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Nil illegitimi carborundum : Don’t let the bastards grind you down
01/02/09
I will NEVER fly US Airways again
Well, I didn’t think I would post again so soon, but alas, it looks like I have been drawn in by America’s crappiest airline, US Airways. I am in Florida right now typing this post out on my boyfriend’s computer but it took forever to get here, an ominous start to the new year. I was awake and ready to go by midnight (Mountain Standard Time) and making sure everything is packed, I am properly showered and I have breakfast before I set out for Denver International Airport. I catch the RTD SkyRide to the airport (hey, it’s free on New Years’ Day until 6am and I have a flight departing on New Years’ Day at 8am, supposedly). It is a long ride, but I finally make it from Cold Springs park-n-Ride to DIA and I rush up to the ticket counter. I try to figure out where the hell I am supposed to board since there are several different queues at the US Airways ticket section. There are kiosks that are for people without any baggage (I had carry-on baggage, and I wasn’t the one that purchased the airfare – so a kiosk that queries me for a credit card isn’t going to get much from me) and a fairly formidible queue for those with baggage. I enter the queue for people with baggage and I was asked by a member of US Airways staff whether or not these bags would be checked. They would, so I was directed that I could use the kiosks for people without baggage. I leave the queue and I go back to the kiosks and they ask for a credit card (yeah, I didn’t notice this prior to passing by). I find that I have to re-enter the queue for people with baggage, since I didn’t have Dominic’s credit card with me. I learn that there is a small button that I could have touched so I could check in, which I eventually did.
After getting my boarding passes for my flight from Denver to Charlotte (the connecting “city”) and the flight from Charlotte to Tampa, I fly through security. I notice the “Clear lane” for people who pay $200 for a little card that helps get them to the front of the line at security. But I have never seen why it is needed at Denver International Airport, except for events on a huge scale, such as the Democratic National Convention. But every time I have left out of DIA, I have never spent more than 10 minutes through normal security and when I got my SSSS selection, it took about 30 minutes, if I recall correctly. The normal security checks were done at the south end of the terminal right before the escalator for the trains that connect you to Concourses A, B and C. The SSSS security check was done on the pedestrian bridge between Jeppessen terminal and Concourse A. So, I guess even though I can see there being an advantage as the Clear lane is NEVER occupied, ever (not that I have seen), I guess I won’t be getting a Clear card any time soon. Awe, darn.
I get to the gate, and a first observation – this gate is tucked in the furthest possible corner away from the terminal. US Airways was allocated three gates placed in the corner in Concourse C. I have arrived about 30 minutes before boarding was to begin, so I started reading and texting Dominic, telling him that I have arrived at the airport. We chat for a while, before I start to board – and god damn, that did take forever. I had two boarding passes (one in “Zone 6″ and another in “Zone 5″, which happens to be close to the last of the queue when it comes to boarding). First they board people with little hell spawn, first class passengers and people with “special circumstances” that require assistance boarding. Then they board the rest of us serfs, depending on certain levels – which may very well be due to certain criterion like how many times you have been screwed by this airline or how many times you have flown with a member airline of the “Star Alliance”. And the sheer mass of people that were boarding, wow, the plane was filled butt to gut.
The plane looked like it came straight from the 80s, as it did not look too modern and it didn’t look as nice as any of the other airplanes I have been on. The seats were as uncomfortable as riding on Greyhound buses and I was stuffed right next to an incredibly fat person, which made me scoot over further into my seat (with the help of the stewardess, of course) while they played their iPod. I wait patiently, my mobile on Airplane mode and the time for departure comes along – 8:15am (MST). The pilot comes on the PA system announcing firstly that he wishes us a happy new year. Then he alludes to the fact that the people responsible for fueling the plane screwed up by fueling the auxillary tank and not the main tank, and therefore, the plane was out of balance. The pilot said that it would take about 30-35 minutes for this to get all sorted out and that once it got sorted out, we could fly. Alrighty, I have a little more than a hour between the ETA and when my connecting flight to Tampa takes off, I guess I can afford to wait a little while. Well, it doesn’t take 30-35 minutes – it takes a little over 2 hours and we couldn’t leave the airplane. I learn that I have obstensibly missed my connection and I wouldn’t know for sure about my flight until I got to Charlotte and met up with the agents there.
The agent at Denver, who was on the plane to (supposedly) help answer all of our enqueries about our tickets and connections was ultimately very unhelpful. I asked him if he could get me on another airline, which he would not do as he would not let anyone off of the airplane. We couldn’t even get off to go use the bathroom, because I would have rather used the bathroom at DIA instead of the one on the bloody airplane. I had to accept the fact that I am going to arrive in Tampa later than I expected, but I thought I was going to arrive way too late into the night. I tried phoning the US Airways registration number (as I thought that maybe, they could get me on another flight or on another airline some other way) but they were just as unhelpful as the agent, being unable to do anything useful. The stewardesses passed around free cups of water as cups of pop were available for about $2, making this the first airline I have ever flown that has CHARGED for pop. Both Air Canada and Southwest Airlines have given me this for free, as a courtesy for flying on their airline. But US Airways didn’t even see it necessary to offer free pop to their customers that they overcharge and cram into small spaces on a plane for.
