The worst airline in America: USAirways

My darling brother bought first-class tickets for my son and me so we could go visit him. First class! A personal first. Sadly, they were on the despicable US Airways. And even more sadly, they were connecting flights.

First flight: 45 minutes late. We get to Philadelphia and run and barely get on our connecting flight on time.

Second flight: it is announced to the seat-belted passengers that there is a very minor maintenance issue and we will be delayed a very few minutes. This lie gets repeated until we have been sitting in our seats on the tarmac for TWO HOURS.

Yesterday, coming home:

First flight: As of ten minutes before the flight, the departure board lists the flight as on time. However, the plane is absent. Gate attendant announces: "There is a slight delay in the plane's arrival, however, we will arrive at our destination on time and everybody will make their connections."

By the time we leave, we are an hour late. We arrive in Charlotte ten minutes before the second flight is supposed to take off. However, by the time we de-plane, the second flight has taken off ON TIME despite the fact that probably twenty (or more) of its passengers were in the airport just minutes away. So everybody missed that connection. And in fact everybody on our airplane missed their connections.

Nobody apologized. And because they deemed this an "air traffic problem," "no amenities are provided" was the smug answer at the US Airways service desk. Not even meal vouchers. Can't they hire people who can at least pretend to care that they've made a royal mess of your day(s)?

Middle of the night, Charlotte airport. They say cheerily, "but we have wait-listed you on the 10:40 pm flight to RDU." How cynical can they be? There were more than thirty people on that waiting list!

They offered a flight out this morning, when my son had to be at work. They did not offer any other alternatives and again, no apologies. The only person who seemed sympathetic was the nice young woman who was washing the bathroom sinks.

We called an amazingly generous friend who came to PICK US UP 2.5 hours away from home. We were in bed by 2 am. Feeling totally abandoned by an uncaring system.

The last time I flew, the flight to RDU from JFK was cancelled at the last minute, with no options offered until the next afternoon. I spent the night on the airport linoleum floor with many other stranded would-be passengers, listening to the floor zambonis rumbling around to the loathesome strains of the LOUD 24-hour Justin Bieber soundtrack.

Is it part of the airlines' ethos now that they don't even apologize? Are they so stingy that when they strand their (first-tie) first class passengers they don't even spare a few shekels for meal vouchers? I hate air travel.