BMIFlyer From United Kingdom (England), joined Feb 2004, 7808 posts, RR: 60 Posted (1 year 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 19 hours ago) and read 10872 times:
Briefing....
For my latest trip, I decided to try US Airways, and compare my experience to the last time I flew this carrier in 2004. Have they improved since then? Read On....
Leg 1:-
Date: Thursday 22 March 2007
Departure Apt: MAN
Arrival Apt: PHL
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300 (N272AY)
Flight No: US 1597
Seat: 35A
Sched Departure Time (Local): 10:00
Actual: 10:50
Sched Arrival Time (Local): 13:55
Actual: 14:30
My first flight since January, was taken in late March. I invited myself to the 2007 Las Vegas a.net meet, and thought I would fly US Airways, to see how things have changed since I last flew them back in 2004.
I arrived at MAN by train, at around 7am on the Thursday morning, 22nd March. After making my way from "The Station" to Terminal 2, I checked in for the flight at the Envoy Class/Star Gold counter, and I managed to get myself a window seat. My bags were checked thru to Vegas for me. There is no Star Alliance Gold lounge for US Airways customers yet at MAN. I had to wait in the main airport terminal, not that it bothered me much.
Here are some pics....
Manchester Airport T2 (MAN)
The flight today would be leaving from gate - 214. I last flew from this gate when I went to DOH on QR back in 2006, what a coincidence
To pass the time, I made a video from the gate, of various aircraft, while we all waited for the inbound to arrive (late). My eyes lit up when I saw what aircraft was infront of me
Boarding commenced at 1000 (actual sched departure time) and was completed by 10:25, ready for departure.
From My Seat
The Captain informed us that the flight time across the pond would be roughly 7Hrs 31mins, giving us an estimated arrival into PHL at 1430. After takeoff, headsets were offered for sale at US$5, which I purchased. You can keep these for future flights we were told, so thats what I did. I still have them with me at home now.
Shortly after departure, a snack service was offered. The F/A's worked in teams of 2, quickly serving all the passengers in the cabin.
Roughly 1 hour after take-off, lunch was served - Chicken, Potatoes, Veg. Cheese and crackers. Chocolate mousse, bread rolls and Orange Juice for a drink. All finished off in no time at all, a truly nice meal.
The Meal.
Progress
After lunch, I watched the movie "The Guardian", followed by an episode of "The Simpsons", then I listened to a few music albums. The AVOD on the A330 is very good. We were served a snack over the Maine, a small Chicken Sandwich, pretzels and a drink. This was quite an ideal pre landing snack.
Afternoon snack.
Landing in PHL soon followed, and was pretty smooth too. I made a video, for the hell of it
After arriving at the Gate, I left the aircraft, and managed to clear immigration and customs in about 35 minutes, absolutely fantastic
I have to say that this flight gave me a great 1st impression of the "new" US Airways.
BMIFlyer From United Kingdom (England), joined Feb 2004, 7808 posts, RR: 60 Reply 1, posted (1 year 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 19 hours ago) and read 10938 times:
Leg 2:-
Date: Thursday 22 March 2007
Departure Apt: PHL
Arrival Apt: LAS
Aircraft: Airbus A320 (N659AW)
Flight No: US 436
Seat: 7A
Sched Departure Time (Local): 16:15
Actual: 16:30
Sched Arrival Time (Local): 18:59
Actual: 19:10
After clearing customs/immigration, I made my way to Terminal B, and passed thru security.
The Airport.
The flight was leaving from Gate B4, which I arrived at just after 1535. I decided not to visit the US airways Club, due to the fact it was another 10 min walk there, and back again, not really worth it! Boarding commenced on time at 15:45, for a 16:15 departure.
Here is a video of the pushback, taxi and departure Â
About 30 mins after takeoff, a snack service commenced, the usual pretzels with a drink. Then it was time for the buy on board service, for which I got a sandwich for US$5.
YummyÂ
For entertainment, we watched a movie, although i cant remember the title, lol. But alas, the flight soon passed by, and we got closer to LAS by the minute. About an hour before landing, we took a detour over the Grand Canyon, where the captain pointed out the new skywalk, on our left hand side. Shortly after we passed over the Hoover Dam, and descended into Vegas, while I shot a videoÂ
Approach / Landing into LAS.