We eventually took off for Charlotte and arrived to meet the agents who were handing out new boarding passes with updated information. I got my new boarding pass to Tampa with my flight’s new information, so I headed to the gate and waited. No surprise, because even though the small airport of Charlotte, North Carolina was just a little airport in a small new england city, it was also a hub for US Airways and therefore, had a plane full of other people also heading to Tampa, many of which were also en route from different cities. And as always, the old planes of US Airways made take off noises so weird and so foreign that I was afraid that we would fall right out of the sky and crash (never heard them before in my life). The flight attendants came around the plane offering all the drinks and food items, still at cost, to my fellow passengers. My copy of Renee Richards’ autobiography, Second Serve, has helped to keep me sane during the flight and to help pass the time.
When I landed in Tampa, I tried my phone to see if I got any sort of signal at all. Alas, there was nothing available to me to contact Dominic with through my own mobile. But I did get some nice people to let me borrow their phone so I could know that he was still on the interstate heading to the airport. We met up, we had dinner and we are having a really nice time together. But I have to say that until after this return flight, I will not be flying with US Airways again. I would rather use another discount carrier like AirTran, JetBlue or Southwest, but not US Airways.
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Tags: airfare, airline problems, airport, Amazon, amazon.com, bad customer service, baggage, boyfriend, bus, Canada, Charlotte, cheap airfare, cheap tickets, check in, computer, Convention, Democrat, democratic national convention, Denver, Denver International Airport, Dividend Miles, Election, event, fair, fare, fat, flight attendant, gender, god, Greyhound, hell, help, information, life, mall, man, May, mobile, new year, out, passes, passing, pen, People, phone, rap, reading, RTD, RTD SkyRide, sirred, ssss, straight, Travelling, unhelpful, US Airways, war, wishes
…or maybe not AirTran either, eh?
Glad you got there safe, albeit late, but sorry you had such a crappy experience.
Air travel is such a crap-shoot. I took Allegiant to Ft. Lauderdale in June. My previous flight was in 2004, to Chicago, on standby and I vowed never again. This time, though, it was just hassle-free. Nice, but I have no illusions that the next time (whenever that may be) will be as good.
I read somewhere (a letter to the editor, I think) comparisons between today’s stripped-down, low-service model of air travel vs. the scene 25 years ago or so, when we got a lot more amenities but for a higher price, with less efficiency. But today it seems that if you lose, you REALLY lose — the damn airlines won’t even bother to apologize or give you free drinks or anything. It’s like, tough luck, suckas.
Anyway, hope the rest of this new year is better for you.
Thanks. I just can't wait to get home to Denver so my luck will improve. ^^
So you made it to Tampa on the same day during the Holiday Travel Season and you’re complaining???? Grow up girl! A friend of mine who is a gate agent calls it “Amatuer Travel Season” which may be true in your case.
It sounds like you were on an Airbus A321 (I’m an airline Captain and also fly Airbuses, so I know about these things). They (A321′s) have the auxilary fuselage (i.e. body) fuel tanks below the cabin floor. Balancing the airplane fore and aft is a very serious thing. I suspect the pumps that pump the fuel out of the fuselage aux tanks weren’t working properly. That sometimes happens.
As for the noises during taxi and take-off, the Airbuses and newer Boeings (757/767/777) use a triple redudant hydraulic system (i.e. 3 seperate systems) to power the flight controls. The 737s you fly on Southwest and Air Tran only have 2 systems. In my opinion, the Airbus triple redudant system is safer (and I have flown 737s as a Captain too). When I ride in back I am always amused by the comments people make when they hear those sounds. “Moaning”, “groaning” and “dog sex” are but a few of the descriptions. But they are normal sounds. Worry if you DON’T hear them (you really need to be in the overwing section to hear them).
Every airline is going to start charging for everything. That is the sad economic reality we are in, so get used to it.
I suggest you rent the Steve Martin movie “Plnes, Trains and Automobiles” before you return to DEN. See how good you really had it on your trip!
What a nightmare! Glad you’re having a nice time with the bf QRx
Yeah, that quickly evaporated. The little shit broke up with me.
You are the piece of shit, so fuck off…you have more issues than playboy cuz there was nothing to break exept for your imagination
And yet, I am not the one making libelous comments.
That sucks about your ex.
I flew U.S. Airways to Montreal back in May and it was, by far, the worst flying experience I've ever had. Fortunately, it was nowhere near as bad as yours.
I just read today that the U.S. Airways plane that crashed into the Hudson River a few days ago had some engine problems just a couple of days before that. Go figure…
Well, they are cutting down on the service inside the cabin, maybe this is a pattern that we can start to expect from US Airways. Maybe they will stop taking us directly to the airport, but will instead land in alternate locations – like a river.
