had such as horrid experience flying US Airways on 9/23/2010. It would be easier to list what wasn’t wrong with the experience…I guess I can at least say the plane didn’t crash. Your flights were LATE, and your gate crew and boarding crew were incredibly RUDE and unprofessional, and completely disrespectful of our time and money invested in flying your airline.

Is there no such thing as an on-time US Airways flight? Seriously, so far, 3 flights in past two days…and two have been very late, and nearly missed my connection last night. And tonight, the flight boarded over an hour late….and even before the late boarding was suspected, your gate crew in Reagan airport at Gate 42 for flight 1229 was already lecturing the waiting passengers over the intercom…I have flown many airlines (though thankfully not much on US Airways before!) and I have NEVER heard such lecturing of passengers…you would have thought we were disobedient students that were storming the gate. The passengers were calm, collected, and standing at the time the flight was anticipated to board (as there weren’t even enough seats for everyone), but your crew was visibly upset and already lecturing that “if you ALL don’t get away from the desk, NO ONE is going to board this plane!” There was no excuse for such behavior.

No space on the flight for a single roller bag for an overnight business traveler that had connections to make? Seriously, even before anyone boarded, your gate crew was making threats to us on the intercom….”If you are in zone 4 or 5, this is your last chance to check your luggage, because if there isn’t room, you will have to surrender it on the plane, so do it now!” Frankly, I would have probably surrendered my bag earlier but the tone of voice was so rude, I didn’t even want to go up to the desk if I didn’t have to….and besides, I was in zone 3. Well, even though I was in zone 3, and had a small roller bag that I use all the time for overnight travel (including no issues on similar flight the night before) and it fits all plane regulations for size and weight, and just as I got ready to board the plane, your boarding crew DEMANDED my bag….didn’t request it, didn’t apologize, didn’t ask nicely, but DEMANDED it now and only when I told them I was going to connect to another flight did they even bother to ask where I was going to figure out how to the get the luggage to my destination. Then, came home to discover the unexpected demanded checking of my carryon bag had damaged contents when I got to my destination: Broken viewing screen on my Canon PowerShot A450 digital camera. Oh, and when we deplaned...guess what was in the storage space above my seat so my bag couldn't fit? Oversized bags from US Airways employees who were flying as passengers on this flight, and their bulky outercoats...so clearly, US Airways employees do not need to follow carryon rules, and because of it, your paying passengers get their carryon luggage taken away unexpectedly...and damaged in the process. Wow.

What is wrong with your crew? You would have thought I was carrying some gigantic oversize, overweight bag that I was asking them to carry…and they had such attitude. Seriously, I am not kidding when I tell you that two days before my flight, I was in a car accident when my car was demolished by a distracted bus driver and, compared to my flights tonight, I seriously am more disappointed at your airline than the bus driver because at least the bus driver apologized! I didn’t even have time to take out what I needed for the layover time before they took the bag…..and I had a very sore back and a two hour layover before the next flight if it had run on-time (of course it didn’t). Also, because I didn't have my rolling carryon, I didn't have anything to put my personal laptop bag on to transport to the next flight at my connection...meaning I had to unexpectedly carry on my shoulders through the Charlotte airport to get to my connection.

I fly frequently for business and pleasure, and I have a long career ahead of me involving travel…and thankfully there are plenty of other airlines to choose from, because at this point, why would I invest my money, time, or patience, and belongings again with your airline?

So, WOW, what a costly flight in terms of my time, peace of mind, aggravation, and broken contents of a carryon bag that was demanded to be checked without good reason.

In December of 2009, I booked a vacation to Kauai through Expedia. Months later, the return flight shifted so dramatically that Expedia allowed me to choose a new return path free of charge. I switched from a United return path to a codeshare path with US Airways hosting me from LIH to PHX, and PHX to ORD. From there, I was to hop on a flight from ORD to RDU that was United metal.

After Expedia re-booked me, I received an email confirmation from United.com (not Expedia; this is in United/US Airways system) with new ticket numbers and a dedicated US Airways confirmation number. It instructed me to check-in with US Airways on my departure date. I did.

Around 14 hours prior to my departure, I managed to not only check-in for my US Airways and United flights online, but even select seats for my wife and myself. Curiously, I could only print boarding passes for the United (ORD to RDU) leg, but I printed off the USAirways.com confirmation showing my confirmation number, flight numbers/times and freshly assigned seats from within my US Airways account.

