Us airways? Good or bad

[KATBYERS]

FINALLY only 52 days to go! However just had a coworker tell me her trip to Cancun last week was almost ruined b/c US Airways and their antics..flight was delayed, got there almost a entire day late. During this conversation a few more co workers piped up and said "I bet you flew with US Airways didn't you" Arrggghhhhhh I guess this is a regular occurrence for this airline.

I was just wondering if any of you have had issues getting to Jamaica with this airline. We are leaving out of Indianapolis 12/6 on a early morning flight then have a connection in Charlotte, NC then on to my favorite beloved and terribly missed island! Please tell me good news people!! Now I'm worried! Two years ago when we went to Couples we flew with Delta and it was smooth sailing.

Any comments would be appreciated

[NeedBlueWater]

We do the early morning US Air flight from Dayton, Ohio through Charlotte that arrives at MBJ just before 11:00 AM. We have never had any issues. We prefer that flight to any others because of the short layover and earlyish arrival time at MBJ. (Knock on wood. I'm heading back down on that flight in about three weeks.)

[waynef]

ya mon, just got back in september, flew out of milwaukee, early flight with conection thru charlotte, every thing was on time and good flights, no luggage lost, did up grade to first class on the charlotte to mobay flight $ 150 each, i thought it was well worth it, you can do that when you check in at indy, do that first if you want, saves you money on your luggage fee, first class the bags are free, have a great trip

[kandl]

We fly out of Des Moines thru Charlotte and love this flight. We have never had any issue with US Airways so it is our preferred vendor. We have never been delayed or lost luggage (yet) in 5 or 6 trips. Charlotte is a nice sized airport for flying back into as well. Have a great trip!

[columbo]

We have done numerous trips on US Air thru Charlotte to the Caribbean and Jamaica and never had an issue at all, actually if I can not get a direct flight and have to connect coming home Charlotte and US air is the only place I will use, Miami, Texas airports are a nightmare to clear customs and re-connect, Charlotte has always been a breeze.

[mjd]

We have used US airways our last few trips to J, its been no problem going but on the return we missed our connection in charlotte NC 2 times by not haveing enough layover time. I would make sure you have at least 3 hours layover getting back to charlotte to be safe, we stood in the customs line for 1.5 to 2 hours last 2 trips.

[kiki23]

We have flown with US Air to Jamaica every year for the past 4 through Philadelphia to MBJ. The only time we almost had an issue was 2 years ago when there was a blizzard in upstate NY and we almost didn't make the connection. Last year we drove to Philly to avoid the potential missed flight. My best advice when flying (any airline) with connections, is to make your first flight the earliest and give yourself the longest layover time before the critical flight (aka. arriving in paradise!). That way, if you 1st flight is delayed, you can probably still make the second. The other option is to book your flight with travel insurance to at least get some of your money back. Also, you can look at the flights history of on-time arrivals. Everyone has their favorite airline and some locations are notorious for delays or cancellations. Try this site for flight history: FlightStats - Global Flight Tracker, Status Tracking and Airport Information

If it helps ease your worries, we have still booked with US AIR for our March flight to Jamaica. Make sure you sign up for text notification of flight/gate changes and you should be fine.

[Fluffin]

Anyone could tell you a horror story about any airline. Don't stress you could be on American....LOL

[drbcwp]

We have used USAir through Clt probably a dozen times to Mobay, NO PROBLEMS

Delta, big problems ( 3 years ago we had a trip booked in November, Delta decided they would not longer fly to Mobay on Tuesday, they did not call us, just sent an email. We could either go a day later and lose out on a day in paradise or go a day earlier and pay the rack rate for the room)

[redinthehead]

We have used us airways three years in a row with no issues. Flights all left on time and Got in a few minutes early and luggage was waiting. Knock on wood will be using then again for next trip.