"Attention passengers, this is your captain. We are now at our final destination, please leave the floatation devices in your seat and swim for shore. Thank you for flying US Airways!"
I flew US Airways last year from Milan to Los Angeles. Nothing special about the flight, positive or negative. The plane did seem to be a bit old, my flight from Milan to Philly.
When I flew back to Italy flew on Aerlingus, Ireland’s “carrier”. My ticket was cheaper on Aerlingus compared to US Airways, the plane was newer and in better shape, the flight attendants actually worked and were friendlier compared to US Airways. Overall experience, I prefer Aerlingus. IF only they flew to more destinations in the US and within the US
In June I’ll be flying US Airways again, Milan-Philadelphia-Denver only because the ticket was cheap.
Been flying southwest for the last several years and thought that
the uniformly good experiences I’ve had were probably the same as
would be found through the airline industry.
Wrongo! I let the secretary at work book the cheapest flights she
could find to the conference due to a restricted edu budget at work.
The flight out was the expected cattle car situation, but the return
flight from Tucson-Dallas-Philly-Manchester was nasty.
1) This was Thursday 11/19 with the FAA screwing up while
loading flights into their computer and blowing it up. IE, I
took off at 11AM, and while I was in transit to Dallas, they
blew their flight management computer. Thanks, FAA.
Dallas was nice – the(good) late lunch I had there could have
been eaten in a much more relaxed way if I’d known that the
connector to Philly was going to be delayed 3 hours instead
of the hour I’d expected. The AA folks kept us updated, and
made it clear that the sillyness was all at the PHL end of that
next connector.
2) Philly sux. Apparently despite the image they try to maintain,
a lot of people have had sucky experiences there. My father
told me “I don’t fly through Philly or Atlanta any more”. IE,
regardless of the airline. It’s not just the fact that they seem
to have more weather-related “incidents” causing the
flights in and out of there to slip. It’s more than that.
Thanks for the post-dated advice, Pa.
3) Plus some crappy weather at phl. Nothing I haven’t seen at
MHT where Southwest would simply bull their way through
it, though. A big thunder-boomer went through there, but
that was -after- US Air had allowed our first flight to MHT
to die on the tarmac due to lack of a flight crew at midnight,
as well as…
4) So US Air dinked around, saying that they had a flight
coming in from Columbus that would replace the canceled
flight. We waited another hour in the terminal.
5) Only to hear that the pilot on that flight had decided that
she was -too tired- to fly the extra hour it would have taken to
get 50 exhausted people to their destination.
MHT is a terminus, not a major hub – MHT would have
been a much more appropriate place for her to stop flying.
There wouldn’t have been any desperate customers waiting
to be flown -out- of MHT, in any case. I think they close the
terminal down at midnight. She’d been flying for 8 hours.
By the time she put the frosting on our cake of misery, I’d
been going for about 21 hours, and was so punch-drunk I
was just giggling at the whole situation. Unlike the couple
of women who were crying and wigging out in the line in front
of me. People at their breaking point.
So, it’s not just the corporate people at US Air, or customer
relations – apparently their pilots feel no devotion to the
customer, either.
US Air had screwed a lot of other people there, too – I saw
about a hundred people there in various gates at their
terminals sleeping on the floor and seating.
6) So, starting around 1:30AM, the two US Air terminal gals did
their best to get us chits for the hotel that was under
construction, and our boarding pass for the flight the next day.
Nothing against those two – they worked like heroes. Making
calls to US Air support for help and info that was NOT
forthcoming. Only by the time we were leaving the terminal
for the hotel did the weather let loose with a nice little
thunder-boomer to punctuate the experience. We would have
missed it entirely if either of the two flights had left on time.
7) Did I mention the fleabag hotel? OK, no fleas – they were
probably scared away by the construction and the chunks of
flaking plaster hanging down from the ceiling in the room.
the previous day, I definitely held my breath. Fortunately,
that flight went well, and I practically got down on my knees
to kiss that good NH soil.
Sorry for the length – it was actually more amusing than
anything for me, and it turned out to be more convenient for
the person picking me up. It was obviously pretty distressing
for a lot of other people who actually had to get to Manchester,
and for all of the other folks trapped there at PHL.
Don’t worry about the length of your comment, Bob. Thank you for sharing your story here!
I fly Southwest too because of the (much) superior level of service and I now feel more justified than ever when flying with Southwest.
I also flew out of Atlanta on the 31st of June of this year to go to Thailand to have my sex reassignment surgery. That was an adventure and nearly everyone there was very rude.
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US Airways SUCKS.
I have a $646.19 credit for a flight. I want to use my $646.19 credit towards a new flight that only cost $300. I was told that I would be stuck with a $150 change fee but my credit was large enough to cover that. US Airways now wants me to pay an additional $150 on a credit card and forfiet the remaining balance. How does that make sense? A $300 flight is now going to cost $800.
Now I know why I prefer to fly Southwest.
Oi… I so do not understand why it is companies operate like this and stay in business. There are many cheaper AND better airlines out there that really put the customer first – like Southwest.
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