There’s good news and bad news today for what some have called America’s worst airline. US Airways recorded the best on-time performance among the 10 major American carriers for the month of January, which prompted it to pay out $1.8 million in employee bonuses and issue a self-congratulatory press release. But at about the same time, reports in the blogosphere started bubbling up that the airline was falling apart — literally.
You can’t make this stuff up, and frankly, I wouldn’t want to make this stuff up. The employees and passengers of US Airways have suffered long enough after a badly mismanaged merger with America West, and you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who wished it ill. Based on reports from its latest media day event, the airline is really trying to improve itself, and I think on some level, we’re all rooting for it to succeed.
But the images circulating online suggest US Airways has a long, long way to go. These come to me by way of US Aviation and the passenger group Ffocus.
Here’s the worn-out back of a first class seat that’s been mended with tape.
Courtesy phone? I don’t think so. We don’t do that anymore.
These paper towels double as a curtain. You an hardly tell the difference.
Has anyone else seen this on US Airways, or are these just isolated incidents of apparent neglect? They kind of remind me of TWA before it was absorbed by American Airlines: a once-proud airline that is long past its prime.
It isn’t my place to suggest that US Airways should refrain from handing out a million bucks in bonuses. But isn’t it a bit premature to be congratulating themselves?
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{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
I think the employees probably deserve the bonus, regardless of the performance of any airline. Happy to see an airline finally not only gives bonuses to their CEOs.
I don’t have pictures, but I have seen American Airlines things held together with ’security seal’ stickers. AA also took out the no smoking light bulbs on the MD80s and pasted over them with stickers to save a little money.
The stuff you see here is cheap. Fixing a seat – cheap. But not done. Repairing or buying a new curtain – cheap – but not done. Cleaning aircraft – not really done any more either.
What about the expensive stuff? Maintenance. Airplane parts? Are they buying authentic airplane parts or chinese knockoffs? Yes, there is booming business in counterfeit airplane parts. When you start seeing these kinds of things – you should run for the hills. Or, fly someone who is not living quite so close to the edge. . .
First of all the employees deserve every bonus that is available, regardless of reason. They are trying to do more with less, for less compensation than just about any other airline.
That said, is it possible that the on time stats reflect severe padding of the schedule? With the current state of the operation, I don’t think it is possible for them to be number 1 on time 2 months running–I hope it’s truie, but it DOES sound very suspicious to me.
Sure, they give us 50 dollar bonuses, but they fail to pay us, and give us decent benefits.
I know people that have worked there for 10 years and are only making 10 dollars!
Screw you parker!
That picture at the bottom was an Athens flight. It is not a curtain but a movie screen made by 8×10 paper. It flew around like that for months.
I recently flew US and had a great experience. It’s too bad so many others haven’t. I find that United’s airplanes are dirty and unkept…
Troy, thanks for the clarification. I’ve fixed the caption.
Hey all,
US Airways has survived this long simply because of one thing, and one thing only: The hard-working employees. I am continually in awe of them. They trudge on daily in the utmost professional manner despite the absoulutely cruddy environment they work in. You think the planes are bad — you should see the crew and ramp rest areas!
I won’t even discuss my flight this past Saturday from BGI-PHL — first class lav had no running water and we had a BAG of handy wipes! Coffee maker didn’t work. And it was that horrible configuration where there is no coat closet. The overhead in row 3 (AC side) had a huge crack in it. In fact, the overhead was the thinnest plastic I’ve ever seen — can you say Barbie’s plastic dream jet? (Sorry I didn’t take pictures — I thought about it)
I worked for US Airways for 11 years — spouse is still there. Nobody roots for them harder than I do; but it’s gotten absolutely harder to do so given the stinginess of the operation and don’t give a hoot attitude towards its employees and frequent flyers.
Anita Dunham-Potter
Tripso/MSNBC Cruise Columnist
I’ve seen taped up aircraft bins on American Airlines and also United. I think all airlines have their own problems. lol…..
