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The Ides of March Lasted All Month for US Airways

By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 11, 2007

US Airways • Consumer Complaints • Christmas Complaints • An Insider's View --- News • Screens Go Dark on US Airways • US Airways Faces Disability Charge • US Airways Cuts Flights From Pittsburgh • The Ides of March Lasted All Month for US Airways • Problems Persist for US Airways Passengers • US Airways Still Sorting Out Lost Bags • US Airways Makes Bid for Delta • US Airways Says Nuts to Peanuts • USAirways-America West Merger Still Baffles Passengers • Report Slams US Airways Christmas Performance • US Airways Turns In Jets, Cancels Flights • Florida: Treatment of Quadriplegic Passenger "Callous" • US Airways Wins Concessions from Machinists • Loan Extension Provides More Turnaround Time • Attendants Accept Cuts, Machinists Still Hold-Outs • Machinists May Walk • January Crucial for US Airways • A Christmas Nightmare • Breathing Room • Turnaround Plans • US Air Deathwatch

In baseball circles, pundits once posted predictions that placed Washington first in war, first in peace, and last in the American League.

Washington may have traded US Airways to Arizona but it is still performing like the aviation cousin of the Washington Senators.

In March, for example, it ranked first in customer complaints, first in mishandled baggage ... and last in the league of on-time departures.

Merging with America West in 2005 may have kept both airlines from going under but hasn’t helped operations, according to a new report from the U.S. Dept. of Transportation (DOT).

While wild winter weather in mid-March wreaked havoc with all airlines flying into the northeast, US Airways had more complaints (4.43 per 100,000 passengers boarded) and baggage snafus (4.43 per 1,000 passengers) than any other carrier.

Its shuttle from Washington National to New York’s LaGuardia was never on time during the whole month of March, while flights from Charlotte to Buffalo and Boston to Philadelphia flew on time less than 10 per cent of the time.

Just weeks after recovering from a mid-February luggage debacle at its Philadelphia hub, US Airways took another hit when a new computer system crashed, causing massive delays at several airports. When its check-in kiosks went down, the airline didn’t have enough agents to deal with the long lines of irate passengers.

Only 56 per cent of all US Airways flights were on time in March, as opposed to an industry average of 73 per cent – the worst March performance since such record-keeping began in 1995. JetBlue (64 per cent) and Northwest (66 per cent) outranked US Airways but also failed to reach the industry average for the month.

In a report dated March 20, SoGoNow.com editor Peter I. Rose wrote, "I have been stuck in all sorts of places for all sorts of reasons, including inclement weather. But in six decades of flying, I have never experienced the cavalier treatment of passengers I just witnessed in Philadelphia . . . the booby-prize for what is euphemistically called ‘Customer Service’ has to go to US Airways."

Overall, the 424,000 reports of lost or mishandled bags in March translated to 7.71 per 1,000 passenger and resulted in a 33 per cent jump over the previous March. The number of complaints filed with the DOT doubled over March 2006, with 1.56 per 1,000 passengers boarded.

In general, airlines were more skittish about winter weather in March after a Feb. 14 ice storm snarled air traffic, leaving many planes idling for hours on airport tarmacs. There were more cancellations and delays when a second storm struck the northeast on Mar. 16.

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