Never use US AIRWAYS
 

I tried to get someone from US Airways help us with the worst flight and treatment I have ever experienced from an airline in 53 years of flying. Flight 1966 (F04CXM/US) out of Punta Cana on what was supposed to be 04/07/2012. We spent over 6 hours at the airport waiting to board our flight with absolutely no information from US Airways. The very long story at 9pm Saturday night, from the pilot once we boarded, was no fuel. The staff at the airport told us about every 75 minutes they had no information on a departure time or what the problem was, so there was no need for the passengers to keep asking at the desk. Our departure time was supposed to be 2:45pm; we left at 9pm, missing all connecting flights. We were called to board a total of 4 times at Punta Cana. It was chaos. The 3rd time was at 6pm and we stood outside with the heat and biting insects until 7pm, when another PASSENGER came out and announced we could go back inside to the air conditioning because the US Airways staff had no idea what was wrong or when we would actually board. At this point security did not exist as the passengers on our flight were free flowing back and forth from the cool air to the outside line still waiting for our bus. While all this was going on, other passengers from different flights walked through our gate and got in line with us, thinking that was their line, gate and flight.

Once we finally boarded, the pilot told us we had fuel but were flying to Ft. Lauderdale because the crew had logged too many hours and a new crew was needed. By now we were hungry, thirsty, and very tired and asked for water. The flight attendant told us our beverage choice was water, club soda, or ginger ale and they had no food. We got 1 small glass of water and upon requesting more water were told no because they did not have enough water for the passengers as it was. The plane did not re-supply in Punta Cana.
We landed at midnight in Ft. Lauderdale where we went through customs and then waited to re-board our flight 1966. We had been told in Punta Cana that a US Airways employee would greet us in Florida and that we would all receive hotel rooms once we landed in Charlotte. None of this occurred. Once WE found our gate, a flight attendant announced they had no food and limited beverages as they had scraped and borrowed from other planes to get us the drinks they had on board. It was now after midnight and the airport had nothing open to buy food or water.

Our plane arrived in Charlotte at 3am on Easter morning. The US Airways staff awaiting us began walking around giving us our boarding passes and quite promptly informed us they had no hotel rooms booked and the US Airways staffs in Florida and Punta Cana were incorrect, US Airways did not provide rooms, and we never should have been told this by the staff.
Once again, nothing was open at the airport selling food or beverages. We were told by the US Airways personnel to go to our gates and wait for our connecting flights later in the day...we were "misinformed" about rooms. Ours was a 5 hour wait at 8:50am, flight 3702. We walked a long ways to gate E14 and had just fallen asleep when the police woke us all up and told us we had to vacate all terminals and reenter at 4am when the TSA opened. Once again, the US Airways staff had misled us, handed us our passes, and left the building. I had watched them 'hit the doors running' after sending us to our respective gates at 3am.

The entire plane reunited down on the first floor, minus the Charlotte residents, waiting for the TSA to open. At 4:15am we returned to our gate and waited for our flight to Richmond, flight 3702, at 8:50am. At 7:50 am, unbelievably, our flight was cancelled and we were directed to flight 3670 at 10:48am… another 2 hour wait. We were told our flight, 3702, was cancelled due to 'maintenance issues' but I firmly believe it was cancelled because we only had our family of 4 and 3 other people waiting.

While I waited for our flight I went and spoke with the special services people and the customer service people upstairs. Both groups were incredulous at our story and confirmed we should have been provided hotel rooms by US Airway upon arrival at 3am. I would like some answers. Why we were not kept informed at any part of this obscene flight. I had family members coming over for Easter. I had to cancel that dinner and missed Mass on Easter morning. We planned on a Sat. to Sat. trip for a reason. We planned on having a day off before starting work on Monday after a week off. My wife and myself were forced to take vacation days on Monday, 4/9/12, due to exhaustion. I had less than 1 1/2 hours sleep over 30 plus hours. My neighbor went to the airport to get us 3 times from an hour away, due to US Airways. We watched our original Philadelphia flight leave on time from Punta Cana, a flight US Airways changed after we booked it last October. Our flight to Richmond at 10:48am, flight 3670, was overbooked and US Airways offered $200 for volunteers and yet, after all we went through, the complaint department offered us $100 per ticket as compensation? The worst part of this horrible experience was not being informed at every step of the way and being lied to constantly. We turned on our phones in Florida and listened to messages from US Airways saying our Dominican Republic flight was delayed due to "ground" conditions and another was due to Punta Cana airport had only 1 way traffic, etc. One message said we were flying to Puerto Rico, another said Santa Domingo, etc. No one has yet to even try explaining why we were abandoned at 3am without the promised hotel room or why we weren't given rooms in Ft. Lauderdale, which was another story. I arrived home with my family at 2pm Easter Sunday exhausted and extremely upset instead of 9:40pm on Saturday night 4/7/12, in Richmond, because our plane had NO FUEL. How do you treat paying customers like this?