U.S. Aeroflot

U.S. Air has long been going down the roaqd of obsolesence, but this article pretty much sums up the final nail in the coffin. Having recently spent my time with this tremendous pile of an airline I have finally had it. They are rude, incompetant and literally have NO empathy for their passengers, even when they have been in a layover for 11 hours (in a distance between Philidelphia and Islip, Long Island, a 4 hour roadtrip). This layover on my incoming flight was after they had already cancelled my first outgoing flight going to Chicago, forcing my stay from 2 days to 1.

They offered nothing - not a water bottle, not a bag of peanuts - nothing. They literally told me that since the cause was "weather" they had no obligation to give me a meal voucher or any other accomodation. When I was finally ready to leave they told all of the forgotten passengers that their tickets were now "standby" and that we were not priority for the flight, even though we had had waited between 9 and 11 hours. The girl at the counter than became indignant because we were inquiring as to our fate and said to another worker "These people think that apparently it is my fault that the weather was bad" while we were all within earshot. No apology - just contempt.

I urge you to return the favor on my behalf and avoid buying tickets on this airline at all costs. I had spoken to over 30 people, all of whome were livid and hated the airline to a new level. Only a few were on my flight. For your own sake - their prices may seem reasonalbe but you will severly regret the decision to fly with them.

I have flown over 400 times in my life and this was the worst experience that I have ever had. I have also never recieved that many frowns from one company that I was a patron of in my life.

Detestable.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

August 1, 2008, 8:50 am
Starting Today, No More Free Water on US Air
Posted by Nikki Waller



That’ll be $2. Buh-bye.
Journal reporter Stephanie Chen on changes coming to US Air’s domestic flights today.

Charging for checked luggage and legroom isn’t enough for some carriers — starting today, coach passengers flying aboard US Airways Inc. must pay for a drink of water.

This morning, US Airways began charging fliers $2 for bottled water and sodas and $1 for teas and coffees. First class members, trans-Atlantic passengers and a select group of others are exempt from the extra fees.

“This is another clever way to masquerade airfare increases without increasing airfares,” says Randy Petersen, editor of Inside Flyer Magazine. “Everything has been passed along to the consumer.”

The Tempe, Ariz.-based airline is among many other carriers scrambling to cut costs and boost revenues amid skyrocketing fuel prices. For now, other major airlines including AMR Corp.’s American Airlines, Delta Air Lines Inc., and Northwest Airlines Corp. say they won’t resort to the a la carte beverage system yet but will continue researching all possible ways to save money. Discount carriers AirTran Holdings Inc., JetBlue Airways Corp. f and Southwest Airlines Co say they will also continue serving complimentary beverages.

Continental Airlines Inc. — one of the few airlines left that serves free meals on certain domestic flights — says it is unlikely to abandon its free beverage service. Continental says charging for a soda would detract from passenger comfort. “That’s always been our philosophy, and it’s one that works well with us,” says spokeswoman Julie King.

Several other low-cost carriers like Spirit Airlines Inc and Allegiant Air, LLC began charging for beverages a few years ago. These low-budget airlines say their business model offers “unbundled” deals, which strip away extra costs and charge only for the flight. Spirit and Allegiant officials say customers like this plan, which allows flyers to add on extra drinks and snacks only if they desire.

US Airways says it will provide water and drinks for passengers in cases of medical emergency and during extensive delays. If a desperately thirsty passenger does forget a few extra dollars, US Airways spokesman Morgan Durrant says flight attendants will likely “err on the side of the customer” and give him or her water. After all, the airline wouldn’t want its customers drinking tap water from the aircraft bathroom. That water is safe to drink, just not very palatable, according to Durrant.

“Frankly, that’s just not classy,” he says.

Reminds me of my layover in Beijing a few weeks back. After an 11-hour flight across the Pacific, my group was waiting for our Air China connecting flight to Xi-an, where our hotel was, but our flight kept getting delayed (purportedly due to weather, but there were people out working on the plane, so they may have just claimed it was weather when it was actually mechanical), until the flight crew just up and went home for the night. Ultimately, it ended up as a 19-hour layover with no hotel, no drinks, no food, no apologies, and we were kicked back into the main terminal where there were no benches available and we ended up spending the night sleeping on the hard floor. Fun.

As for the airlines starting to charge for drinks, that wouldn't be quite so bad if it weren't just after increased security made it nigh impossible for customers to bring their own water with them. :wall:

Ajax

See? This is why I want high-speed trains instead.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HoreTore

See? This is why I want high-speed trains instead.

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:yes:

That also raises the question why take a plane for a 4 hour road trip? You Americans definitely fly too much IMO, you almost take a plane to your next-door neighbor (although that may make sense in certain regions of Texas or Nevada :sweatdrop: ). Although honsetly trains aren't perfect either, the last time they managed to turn a 1.5hour trainride into a 2.5 hour nightmare where people had to climb (yes climb, there was another rail between the train and the train station) out of the train and onto some train station and see how to get to their destination. Granted it was the day of the loveparade where everybody and their mother (except myself) was heading but even with some extra trains it was apparently a minor chaos.

But then that happens a lot less often than what you describe, it's not the first time I read about this, lost baggage also seems to be a problem on US airports with some people having to wait days to get it back(lots of fun on a short business trip).