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MCI-MAD US w/ return...mala mierda

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  • MCI-MAD US w/ return...mala mierda

    Well, i just got back to the states after a great month in Valencia, Spain, one of the coolest cities in Europe. Everything went absolutely great...up until our return, Gracias a USAirways. Here it goes:
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    May 18, 2004
    US 1831 (Mid Atlantic Airways)
    MCI-PHL
    Embraer 170
    Seat 15A

    I arrived at MCI 2 hours prior to departure and checked in without problems for the flight to Madrid. I made my way to Gate 6 after grubbin out on a panini and saying goodbye to my folks. Once through security, i met the rest of the group to wait to board the flight to PHL. 10 minutes before sked departure, the brand new E170 pulled in to the gate from PIT. We boarded shortly after arrival, but left about 45 minutes after boarding due to the fact that the flight was overbooked. We made a fast taxi towards 1L and shot off into the sky. The E170 is absolutely great, the seats are very comfortable and it's a sporty little bastard. Once at altitude, our 2 f/a's began a pretty basic bev/pretzel service and then disappeared. After 2:50 we began our descent into philly. We landed 55 minutes late and made a slow taxi over to our gate in concourse D, where we quickly deplaned and made our way over to A-West for our flight to MAD.
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    US 12
    PHL-MAD
    Airbus A330-300
    12F
    Well, i was pretty excited to test out US's international service along with their 330, so i was more or less looking forward to this flight. After some awesome sushi in A-West, i made my way to board the flight to MAD. Boarding was pretty chaotic, i didnt hear a single announcement during the process, people just sort of walked on the plane as they pleased. I boarded to see that the US 330s are actually pretty nice as expected. I took my seat and prepared myself for 7 hours of boredom. At 9:20 (behind sked) we pushed back and made our way into te massive line for departure. After waiting in line for 40 minutes, we were informed that due to massive storms in and around PHL, we would be shutting down the engines for at least 30 minutes. Well, after 25, the engines were back on and we were #5 for departure. At 1045 we were ready to go and fired down the runway, the 330 is sweet on takeoff. Our packed airbus leapt into the nasty storm, and the shit hit the fan. This plane was all over the place, i seriously thought the overheads were going to crack. The A330's cabin seemed to shake and flex much more than any other i've experienced for some reason. Well after 1.5h of turbulence, we were out over the atlantic, and it was time for the Dinner adventure. Our choices were chicken or pasta...i chose the pasta. The pasta was served with a nasty tomato salad and a roll that should have been confiscated by the TSA. The pasta was good, but that was all that i ate. After washing it down with 2 rum and cokes (at $5/piece ) i was ready to experience the P@ssport system. I watched Sex and the city and some other random stuff, and chatted a little with a F/A named Marco who was the shit. Well, the next few hours passed painfully, with screaming babies and total insomnia, before i knew it the sun was coming up and "breakfast" was being served. Today the breakfast would consist of a buttermilk doughnut, yum! And by yum, i mean absolute nastiness. Well, this flight wouldnt be complete with out some F/A rudeness now would it? One of the F/A's decided that she needed to go up and down the aisle and scream at the people who didnt speak english to recline their seats...at 5am. When they didnt respond, she rudely reached across to push the button and slam the seat into the upright position...whatever. I'm over this flight, we landed 3 hours late, and went through customs which was a breeze.
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    June 17, 2004
    US 11
    MAD-PHL
    Seat 31H
    Well, my amazing month in the best country on the planet had come to an end, and it was time once again to put my life in the hands of US and come home. We left Valencia at 7am after a night of partying on the beach. The bus ride to Madrid took just under 4 hours, and at 1130 we were in line at US's ticket counter. For those of us who havent been to MAD, it's like a filthy MIA...hmmmm not sure if that makes sense, but i'm not a fan of MAD. The security staff at US were incredibly nice, while the checkin staff (Iberia) were rather rough. After checkin, i made my way to the gate to wait in the crazy line to board the flight to Philly. We boarded quickly by the grace of god and were off the gate exactly at 140...ON TIME! After a short taxi, we rocketed off into the clear spanish sky. We leveled off at FL 350 and were served chicken and pasta for lunch. The crew on this flight were mediocre as well, except for Marco, who was once again working the MAD-PHL leg. The flight passed without incident. About 45 minutes out of PHL we were served a snack bag containing a Brie cheese sandwich, snack mix, and toblerone chocolate, which was actually really good. We landed 1h ahead of schedule and deplaned quickly.
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    June 17, 2004
    US 1631 (MidAtlantic)
    E170
    Seat 15F
    Well, after a painful customs experience, we made our trek over to the D concourse to wait for our flight which was due to leave at 625pm. Well, at 620, i made my way to the window and noticed that the crew had stopped loading the bags...oh shit i thought to myself, this flight is about to get cancelled. Sure enough, the bastard cancelled 15 minutes later. The gate agents told us that we would have to go to the ticket counter for accomodation, there was nothing they could do. Wellllll, tooo bad the horrible weather in the East Coast had cancelled about 50% of the flights out of PHL for the day, so the line at the counter was about 2500 deep. Ok, heres where US really pissed me off, for the massive mob of stranded pax, there were exactly 9 checkin agents...this is their main hub, and they cant provide adequate service, i dont get it. While there were 9 agents, unfortunately 5 of them were for rebooking/checkin, while the other 4 were for first class/preferred. We popped in line and waited for 4.5 hours. At 11pm, we finally had a solution, after haggling with the ticket agent for over an hour. The only way we would be able to get home within 48 hours would be to charter a flight to share with another group from IND and spend the night in PHL. We obviously accepted and were given vouchers for food, hotel, and transportation. At 1am, we arrived at the Crowne Plaza downtown Philadelphia...where i went straight to bed...only to wake up 6 hours later to go back to my personal hell, PHL.
    Well, at this point one of my friends on the trip decided that she would refer to US Airways as simply Satan, which I thought was pretty hilarious. On that note, we were ready to go at 8am, hopped on the shuttle at 820, and were at PHL at 850.
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    June 18, 2098
    US 9021
    PHL-IND-PHL
    737-400
    Seat 5D
    We arrived at PHL to see that the line had grown out of control once again, and was now outside of the ticketing lobby, doubled up several times, so luckily we didnt have to go through that mess again. We were through security very quickly by some sort of miracle. We made our way to gate B-19 where we observed our flight being loaded with bags...yes! At 1020, we were ready to board, and the load of about 85 pax boarded. We were rushed big time, because our sked out was at 1030. We pushed back and made our way to the line for takeoff. After a 25 minute queue, we blasted off towards Indy, with a round of applause. The flight to Indy passed by quickly, and we landed at 1155am. After 35 minutes on the ground, the 20 of us that remained for the flight to MCI were pushed back. We made a quick taxi and took off to the west. The flight lasted nearly 1h15. We made a long loop around the city, and descended into the overcast. We landed on 1R at 140pm and taxied to gate 6...where we would be able to CLAIM OUR BAGS....as of now i do not have my bags, which have my entire wardrobe in them, so i'm going to leave the end of this trip report up to your imagination for the time being, i'm guessing the bags were taken off in IND...but i'll give ya an update.