All of my travel on US Airways has been great. US Airways is a solid performer and traveling on board is a pleasure. Keeping in mind an aircraft is mode of transportation, with hundreds (if not thousands) of people rotating through it every twenty-four hours. That A319 to Boston is not a museum, it’s a method of transportation.
As for the employees, congratulations! You totally deserve it. I cannot stress it enough- the employees at US are wonderful!
-Mark Tlalka
President and Founder, Kinglobjaw.com just clicK!
Ouch Anita,
Sad but true however. There are a great many more pictures folks and many more coming in each hour. There is a picture being painted and it isn’t a pretty one. Wait until you see the conditions these fine people work in.
Information will be forthcoming with a way for all Frequent Flyers and flyers in general to view the horror that is US Airways. If you have pictures of your own you’d like to share we would love to add them to our library of images.
At FFOCUS we take no pleasure in forwarding these pictures to Chris, in fact we are saddened that it has come to involving the media in order to effect the positive and proactive changes required to return US Airways to a respected Company, in the eyes of it’s Employees, Customers and ultimately shareholders.
All the best Chris and thanks for your help.
Sincerely,
PineyBob
Policy Board
F.F.O.C.U.S
Anita – Are we both in BGI? My wife and I came down to BGI from CLT on Saturday and it was AWFUL. I won’t book on US for (a.) a long haul like this or (b.) a “Premium” cabin service again. (Paid in F Class)
The connecting flight, PVD-CLT, I believe 1669 on March 1 was a complete disgrace. LOADS of duct tape and and my wife’s seat was TOTALLY collapsed and broken (2F) so she was more or less doubled over in the seat and her legs wouldn’t touch the ground. My seat was busted too, but not like hers was. Across the aisle, 2A was as much duct tape as I’ve EVER seen on an airplane on the back of the seat, holding the pouch that the mags and safety card is in.
Just a disgrace…..if I’m paying $0.05 to $0.08 per mile, I can deal with it….but, like I said, we were paid F….
So long US! Tempe has flown the airline into the crapper….and thank GOD we have a choice and can fly other airlines!
On my last USAir flight my seat wouldn’t recline (broken) and the stitching was coming apart on the seat in front of me. Felt like I was back on Air Botswana. But I’ll concur with others that this seems to be a disturbing trend overall in the U.S. airline industry and it does make me wonder where else they are cutting corners in less visible areas.
There’s no way they made #1 in ontime performance without padding the schedule or just canceling flights that were really late. Spend an hour in one of their hubs and watch the passengers fuming and scrambling and all the “delayed” messages on the monitors. Any bonus to rank and file employees is a welcome change though, so maybe the means justify the ends in this case. Those people deserve a break for all they’ve been through–and then some.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I fly Frontier when I can. Their planes are spotless inside, relatively new and in good repair. I was on an AA flight from RNO-DFW and an armrest had broken off an aisle seat and the hole had been covered with duct tape. However, I chose that seat because, in a three-across configuration, I actually had room to MOVE!
Like Joe, I have to wonder what else US Air is cheaping out on if they are allowing these cosmetic problems to go unrepaired. Makes me wonder if the engines are going to stay mounted on the wings!
I have had the same types of experience with U.S. Airways. They just don’t service the aircraft as much as United or American. And as far as service goes, they are just above Southwest. But I have to say that with the exception of the occasional regional airline, no airline employees seem happy, and I doubt a small bonus is going to fix that.
I’m sorry, but I think comparing US Airways to the former TWA is an insult to TWA.
Any opportunity to give these hard working folks a bonus is a great thing.
I wonder what corners are being cut at US and I worry that it’s going to take an accident before people start paying attention to what these negative cost spirals are causing. How many aircraft have ‘bumped’ into each other on ramps in just the last few weeks? The airlines can’t keep trimming cost out of the system without impacting (bad pub) safety.
