air traffic

[adrian_turtle]

I tried to use USAirways Shuttle this weekend. My plan was to fly from Boston to DC Friday morning, and back to Boston Sunday evening. There was bad weather in Boston Friday, but my plane was supposed to leave before it turned really nasty. I felt very lucky not to be on either of the earlier flights that were cancelled altogether, but I was

Comments

[ckd]

The US Airways/America West merger has continued to cause problems; apparently the big reservation systems transition was just a couple of weeks ago.

[adrian_turtle]

Thanks for the theory. I find it unsettling that they are still so unsettled weeks after the transition...it implies a basic level of incompetence that makes me doubt it's safe to fly with them, even though I know the systems are huge and that they probably build a lot more safety margins into the actual flying bits than into the reservations systems.

[ckd]

I was never a particular fan of either America West or US Airways; the story (probably apocryphal) about how US Airways got its original name (USAir) is illustrative.

As I've heard it, when Allegheny and Piedmont were merging, a market survey was done to see which name had a better reputation among the public. As a control, a fake name was included in the surv. The fake name (USAir) turned out to have a better reputation than either of the actual airlines involved.

(It was said that USAir stood for "unfortunately, still Allegheny in reality".)

[adrian_turtle]

I used to be a big fan of USAirways. The airline I hate passionately, and still want to avoid years after they did me any tangible wrong is Northwest.

[phoenix14159]

"It was said that USAir stood for "unfortunately, still Allegheny in reality""

I love it. We just called it Useless Air when I lived in Pittsburgh.

It got that tag pretty much immediately after it transitioned from being Agony Airlines...