[trhops]

I booked with US Airways to MBJ because I heard it was a good flight. I checked and their ontime performance from CLT to MBJ is good. We are heading home in 38 days and are taking the early 5:55am STL to CLT flight then 9:40am CLT to MBJ. I went on flightstats to check the ontime %'s.

I almost booked with AA and am glad I ended up not doing so.

[BobandJudy]

I travel every week for work - sometimes flying, sometimes driving. Every airline has their problems. What caused the delay that your coworker experienced? Was it weather or mechanical? If it was weather, there really isn't much that USAirways can do about the weather. If it was mechanical, take a look at the problems that American has been having lately. Whoo-boy.

We have flown USAirways seven times to Jamaica, and have never had a problem. That's not to say I've never had a problem with them when I've flown for business (let's not even mention the two hours I spent on a Philly runway last month). Charlotte is also a nice airport for connections. It's not too big and doesn't usually get hit with weather delays (except for thunderstorms).

[CountryCouple]

We flew US Airways last Friday and everything went fine. We even left and arrived right on schedule. We had a very short layover in Charlotte and it was very easy to get around in. Don't worry you will have a great time.

[blondie56]

Found this on their site, hope it helps a little! We have a flight coming with AA Dec 19th from Miami I hope goes off on time!!! Lets keep our fingers crossed they get theor act together for December!!!


We Continue to Adjust Schedules for the First Half of November
You may be experiencing some cancellations or delays as a result of some of the operational challenges we have been experiencing recently. We are extending our limited schedule reductions through the first half of November, and apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause. The planned flight reductions will not impact your holiday travel.

We also want to thank you for your business and let you know we value you as a customer. If you have been impacted by delays or cancellations, know that we are doing all we can to put you on the next available flight and maintain the service levels that you expect.

In an effort to better serve your needs during this time, we will also:



Increase staffing to better assist you
Increase food available on our flights
Provide the ability to stand by for earlier domestic flights
Offer you one of the following options if your affected flight has been delayed more than two hours:
— Receive a full refund if you decide not to travel, or
— Reaccommodate on another carrier if available, or
— Change your American flight plans at no charge.


If our recent operational challenges have impacted your trip, you can submit a request for compensation. In the Message box on the form, please tell us about the inconvenience

[Cathy_Joe]

I'm not sure this will reassure you but IMO it is 6 of one and a half dozen of the other. By this I mean all the airlines seem to suck these days!!!
But we have used US Air in the past to go to Jamaica and had no problems. Then again we flew direct and out of Philly so not sure how helpful that is.

FWIW We used to alwys fly Air Jamaica (Caribean Air) and were always happy. But they stopped flying unexpectedly out of Philly last year. They left friends in a real lurch since the were still flying when they left but stopped flying while they were gone. They scrambled in the weeks before they left to secure a return flight. So even if you are thrilled with an airline, they can make changes at the last minute and throw your plans awry.

Keep an eye out and hope for the best. I'm pretty sure this is not what you want to hear but realize the majority of flights to get there on time with no trouble.

[joenkim]

Flew US Airways from NH to Philly to Jamaica last February and had no problems, other than our layover flight was about an hour late. The weather was bad in many areas at that time, so I think weather delayed it more than the airline. And a 1 hour delay isn't tat much of an inconvenience except that this was my first time to Jamaica, so I couldn't wait to get there!
We are flying the same way down and back this February and I hope it's as smooth, of course without the hour delay!

[lenfest@cti912]

We just flew US Airways from Milwaukee through Charlotte last month. No problems at all for the flight down, landed right on time. Our flight back was delayed, but the ticket agent we worked with was extremely helpful in making alternate arrangements for us since we were going to miss our connecting flight back to Milwaukee. As it turned out, however, it wasn't delayed as much as they had anticipated, and by really pushing everyone along during boarding and with some sprinting through the Charlotte terminal on our part, we did actually make our connection. We do not fly very much and since it was on the way home, we probably had more patience than if it had been on the way to Jamaica. I know some of the airlines have bad reputations with people who fly often, but I think for as many flights as there are and for as many people that they transport, the airlines generally do a really good job. I guess you just have to know in the back of your mind that there's always a chance for problems.