I found this site ironically to compliment on the service I recieved in the Charlotte Airport, and I am saddened to see someone say they are on the employee’s side yet they are publishing photographs that might costs them their jobs. I have flown thousands of miles this year with all of the legacy carriers and I find cosmetic issues on each airline. It is unfair to blow these photos out of proportion. I went LGWCLTMIA on Wednesday and had a very pleasant trip, the planes were clean. Even tough my Miami connection was late, due to airplane coming in from somewhere inthernational, the girl at the checkin desk on the D concourse kept us extremely informed. . Not one complaint was uttered in that boarding area, and many of my fellow passengers congratulated her on such a refreshing job. I have not seen this in years.
If US Airways is going to turn its image around, it needs these pictures brought to Tempe’s attention in a tactful way, not through the media. It just drives less revenue and costs hard workers their jobs. Shame on you.
Dear Julia,
What do you think over 1,000 Frequent Flyers have been trying to do since the merger? Fly to GSO and eat BBQ?
Indeed the old US had lots of problems. But there were also people who stood behind the product and either acknowledged the problem or they endured it with you ( note that I do not say that they solved the problem ). US has always borne the brunt of criticism for decades, Their FFers stuck with them Truth be told, easy UGs helped to smooth out the problems and proved that you can screw up without having folks hold it entirely against you. Folks remained willing to swim upstream to qualifying fares and sit in dirty/dysfunctional Envoy seats because there was a quid pro quo. The US FF family was noisy and sometimes over-demanding, but it was a family where forgive and forget was as much a part of the equaiton as complaining about bags which ended up in Uganda.
Now we do indeed live in a new era of aviation. But the constant remains people and their word. The new US speaks tons of words but their promises are empty and business practices deceptive. All while taking away and revamping and reconfiguring and telling customers that this is a “new and improved” product. Bullsh!t. And that’s my point; all of us can smell the sh!t that Tempe is selling.
US has lost a big chunk of those legacy ( and very loyal ) FFers who stuck it out for years when things don’t always go right.(me for one) They left not because the product is torn and tattered. They left because you can not keep laying lies on top of a dysfunctional product. FFers are very much creatures of habit. Tempe discovered a way to break them of their habits. Their fickle, but still patient and loyal paxs are now sitting on DL, UA, WN and who ever else is out there. It’s the lies and the arrogance which did it along with a product which never lived up to what Tempe claimed it would be.
So Julia with all due respect I feel that we have been more than patient, have attempted a dialog only to find some of the most arrogant, deceptive & dishonest business people I’ve ever encountered in nearly 34 years of work life.
Just to let you know I’m preparing a library of all of the photos we’ve recieved from the flying public and employees. Once we have them cataloged we will decide the appropriate avenue for a wider distribution. Perhaps 60 Minutes will be interested?
As for getting employees fired we have it on good authority that some employees are being interrogated by US Airways as a result of this article. We have a process in place that makes it virtually impossible for US Management to determine the source. We feel it would be a much better use of resources for US Airways to fix the overhead bins & Movie screens then to engage in a witch hunt against employees who truely want to build a better airline.
Warmest regards,
PineyBo8
US Chairmans Preferred
DM member since 1996
I have been flying US frequently for 11 years and these are the worst airplane and employee work conditions I have seen. If it were not for US employees, this airline would probably have folded already.
FFOCUS has been working tirelessly to dialogue with US management for about a year and a half. After a couple of meetings, US no longer expressed an interest in continuing the conversation.
As individual fliers, many of us have submitted our negative trip experiences and photos directly to US Customer Relations, to no avail. Therefore, this public exposure of aircraft conditions was a LAST RESORT.
I wish the current management team would wake up before further damage is done to their relationship with their employees and the few customers that remain.
Beth
US elite since 1998; DM member since 1989
FFOCUS Policy Committee
The conditions shown here are typical on most of the US Airways Aircraft, I fly about 125K miles a year and US Airways has by far the worst kept aircraft conditions that I have ever seen. This management was able to quickly remove FC seats and closets but they have no time to clean their A/C or install updated seats.
