Winging It

I just happened to read your article in today’s Inquirer and wanted to pass along my comments regarding my recent experience with U.S. Air.

I traveled to St. Martin on December 23 on U.S. Air from Philly. I got off of the flight and walked directly to the luggage carousel where my luggage was waiting for me. (Of course, I had to pass customs to get there, but no big deal.)

I traveled back home on December 30. The flight was about an hour late in leaving St. Martin. When asked why the flight was late, the U.S. Air representatives were unable to provide an explanation. We arrived in Philly at about 8:15 p.m. Based on my experience, the airport did not appear to be too busy as we were able to get a gate immediately. When its busy at the airport, there is usually a wait for a gate. From the time we got off of the plane to the time we received our luggage there was a one hour wait. We arrived at the International terminal. From what I could tell, the passengers from our flight were the only ones waiting for luggage. It didn’t appear to me that there were any other flights in that terminal waiting for luggage. It was relatively empty. So who knows why it took them an hour to retrieve our luggage.

About two years ago I had a similar experience with U.S. Air during the holidays, and this was very well publicized because it happened to thousands of others. I wrote a letter to the top guy at the airline, and his assistant responded with a letter which indicated the steps they were taking to improve. And they did improve. I even sent him another letter acknowledging that fact. Now it seems they stepped back to where they were.

They are fortunate that there is not much competition for some of their routes, otherwise, they might not be in business too much longer.

Love your column. As some who travels about a week of every month and sort of “grew up in the Aviation business” ( my dad was a commercial pilot from 1948 until 1970), you provide a useful service.

On the subject of US Airways, I think I’m safe in saying that the company is the most poorly managed corporation in the history of the world, going back some 7,000 years. Hyperbole you say? I don’t know anyone who hasn’t had at least on horrific experience with US Airways. Their service is abominable, the people rude and arrogant, and their management clueless. The only reason they survive at all is because Pennsylvania and North Carolina officials made the mistake of granting the company a monopoly of sorts in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Charlotte.

I have the added benefit, because of my relatively common name, of being on the TSA’s moronic No Fly” list which you can’t ever get off and requires you to enjoy the increased scrutiny of the people who work of the airlines, all private corporations. Many of the airlines such as United and Continental have managed to make the whole “No Fly” debacle somewhat manageable by allowing me and other “sinners” like Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts to use their kiosks and check in at their baggage areas. Not our beloved US Airways. Their computer system is “not compatible” to allow this at this time.

I have also had a US Airways check-in person in Philadelphia inform me that “she would decide” if I could fly on their airline. If I’m not mistaken, US Airways is a private corporation, publically trade on the NYSE and has no legal enforcement powers granted under the Homeland Security Act or the Transportation Security Act.

We all know a thousand other US Airways horror stories. If you attend a cocktail party or reception anywhere in the region and don’t know many people, simply mention US Airways and you will have 40 new friends before you know it. Everyone has been screwed by US Airways at some point in their career and love to tell their tale.

Recently a friend of mine moved back to the area from Minnesota and asked me about housing in the region. As he traveled a lot, I suggested he look into Central New Jersey. When he asked about why I wouldn’t recommend our beloved Delaware Valley, I told him that as he traveled a lot he needed to avoid PHL because US Airways was the controlling carrier at our airport and you wanted to avoid using them at all costs. That’s a economic impact brought about by US Airways.

The best thing to do is fly other carriers such as Southwest or trek up to Newark and use Continental. Drive US Airways out of the region by giving your business to other suppliers. How do you think Ford slipped behind Toyota?

Keep up the good work.

Thanks for your articles in the Inquirer. As a Road Warrier with around 110 +/- flights per year your stories resonate!

On the Southwest Air new ticketing and seating issue, I believe it is fair and more highly efficient for the frequent traveler. Obvisouly, higher payers for sports, real estate and airline tickets generally get better locations so this is not a new phenomenon. The premium paid for seating priority on Southwest is very fair and not excessively priced. Inefficiency, especially for the frequent traveler, is jumping into an airport hours early just to get a seat. The old system was flawed and reminded me of cattle wagons.

By the way, the security line is one place where there should be NO paid priority. Our lives are all worth about the same, don't you think? Perhaps replace that First Class TSA line with a rapid check line for flights departing within 45 minutes or something like that. Or, do away with it altogether and just become more efficent for all.

Lastly, as a frequent flier on USAir I do believe they are improving in baggage handling and departure times. After recently flying Southwest, there are two major positives for Southwest that USAir should emulate. They allow checked backage up to 30 minutes prior to takeoff (versus 1 hour at the same airport for USAir) and their overall attitude is simply much better in terms of helping the customer. The first issue will help solve USAir's problem of too many carry-ons (assuming they execute in the baggage delivery) and the second issue will ensure repeat fliers. Right now, given roughly equal flights in terms of time and money, USAir will lose that customer due to lousy attitude by their employees -- yes, I know there are some exceptionally good attitudes at USAir since I have personally met all three of them. So get rid of the black cloud attitude problems, US Air, and your profits will brighten up as well.

I fly frequently between Philadelphia and Boston on USAirways, and the cost of a round-trip fare has generally been between $250 and $300 over the recent past. My flights to Boston have been of variable lengths and at various times of the week, but the price has been relatively consistent. Imagine my surprise when I went online last week to book a round-trip flight between Philly and Boston (February 26 to February 27) and found that the fare was approximately $1000. I called USAirways to see if I could get some explanation of why the fares had gone up over 3-fold, but of course could get no answer other than "That's the price we set." I then tried different dates to see if I could figure out USAirways' pricing algorithm, and it seems that the return flight needs to be at least 3 days later than the original flight to get a reasonable price (not necessarily related to a Saturday night stay-over).