    Ok, now for the grading:
    US Airways:

    Food: 5 (Not adequate for a 7 hr flight, not enough water services)

    Aircraft: 8 (330 and E170 very comfortable, 734 a little ratty, but okay)

    Service: 1 (Absolutely horrific, they get a one because of the effort made to charter a plane for us, but the handling of the situation at hand was absolute shit)

    Facilities: 3 (Not a fan of PHL....but for personal reasons and MAD was an absolute dump)

    Overall grade for US: 3

    I'm soooo disappointed, i expected to see a company dedicated to staying alive, trying their hardest to capture customer loyalty, but honestly, i saw nothing like this...i dont like to judge and airline from one experience, but honestly i dont see myself willingly flying with US Airways in the near future.
    Packin more nuts than Delta Airlines
    -PT-

  • #2
    Dude..thats fricking soo wrong.....i was never a big fan of US Airways, and this definetly doesnt help my situation with them any more. im glad you got home safely!! bet ur glad to see MCI again hehe. have fun on ur next trip to FLL/RSW, Southwest will be more fun then USAIRWAYS I bet ill talk to ya on the next!
    Alex
    Stop Searching. Start Traveling. southwest.com

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    • #3
      wow...i didn't know you had to pay for the drinks on US

      do you have to pay on CO?

      god... flying will begin to be a nuisance instead of a fantasy

      thank god there still good airlines on this side of earth

      i think a trans oceanic flight with no good service must be a living nightmare... my only one was on BA and was terrific, i think if i had done it on AV i wouldn't have recovered from the trauma

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      • #4
        Whats with your dates.... they seem messed up

        Otherwise good report. Too bad the service sucked.

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        • #5
          Oops, i guess that's what happens when you type a trip report on zero sleep...they've been corrected!
          Packin more nuts than Delta Airlines
          -PT-

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