3.5 hours prior to my departure on August 31st, I show up at LIH to the US Airways check-in counter. The lady behind the desk takes our IDs and prints out what appears to be boarding passes from LIH to PHX and another pair for PHX to ORD. At the bottom of these passes, it read "FLIGHT COUPON REQUIRED." I had never seen this; I assumed it was nothing. The check-in lady looked over my passes and assured me all was well. Sure enough, the passes had the seat numbers I had logged into USAirways.com and selected. It was crystal clear to both of us that my wife and myself were registered, checked in, and cleared for takeoff on this flight.

Boy, were we wrong. My wife and I soared through TSA security, with what I have now learned wasn't actually a boarding pass. That's right. It seems as if US Airways prints you out something that looks exactly like a boarding pass, complete with your name, flight number, codeshare flight number, US Airways confirmation number, boarding zone and gate number, you can actually fool the TSA into thinking that you're *actually supposed to be getting on a flight you paid for*. Imagine that. I was able to weasel right through security with what US Airways now tells me isn't actually a boarding pass. Let's just say I'm siding with the TSA on this one -- I had a boarding pass.

9:15PM rolls around for our 10PM flight. Zone 1 is called. We both march up and have our passes scanned -- they say something's wrong, so we step aside. A few ladies attempt to figure out what's going on, and their systems show my prior flight path (the one Expedia allowed me to book out of months ago), and thus, they claim they cannot allow me to board the flight in which I checked in for, selected seats for, received a boarding pass for and sailed through TSA checkpoints with. Believe it. It happened.

Their argument was that Expedia never told US Airways' system the new ticket numbers, so in theory US Airways wasn't getting paid. Bull-hockey. 4 US Airways agents looked it over (including the obviously incompetent agent that printed my passes out 3.5 hours ago without saying even a word that something was awry), and I was told to call Expedia and get them to change something over in their systems that I knew nothing about. As if I understand airline system lingo. They all stared right at my boarding passes (albeit passes with FLIGHT COUPON REQUIRED on them) as well as my Expedia *and* United.com receipts and confirmations. They couldn't care less about how legitimately I was supposed to be on this flight. Literally could not possibly care less. They bickered with Expedia on the phone for a few minutes and then stood by stoically as my flight departed in front of my face. Then two of the agents got a particular kick out of printing off the final paperwork with "163... oh wait, 162, oh wait! 161!" passengers on board. They literally joked about this dwindling number in front of my face, knowing full well a system snafu and their indifference to it caused me to be completely screwed. No one came close to apologizing or even attempting to act sympathetic.

They even had the nerve to suggest I purchase a seat on this plane and then ask someone for a refund afterwards. Amazing. Never once did I raise my voice or curse at anyone at the airport. I remained as calm as a person in this predicament could be. After my flight had departed, I remained on the line with Expedia pleading for them to rebook me -- as, according to US Airways, it was Expedia's fault for not passing along the correct information in time. Which remains a line I only half-believe to be true.

I finally spoke to a supervisor who managed to book me on a far less suitable route the following day, forcing me to spend a night in a desolate place with no rental car, no food and not a soul in sight to give a shit. This return was on United from takeoff to touchdown, but rather than being in exit row seats as I was supposed to on US Airways, my wife and I were relegated to middle seats 7 rows apart near the back of the aircraft. Of the three flights it will take to get home, we aren't together on any of them. Tough luck, you might say, and on any other day I'd agree with you -- but the fact that Expedia wouldn't at least book us together after all of this (or -- dare I say -- first class?!), was astounding.

I managed to ask the particularly spiteful US Airways agent if I could receive a taxi or hotel voucher due to my new situation, which would require me to spend another night away from a pressing job and dental surgery back in North Carolina. She phoned up some magical man, explained how Expedia (how dare we even consider blaming US Airways here?) had screwed me over, and then proceeded to be extraordinarily thrilled to hang up and inform me that US Airways could -- yet again -- not give two shits about my wife, myself or my future business with them. In other words: "You'll have to ask Expedia for a voucher, not us." Thanks, gal.

Expedia did manage to credit me a hotel voucher... which I couldn't use due to it being too late in the evening on August 31st. Instead, I had to search on my own to find a nearby hotel with a functioning shuttle and fork out my own money to stay the night. I assume Expedia thinks I actually care to ever use that voucher, or any of their services, ever again.

