When we visited our son back in November we flew with American Airlines from Dallas, Texas, to Bradley International Airport in Windsor Connecticut. The plane arrived three hours late which was quite good for that route but still not great. On the way home from Windsor to Dallas we flew with US Airlines via Philadelphia. We had issues with delayed flights, canceled flights, and overbooked flights. However, we also had some luck, nice seats, and friendly attendants, so the trip back home was an interesting mix of the good and the bad. I should add that we have flown with US Airlines on other occasions as well, also with mixed experiences.


Our trip with US Airways

American Airlines is the only Airline from Dallas that has a direct flight to Bradley International Airport which is why we fly American Airlines more often despite them being more problematic and less friendly.

The US Airlines flight that we were supposed to fly out with was cancelled, however, we were able to switch to another earlier flight that had been delayed so that it was leaving the airport some time after ours was supposed to leave. Unfortunately this flight was a little too late for us to make our connection in Philadelphia. When we landed we had ten minutes to make it across the entire airport with two young children. We did not make it on time, however, that did not matter because the flight from Philadelphia to Dallas was late. While they were getting our boarding passes the attendants were informed that the flight from Philadelphia to Dallas had been cancelled. They only had four seats left on the next flight to Dallas (three hours later) and we happen to be four people standing at the counter so we got those four seats. Everyone else had to wait another ten hours (late in the evening). So you could say we were pretty lucky.

In my opinion the airlines should give passengers with greater needs the next available flights. A flight cancellation will have a greater effect on someone who has a connection that is crucial to his plans compared to someone who is just flying home and have no weddings or important business meetings to attend the same day. I found the fact that they gave the seats to us who just happened to be at the counter a little scary. Their "everyone is in the same boat" policy and first come first serve policy in these situations is simply disgusting. However, all airlines do this the same way. One guy got very upset about the cancellation, however, the US Airlines attendants did not scream at him, and they did not come out to kick his shin, our tried to have him thrown out of the Airport. They apologized to man instead. In my opinion this is a huge improvement over American Airlines.

We walked over to the gate for the next flight. It turned out that it was overbooked. They offered vouchers for volunteers (we did not volunteer). This did not go smoothly and we had further delays but we eventually left the airport and got home.

Even though this may not sound great I don't think this experience was that bad. After all we were the relatively lucky ones. We only came home a few hours late and I have to admit that the seats in coach class were wide and comfortable. A few days ago I flew first class with American Airlines to Bradley International Airport (from Dallas) and the seats in first class were about as big and comfortable as the coach class seats we got on US Airways on our way from Bradley to Philadelphia and also from Philadelphia to Dallas. They served us breakfast and the breakfast was also above average. The friendliness of the attendants was very superior to many other airlines including American Airlines, Continental, and Northwest Airlines. The US Airways employees also worked hard to find solutions for us, which is quite contrary to the various employees at other airlines who have resolutely refused to solve any problems that they caused us. Hopefully I will continue to have this experience with US Airways. If not I will come back and modify this review.
 
 
Comparing with other Airlines

Flying is a degrading experience not just because of the intrusive security, the crowds, the lines, and the uncomfortable and cramped seats. The Airline service is getting worse and worse. There are cancelations, extreme delays, overbooking, and even what I consider to be hostage taking (sitting on the plane for hours without it taking off). What is even worse is when flight attendants treat passengers with extreme disrespect especially when the passengers are under stress.

I and my family (including our 2-year old son) and some of my relatives were once held hostage at the airport of Athens in Greece. The airport employees started a strike when we were about to take off and we were not allowed to take off and we were not allowed to tax back to the gate either. We sat there for many hours without getting any information, water, or food, and it became quite uncomfortable. Imagine if the workers at McDonalds would start a strike by locking the customers in and not allowing them to leave. I think they would go to jail for kidnapping. Don't you? However, airlines do this all the time including American Airlines which held us hostage on a plane at DFW airport because it was overbooked and no one wanted to accept their vouchers. We got out of there by taking a collection among the passengers so that we could offer a good cash price to whoever took the offer.

A male stewardess once intentionally kicked my wife's foot as a soccer ball because he was annoyed that she was sleeping with the foot out in the isle. American Airlines has stolen from us and lied to their passengers when I was present and treated me with extreme disrespect. SAS left me stranded in Amsterdam because of a strike. I was on my way to my mother's funeral (from the U.S). When my parents and my brother flew from Sweden to the U.S. to attend our wedding they were stranded in London because they were involuntarily bumped because of an overbooked flight. I have experienced cancellations, some really bad cancellations, extreme delays (30-40 hours), emergency landings, total chaos, screaming and crying customers pushing and shoving to be the first to get on a flight, rude and hostile airline employees, lying airline employees, airline employees who refuse to do their job, well you name it. Flying is about paying a lot of money for the worst service possible because you have no other choice. Flying is sometimes pure hell. If I have the time and it will take less then 12-15 hours I will drive rather then fly.

The airlines I am the most disgusted with are American Airlines, Continental Airlines, SAS, North West Airlines, British Airways, Lufthansa, and a couple of airlines I don't remember.

However, so far US Airways have not given me a hellish experience which is a great plus. So far I have not encountered a rude and hostile or lying airline employee from US Airways. These two particular facts are EXTREMELY important.


Comparative Delay Statistics

I have been experienced many delays and cancellations, and the American Airlines flights I take to Hartford (Bradley International Airport) are almost always at least an hour late. However, I do not keep statistics and I am just one person so overall delay statistics are quite valuable information. I compiled the data below from the Department of Transportation. The data covers October 2008 to October 2009 (basically the past year). As you can see US Airways are doing relatively well.

http://www.transtats.bts.gov/OT_Delay/OT_DelayCause1.asp

US Airways
On time 80.70%
Air Carrier Delay 4.16%
Aircraft Arriving Late 4.36%
Cancelled 1.15%

Continental
On time 77.97%
Air Carrier Delay 4.96%
Aircraft Arriving Late 4.11%
Cancelled 0.54%

American Airlines
On time 77.25%
Air Carrier Delay 6.52%
Aircraft Arriving Late 5.78%
Cancelled 1.62%

American Eagle
On time 77.35%
Air Carrier Delay 5.24%
Aircraft Arriving Late 7.41%
Cancelled 2.49%

United Airlines
On time 80.21%
Air Carrier Delay 4.34%
Aircraft Arriving Late 6.55%
Cancelled 1.63%

Delta
On time 77.22%
Air Carrier Delay 4.71%
Aircraft Arriving Late 5.60%
Cancelled 1.05%

South West Airlines
On time 82.70%
Air Carrier Delay 4.39%
Aircraft Arriving Late 8.51%
Cancelled 0.83%

Overall
On time 79.10%
Air Carrier Delay 5.04%
Aircraft Arriving Late 6.33%
Cancelled 1.38%


Final Recommendation

Despite cancellations and delays our latest experience was US Airways was pretty good. That sounds contradictory but that is because most other airlines are even worse. The same is true for previous flights with US Airways. I've also found the US Airways employees to be relatively friendly (compared to American Airlines, Northwest, and Continental). We just haven't had a really awful flight with US Airways yet. Their delay statistics is also pretty decent. Therefore I'll give US Airways four stars.

Recommended: Yes