[ruth1swaby]

We were scheduled to fly from Cincinnati, Ohio to Montego Bay, Jamaican on July 2 with US Airways at 6:55 a.m. and return from Montego Bay, Jamaica to Cincinnati on July 9, 2011 at 12:40 p.m. ultimately due to arrive in Cincinnati around 7 p.m.
When we arrived at the airport for our outward bound flight, we were informed that the flight to Charlotte had been delayed until 9:30 a.m. meaning we would miss our connection to Jamaica. The staff, as usual, was very flippant and told us the next flight out would be Monday!! This was Saturday. When we asked the cause of the delay, we were told that it was due to “crew rest” ! Not weather not maintenance, but something that could easily have been remedied. The worst part was the attitude of the staff. They did eventually transfer us to an American Airlines flight but instead of arriving at 11:30 a.m. in Jamaica, we arrived at late afternoon so missed out on part of our first day. When we wonder why airlines are financially challenged consider that the transfer to American Airlines cost US Airways, approximately an additional $400 per person for every person transferred from that flight – no wonder flying is so expensive. Incidentally, we got the information about the flight delay when we arrived via American in Miami, 3 hours after the original flight was due to leave.
In complete contrast, the American flight was comfortable, staff extremely pleasant, efficient, entertaining and accommodating. Kudos to American and shame on US Airways!
As if this wasn’t bad enough, we arrived at Montego Bay Airport on July 9 only to discover that the flight from Montego Bay to Charlotte, no longer existed so instead of leaving Charlotte at around 5:30 p.m. we had to get on a 10:30 p.m. flight and ultimately didn’t get home until almost 2 a.m. We got in after friends of ours who have flown from Jamaica to London!! During the course of waiting for this flight to depart, they told us there would be a delay of half an hour due to plane maintenance. Later on they retracted back to the original flight time. As we approached boarding time, we were told that we needed to change departure gates. We were then informed that they couldn’t locate the crew. At this point I began to question that, if a crew can’t find the airplane, how on earth were they going to locate Cincinnati. This made me uneasy and nervous in the extreme.
As usual, there were no apologies from the crew. The crew on the way to Charlotte, with the exception of the male flight attendant, were unfriendly and in some cases belligerent. The crew from Charlotte to Cincinnati a little more accommodating.
This is not the first time we have had problems with US Airways. Last October we flew to London from Cincinnati and again, our flight was cancelled and we were put on United and once again we experienced highly superior service.
My husband and I have both made a pact that we will never fly this airline again even if it means paying an extra $300 dollars and missing out on a destination that US Airways has exclusive right to. It just isn’t worth the stress and inconvenience.