I echo the comments of unkept aircraft on USAIRWAYS. Just this past Friday, I was on a CLTMSY flight with my foot in a flip flop in seat 3D. Seat 2D had a leather flap peeling off. Well, I fell asleep and was awoken by some heavy turbulence and happened to jerk my left foot up. When I did that, the skin on the top of my 2nd toe was scrapped by a metal protusion that was hidden behind this flap. The FA gave me some hot water and a towel for a compress to stop the bleeding. I regret that blood did get on the carpet and I bet you dollars for donuts that US will NOT clean it up. US tanks not just over the pond as Joe Brancatelli found out, but also within our borders. These deceitful executives should be thrown in prison for the poor management of this airline.
I congratulate the employees for the bonus they received. They are just fantastic people, particular on the East Coast, and the West Coast is starting to deliver some good service. It is a shame that one of USA’s most reliable airline has gone to total crap because of Tempe’s “high cost of cheap” mentality.
USAirways may be the poster child for why airline mergers are not the panacea to the industry’s problems. I live in Florida and regularly flew Piedmont, which was a fine airline before being absorbed by USAirways. As USAirways grew and grew by purchasing other airlines, service declined in a way that probably can be correlated with eacxh new purchase.
I earned 200,000 miles on Piedmont/USAirways between 1983 and 1993. I took my second to last flight on them in 2006 using FF miles. My last flight will be to use the last FF miles. Today, I fly Southwest since most of my travel now is leisure not business.
As a Pittsburgh resident I have been forced (until recently) to use US Airways almost exclusively…and it’s never been a pleasant way to fly, even years ago when things were better in the industry. While I do feel for the employees who have been put through the ringer time and time again, I still don’t understand why I, as a customer, have to put up with their snarly attitudes. They apparently have never learned the lesson that, if you are pleasant to your customers, they’ll return the favor…but it you are snippy and sullen and unresponsive, you’ll get that back in spades….
US Air is neglecting their customer service also.
My wife returned from a week long trip to Florida this past weekend.
While she was gone US Air changed all of her return flights.
We didn’t get a call or an e-mail about it.
I only found out about the changes when I check her itinerary online the day of her return.
One of her connections was changed to an impossible connection (2 minutes layover).
I tried contacting an agent through the Online Chat. “Chat is not available at this time.” I tried calling reservations. “Your wait time will be 30 minutes”.
I had to tell her that she would have to wait in line at the airport to get her routing fixed.
During her multiple connection return I tried to keep track of her progress and the status of her connecting flights but US Air is very poor at updating the status of flight arrivals and departures on their web site and on monitors at the airport. Flights that had not even departed routinely still showed an arrival time that had already lapsed.
If a flight is planned to leave at 1pm and arrive at 3pm and it is now 3:30pm and the flight still hasn’t departed they should at least list the flight as delayed.
I hear it time and time again. Lack of communication of honest information about the status of delays is the most frustrating aspect of air travel.
I can’t help but respond to what Kinglobjaw:
…Keeping in mind an aircraft is mode of transportation, with hundreds (if not thousands) of people rotating through it every twenty-four hours. That A319 to Boston is not a museum, it’s a method of transportation…
Since this is true, why is it that companies like Southwest, JetBlue and Frontier don’t have all those broken parts, duct tape and non-functioning lav’s? Southwest has some of the newest 737’s and truly old 737’s in service (read the full report on the FAA fine; Southwest self reported the issue and took immediate action to correct it) that don’t look any worse for wear than a brand new one’s. JetBlue aircraft always look as new and clean as the day they went in service. And at the rate these airlines “turn” their aircraft, they actually get more use than the US plane that sits for 2 hours at each gate before it leaves again.
