Consumer Report Airline rankings.

[SKY HIGH]

Pittsburgh paper: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07152/790605-28.stm

US Airways fared worst in the category of seating comfort, but also earned low marks in cabin staff service, online booking and on-time performance. The company's highest rating came in ease of check-in, where it rated neutral.


ONLY stating opinions

 

[zethya]

Summary of latest DOT report:
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/home...a__airport.html

The continuing level of Consumer Complaints (to the Government) compared to the average airline is really the most serious representation of the airlines' overall health. Noting that a very small fraction of dissatisfied customers actually file a formal complaint with the DOT. Especially note the relatively high Customer Service #. Here is a breakdown:

Formal Complaints filed with the DOT against US Airways for April 2007:

Flight Problems - 82
Oversales - 14
Reservatons/Ticketing/Boarding - 26
Fares - 5
Refunds - 29
Baggage - 37
Customer Service - 34
Other - 18
Total 245


Here is a definition of these categories:

COMPLAINT CATEGORIES

Flight Problems: Cancellations, delays, or any other deviations from schedule, whether planned or unplanned.

Oversales: All bumping problems, whether or not the airline complied with DOT oversale regulations.

Reservations, Ticketing, Boarding: Airline or travel agent mistakes made in reservations and ticketing; problems in making reservations and obtaining tickets due to busy telephone lines or waiting in line, or delays in mailing tickets; problems boarding the aircraft (except oversales).

Fares: Incorrect or incomplete information about fares, discount fare conditions and availability, overcharges, fare increases and level of fares in general.

Refunds: Problems in obtaining refunds for unused or lost tickets, fare adjustments, or bankruptcies.

Baggage: Claims for lost, damaged or delayed baggage, charges for excess baggage, carry-on problems, and difficulties with airline claims procedures.

Customer Service: Rude or unhelpful employees, inadequate meals or cabin
service, treatment of delayed passengers.

Other:

Disability: Civil rights complaints by air travelers with disabilities.

Advertising: Advertising that is unfair, misleading or offensive to consumers.

Discrimination: Civil rights complaints by air travelers (other than disability); for example, complaints based on race, national origin, religion, etc.

Animals: Loss, injury or death of an animal during air transport provided by an air carrier.

Smoking, tours credit, cargo problems, security, airport facilities, claims for bodily injury, and others not classified above.

 

[Pacemaker]

USAir has been a mess since around 1989. Talk to any former Piedmont or PSA folks for a front-row account of how they grossly mishandled both mergers. Since then a succession of management teams has done little else except try to sell the airline, all the while retreating further into their little "core northeast franchise". I will grudgingly admit that for a brief time in the late 90's Wolf improved things somewhat, but as we all know he was prettying up the place for a sale. Once the United pilots killed that deal (anyone remember the summer of 2000?), the place quickly fell apart again.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Now the AZ Republic chimes in on the CR report.....

Article

Jim

 

[Travels2mch]

Now the AZ Republic chimes in on the CR report.....

Article

Jim

OMG....I thought only the post gazette printed bad stuff (read....truth) about USAir....this must be an imposter as several on these boards insist it's only the p.g. that does it.

 

[BoeingBoy]

this must be an imposter

Nah - a little bird told me that Dawn Gilbertson, who normally covers US, is on vacation and this is the summer replacement. Probably hasn't gotten the word to take it easy on US yet. Don't worry, Dougie will take her out for drinks, flash a couple of those "aw shucks" grins, and all will be right with the world again....

Jim

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

Speaking of glowing reviews, the April DOT scores are out:
http://www.bts.gov/press_releases/2007/dot.../dot055_07.html

Guess who had the worst on time record! And note that three of the five most delayed flight were operated by....
(to be fair, there is a three way tie for the number five spot on that "dishonor roll".)

Lowest On-Time Arrival Rates

1. US Airways – 63.1 percent

2. JetBlue Airways – 64.8 percent

3. Comair – 67.9 percent
Most Frequently Delayed Flights

1. US Airways flight 1543 from Boston to Charlotte, NC – late 100 percent of the time

2. Comair flight 5463 from New York JFK to Buffalo, NY – late 96.67 percent of the time

3. SkyWest Airlines flight 2570 from Columbus, OH to Milwaukee – late 96.15 percent of the time

4. US Airways flight 1582 from Charlotte, NC to Newark, NJ – late 95.83 percent of the time

5. Comair flight 5625 from New York JFK to Jacksonville, FL – late 93.75 percent of the time

5. US Airways flight 656 from Washington Reagan National to Phoenix – late 93.75 percent of the time

5. US Airways flight 619 from Atlanta to Las Vegas – late 93.75 percent of the time

 

[DrBeth]

Now the AZ Republic chimes in on the CR report.....

Article

Jim

OUCH! Look at this quote:
Creating goodwill year-round can go a long way with customers, said Donato Vaccaro, a manager at Consumer Reports National Research Center in Yonkers, NY.

"It's possible people were more forgiving to JetBlue because they'd already had such a positive experience with them in the past," he said. "It's possible that US Airways, on the other hand, was already at the bottom and that was just another thing that made people especially disappointed."

 

[Harry Callahan]

This has made the local media in CLT.

 

[LCC_#1]

USAir has been a mess since around 1989. Talk to any former Piedmont or PSA folks for a front-row account of how they grossly mishandled both mergers. Since then a succession of management teams has done little else except try to sell the airline, all the while retreating further into their little "core northeast franchise". I will grudgingly admit that for a brief time in the late 90's Wolf improved things somewhat, but as we all know he was prettying up the place for a sale. Once the United pilots killed that deal (anyone remember the summer of 2000?), the place quickly fell apart again.

I couldn't had said it better. Great post!!

The problems with US Airways didn't just start 2 years ago. They just got worst. 🙁