Advice On US Airways

We flew US Air into Venice in Sept of 2007. Everything went well and the flight was fine.

US Air usually uses Philadelphia as their Italian gateway. THe flight was an overnight arriving at Venice Marco Polo in the morning.

We were in steerage not first class and I can't remember the equipment but the layout (I think) was 2 aisle 5 aisle 2. Seemed to be slightly more leg room than Alitalia but still not much.

We are traveling US Airways from DC then out of Phily to Milan at the end of March. The line is fine - no better no worse than any other. Flown it lot's of times as it flys from DC.

Our flight is like 2 then 4 then 2 - we 4 grabbed all the aisle seats in the first row of cheaps seats. At least we won't have anyone putting thier seat back into my lap . . . .

We flew through Philly to Rome last year on US Air. Absolutely the worst flight we have ever had including the airport. We have vowed to never ever to fly US Air or use Philly again even if it is the cheapest. None of the US airlines are terrific but I would rank US Air at the bottom. BUT -- the plane took off and landed safety.

Living near the Philadelphia airport, I've flown US Airways to Rome, Milan and Venice multiple times. Their cabin service isn't as good as Lufthansa, but I can't recall ever having had a bad experience.

You might want to investigate the details regarding any potential flights. For a recent trip to Italy, I considered U.S. Airways. From DFW, most outbound flights connected in Philadelphia, but with only a 1:15 or 1:30 layover, and only a 50-60% average on-time record for the first leg. I wasn't comfortable with these details, and instead chose a different airline, for almost the same price, with a layover in Europe, and practically a 100% on-time record. I'm sure there are perfect U.S. Airways flights every single day. You just need to decide your risk-reward tolerance.

Thank you all for your replies. We also checked reviews on a site called Skytrax, and they were 99% thumbs down, so we're going to pass on US Air, even though the flight is hundreds of dollars cheaper--if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

Lamont brings up a good point about connection times. One way to address that is to book an earlier flight to Philadelphia, thus increasing the connection time. My experience is that return flights from Italy are generally on time, so connecting to a 6:00pm or 7:00pm flight back to Los Angeles shouldn't be a problem.

They fly non stop from Phila to Rome in 9 hours for a decent price. That's all that I ask of any airline these days!

Kathleen.....

We have used US Airways for a number of our flights overseas and have found them to be no worse than most of the other airlines that we have used. For the money savings and the fact that we only had to fly from Norfolk to Philly, and Philly to Venice, we thought they were just fine. Too many of the other airlines required more flight legs. For instance, when we flew United and Lufthansa to Rome, we flew Norfolk to DC, DC to Frankfurt, and Frankfurt to Rome. Too much time shlepping and sitting in airports and just one more chance for luggage to get lost in transit.

I've flown US Airways to Italy several times, to VCE and FCO, without any problems. With that said, they're a United States carrier, so don't expect any luxuries, even in Envoy class.

The PHL-VCE route is seasonal, May to October, I think.

If it's cheap, snatch it up -- unless you start comparing first class cabins, the difference from carrier to carrier (especially US carriers) is pretty negligible.

Flight attendants are the more senior employees (as this is a more desirable route), so expect maybe a little more 'battle-axe-ness' than a domestic flight, but even with that comment, I've never had a BAD experience. Just don't expect any 'above and beyond' service -- but this is probably true on all US carriers lately anyway...

Also, PHL has made quite a few changes and I've found that their check-in and baggage-handling (especially international) is a lot better than it used to be.

I've flown US Airways to and from Italy (Rome and Milan) without any problems - flights have been on time. Only take carry-on so I can comment on their baggage handling capabilities. Have flown in and out of Philadelphia and have found it to be a pretty comfortable place for a lay-over (or at least as comfortable as an airport can be) with the rocking chairs near the food concourse. If you can get a great price I'd recommend them.

I've flown US Airways only once and after that I swore I'd never fly it again. Actually I swore I'd never fly it again if I could avoid it...or if they didn't have the best price.

In our single, and therefore by no means defining, experience with US Airways, they delayed our luggage, had poor cabin service, flew the filthiest plane I'd ever had the pleasure to endure, and the movie monitor meant for us didn't work.

Realistically, they are one of the big carriers and all of them can have problems. All things being equal I'd fly with someone else. But when things get unequal in terms of price and itinerary I'll go with whatever carrier works for me at the time, which could include USAir.

Thank you Mike--a very thorough and honest answer. We read so many bad reviews of US Air that we chose another carrier. Thanks again for your input.

I flew US Airways from San Diego to Rome in 2001--a long time ago I know but, we were a large group of students and we all arrived on time with luggage. Again that was quite awhile ago. As for the filthy comment...you don't know filthy until you've flown Air Bangladesh...any American airline seems like luxury after that ;)

Just flew the Philadelphia to Rome nonstop flight. I chose it because of its nonstop quality and due to the fact that I live in the area. At 6' 2" in coach class there was not even enough leg room with the seats in the upright position. On the outbound leg of the trip the plane was prompt but there was a major problem on the return trip. About 90 minutes out of Rome after a 2 hour 15 minute delay in leaving, we had to return to Rome for "a mechanical problem". We were told no more. On the ground, customer service was atrocious. Agents were hard to find, spoke little english and were of little help when they did. A phone number we were provided did lead us to an agent that rebooked us on a Lufthansa flight home. Lufthansa was light years ahead of USairways in customer service. More leg room in coach, free headsets for entertainment, free beverage service, two meals rather than one inadequate one. Like many others, I have had bad service from USairways before and swore not to use them. I have the misfortune of living near one of their hubs. I won't make the mistake of using them again in the future.

Just don't do it! They are the worst airline I've experianced. Thier main hub in philly is gross and I think they train all thier workers to be rude and useless.
Check european airline companies. You may find some deals with Lufthansa or Iberia.