Mr. Parker and the team in Tempe have been rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic for the last 3 years. The best thing that could happen to US today would be a merger. I was a loyal, “Preferred” flyer with this airline for many years. Today, you couldn’t pay me to get on a USAIRWAYS flight. I truly feel sorry for the great people that are this airline. They have suffered way to long…
I flew 3 US Air flights last week & 2 flights week before with not noticeable problems. I actually had 3 of my 5 flights leave on time! (I realize that being happy about 60% of your flights on time is pretty sad, but that is a industry wide problem.) I’ve flown 6 flights in the last 3 weeks on Delta and have sworn to myself, once again, to never again fly Delta. The planes are about as clean as US Air, no “regular” issues.. an occassional duct tape sighting. But they are never on time and the gate and ticket employees are never polite. I was actually on a Delta flight and the pilot came on the air to announce, “I think we’ve fixed the problem and we’ll be taking off now” after an hour on the tarmac. Ummmm… I don’t want to sit here but I’ll wait till you are SURE you’ve fixed the problem if that’s okay…. and no, he didn’t laugh or say anything else… and none of the other passengers thought he was joking either.
I was on a flight to Cairo, Egypt and Delta had to rebook my connections due to my originating flight being severely delayed due to weather in NYC area. (I really feel sorry for anyone who lives in NYC because your weather must really, really suck, since there is always some massive storm in NYC whenever I fly United, AA, or Delta.) Anyway, was told everything was fine… All connections good to go and I had my tickets, seats, everything. When I finally got to JFK, my connection was already boarding so ran through the terminal, through security, and got to the gate just in time. Delta gate agent told me that my ticket had not been “reissued”, whatever the heck that means. They called their supervisor to “override” the problem. No response. After 15 minutes, they told me that the flight was leaving and I needed to go talk to a Delta ticket agent. I said No, that they needed to try and fix it, call someone… they had done nothing besides page someone once…. The gate agent did agree to call someone else and got put on hold… After another 15 minutes of being on hold, the flight departed without me. I had to go to the special gate for rebooking…. and stand in line with 75 to 100 others who were trying to get rebooked on Delta. After about 1 hour in line, Delta told me that I had to leave the terminal, catch a bus or taxi to another terminal and talk with a ticket agent there, that they were unable to fix the problem. What IS the problem? No response…
Ok, the ticket agent was nice and fixed the problem in 2 minutes. She told me that she couldn’t believe that no one else was able to fix the the problem, that it was somthing “simple”. Of course, that flight didn’t leave for another 5 hours…
Now, thats Delta… always has been and always will be…
The point is that, yes, US Air is struggling with some things right now, but so are the rest. At least they have made a commitment to be on time…. which I applaud.. and hopefully, they will make a commitment to fixing these other problems.
I was a Chairmans Preferred on US Air, flew it 4 to 5 times a week till mid-2006 when I finally couldn’t take the traveling life anymore… Now I travel less frequently… but when I do fly, I do notice some of the problems people are talking about… on US Air AND ON EVERY OTHER AIRLINE. Singling out US Air for something like this seems ridiculous…. The reason… No one has said a thing about the other airlines, especially Continental. Jeez, does that airline have any planes in their service that are not filthy and broken down? Say whatever you want in response, but I have flown plenty of Continental flights over the years (but as few as possible) and have never been happy with the planes. My wife heard I was on a Continental flight in January and immediately asked me which seat was broken. The running joke is that either my seat or the seat in front of me is always broken. On that flight it was mine… and I was harassed by the same attendant 4 or 5 times to raise my seat for take-off/landing, and had to explain again that the seat was broken… and then the first TWO times, she had to jerk it forward to see for herself.
I am a Chairman’s preferred member with US Air (which means nothing anymore) and fly with them twice a week. For the most part I am surprised that many of these planes are still in service.
As a prime example I just took a flight from Philadelphia to Denver this past Monday. I was in the coach section and notices the person in the row in front of me with his seat reclined, not by choice, but because it was broken. I counted 3 different F/A’s stop and ask the customer to bring his seat up when we were getting ready to land (keeping in mind the seat was like this when we took off and not a word was said to him) and he had to explain it 3 times. What REALLY killed me was the comment of the 3rd F/A when he explained it was broken and would not come back up….”Well aren’t you lucky.” I couldn’t BELEIVE it!! I seriously considered reporting this but decided it was just not worth it.