I'm scheduled to attempt this feat called "going home on a flight I paid dearly for" once again in a matter of hours. I have all sorts of doubts about it panning out.

Truth be told, this all reminds me of a shocking post I read from Michael Arrington in early August. At the time, I read the entire post and thought: "Man, I sure hope nothing like that ever happens to me." But here's the kicker: I came away feeling exactly like he did. In fact, I'll let him do the talking for my own emotions:

"But what I’d wish would happen is that some of these super expensive management consultants that are advising the airlines would just tell them one simple truth – I can live with no leg room, no food, dirty bathrooms and long delays. I can even live with lost bags.

If only a flight attendant, or baggage person, or whoever, would just commiserate with me for one moment. Maybe smile and say they’ll try their best to help. But until all that bad energy is gone, and the airlines have employees that don’t stare daggers at their customers, I’m out. I’ll stick to Virgin, Southwest and Jet Blue. Mostly Virgin because they have Internet. And if I can’t fly with them I’ll just cancel and use Skype video. Because life’s too short to deal with these assholes any longer."

Not once did these agents care to ask if I had a pressing job to get back to (I do; my entire team is at IFA / the Apple press event and it's vital that I'm on point), a dental emergency to deal with (I do; my bridge broke a few days ago and I have a Michael Strahan-sized gap in my mouth right now), or if my wife has paid photo sessions and a wedding to get home and shoot (if you couldn't guess, she does). They just got their jollies off by screwing over a relatively decent human being who was being hosed by computational mistakes that I had no power over. In Hawaii -- one of the kindest places in the world, to boot.

There's plenty of blame to go around. Expedia for not sending US Airways some magical number. US Airways for just generally not giving a shit whether I made this flight or ever flew with them again. And myself for ever thinking that US Airways could ever do anything right, ever.

I never once mentioned that I have a byline on one of the world's most widely read technology and travel sites on the web today. Frankly, I doubt it would've mattered to them. The two weeks preceding this flight just went a little too well, and I know life / fate enough to trust that bad stuff inevitably goes down shortly after amazing stuff. Hopefully I'll make it home this time and actually get this gap sealed up before the dentist closes for the weekend at 5PM on Thursday. But at least I can safely say that I'll pay to train with Michael Phelps and swim the length of the Pacific back to Hawaii before I ever step foot on a US Airways jet bridge again. And yes, I'd recommend you do likewise.

In flight entertainment on International flights

During a recent flight from Rome to Philadelphia, my wife was unable to get any signal on her video screen to watch the alleged in flight entertainment. After repeated but unsuccessful attempts by the flight attendants to get her video working, we learned that the plane had been refitted to add additional seating capacity but that the computer server had not been upgraded to handle the additional passenger volume. Accordingly, some passengers would not be able to access the in flight entertainment. My wife was one of the unfortunate ones. US Air was fully aware of this ongoing problem but never bothered to make the necessary upgrades. Apparently, this is a pervasive, universal and continuing problem that many passengers have experienced. Much like a lottery, it's the luck of the draw with regard to which seats have entertainment capabilities. A traveling companion had no entertainment on either his outgoing or return flight

The aircraft was a US Airways Airbus A330-300. I'm not sure if the aircraft designation is merely a coincidence but we were told the refitting of the airplane added 30 seats. It appears a plane accommodating 300 passengers was refitted to accommodate 330. Could this explain the nomenclature Airbus A330-300

If considering taking this or a similar flight on a US Airways Airbus A330-300, be sure to note how the aisles narrow in the vicinity of rows 32 on back. The seats and aisles are narrower, and the food service carts barely fit...passengers on the end of rows can expect to be jolted from time to time as the flight attendants attempt to navigate the narrower aisle and expect delays in getting your food service.

i took my daughter to the airport in knoxville tn, she is blind the people at us airways assured me they would take care of here i get a disstressing phone call from her in charlotte which is where her layover was she says a male employee why a male and not female escorted her to the bathroom and left her he left her standing there in the bathroom doorway knowin she couldnt see. she had no way of walking in the bathroom because shes never been there. she ask the bathroom attendant to help her and she couldnt speak english but even so common sense would tell you hey this woman has a white cane for the blind i get online to find charlottes phone number and finally i get ahold of someone they said they would find her well it wasnt them who helped her it was a strange couple who stopped and gave her help to the bathroom and to her gate. i cannot believe an airline would do this to someone.