US airways

[Snapper]

Christine, I'd say that the flights with US Airways are OK, the planes between Manchester and Philly tend to be pretty new airbuses, and they're about average in terms of comfort - as are most of the other carriers. The in-flight entertainment is good when it works. Sometimes it doesn't.

What *really* lets US Airways down in the biggest way imaginable is their customer service. It's terrible!

To give you an example - on our return flight this year Orlando->Philly->Manchester the flight out of Orlando was late departing to the point that we didn't make the connection at Philly. US Airways pretty much just abandoned us to our own devices. Their customer service agent (Danielle) just walked away instead of trying to help. They couldn't get us our luggage for the overnight we had in Philly. And to this date they are maintaining the position that they won't pick up the overnight hotel and meal expenses.

Will we fly with them again? Yes - next year - but only because we have some vouchers. After that it's never again.

One of my own personal measures of what makes a good company is how they deal with their customers when things go wrong. My experience of US Airways in this respect is terrible.

[RubAyr]

We used them from Glasgow to Tampa via Philadelphia and they were fine.
Only downside was we didn't have seat-back tv's.

Would have no problems using them again.

Kaz

[mollymolly]

I would say we have used US Airways more than any other airline and never yet had a bad flight or poor service.

Over the past few years they have come out as the cheapest for our route (Man - Philly - Tampa or Fort Myers).

We like the stop-over at Philly and look forward to a Philly Cheesesteak while we wait for our connection.[msnwink]

I think they are on a par with Delta and definately better that American Airlines.

Bernadette

[ellie]

We flew back from Fort Lauderdale with US Airways last week and the flight was fine. Food was average - have had worse on Virgin, but it just depends what they are serving. [msnwink]To be honest we usually pick up a couple of bits from M and S before boarding so we don't worry if the food is not good. The snack in the afternoon was quite a nice roll with cheese and ham, served warm. The food is nothing fancy, but I guess you would have to travel first class to get anything better.

They were very generous with drinks, giving you a full can when the trolley came round, not a tiny plastic glass half full. They also quite happily made us cups of tea when we asked, and brought round trays of water and orange during the flight (at night, too).

The 'on demand' backseat screen worked very well and it was nice to be able to stop and start the movie when you felt like it. The seats were leather and definitely more comfortable than on some of our Virgin flights.

They did not give you socks and eye shades, but that is not the end of the world. If I had known I would probably have taken some with me. However, they do not give you headphones either - but you can purchase them and take them home for $5. So if you have some already it might be worth taking them with you.

The 'plane was an airbus, and had a 2/4/2 configuration which was nice as it meant that my husband and I did not have to share with a third person, as on the jumbos.

The staff were very pleasant - a little more 'mature' than on some other carriers - and when I was struggling to work out how to use the tv control they were happy to help me.

The one thing we do notice on any flight which is with an American carrier, is that people are not encouraged to move around much. They do keep the seat belt sign on almost all of the time, and when it is on they do ask you to return to your seats. There certainly was not the usual long queue outside the loos as soon as the plane reached cruising height.

I think you can have good and bad flights with any carrier, its often the luck of the draw. But we would definitely use US Airways again. We found Charlotte a very easy airport to get round and immigration was a breeze - took 10 mins from getting off the 'plane to collecting our luggage.

Hope you have a great time whatever you decide.

[msnwink]