Our Trip Report

[kazthebird]

Just returned from a fabulous two weeks in the glorious sun in Orlando. Just thought you might be interested in the horrendous start we had to the holiday thanks to US Airways who I will never fly with again.

Saturday 2nd April arrived at Manchester airport to go to Orlando via Philli only to find out flight had been cancelled as the plane had broken down. Apparently emails had been issued at 1a.m. but we were in bed because of early flight the next morning.
Luckly were were at the front of the queue!!

When I got to the desk the guy tried different flight options to transfer us onto but I was told we were a 'problem' as there were five of us and we were hard to accommodate!!!

We were put on a coach and sent to Heathrow and booked on Air Canada the next morning to fly Toronto-philli-Orlando

Next morning boarded Air Canada to Toronto, a lovely roomy flight with lovely staff.
Arrived in Toronto and cleared US custome there. Got airside to find out the USAirways flight to Philli was cancelled [msncry]

Located a very unhelpful member of US Airways staff who said the flight was cancelled because of the weather (however other airlines were flying to Philli at the same time). He messed about on the computer for ages and said I was rushing him and said the problem was I should have never agreed to go to Toronto in the first place

He then found us a flight to North Caroliner and then a connection to Orolando.
We should have arrived in Orlando approx 6.30p.m. Saturday and we arrived at 1a.m. Monday!! [msnmad]

Arrived at our house at 2.30a.m. all feeling beyond tired with a five year old.

Finally went to bed and when we woke up the next day and saw the sunshine it all seemed better. Anybody got any good advice about what I can put in my complaint letter to US Airways! [msncry]

[Katys Grandad]

I know I'm going to sound unsympathetic here and I'm sure you had a very bad experience but US Airways do seem to have done their best to minimise the difficulty.

It isn't their fault that you didn't check your e-mails before you set off for the airport and you could have checked that your flight was departing on time by ringing or checking their website. Given that they only have 1 flight a day from Manchester it's hard to see what they could have done differently when you turned up at check-in.

You don't say whether they accommodated you at Heathrow overnight but, if they did, I would have to say they did their best there and got you on another flight on Air Canada (which would have cost them). Of course the problem was compounded by the delay in Toronto but, again, they did accommodate you and got you there as soon as they could.

Delays are a fact of life when you fly and from time to time it goes wrong. I would have been very unhappy with what happened to you but I'm afraid it just happens sometimes. Definitely write to them and say how unhappy you are and you might get something from them for the future (I realise you don't want to fly with them again) but be prepared for them to say they fulfilled their obligations to you.

(I don't fly US Airways but I assume that the aircraft is the same one that comes in to Manchester so the 1.00 am notification suggests to me that it broke down in PHL and didn't depart for Manchester that evening. Out of interest - what did their e-mail say?)

[kazthebird]

When I checked my emails I hadn't received one!!

I can't see why they coud not have flown a replacement plane over they had enough time!!

I think to have two seperate flight cancelled within 24 hours is very bad service from the same company

When it is your annual holiday that you have saved up for 18months a cancelled flight is very annoying!!!

[Katys Grandad]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by kazthebird


When it is your annual holiday that you have saved up for 18months a cancelled flight is very annoying!!!

[/quote]

I'm sure everybody would agree with that 100%.

I'm just saying that US did try hard to remedy the situation - you got a whole lot more than you would from many airlines and if it had happened on Easyjet or Ryannair, you'd still be in Manchester!

[Father]

It's terrible at the time but I suppose you just have to put it down to experience. Breakdowns and bad weather happen. Hope you were able to enjoy your holiday nevertheless.

I'm interested to know what the email would have said had it arrived. The thing is, if you go to the airport, they are at least morally obliged to find another way to get you to your destination. Would the email have instructed you to stay home and go the next day and, if so, what if that flight was full?

In general, would people prefer to wait a day or two or would it be better to go to the airport and go another route? I'm not sure which would be better. I suppose it depends on factors like alternative flight availability. Does anyone else have experience of this? Have to say I would not ordinarily check my emails before leaving for the airport.

[lynnroy]

Poor you -what a [bad language filtered out] start to your holiday, glad you got there safe in the end.
You might be able to claim compensation from your travel insurance for the delay you suffered getting there. When we were stranded last year with the volcano our travel insurance paid for the delay we suffered.
Enjoy the rest of your time x

[Susan J]

Why not check the weather for that dsay in the regions, and if any other flights were cancelled- you will either feel better knowing it was unavoidable or know you have case for complaint as they had cancelled flights that were maybe not financially viable.
American flight companies do not seem to work to the same schedules that UK - the internal ones are like hopping on a bus!!

[LiesaAnna]

shame about the start looking forward to the next part and i am sure it will be so much better then the start xxx[high5]

[Katys Grandad]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Father


In general, would people prefer to wait a day or two or would it be better to go to the airport and go another route? I'm not sure which would be better. I suppose it depends on factors like alternative flight availability. Does anyone else have experience of this? Have to say I would not ordinarily check my emails before leaving for the airport.
[/quote]

Because of similar bad experiences in the past, I do check my e-mails before leaving and take advantage of flight alert systems all the major airlines have whereby they automatically phone or text you if there are delays or cancellations. I would strongly advise other people to do the same to try to reduce the risk of what happened here.

To give you a couple or recent examples of my own -

In January I was due to fly to Chicago and received an e-mail the night before departure to say my flight was cancelled and they were making alternative arrangements and would call me when they'd done it. When I get those messages I always seize the initiative and ring them instead because the early you call, the better the availability. In that case I got a flight about an hour later.

In February I was literally 20 minutes away from boarding a flight to New York at Heathrow when I received a text message to say that my onward connection to Los Angeles had been cancelled. It would have meant me sitting in JFK for about 6 hours so I went to Gate Agent and they took me off the JFK flight and arranged an alternative direct flight to LA an hour or so later.

My advice is to always check your flight is departing on time before leaving home and to be prepared to call the airline as soon as there are problems. I do realise that because I'm often travelling alone without checked bags I'm more flexible and easier to accommodate than a family of 5 going on a 2 week holiday but the basic advice holds good in all instances.