Do you have any information about this outrageous price hike from USAirways? Is it possible to register a formal complaint or to investigate this in some way that might have some effect? Considering it's such a short flight and the flights between Philly and Boston are almost never on time, paying $1000 is particularly galling. I can't imagine that this is good for any components of the Philadelphia business community that need to use flights between Philadelphia and Boston.

TOM REPLIES: This is one of several messages we've received on this topic and we'll be writing about it as a story or column in the next week or so.

I will say I am becoming increasingly dissatisfied with US Airway's FF program. They have made it virtually impossible to use miles unless you "pay" for premium miles (which require double miles). This is increasingly true even if you make a reservation 8 or more months in advance.

I can tell you that I am committed to US Airways because my primary residence is the Phila area and because I try to make at least Platinum if not Chairman. This is however proving to be less valuable as they have also butchered their planes by reducing the number of seats in 1st class by reconfiguring their aircraft. For ex. the A321 has been reduced to 16 seats in 1st from 26.

Jack Fleming

Statistics are generally used to measure a business' success, improvement, etc. Sometimes it's all statistics. Well, statistics be damned. They are more often than not manipulated to show favorable results. For example, realtors have a report which shows how long a house has been on the market. This can look bad to prospective buyers so the realtor takes the house off the market for a day and re-lists the next day. The clock starts again from zero. Other companies do the same-- how long has this audit been open? Too long? Cancel it out and reopen it so management doesn't see. ( Government agencies)

U.S. Air wants better stats for planes leaving on time. Close the doors ten minutes before actual departure time.( I was told this was policy by the flight attendant on a resent flight). Screw the passenger who is a little late trying to make a connecting flight and the statistics will improve.

Did you know that the security people at TSA stop working at 10:30 PM.,even in emergencies or circumstances where a little extra time could save travelers quite a bit of money,aggravation and time. I was on a flight from Costa Rica on December 23 rd. All flights across the country were delayed by weather in the mid west. My flight to Charlotte left two hours late, but the connecting flight to Philadelphia was also going to be late. We had a chance but by the time we got through customs we missed the flight by less than a half hour. The flight would have waited for us but they did not because TSA closed at 10:30 PM and we would not have been able to clear security for the connecting flight.

Know one at the airport, where we spent the night ,advised us on where to go, the warmest spots, open coffee shops, blankets, etc. The US Air clerks told us nothing. It was a cleaning lady who helped and she would not take a dime.

Hi Mr: Belden:
Let me share with you a current experience I'm involved in with U S AIR relative to their baggage handling.
Three weeks ago my wife and I left for Charles DeGaulle Airport on U S AIR to spend the holidays with our children who reside in France. We travelled in first class and our baggage was supposedly treated as "PRIORTY" handling.
We checked in at the Philadelphia Airport with four bags .. two large and two medium-size .. all with handles and wheels, ownership labels and yellow yarn ribbons. Only the two medium-size bags arrived with us at Charles DeGaulle.
We filed a claim at the airport after waiting for over an hour. We received a subsequent call that our two large bags had been shipped to Madrid and would be returned the next day by Iberian Airlines. We received a call the next day that our bags would be delivered to our place of stay very late that evening. HOWEVER, they showed up that evening with only one of our large bags. They don't know what happened to the second bag.
Unfortunately, the lost bag had all my clothes, personals, medication and many gifts for our children and grandchildren. I was left with only the pair of khakis and sneakers that I was wearing when I arrive in France.
After several days of many fruitless calls to U S AIR's baggage desk at Charles DeGaulle (the baggage desk is only open about two hours a day as U S AIR only has one flight each day to Paris), I was informed that the matter was transferred to U S AIR's central baggage & claims office in Phoenix, Arizona.
I must have made a dozen long-distance calls (at my expense) from France to the Phoenix office only to find out that all that is done there is to send out a telex in search of the missing bag. If there is no response that ends the matter. No follow-up telephone calls are made to find out why they've received no response to their telex. I was informed on a dozen occasions that they do not make phone calls. The matter seems to die at that point.
And, although I've given them a full description on a dozen or so items to identify in my bag, including a note with our name and address inside the lid AND my name on the several medications, I am being told they will do nothing more until I file a full disclosure claim form to their claims office in Phoenix, listing all of the missing bag's contents. I've asked repeatedly for two weeks to have the blank form mailed to me and none has been received to date.
On several of my calls to Phoenix I asked to speak to a supervisor or officer at the Phoenix office and my request was denied. I also asked for a name and phone number of an officer of U S AIR at any of their locations and was denied. I was told to call their Customer Service Department and was given a number that was not in service anymore. When I called the correct number I was greeted by a message the indicated they were overburdened with calls and I should find another way to communicate with them.
We found out from several other passengers on our return flight to Philly that they, too, had to deal with missing luggage on U S AIR and returned to Charles DeGaulle several days later from Zurich to find their own luggage.
I don't think U S AIR has improved their baggage handling or their customer service at this date. But, they have increased their ticket prices.

I was amazed to read the comment regarding the airfare to Boston from Phl. I travel to Boston a few times a year and have found the fares to generally be reasonable. I'm going at the end of Jan and checked out the fares after reading this comment. I was shocked!! I checked out fares to Providence and found fares for the same days to be approximately $100 RT.

What the heck is US Airways smoking. I could probably take a cab round trip to Boston for less then $1,000.

jack