USAirways and America West are officially merging.

[Bluebear]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050519/ap_on_bi_ge/us_airways_america_west

Good luck to all the employees concerned.

[kaygore]

1. Two wrongs won't make it right

America Worst is what we called it in Arizona and in Virginia we had the saying that they changed the name but not the service which was awful.

Two wrongs won't make it right.

[Bluebear]

2. I think it's their only opportunity to save tens of thousands of jobs

I'm hoping it works for them!

[kaygore]

7. I agree

especially since I know a lot of people who work for US Air as Allegheny had a hub in Norfolk; however, both airlines have snippy service. In fact, when I lived in Tucson and the only low cost airline was America Worst, more often than not I would get off the plane (yes, exit the plane) cash in my ticket and drive to Phoenix and take Southwest. I finally gave up and moved back to Tempe. Over the years, America West did not get any better. The last flight to San Diego (actually the first in the morning was and probably still is a 2 am from Las Vegas). When I would get stranded somewhere and needed to get back to San Diego, I would get put on that flight. I swear that AW waited until the plane was full to fly to San Diego. The flight was never on time. I have waited in the Vegas airport to the chingchingching of those damn slot machines for most of the night waiting for that flight to take off.

I guess that my point is that if there had ever been better management at either airline, they wouldn't be in the mess that they are in.

[kaygore]

8. Oops, I meant Piedmont

Piedmont had a hub in Norfolk and was a great airline. Allegheny took it over and eventually all because US Air. Allegheny had terrible service and Piedmont had great service.

[MurrayDelph]

12. I'm not holding my breath

In my last job, I travelled between Phoenix and Burbank a lot.

When PSA got bought out, I tried their new parent exactly once.

On Friday, I got to Sky Harbor an hour before my flight, only to find out that my flight number -- which was supposed to go to Burbank, continuing to San Francisco -- wasn't leaving until an hour later than scheduled, and was making up the lost time by eliminating the Burbank leg.

The gate attendant was surly about the inconvenience, offering neither compensation nor apology for the fact that instead of getting home by 7pm, we were expected to fly to SFO, and then wait 90 minutes in SFO before flying down to Burbank. He then got on the PA system and announced that we shouldn't even try America West, because they were full. Not believing them, we checked for ourselves and found out that America West had used up all of their seats at an even exchange value, but I could go home at the time planned if I was willing to pay another $15. Guess which one I took.

That was my first time flying with America West, but not the last. On one of my last trips for that company, I flew from Burbank to Denver via America West. When it was time for the return trip, America West told me that the plane to Phoenix was going arrive too
late to make my connection, so they were transferring me to a
direct flight on United (my company always made us take connections when possible because they were cheaper). So I guess I had been one of the lucky ones.

And, in case you haven't already guessed, the airline that thought adding an extra five hours to the commute (which means it would have been just as fast to drive) was US Airlines.


(edited for clarity)

[mr_hat]

3. Trivial concern, but I hope they'll lose that godawful >

US Airways livery. So dreary and cut-rate looking.

[Coastie for Truth]

6. What they need is the black and gold logo of their home town

<>

and go back to servin' Iron City beer and Arsenal and Isaly's cold cut sandwiches in flight (remember the 1970's).

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Will US Airways do to the America West employees

what American Airlines did to the TWA employees when they merged (or vice-versa)? Will the seniority lists be dovetailed or endtailed? A lot of employees always get hosed as the result of mergers.

[Coastie for Truth]

5. US Air dovetailed the Piedmont and Mohawk employees

That was under Ed Colodny and Seth Schofield, and the dovetailing of seniority lists and the merging of benefit plans was incredibly costly.

I thing this merged airline will have problems. USAir is historically an Appalachian-Allegeny Mountains-New England carrier, with lots of too short routes in a region with terrible weather. Very costly.

USAir's real problem - it's a "Pittsburgh Airline" - and Pittsburgh has shrunk 75% in population since the 'Good Times." Nobdoy goes to Pittsburgh anymore. (I am originally from "The Burgh").

[kaygore]

9. US Air flies mostl;y North South

This left them open to the low-cost to Florida airlines. Their hubs are Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Washington National, etc.--all East Coast.

America Worst has been typically more of a West Coast airline competing with Southwest. At least their hubs would fit better.

[Coastie for Truth]

10. Historically, their original core routes

were within the Pittsburgh - Philadelphia - New York - Boston - Buffalo region. That was the original DuPont "All-American Airlines" and "Allegheny Airlines" market.

Capital folded in that market and sold out to United for pennies on the dollar.

After a very short time United pulled out of the "puddle jumper" business in that market - like Scranton to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia to Syracuse and Albany to Pittsburgh --- you get the idea.

Really - who flies into Binghamton or Ithaca or Corning/Elmira or Allentown or Harrisburg?

(Pittsburgh is where I grew up - I have watched that region die - I flew Allegheny/USAir regularly for almost 40 years; I was a US Air shareholder for 20+ years until the first bankruptcy killed my shares.)

The Coast to Coast flights and the Northeast to Florida flights could not make up for the high costs of the core feeder region.

I lived there for years and years and years - didn't realize how good life could be until I moved out to California (my family says the same thing about Arizona and Florida - nobody lives in Pittsburgh any more,
:( , except my attitude to my sister who will never leave the Burgh is "no pity" :nopity: )

I enjoyed growing up there, living there, starting a family there - the Carnegie Museum, the Buhl Planetarium, Phipps Conservatory, Forbes Field and then Three Rivers, Kennywood, Rege Cordic -- and I watched it die - first with Flaherty - then when steel left.

It was a nice place - and USAir was its "home town airline."

[KlatooBNikto]

11. Now they have an opportunity to go up and go down together.