Flying as much as I do with them in both First Class and Coach a good portion of these planes are really in deplorable condition but I am guessing that there really are no regulations in place for the interior condition of the aircraft.
And no, I am not singling out US Air…I fly others that are just as bad occasionally but US Air’s fleet seems very old and definetely in need of some major overhauling.
Last week my husband and I had a great experience with US Airways. First of all they included a very quality childrens book in the seat pocket that was free for the taking. We took two for our two young grandchildren. On our return home the kids just loved the “Maisy” books. Our flight from San Jose to Las Vegas which was our layover to DFW was cancelled. We rec’d a voice mail that the first flight was cancelled and they had gone the extra mile for us and put us on an American flight which was a non-stop and got us into DFW at the same time as our original flight. We were so pleased that all the legwork was done by them and we didn’t have to scramble and rebook ourselves. We were certainly impressed..
Susan R,
While I’m glad you were happy with your experience with US Airways, all they really did is what they’re supposed to do per their “Customers First” Policy and Contract of Carriage.
Failing to abide by their own rues is stock in trade for US Airways and I’ve got the e-mail inbox to prove it!
Just for the record Susan I’m a Chairman’s Preferred (100K mile/yr) and the very next time will be the first time I’ve gotten a voice mail on my cell phone regarding a delay or cancellation.
When it comes to trust and credibility US Airways has ZERO of both with this frequent Flyer. I guess we can file your experience under “Blind Squirrel Finds Acorn”. Either that or I work in Corporate Communications for US Airways???
As an employee for ~2 years, I can say I’m a “new generational” employee.. never tied to the original US Airways, never tied to America West. (Although America West tries hard to remind me I work for what used to be America West)
The condition of the planes.. one freaked me out so badly, I am afraid to fly on US Airways. We were taking off and the windows were shuttering and that’s not something I am comfortable with while taking off.
I was interviewing for an internal job the other day. Apparently, I told my manager and a supervisor QUOTE: “There will always be negatives while working for US Airways” which I have no idea why I blurted that out during an interview, but the both of them wrote it down as me saying it. While it’s something that I wouldn’t say to get an interview, they DID ask me the positives and negatives about working for US Airways.
If they could only understand what I mean. They are management, I’m sure their lives are a lot happier than mine. I work hard for that company and would not be there if I didn’t believe in it. I’m losing my faith though, fast, and I hope something good happens soon.. 2007 was HELLISH and I hope 2008 is better.
Fly4Free,
US Airways Employee
FFOCUS Member
As a former US Airways employee, I can vouch that America West daily reminds employees who’s in charge, them. And, look where it’s gotten them. No where!!! Planes are literally falling apart in the sky, and pilots discharge guns in the cock pit. Does USAirways seem concerned? No, US Airways Security Department sends a fax to Maryland telling them a 17.5″ wing cover might have fallen off somewhere over Prince George’s or Anne Arundel counties, or near Kent Island.
A fax, not a phone call!!!!! This never would have happened with the former US Airways. Sure, they had their problems, but maintenenace was the TOP PRIORITY, and so were ALL of the employees, regardless of rank and file. The “new” US Airways management team only cares about promoting, and preserving jobs for the former American West employees and former US Airways employees be damned.
But don’t worry, every dog has it’s day, and I believe the “new” US Airways day is coming. Let’s see how the Am West employees like it when their jobs go to another state after a merger because I think one may be coming.
And, while I too, can fly4free due to retirement. I choose to buy tickets on other carriers that support Pittsburgh.
AM West and the “new” US Airways sucks big time.
I like in the Philadelphia area so US Airways is “my airline”. Recently i flew to Milan on AA from JFK. What a mistake. 2 hours on the tarmac because the winds changed. i felt stupid when i got to Milan and the US Airways flight was preparing for departure. I think AA or UA will go out first.