us airways

[Jill]

We fly the London to Miami route fairly often and have done so with AA, BA and Virgin. AA and BA now codeshare some of the flights so there are now more flights per day on this route. It should also become easier to get through immigration once the new hall starts to open July 2012, is fully functional.

Flying into Miami should get easier for international travelers when Miami International Airport opens a new Federal Inspection Services facility this summer. The three-level, 400,000-square-foot area is scheduled to partially open in July, with all 72 passport control lanes operating to process international arrivals. "Once fully complete, the new FIS area will be able to process 3,600 international passengers per hour upon their arrival to the US," said Miami International spokesman Greg Chin.

The new area features 10 baggage claim carrousels, five of which will open in July on the second level. The ground level features a new greeter's lobby. The new Federal Inspection Services area is twice the size of the airport's current federal inspection area in Concourse E, which currently serves American Airlines' international flights. The new federal inspection area is one of the last parts of the airport's multibillion-dollar North Terminal construction project to be completed. The only things remaining to be done on the terminal project is the completion of the federal inspection area and three gates nearest to the old baggage handling system, Mr. Chin s

[LFCGeorge]

Well, here I am in Charlotte Douglas Airport. Left from Dublin this morning with US Airways all went well.

My connecting flight to Orlando had is a different story unfortunately. We boarded the plane on time at Charlotte to hear that the plane was having "technical difficulties" so we boarded the plane waited around 20 minutes and then where told to leave as the plan was "inoporable" after tests. Our plane was taken back to the hangar for further diagnosis and we had to wait about 1 hour 30 mins for a new one to arrive which brings us up to the current moment. I'm currently waiting to board this plane.

Looking forward to finally getting to Orlando

[carolmc]

It will be worth it - you know it will

[LFCGeorge]

All passengers boarded the "new" plane destined to Orlando and had to sit there and wait for about 45 minutes to get fuel. Other than that, in the Villa now, looking forward to tomorrow!

[carolmc]

Have a great time

[ellie]

Anyone had a long stop at Charlotte on the journey home? We have 5 hours layover and hoping to leave airport and have a meal and stretch of legs in town.

Just one thing to remember, all the gates are beyond security - they all lead off a large hall/atrium where there are lots of eateries, and there are more at each gate - so don't forget that you need to factor in enough time to get back through security, as well as making sure you don't get stuck in rush hour traffic.

It makes it very easy when arriving in Charlotte as, once you have gone through Immigration and Customs you don't need to go through security, as you walk straight to your gate. You can access all the gates via this large atrium and food court (which has lovely rocking chairs for people to relax in, and attractive trees!) and each one has different eateries so there is quite a choice on site. There are boards showing what eateries are at each gate - there are more than 90 restaurants and shops within the airport so you may not even need to go into Charlotte.

We always find that these lay-overs go really fast, especially if you can have something to eat and do a bit of shopping, but we have never tried going out of the airport. Downtown Charlotte is around 6 miles from the airport

By the way, there is free Wi-Fi and there are also lots of volunteers in yellow shirts who are happy to help you - we have always found Charlotte a really friendly airport, and a pleasure to spend time in. It even has an art exhibition with various exhibits, including some models of historic aeroplanes.

[zerotone]

Have to say that we have nothing but praise for USAirways. We have flown with them for the last 8 years and apart from the odd change of seat assignment due to oversellling which most of the schedule flights do we have good experiences with them and Philly airport is fab for a couple of hours between flights. They went up even higher in my estimation this year when as a result of being diagnosed with breast cancer I was unable to fly out at Easter as booked with them and as I had no insurance cover decided to try ask for some help from the airline (not expecting much). They very quickly sent me a voucher for the amount of my fare valid on any flight with them for 1 year. Not only that but when it was time for the rest of our party (husband, son, mother-in-law and partner) to fly at Easter my husband decided I was too ill to leave (chemo) and they cancelled their flights. Once again I contacted USAirways and they gave us vouchers for all the party.

[Jill]

Have to say that we have nothing but praise for USAirways. We have flown with them for the last 8 years and apart from the odd change of seat assignment due to oversellling which most of the schedule flights do we have good experiences with them and Philly airport is fab for a couple of hours between flights. They went up even higher in my estimation this year when as a result of being diagnosed with breast cancer I was unable to fly out at Easter as booked with them and as I had no insurance cover decided to try ask for some help from the airline (not expecting much). They very quickly sent me a voucher for the amount of my fare valid on any flight with them for 1 year. Not only that but when it was time for the rest of our party (husband, son, mother-in-law and partner) to fly at Easter my husband decided I was too ill to leave (chemo) and they cancelled their flights. Once again I contacted USAirways and they gave us vouchers for all the party.

Nice to hear of a company with good customer service that goes the extra mile to help out.

[Katys Grandad]

Most airlines will do something along those lines but there's usually a change fee to pay so if US don't charge one that's impressive.

It might be worth checking whether they're going to charge a fee because it can be quite a shock when they want something like £100 for each person plus the difference in fare if they've gone up - but don't give anything back if they go down.

The most annoying thing for me is the fact that you can't redeem the vouchers on line so they will also usually charge you a telephone booking fee (per ticket of course!).

[Ian Dee]

Hmm
We now have the 'LONDON' Southend airport with flightgs to ??Dublin and all the abover makes one think!
I wonder if the time saving at MCO, being an internal flight arrival would be a great deal quicker as Not used a change over flightg and wouild be concerned at the time of arrival and missing a connection.