We landed at 19:10, and arrived into the terminal shortly afterwards. I waited till 19:45 for my baggage, then headed to the hotel. Â
BMIFlyer From United Kingdom (England), joined Feb 2004, 7808 posts, RR: 60 Reply 2, posted (1 year 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 19 hours ago) and read 10911 times:
Leg 3:-
Date: Sunday 25 March 2007
Departure Apt: LAS
Arrival Apt: LAX
Aircraft: Boeing 737-300 (N166AW)
Flight No: US 103
Seat: 1A
Sched Departure Time (Local): 09:15
Actual: 09:30
Sched Arrival Time (Local): 10:25
Actual: 10:20
After arriving at McCarran Airport at roughly 7:30am, I made my way thru the maze to check in. I waited a few minutes at the "First Class" counter, then was called forward by a cheerful customer service agent. She checked me in for the 3 flights that would get me home, and then asked me if I would like a 1st class seat on the first flight, so I thought yeah why not
I paid US$50 for the privilage, and was handed a new boarding pass My bags were tagged and off they went. following this, I proceeded to the 1st class line at security, which was completely empty, the economy lines however were very long. Needless to say I was thru security within 2 minutes.
Making my way to the gate, I eventually reached it, and waited for the aircraft to arrive, which it did after a few minutes. It was a 737-300 in the new US Airways scheme
Boarding soon commenced, and I was number 3 onto the aircraft, then took my seat in 1A. I was immediately offered a drink, so I asked for orange juice. After boarding was complete, the F/A's noticed that the captain was not onboard the aircraft, only the F.O. So, a member of gate staff went to find him! He eventually arrived 2 minutes before we pushed back.
Takeoff soon followed, with a swift climb to around 30,000ft. The inflight service started, and I was offerd a choice of snacks, so I picked chips, after which I was given another bag when I had finished those! for the remainder of the flight I relaxed in my wide seat, and just admired the outside views. while inflight, I noticed what a "worn" look the aircraft had. It looked very well used, even in F class. Nevertheless, the service was good.
View outside
Forward View From My Seat
Landing in LAX was smooth, and was followed by a quick taxi to the gate, where I spotted an A321 parked 3 stands down from our arrival one, I thougt, that must be my aircraft, and I was correct
BMIFlyer From United Kingdom (England), joined Feb 2004, 7808 posts, RR: 60 Reply 3, posted (1 year 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 19 hours ago) and read 10909 times:
Leg 4:-
Date: Sunday 25 March 2007
Departure Apt: LAX
Arrival Apt: PHL
Aircraft: Airbus A321 (N167US)
Flight No: US 734
Seat: 12B
Sched Departure Time (Local): 11:00
Actual: 11:10
Sched Arrival Time (Local): 18:30
Actual: 19:15
After leaving the B733 behind, I turned left in the terminal and headed straight for my new gate, where the PHL flight was already boarding. The aircraft was an A321. I quickly got on board and took my seat, which was a "middle" seat on this particular trip. This was the only flight on my whole trip where I didn't get a window seat.
After takeoff, cabin service started, comprisng of a snack service, then buy on board meals. Again I opted for a sandwich, the same as on the PHL - LAS flight earlier in the week. I watched the movie "DejaVu", then listened to my ipod for the remainder of the flight. The aircraft was clean, and the seats were all in good shape. There really isn't much more to report regarding this leg.
We landed in PHL about 45 mins late, then everyone disembarked the aircraft. I thanked te crew, and walked to terminal A for my next flight.
BMIFlyer From United Kingdom (England), joined Feb 2004, 7808 posts, RR: 60 Reply 4, posted (1 year 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 19 hours ago) and read 10925 times:
Leg 5:-
Date: Sunday 25 March 2007
Departure Apt: PHL
Arrival Apt: MAN
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300 (N271AY)
Flight No: US 734
Seat: 9H
Sched Departure Time (Local): 20:30
Actual: 08:00
Sched Arrival Time (Local): 21:35
Actual: 09:15
Boarding of the aircraft was scheduled to begin at 8pm, however it started at 7:45! I wasn't complaining, this made me think tha maybe we would end up departing early.
When I approached the gate agent, I asked her if the flight was full, to which she replied "No", there will be about 20 empty seats.
Once onboard, I settled in. At 8:35, the doors were closed, and I found myself with an empty seat next to me. In fact when I looked around the cabin I found it was only 2/3 full, and there were quite a few empty seats. A few people in window seats had an empty aisle seat with them too. This was an advantage dor me, as I could curl up later in the flight and sleep.