Here's a couple of US Airways travel tips I learned on this recent trip (they might also generally apply to other airlines, too)...
- If you make your reservation via a 3rd party website, when you select your seats they are are just requests. You need to go the the US Air website and make your seat assignments there for them to be confirmed
- In the Montego Bay airport there is a separate line/counter for people who have checked in online. In our case, we didn't see any actual signage for it, I just happened to hear an agent walking around say something about online checkin and when I caught up to her & asked, she escorted us over to where the priority/first-class lines were. (Thank goodness, because with the flight delay, the regular line was EXTREMELY long.)

Hope this helps...
Laura

[cleversole]

I hope I'm not jinxing us here but we have flown US Air out of Charlotte our three trips and are scheduled to fly them again this time. They always seem to take off and land on time both going to and coming from Jamaica. We had an issue two years ago, but it was a medical emergency on the plane and nothing that was the fault of US Air.

There are probably some worse than others but I think US Air is actually pretty good. Of course it i a direct flight here and Charlotte is one of their major hubs.

Have fun and I hope all goes well.

[smroot]

We have not experienced problems with US Airways to MBJ in 4 trips. I can tell horror stories of most airlines and while they sound bad, except for one case, the airline had no control over them. Being a General Aviation pilot I can tell you, weather and mechanical failures are very definitely times you do not want them to fly. Safety first, while an inconvenience, means at least you arrive alive.

[PJ]

Any airline can have problems, but we have flown U.S. Air out of Charlotte several times with no issues. On our last Couples trip, we went with AA through Miami--nightmare--and we said we will never do that again.

[chacy]

well..in May they forced us to check a carryon and it didn't quite make the last leg with us..came in on the nextg flight and we had bag delivered to us by usair bythat evening.it was abummer because whad all the swimsuits in the carryon! other than that it was fine.

[dianavr]

I'm not sure this will reassure you but IMO it is 6 of one and a half dozen of the other. By this I mean all the airlines seem to suck these days!!!
But we have used US Air in the past to go to Jamaica and had no problems. Then again we flew direct and out of Philly so not sure how helpful that is.

FWIW We used to alwys fly Air Jamaica (Caribean Air) and were always happy. But they stopped flying unexpectedly out of Philly last year. They left friends in a real lurch since the were still flying when they left but stopped flying while they were gone. They scrambled in the weeks before they left to secure a return flight. So even if you are thrilled with an airline, they can make changes at the last minute and throw your plans awry.

Keep an eye out and hope for the best. I'm pretty sure this is not what you want to hear but realize the majority of flights to get there on time with no trouble.

Yes, this was me who had this problem. To add insult to injury we also had to pay for our seats as USAir told us that even tho we picked out seats if they overbooked they would not confirm and we could get bumped, so we had to pay for our seats plus pay for baggage which we did not have to do when we flew Air Jamaica in the past. Before you know it these airlines between the price, seats & baggage will make it so that you won't be able to go to Jamaica anymore as what you will be paying you could have extra days at Couples!

[rachlm927]

I fly us air several times per month, including two trips to Jamaica. In my experience (wait let me knock on wood) they are one of the better airlines when it comes to handling things outside of their control.

If you can find an airline that has no delays, mechanical issues, or problems please let me know. I know when leisure travelers fly once or twice per year and have issues, they blame airlines. When you travel frequently you see its really a small percentage of flights overall have problems.

[jcox2873]

I just got back Monday night. We flew US airways and didnt have any issue. All flights were as scheduled. No worries mon!

[LBMV]

We flew Delta to MBJ in 2010, American in 2011 and will be flying US Airways from Minneapolis through Charlotte this Saturday. We were scheduled for American but the fly "blew up" and instead of 8 hours of flying it was going to be two layovers and 14 hours. Go US Airways, we're counting on you to take us home!