So US paying more for an outside operation that is much lower quality? The difference is night and day. It's amazing how different on-time departures, pilot interaction with customers, and especially cabin service can be depending on who's doing it.
If you were to want to give someone a positive impression of US Airways, you'd put them on a MidAtlantic flight- FAs trained for world class service, and commited enough to thier company to return for a massive paycut, pilots with decades of experience returning under the same circumstances, a brand new airplane with the most comfortable coach seat in the entire fleet, and kept spotless by the employees who loved thier new toy. There was nothing "Express" about the operation at all-- a complete class act.
Now you have Republic and you do feel like you're on a regional jet, and on Express. The planes are dirty. The pilots are kids who are thrilled to have taken a mainline pilots job and do it cheaper. The FAs are young and inexperienced, and either get no service training or just haven't picked up on it. They spend the flight harrassing passengers about special Republic rules about windowshades and magazine pockets and cellphones. All amenities like meals, pillows have been pulled. They seem to be working out teething issues with the 170 that US Airways worked out when they first got it, so it's always broken.
It's just too much airplane for a commuter airline, hopefully Tempe takes the customer complaints seriously. Whether it's flying or maintenance, you can't put a price on the quality from someone with loyalty to the brand that's on the side of the plane because they actually work there.