At 8:40pm, I noticed an FA open the boarding door again, and I wonderd why. My question was answered when the Captain announced we would be "Delayed". Apparently, 2 passengers who had checked in for the flight (with bags) had not turned up at the gate, and could not be found in the airport either. The rampers had to go in the hold and search for the bags, so they could be removed from the flight. This took nearly 30 mins.
We eventually pushed back nearly an hour after sched departure time, and taxied to runway 27L, then took off after a BA772, 2 US CRJ's and a couple of WN 73Gs.
Dinner was served about 40 mins after we took off, and I chose the beef with mashed potatoes. Following this I went to sleep on my 2 seats, and woke up about 5 hrs later when the cabin lights were switched on for breakfast! Breakfast was a donut, with a drink - Coffee was my choice.
Outside View
Breakfast - Donut / Coffee.
Landing in Manchester was smooth, but then we had to wait for a few aircraft to take off before taxying to the remote stand. 3 Buses were provided to take all the passengers to the terminal, where we arrived about 10 mins later, after what seemed like a tour of the entire airport, lol.
Immigration was a pain in the rear, with huge lines of people waiting to have passports checked, in both the UK/Europe section, and the Foreign Passport section too.
I waited here nearly 15 mins before I got to pass thru. After this I collected my bags, and it was off to my home, where I arrived 4 hours later, due to 2 trains being cancelled, thanks to vandals damaging the railway lines.
I enjoyed this trip on US airways, and will certainly fly them again sometime in the future, although my travel plans for the rest of the year mean that this will likely not happen till the end of the summer season now.
Hope you liked the report, and as usual comments are welcome......
BMIFlyer From United Kingdom (England), joined Feb 2004, 7808 posts, RR: 60 Reply 6, posted (1 year 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 18 hours ago) and read 10805 times:
Quoting B742 (Reply 5): How was the loads on your MAN-PHL flight?
Treebeard787 From United States, joined Jul 2005, 219 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (1 year 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 18 hours ago) and read 10734 times:
That Snack on your flight to LAS, Was it a Chicken Cesar sandwich? If it was then I had the Exact same sandwich on US610 back in Nov of 2006! Great report, Glad you had a good experience with US.
Mhodgson From United Kingdom (England), joined Dec 2002, 4958 posts, RR: 24 Reply 12, posted (1 year 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 18 hours ago) and read 10711 times:
Quoting Treebeard787 (Reply 11): That Snack on your flight to LAS, Was it a Chicken Cesar sandwich? If it was then I had the Exact same sandwich on US610 back in Nov of 2006!
Must be a bit stale, by now?
Good report Lee!
No trees were harmed by this message. However, several million electrons were terribly inconvenienced
Sketty222 From United Kingdom (England), joined Mar 2006, 1206 posts, RR: 1 Reply 13, posted (1 year 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 10641 times:
Quoting BMIFlyer (Thread starter): After takeoff, headsets were offered for sale at US$5,
What the F***???
Is this the norm with American carriers?
Nice report though. I wouldnt mind trying US across the pond
Demoose From United Kingdom (England), joined Mar 2001, 1951 posts, RR: 27 Reply 14, posted (1 year 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 10582 times:
Cool report and pics, I happened to be at the viewing park that day with Jetset7E7 so here's a pic of your aircraft on taxi to runway 06L in the usual Manchester sunshine!
OA260 From Ireland, joined Nov 2006, 11832 posts, RR: 22 Reply 15, posted (1 year 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 10446 times:
Hi thanks for the detailed and well written TR. I have read a few TR on US Airways now and it seems to be that Y is better than J for TransAtlantic. I flew last year PHL to LGW in Envoy and I had a very bad experience. It has put me off flying in J with them again. I am due to fly with them in October in First on some US Domestic flights so will do a TR myself then.
Quoting Demoose (Reply 14): Cool report and pics, I happened to be at the viewing park that day with Jetset7E7 so here's a pic of your aircraft on taxi to runway 06L in the usual Manchester sunshine!
How cool is that , small world. I do like the new livery though its much better than the dark one.
JetBlueGuy2006 From United States, joined Jan 2006, 1295 posts, RR: 1 Reply 16, posted (1 year 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 14 hours ago) and read 10370 times:
Great Report, loved the pics and video....
BTW, the chicken you got on the MAN-PHL flight looked soooooooo good.
Again, great TR
JetBlueGuy2006
Home Airport: Capital Region International Airport (KLAN)
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