Tuesday, August 5, 2014

US Airways - American Airways, OK. But British Airways?


Historically, US Airways has flown from Charlotte to London-Heathrow on Flight 730 with a return on Flight 731. They still do but you would never know. Actually, US flew to Gatwick until last year. I loved Gatwick and will miss it.

Looking at a flight from 1 September with a return on 8 September (as an example) I found that:

From Pittsburgh I cannot make a RT journey that way I had been doing so for many years. Yes, Flight 730 does go to LHR but no longer direct as it stops in Raleigh-Durham. Flight 731 does fly back direct to Charlotte but I have to assume that if you originated in Raleigh you would have to transfer in Charlotte on the return.

I can find no flights originating in Pittsburgh via Charlotte or Philadelphia. All flights go to a different city even if they stop in Philly along the way. Going from Pittsburgh to Charlotte or Philly no longer is offered despite being available.

The US Airways website shows that all flights departing the US are British Airways with only a few being American Airlines despite being married to one another.  

Many of the flights offered from Pittsburgh take me to Orlando. What was once a seven-hour flight is now over 17 hours. It seems that my planned trip for May 2015 is in turmoil. I can see how US Airways was made to drop their flights as American is the major airline in this merger. But why cut flights to have BA add more. Obviously there is a lot of information I do not know and it is confusing.  And don’t even get me writing about price. I see that flights that were $1,200 RT are not $1,900. YIKES!

I was going to write US Airways and have them explain this to me but what has happened is done and in place. The merger may be very well better for them but as a customer it is making flying less enjoyable. Is this a conspiracy? Well, I am still going. It will be more money and I am not sure if I can use my miles. But I do have more options to fly out of different cities and flying BA makes you feel that you’re one step closer to London. If anyone has something to say or add to this please send me an e-mail to edvidunas @ gmail dot com.   

Cheers, Ed